Accidental book sighting - it must be christmas!

I went to Ace Hardware in Seattle (City People's ) to buy a plumbing part for my sink... but was delighted and surprised to see that they had a dozen copies of my book 'The 12 Days of Christmas in Washington' on the shelf. I like it when that happens in the middle of plumbing repair. 

I had to go back and take a picture, a lovely pile of my books in the Ace Hardware - albeit in the gift department. A few years ago the book was in Metropolitan Market - it was so much fun when I was there I ran into Mrs. Harlan, one of our kindergarten teachers, and I got to show her my pile of books. Usually the dairy case isn't that much fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Some Thanksgiving colors... cranberry sauce a bubbling. I'm thankful I have so many online friends, old and new.

A boy and his dog...

Snowy day, at least in the studio... otherwise just plain COLD! It's fun using every sort of feathery brush to paint snow.

Only the very best furry guests...

A bubbly woodland party brings out only the very best furry guests. From an upcoming book that I had a wonderful time painting.

The season of the magnetic cat ...

The season of the magnetic cat has arrived - with the cat being firmly attached to the heat vent. Brrrrrr!

And just like magic...

In this day and age a little photoshop magic is always a handy thing to have. But the charm of the pencil remains - that's the main thing.  And just like magic, the full moon in Taurus seems to have been the just right thing for this old illustrator.

The rainy day studio...

The rainy day studio - no shortage of rainy days around here lately. In fact I'd venture the best word to describe of this Fall might be 'sodden'. Good weather for escaping to work.

A fun Halloween party

Here's my idea of a fun Halloween party. This story was inspired one November morning by too much leftover halloween candy and coffee.

#inktober line technique

For ‪#‎inktober‬ here's another experiment in line that I once did. I read about a technique that Andy Warhol used, where he'd tape two sheets of paper together and draw on one with really wet ink and then while the ink was still wet, fold it back to make the reverse print. It does give a really sloppy line quality.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa is coming to FedEx this Holiday season.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa is coming to FedEx this Holiday season. My book, 'Mouse's Christmas Cookie' will be appearing nationwide this season at 420 FedEx outlets. So shoppers who are desperate for that last minute gift might want to make that impulse purchase and grab a copy.

I scarcely ever set foot in my old FedEx (Kinko's) since I got my own wide format printer. And I miss having my regular FedEx driver who used to drop by twice a week. Those were the days.

Experiment, experiment and try things out

Experiment, experiment and try things out. I tend to do a LOT of that in looking for new styles and techniques.  So I was delighted to try this new combination of ink on watercolor and watercolor and photoshop.

I wanted the image to keep moving but I also wanted it to be bright colors - not muted monotones. (I can do a monotone version easily, but keeping bright colors is usually harder to do).

So I was pleased with how it came out.

A Halloweeny ‪#‎inktober‬ sketch

Here's a Halloweeny ‪#‎inktober‬ sketch for me... from a book I wrote years ago. Mostly I was trying to capture that Halloween magical feeling. As I recall I started writing it one chilly moody morning after too much french roast and a hershey bar.