Summery Things

Such amazing flowers... a perfect design.

The water lilies are finally out and the yellow iris is blooming.  It feels just like the Wind in the Willows around here.

Mr. Heron is hunting the pond... well stocked with turtles.

The redwing sings from the tree tops.  Their red wings almost look neon during the mating season.

These leaves hold the rain like jewels.  Since we've had another day without the furnace on, it might actually be summer setting in.  The longest day of the year is a scant 4 weeks away... so it's about time!

Eating, Drinking, Reading...

Eating: Not very much... weight loss program in effect. I've lost 11 pounds! So I'm halfway done. 9 more pounds and I'll be back to my old college weight.

Drinking: Lots of V8 juice and tea. I make the tea very light by just brewing just a half cup for about 7 seconds... then pouring the rest with cold water to cool it off. Instant tea.

Reading: A fascinating book about a couple in Wales who bought an old run down castle and restored it all stone by stone. It's called 'Castles in the Air'. One of those books you just can't put down.

Drawing: I'm on the last page for my book... then just a week of color proof testing and tweaking. And then the cover. Seems like forever.
I notice the closer I get to finishing, the more nervous I get about backing up data. I've got about 6 DVD's burned as backup with each new week of work... squirreling them away for safety.

What is it about an apple?

What is it about an apple that always seems so perfect? It's just amazing what a little Photoshop can do to spruce up an image.


Photographs sometimes keep hiding secrets where you wouldn't guess there are any left to hide...

Next time I'll get Ethyl...

I've been behind in my blogging... but with good reason. Not that it matters. In fact I've even thought of putting the blog on hiatus. Maybe more of a once a month type of thing.


Life goes on regardless of the 1,000's of other things going on. Next time I'll get Ethyl...

:0)

Fuzzy Yellow Ducks

There are few things to compare to the first crop of fuzzy yellow ducklings.


Being Canada geese, they'll soon grow long legged and ungainly.

It's charming to see them on their quiet little pond... safe in the reeds.

So this is global warming?

I think most of the tulips we've had now have frost burn.

Many of the flowers literally look like they've been battered with frost damage. The birds sit glumly without a chirp on the leaden freezing mornings... with not a chirp in prospect.

Someone toss a little 'global warming' on the fire to warm things up... please!

Surely things will improve...

Signs of Spring

The blossoms of the wild apple... no truer token of Spring can be found.  Even though it almost seems the new spring leaves are getting freezer burn as they bravely emerge... Springtime proceeds.  

The red-wing blackbird sings his song for all to hear.  I think his bright red patches get even brighter this time of year.

Today found turtles in abundance for some inexplicable reason.  It seemed entirely too cold for turtles... but maybe they were tired of sleeping in the mud at the bottom of the pond.

Running on empty...

Empty bubble... empty mind... empty blog.

Still, the restless boredom is indicative of an impatience, which leads one to think there must be more going on in the background.

I've had my dad visiting for a week... so that's been busy, emotionally trying, exhausting, fun and out of the ordinary.  I worked at painting all last weekend to try and catch up...

Yesterday it was actually HOT.  It was delightful to experience actual HEAT for 1 day. Like a reptile on a hot rock... it was a pleasure to bask in the warmth of a little actual global warming.  

But today the clouds, gloom and chill are back to stay for another week.  Back into the polartec again.

Bookmaking... the folded page

Thank goodness for modern technology... at least certain types of technology... like desktop printing!

I had fun printing out a page from my new book in progress, at full size. I was experimenting with the border treatment and was curious to see what it'd look like all printed up.

There's an indefineable magic that happens when a page is folded into a book. Maybe it's the changeability of the image... the transformation where turning the page acts like a curtain in the theatre. Maybe it's just because it assumes an elegant shape with curves and a center fold.

But whatever it is... it's bookmaking at it's most fun. At least for me it was fun to see the image at actual size with real colors on real paper... instead of just an image on the computer screen.

The 4 Questions #2

4 places I have lived:

1) Manhattan, Kansas (In junior high school... in Kansas you get your driver's license at 13... farm kids need to drive early)
2) Manhattan, New York City (it was so much fun running away to NYC to become an illustrator!)
3) Salt Lake City (went to the University of Utah for my BA in English... very odd & wonderful place. Never been back.)
4) Denver (still kind of my home town... grew up there)

4 foods I like:

1) Oatmeal with raisins, cinnamon & bananas
2) Salmon burgers with red onions
3) Toast with salmon pate & sliced tomatoes
4) Red wine...

4 odd jobs I've had:

1) Substitute teacher: (where I was universally referred to as 'Mr. Lez' no matter what school I worked in)
2) Viola playing background musician: I'd sit on stage in a dimly lit restaurant and saw out Bach sonatas for diners in the dark.
3) Custodian: (for 5 years in college. I guess I liked the emptied out buildings and the peace & quiet. The music building was my favorite custodial route. I got to play the pianos in all the professors offices, while cleaning.
4) Children's book illustrator: Very odd... possibly the oddest job of them all. About as convivial as being a lighthouse keeper. The trip to the supermarket is often the high point of the day.

4 Movies I like:

1) Amadeus: Can't go wrong with Mozart
2) Nanny McPhee: This always cheers me up for some reason
3) Jeeves & Wooster: I wished real life was like that
4) Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House: Can't go wrong with Cary Grant

4 Things I do almost every day:

1) Go on a bike ride to get out of the studio and mingle amongst fellow humanids
2) Read blogs and email and post pithy comments here and there
3) Walk to the grocery store and lug canvas sacks of groceries up a hill (enforced exercise)
4) Hot bubble bath

4 Places I'd like to be:

1) Yellowstone... Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons... someplace deserty & hot!
2) Rafting past Echo Rock on the Green River in Utah (eternity written in stone & quiet)
3) The cafe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC
4) Somewhere in europe where it seems like a different century.

Roam the World... without moving from your chair!

It's just so easy to do nowadays... but somehow I miss the wind in my hair, the hot desert sun, the smell of the pines.  

Roaming the world in a Nash Rambler might offer more actual first hand adventure.

It's been such a long cold winter that roaming anywhere sunny has great appeal.  

They even had to postpone the local Tulip Festival because it's been so cold the tulips refuse to open!

Ferris wheels are notoriously difficult to draw...

There's nothing quite like creating an illustration of the entire 1904 World's Fair... including the ferris wheel, promenade, crowds of little people, fountains and all. I wonder if that was the same ferris wheel that Robert Lawson wrote about in 'The Great Wheel'?

I hope so, since Robert Lawson was always one of my favorite bookmakers. Rabbit Hill and The Great Wheel were some of my favorites.

Ferris wheels are notoriously difficult to render in illustrations. To draw an oval in perfect perspective is nearly impossible... and certainly beyond the abilities of this particular illustrator. That's why I have to rely on cleverness... and various illustration helpers.

One does not draw so much as one erases it sometimes seems.