Great New and Improved Way to Order My Books!

If you order most of my books from along the sidebar here or soon on my website, the link goes to a new order form to Inscribed Books & Gifts.

That means you can order signed books from anywhere in the world to be delivered anywhere in the world!

http://form.jotformpro.com/form/50345412303946

Also, Fibonacci Zoo is now available!

Part 2 of the Creative Juice Podcast

Because practice makes perfect, part 2 of the podcast I did with Margot and Jeb on practice!

http://thejuicecast.com/practice-practice-practice-part-2/

Sketch from a group outing with Jeb and the CJ crew

Creative Juice Podcast

I was on the Creative Juice podcast that was just aired this week on Practice and how long it takes to be good at something. We talk about drawing and obsessions and unused talents.


It was a lot of fun! Listen here: http://thejuicecast.com/practice-practice-practice-part-1/

While you are on the site, check out some of their other topics. The Juice Cast is a podcast for creative entrepreneurs.

Sketching in Bucharest

Lion Sketch for Sale to Support The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado

John the Lion, the handsome fellow I have sketched several times at the Cincinnati Zoo

I have a sketch for sale of John the Lion  that will benefit The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado to build funds in order for them to bring in and care for 33 lions and 1 Andean bear just being rescued from circuses.

Spread the word; Share and enjoy!


http://us.ebid.net/for-sale/john-the-lion-by-christina-wald-138219609.htm

From a trip last summer...

You can see all the art and prints available here:
http://us.ebid.net/perl/main.cgi?mo=user-store&title=wildlife-art-for-the-wild-animal-sanctuary

Also for sale is a signed copy of my book Big Cats.
http://us.ebid.net/for-sale/big-cats-by-christina-wald-138219576.htm

Happy Easter! Bunnies and Painted Monasteries

Cherry blossoms and bunnies... 'Tis the season

I do plan to paint this image, but do to finishing my next book, it will probably be by the Eastern Orthodox Easter.

Speaking of which, this is a good time to post some of the amazing art at the pained Monasteries in Romania.

Not only are there the ones dating back to the 1400s, but they are building new ones! Such a fascinating art form. It was nice to see the artist credits on the new ones.

Growing up catholic, it is interesting to see parallel but different imagery.

Judgement Day painting on the Voroneț Monastery done in 1547

Detail of the seraphim at the Humor Monastery painted in 1535

Lives of the saints or rather the martyrdom of them, Voroneț Monastery

More seraphim at Voroneț Monastery

A new depiction of Judgement Day

Seraphim detail

New Judgement Day at a church in Bucharest

Detail of the Judgement Day painting in Bucharest. Ioana and I were pleased to see the artists credited inside.

All of the Judgement Day paintings have the people being 'reconstituted', even if devoured by wild beasts. Such delightful imagery!

My monastery sketches and more of my write ups are here.

http://christinawald.blogspot.com/2014/11/trip-to-romania-part-3-painted.html

Spring Fairies

Unleashing the last spirits of winter

Something about spring makes you think of fairies. I think it is all of the new life that emerges. So, I have been doing a lot of them in my sketchbook lately.

The council is in session...

We also just saw Song of the Sea, a wonderful film by the folks who did The Secret of Kells. It was a beautiful film with a bit of a Spirited Away vibe with a dash of Tolkien's Silmarillion (he was greatly influenced by Celtic and other European mythology). I loved the design and the concept.

It is common mythology around the world of spirits being a part of everything... The world does awaken this time of year from a dormant state.

I can hardly wait to get outside to sketch!

The Leaf Litter...

Even at the Krohn Conservatory!

Lecture at the Art Academy: Storytelling in Books and Comics

I will be doing a lunchtime lecture at the Art Academy tomorrow at 11:30 am as part of the Slam Bam Comic Jam.

It is called Storytelling in Books and Comics.

Here is the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1638524756380216

Hope to see you there!

From Why the Possum has a Large Grin by Johnette Downing

It is The Year of the Goat

Happy Chinese New Year a day late! Although this is from the goats I saw in Greece on a tiny island off of Aegina called Moni Eginas.

It was cute and covered in goats and peacocks.

My friend brought bread to feed them and got head butted by an aggressive male when she tried to pet him. She said she should have known better and had giant bruises to prove it!
They had glorious horns!

Moni Eginas; magical land of goats and peacocks

Trip to Romania Part 4: Maramureș and the Painted Cemetery

Beautiful wooden chapel next to the tallest wooden church in Europe.

Me sketching quickly

Sketch of one of the chapels in Maramureș next to the church with that is tallest wooden building in Europe. I loved the little chapel next to it and drew there. The gorgeous arched gateway was a good place to sketch from.

Ioana took this picture of me entering the monastery complex. The chapel is hidden behind the trees, the tallest wooden church is on the left.

Chapel detail

The architecture is very different from Brasov and the Moldovan areas.
We were very close to the Ukraine here. This was also the town with the Merry Cemetery called Săpânța.

Taken from my balcony overlooking the cemetery

We stayed at a wonderful pension here called Anuta. (Basically what they call a bed and breakfast there). The owners were super friendly and even invited us to try their homemade brandy! 

The location was next to the Merry Cemetery. It was hard to convince my husband that was a selling point when he saw this picture I snapped from my bedroom.

When we first entered the town, we stopped by a woman's house where she showed us socks and blankets she had woven. The folk craft in Romania are high art. Gorgeous stuff!

She had Ioana take my picture at the loom.

I have several posts after this including castles, more painted church details and I cannot believe I skipped posting about Sighișoara!!!

The Merry Cemetery in the daytime...

Greetings from Săpânța!

Slam Bam Comic Jam at the Art Academy

Cover for Star Crossed by me for a comic collaboration with Steve Bryant

The Ultimate Sinister Series will also be there!

A Month-long Comic Arts Exhibition and Extravaganza
Features Artists from Kabuki, Star Wars, and The Walking Dead

WHO: Exhibition Artists: David Michael Beck, Allison Craig, Brian Hagen, Russell Ihrig, David Mack, Tony Moore, Joe Slucher, and Christina Wald.
 
PRESENTERS: Mike Fleisch, Anthony Moorman, Joe Slucher, and Christina Wald.
WHAT: Art Academy of Cincinnati’s Inaugural “Slam Bam Comic Jam” Exhibition & Extravaganza
WHEN: January 30 – February 27, 2015

Opening Reception: Final Friday, January 30, 5-8 pm Live Screen-Printing of Limited-Run T-Shirts (Only 50 Shirts Available, $10 each), Music,
Comic Merchandise Tables, and Costume Contest for fans of Wookiees and Walkers

Closing Reception: Final Friday, February 27, 5-8 pm Making It Documentary and Q&A with film director Anthony Moorman
Complete Schedule of Events will be posted on the Art Academy’s website.

https://www.facebook.com/events/404716769677449/ 

http://www.artacademy.edu/new-site-2013/wordpress-news/?tribe_events=slam-bam-comic-jam



Catbat will also be premiering!

New Book! New Samples!

When Crabs Cross the Sand written by Sharon Katz Cooper and illustrated by me is just out from Capstone/picture window books. The color looks amazing! I really like the printing and design on this one.

Glorious samples just in!

The crabs are fascinating to study. There was a great documentary on National Geographic about them.

They do a little dance in the ocean when they release their eggs that is worth watching: http://youtu.be/XFfUr9e5Gos

Crabs have tooooo many legs really; or so I though as I was painting...

Happy New Year!

View from the bench

My final Romania post will be soon. I have been really swamped with a variety of things.

I have several books in the works and I look forward to showing work from them soon. I am crazy swamped right now, but there are a lot of great things happening! (Yes, I am aware I said I am swamped twice!)

Here are some images I have neglected to post.

December 23rd I visited Krohn Conservatory to sketch their holiday display with Amy Bogard. It is beautiful, filled with Cincinnati icons made out of natural materials. We found out later from Chuck Rekow that the display was done by Applied Imagination.

Amazing! It looks like Cincinnati as a fairyland!

See Amy’s sketches here! http://cincyillustrators.blogspot.com/2014/12/holiday-sketches.html

Amy and I also sketched at the Mummy Exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center. 

See those sketches here: http://cincyillustrators.blogspot.com/2014/12/preview-of-mummy-exhibit-at-cincinnati.html 

Sketch from the hearing doctor's office

I have been squeezing in sketches hear and there between deadlines. The view of Clifton from the ear doctor’s office (in the Good Samaritan hospital campus) was gorgeous! I could not resist sketching it.

So, I am catching up on this blog and am currently preparing for the Slam Bam Comic Jam at the Art Academy. 

Details very soon. The opening is January 30th!

Happy Holidays!

I have been so swamped but there are still a couple more Romania posts to go. I will get to them soon. I am also doing a travelogue.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday! Here are some pictures from our trip to NYC to celebrate my mom's birthday. I got a bit of sketching in and this picture of Grand Central Station seemed to capture the spirit of the season.

Location shot!

Mom had her birthday dinner at the Breslin where we had a whole pig. It was amazing!
I cannot remember a time when the city was more crowded with tourists. The holiday season is the time to be in the city I guess.

We had a lot of wonderful food, drink and company.

Sketching at the Lucky Cat

Troy and I at the Rockefeller Center tree

Trip to Romania Part 3: Painted Monastaries

Me Sketching at Voronet

We went to a lot of monasteries old and new. Of course the star monasatries are the old ones...

Above is Voronet Monastery in the Moldovan area of Romania. It was built in 1488 by Stephen the Great. The painting have survived war, weather and disuse. They are now restored including the paintings on the inside. They are not restoring the exterior paintings as far as I know which I think is a good thing.

This was the only place where we ran into an American tour group.

Detail from the exterior of Voronet. All of these churches have paintings of the Last Judgement... This is the place you want to avoid...

This is from the Humor Monastery located in Mănăstirea Humorului.

Me sketching at Humor Monastary

Detail of the battle in Constantinople.

Above is the Humor Monastery, a painted monastery located in Mănăstirea Humorului.  The frescoes were originally painted in 1535 and this one shows Constantinople defending itself from a Persian invasion in 626. The Persians were illustrated as Turks which is proof that the news is always prone to revisionism even if it is really old news

A lot of the monasteries had these cool seraphim images depicted as wing clusters with lots of eyeballs.


I know I have been slow to post these images. But there is MUCH more! Next up, the Merry Cemetery and a stones throw from the Ukraine border...