Watercolor Wednesdays - Winter Wildlife

Meanies.

Watercolor Wednesdays - Water Babies

Happy Independence Day!

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.  You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. 

~Erma Bombeck

Have a lovely and safe Independence Day!!

Watercolor Wednesdays - Portal into Bear's "Dream a Little Dream" party

Bear longed to be a graceful ballerina. It didn't matter that he weighed 400 lbs and had two left feet.  He wanted to do Arabesques, and Chasses like the great ballet dancers before him.   Snake dreamed of living in Hawaii and dancing the Hula while the sun set on Kailua Beach, and little mouse wanted to be a cowboy like "The Duke."  Nobody messed with "The Duke."

At Bear's "Dream a Little Dream" party, they had the chance to live their dreams, unabashed, loud and strong, and they did, until Big Cy showed up at the door and all their dreams came crashing down with an embarrassed thud.

Watercolor Wednesdays - Unusual Pets

Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.  ~ Confucius

Watercolor Wednesday - Unexpected "Sea"prise

Sorry, I know that title was a groaner, but I just adore groaners!!

Morgan LeGraw knew her sister Sophia was obsessed with "Saving the Animals."  But she was NOT expecting to find this in the closet when she reached in to grab a jacket.  A few of her sisters stuffies shoved in the corner, maybe, but a whole aquarium, sea life, Sophia and all ... no, that she wasn't expecting.

Watercolor Wednesday - Creature

Carlie really wasn't afraid of anything. She was even known to give a pointer or two to Bart, the creature that lived in her closet, on how to be fierce and frightening. Of course, these pointers always left Bart feeling inadequate and depressed. Carlie had that effect on a lot of people...

Watercolor Wednesday - Character

Again, with the WaWe! :)

Yes, I know, I know ... where's the watercolor already?!? No time yet. And honestly, probably none over the weekend either. (Halloween weekend ... no way!!) So, if I can't get to the painting in the next two days, it won't happen until next week. I will try to get it done though ... autumn days, class party and this little Octopus and her sea star sidekick. (And Vanessa, if you're reading this ... this is my youngest daughter's costume for this year ... her sister is a chinese dragon ... I tell you ... rivers, cherry trees, octopi, dragons .... thank goodness their Granny has the patience of a saint!) :)

Have a great Halloween everyone!!

Watercolor Wednesday - Class Party

This is an illo for WaWe, except that I haven't gotten to the watercolor part yet. I just have been crazy busy lately, and haven't had the time to sit and paint. (I will try to paint soon though!) I have been trying to keep up though with WaWe's prompts... so here is my Class Party! I have two that I have to go to this year! (I think I'm going to hand this illo out as a coloring sheet for the kiddies!).

Have a great Halloween Weekend everyone!! BOOOOOOOO!!!!

Watercolor Wednesday - Young Frankie

Fire BADDDDD!!!!

Even as a young lad, Frankie hated fire. His classmates hated him --- the daily in school showers were enough to drive anyone crazy. The ones who weren't driven crazy by the incessant fire drills, were driven to madness by his constant admonitions "Stop, drop and roll!," "Only YOU can prevent forest fires," and of course, the ubiquitous "never play with matches."

Lunch time welcome

I'm combining another two - Illustration Friday's Welcome, and WaWe's Lunch Time. I am planning on painting it, but time has just been getting away from me, so I wanted to make sure I got the sketch up at least.

So...Voila!

Tory Climer and her classmates at Lake Bristoe Elementary hated school lunch. Not only was Mrs Towner the oldest lunch lady at the school, she was also the worst cook. Although her "specials" were infamous in the town of Bristoe for their repulsiveness, today's "welcome back" lunch had to have topped the chart: Brussels Sprout - Cod Yogurt, and Meat-in-a-Can. "Why do I subject myself to this day after day?" Tory wondered as she gazed upon the Meat-in-a-Can. She could have sworn she saw it slithering across her plate.

Watercolor Wednesday - Vacation Woes

Percy was Grassafield Zoo's most famous Cinnamon Bear. He came to the zoo when he was a cub, and he'd been there for well over ten years now. And for well over ten years now, he ate fish and berries each and every day. Percy was tired of eating fish, and berries. As a matter of fact, he was tired of watching people, watch him. He wanted to get out. He wanted go for a stroll and say "hi" to the neighbors he so very rarely saw. A "Good Morning Ma'am" to Barbara Giraffe, or "Top of the Morning to you Sir" to Nigel Hippo, both of whom had made him feel so welcome that first day when he was brought to the zoo.

So, when poor unsuspecting Shakia walked by with her "oh so yummy" cotton candy, and bright green balloon, Percy decided this was the time to make his move. With no zoo keepers in sight, he nimbly climbed over the wall, snatched her balloon , and started eating her cotton candy. Percy didn't have very good manners. Never did. In fact, there were a lot of things that Percy needed to learn about life on the outside.

We're getting ready to go on vacation and one of our stops is the National Zoo. I sure hope that we don't encounter a real live Percy snatching balloons and cotton candy from our hands! I'll be sure to say hi to Barabara and Nigel when we see them!

Watercolor Wednesdays - Exploring II - Color

And number II ...
What do you think?

Watercolor Wednesdays - Exploring I - Color

I found time to paint despite my crazy schedule right now! YAY!

Watercolor Wednesdays - Exploring II

And the second one is exploring ... well... breasts. There is something so funny about stuffing your shirt full of fruit, socks, pencils, etc. to get a glimpse of what you might look like as a grown-up. It's sort of like a pubescent Magic 8 ball.... without the ball... ok maybe it's not really like that at all, but I like Magic 8 balls, so there.

I'll paint both of these later tonight and repost.

Watercolor Wednesdays - Exploring

It's been awhile since I've had a second to sit down and post. We've had a busy couple of weeks, with the end of school activities going on, but the last day of school is on Monday, so hopefully I'll have more time to get some drawing done and posted. (I hope!!)

I've been neglecting Watercolor Wednesday the past few weeks, so I'm working ahead to next week's prompt. I'll try to get IF done this week too.

Anyway. The prompt for WW is exploring, and I came up with two ideas for exploring.

The first... belly buttons. Belly Buttons always seem to fascinate children - from toddlers exploring their bodies, to elementary school kids checking to see if they are an innie or an outie (and sometimes even showing off the bb lint - gross!)

Field Day - Sketch 2

Here is a close-up of the three legged race, but after doing this I think I may make this it's own separate image, and now have to think up something to put in the space in the other sketch. Hmmm. I may decide to use these two for my next postcard mailing. I love WW, it so often helps me to come up with ideas for postcard mailings!!

Watercolor Wednesdays - Field Day Sketch

This is an illo I'm working on for Watercolor Wednesdays. The prompt is Field Day, and I'm trying to show various field day activities. This is just the rough sketch. As you may have noticed, I'm still working on adding the three-legged race in the upper right. I also want to add some funnier elements, but haven't figured out what exactly. It'll come to me... This is my favorite stage of the illustration process!

Watercolor Wednesdays - Mommies and Babies

Here is my take on the WW prompt "Mommies and Babies." It wasn't that long ago when I was grabbing diaper bags, and stuffies, and shuffling out the door with my baby in the snugglie. It was a little crazy at times, but lots of fun too....

Watercolor Wednesdays - Frolicking Fairies

You would think I would jump at the chance to do fairies since everyday I play "fairies" with my youngest; however, I just couldn't help envisioning a little tomboy "fairy" frolicking (or tormenting) creatures small and tall.

I'm pretty happy with my little fairy, but the wet cat left me a bit frustrated. Anyone have any tips for creating the illusion of a wet cat? I haven't worked on any illo for the past three weeks, so, I'm working out the kinks. Any suggestions are, as always, welcome!