STORYTELLING The Fine Art of Illustration

Since my first post, the show has added illustrators C.F. Payne, Andrew Neyer and Jeffery Ebbeler.

It is going to be a great show! Hope to see you there!

When I dropped off my art today, I ran into Tara Calahan King and Loren Long.

Loren Long, Tara Calahan King, Christina Wald

Various Sketches

Little Valentine's Day Sketch

Year of the Horse!

New Ultimate Sinister Character

A lot going on, a couple items from the sketchbook...

A Night of Sketching at Modern Makers + The Cincinnati Ballet presents Dance/Draw

I went with my friend Amy to sketch last night at the Modern Makers + The Cincinnati Ballet presents Dance/Draw. We sketched performers from the Cincinnati Ballet.


We mostly did gestures but I did the top sketch when I got home after I looked at my photos.

It was a great event. Lots of wonderful music, drawing and dancing. People of all ages were there. It was cram packed with people!

Gestures

More Gestures

My favorite gesture...

One of the dance demonstrations

Christina and Amy Sketching

Traveling to Romania in the fall!

The monastery on Aegina Island

Since it is too cold to get out, here is a sketch from some of my photos of Aegina Island off of the coast of Athens, Greece. We went there in 2011.

It was an amazing place! We were visiting a friend who was teaching at a satellite campus there.

This same friend is going on sabbatical in Romania so I plan to visit her in the fall and do a LOT od sketching. I hope to visit some of those lovely medieval villages in Transylvania.

We have not been in Romania since 1998. I am curious about what has changed and what has stayed the same...

Whoooo Goes There! Many Paintings of Owls...

I recently did some illustrations for a book about owls. It was a very enjoyable project and I was given permission to share some of them.

There is something enjoyable about illustrating raptors, owls in particular. Perhaps the attraction is in their big luminous eyes.

The book will not be out for a long time. I will post when they are available.

Story Telling Show at Brazee opening in February

I know it is a little early to post this, but I just got the promo jpg for the Story Telling illustration show I am a part of opening February 22nd at Brazee Street Studios.

I will post more about the event as the show gets closer.

Web Site Redesign

New website coming soon!

My website is in the middle of a redesign so may occasionally be offline while the team at 3Verb work on the last details.

I will let everyone know when the new site is up. It is going to be SO COOL!

Prague and the Ghost Empire Collecte Biweekly Sketch Challenge

Time, Life and Death... The light topic to kick of the year for the Ghost Empire Collective

It is already crazy busy. I am squeezing things in here and there between deadlines. In order to put together a zine, the Ghost Empire Collective is having a biweekly sketch challenge.

Also, this has been done a while but just scanned it in. This is from photos I took in Prague when we visited in 2008.

Anyway, finishing up my next picture book. I will have stuff to show soon.

Entrance to the St. Charles bridge...

More Glorious Samples!

Christmas is continuing for the full 12 days this year. I got galley and advance copies of two of my books out in the next couple of months!

I should have book trailers for Cool Summer Tail and Fort on Fourth Street out soon!

Sketching Visit to Raptor Inc.

My name is Earl... The initial owners of this bird though she was a he.

My friend Kelly and I have been talking about going to Raptor, Inc where she volunteers for a long time. I have been so busy that it was very difficult to coordinate.

Finally, we were able to get together a couple weeks ago.

It is a wonderful facility. I really enjoyed taking in all the birds there. Sylvester, the Great Horned Owl and Earl, the Turkey Vulture were my particular favorites.

I did some quick ink studies there (it was a little too cold for me to paint outside) and did some watercolor/acrylic sketches later.

Some quick ink studies

Sylvester, silent and watchful...

Gentleman's Gentlecat and Budapest

Since it has been too cold to sketch outside, I am sketching from some photos I took of the parliament building in Budapest in 2008.
It is a fascinating city. It almost looks like something out of a fantasy landscape with giant statues popping up all over in almost Númenórean ways.

Our gentleman’s gentlecat is finally getting his due! Our tuxedo cat Spike...

Knee deep in book trailers and my next picture book. Enjoy these offerings from the sketchbook!

Blue Marble Saturday and Llama Study

Chester the llama says shop locally! (Quick llama study)

If you are shopping in Northern Kentucky this Saturday, stop by Blue Marble Children's Bookstore.

I will be signing books from 2 until 4!

Hope to see you there!

One More NYC Sketch: Brooklyn

Sketch of the entrance to Prospect Park in Brooklyn (the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch). My second cousin owns a restaurant a couple blocks away called Sun in Bloom. (There are restaurant pics in the earlier post...)

We strolled in the park for several hours.

 

KRAMPUS: Arts Market & Music Fest

I will be selling art at a Krampus Fest tonight. If you are in the area, Stop by!
These are some of the pieces I will have at the show.
Info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1377960739107095/

I will also be in The Art of War Competition.

Sketching Cars, Cats and Findley Market

Miffy is always a star!

I have been super-swamped all week. Finally I had a break in the action to sketch.

I was inspired to do this sketch after seeing Simon Tofield (of Simon's Cat fame) speak at Joseph Beth Booksellers.

Also, I did this car sketch as a study for my next Ultimate Sinister comic. It is a little late for the time period by 30 years, but I love the design.

Finally, I got out in the field to sketch yesterday with my friend Amy. We went to a good indoor location at Findley Market.

Fortunately, I am not cooking a Thanksgiving dinner this year and was free to observe the frantic purchasing of comestibles.

We we comfortable seated in the eating area next to the taco stand.

Vine video: https://vine.co/v/hF3jmVhPrQF

Photo by Amy Bogard of me sketching

Sketch at the Cincinnati Observatory

I sketched the Cincinnati Observatory after lunch yesterday… Great buildings… It reminded me of the paintings I had to do of the old Harvard Observatory for the Annie Jump Cannon book I illustrated.

I hope to go inside and sketch sometime.

Waiting Sketch

Sketch done while waiting for friends to go to a show at the CAC Sunday. This is the recently revamped Nicholson’s complex next to the 21C Hotel. I got there early to sketch. It was a bit cold so I had to head inside and finish.

Going to need to start looking for inside locations...

NYC Sketches

Sitting on the west side of Central Park

Sitting on the east side of Central Park

Sitting in Union Square

We lucked out with the weather during out visit and I was able to get out several times to sketch.

Here are Vine videos of all three locations:
https://vine.co/v/hDKEtVUUhJi
https://vine.co/v/hpUthA0bP9g
https://vine.co/v/hpMWvEgJrYH

We also went to see the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show opening. I have always wanted to go to one and this was amazing! We also had dinner there.It is fun to imagine all of the famous illustrators that have had drinks in the bar there over the years.

We also went to Park Slope in Brooklyn to try a vegan restaurant owned by my second cousin Aimee called Sun in Bloom. The food was fantastic!

We also walked around the neighborhood. It is a lovely area.

Anyway, now madly playing catch up and atoning for my time off.

Aimee took this picture. We are towards the back where they were filming a reality show.

Spooky... Back From NYC

Two snakes discuss keeping cool is A Cool Summer Tail

I just got back from trip to visit my brother and his family in NYC.

I plan to post the sketches I did soon, but as usual, I come back to a pile of deadlines so I will atone properly for my time off.

Anyway, even if this image from A Cool Summer Tail is not Halloween-specific, many find snakes spooky. (No offense garter snakes...)

A day of sketching at Eagle Bend Alpaca Farm!

This one had great markings

Last weekend, Vanessa and I got out to sketch alpacas at the Eagle Bend Alpaca Farm in Burlington, KY as a birthday treat.

They are such beautiful animals with amazing variation in coat color. I love their pompadours.

Some gestures in ink...

A group feeding...

The tip of the alpaca iceberg

I also saw a furry alpaca hat I will have my eye on when I return...

It is a perfect place for a plein air set up with the old barns and rolling hills.

Next time...

Children's Book Illustration Art Show!!

Join us for the opening of the Children's Book Illustration Art Show at the Sharonville Fine Arts Center in The Westheimer Gallery on Friday October 4th from 6-8pm

Viki Woodworth, Tammie Lyon, Christina Wald, Jeffrey Ebbeler and Vanessa Sorensen will be displaying their illustrations that have been used in children’s books.

The show will be up until October 27th and each weekend there will be special events with the illustrators, including live drawings, crafts, story times, mazes and more!


RSVP on the Facebook event page:


https://www.facebook.com/events/601236876585460/


Come and bring your kids to our special events each Saturday at the gallery!


October 5th, 11 am: Tammie Lyon and Jeffrey Ebbeler will do a Live Drawing and Painting event, plus story-time!

October 12th, 11 am: Christina Wald will do a Live Drawing and Storytime event!

October 19th, 11 am: Viki Woodworth and Vanessa Sorensen will do a Jokes, Mazes and Storytime event!

Fort on Fourth Street Books Are Here!

A fort made out of Fort on Fourth Street books.

The book is out and available at any bookseller!