Fountain Square and the Columbus Comic Covention Formerly Known as Mid-Ohiocon

Wednesday we tried out a new place for the downtown Illustrators Lunch, Rock Bottom Brewery. We seem to be cursed in our choice of lunch location so I hope this one will be around a while. 

After lunch, I did a little sketch of the fountain. I have always loved it and it was the brief time of that day with lovely weather.

This weekend, I dipped my toes back in the con pool. Since I am doing my web comic, Pop Smoothie, I hope to make it to more of these. SPACE in April and maybe CAKE in Chicago next year.

It was a wonderful time despite my lack of stuff for sale.

Anyway, here are some sketches I did during the event. I wish I had gotten some of the more elaborate costumes, but they were Saturday for the contest.

Steampunk Lady

Painting away at our table. Photo by Christopher Moshier.

Quickie doodle. Who doesn't like fairies and foxes?

Park(ing) Day With Queen City Bike

My sketch from Park(ing) Day

Photo courtesy Queen City Bike

Friday was Park(ing) day where different groups in Over-the Rhine converted parking spaces into little parks. My friend Cheryl Crowe asked me to sketch in the Queen City Bike space for the afternoon. It was great fun. I had dressed expecting cold and rain, but we lucked out!

More about the event and more pictures of other artists and spaces:

http://5chw4r7z.blogspot.com/2012/09/cincinnati-parking-day.html

http://www.urbancincy.com/2012/09/cincinnatians-transform-dozens-of-parking-spaces-into-temporary-parks/

http://www.blogotr.com/otr/cincinnati-parking-day-2012-in-otr/

 Me Sketching; Nern Ostendorf models the yarn bombed chair by Katie Wearne. Photo courtesy Queen City Bike

Full park view... Photo courtesy Queen City Bike

A beautiful evening...

A CSO violinist was entertaining diners...

 After an afternoon sketching, A friend and I went over to the Joshua Bell Concert with the CSO at Music Hall. The concert was AMAZING. If you have not seen him perform, I highly recommend it.

Indiana Bat Festival and Aquarium Sketches

In the mood to sketch chrome after Lunken. Still snuck in a dragon... Guess what my Christmas card will be this year...

 It is a bit of a hodge podge of sketches lately. Over the weekend, I went to the Indiana Bat Festival at Indiana State University. Laura Hohman and her husband Jim were nice enough to let me stay at their place so I did not have to get a hotel room. It is a great show! I also love all the taxidermy, weird plastic molded cross sections of plants, cells and animals, and skulls/skeletons that decorate the halls. Definitely different decor than what we had at DAAP!

Today, after our weekly illustrators lunch, Linda Bittner and I went to a really cool  exotic aquarium store called Aquatics and Exotics in Mt. Healthy (in walking distance from her house).

Done at the Indiana Bat Festival over the weekend...

At the aquarium store...

These are so super cool!

Encyclopaedia Britannica Lion Plush Set

The art on this one was my favorite. I also did the interior art for the chimp and elephant sets.

I am not sure where you can order this. The others are still available on the Encyclopaedia Britannica web site, but the lion is not. The toy site is here: http://www.teknektoys.com/OurToys/EncyclopediaBritannica/Lion.aspx

I got mine from the Amazon Marketplace but the shop I got it from no longer has it.

Lunken Airport and Gateway Quarter

MG and cool chrome plane at Lunken... This is my new itty bitty sketchbook that fits in my new purse.

Squeezed in a couple sketches between deadlines and posting some old ones. I have been biking more lately at the newly expanded trail at Lunken because I love it! This weekend was Aviation Days so it was a double bonus. The weather was a little iffy yesterday though or I would have taken a Cessna ride over downtown Cincinnati.

The MG outside the show was gorgeous. It almost had cliched sparkle. Too bad a bunch of bikes were leaned against it.

I did this several weeks ago. I have biking at the cool new trail at Lunken lately...

Sketch of our view from the 1215 at a little outdoor table waiting for our call to get int Bakersfield OTR Friday.

Cover: Wordsworth and the Dragon

© 2012 Scotti Cohn and art by Christina Wald

After working bit by bit through a minefield of deadlines, the cover for Wordsworth and the Dragon. Stay tuned as we put together the final layout and illustrations for Scotti's wonderful book!

A Day at the Renaissance Fair

This woman had a gorgeous fairy costume. The Henna Hut was a cute little building.

The Ohio Renaissance Fair opened yesterday in Waynesville and I went with some family members and fellow artist Amy Bogard. The first weekend is a 2 for 1 deal which convinced me to go.

Amy and I spent most of the time sketching. The festival has expanded a lot since I last visited; there are tons of really cute buildings and cosplay has really exploded in recent years. Lots of elves, fairies, and pirates were represented in addition to the medieval garb.

I actually felt sorry for the people in costume because the air was a humid soup. It was not pleasant.

The Swordsman Theatre and a cute little fairy girl with matching orange crocs.

Lady in the Lake with curious bullfrog.

Loved this tree decor.