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.

More Glorious Samples! A Warm Winter Tail

This book looks cool in 88 degree heat.

It is a busy fall! I recently got initial samples of A Warm Winter Tail by Carrie Pearson from Sylvan Dell. I do not like to show bias, but I love how this book turned out! It is also available in Spanish

I will be signing this in October at Books by the Banks, so stop by! I will post signing events as they come up.

Here is my favorite spread:

Squirrels keeping warm.

Spike loves new books!

Boston: Final Vacay Post

We were in Boston for too short a time... Anyway, I did get some sketches at the Boston Common and the Boston Garden...

Swan boats in the Garden

The duck sculpture is based on Make Way for Ducklings by Caldecott winner Robert McClosky and is sculpted by Nancy Schon.

I have always loved McClosky's work. Blueberries for Sal is a favorite.

Me with the sculpture...

The park is lovely...

We also headed to Copley Square and the Boston Public Library. What an amazing collection of art! The Edwin Abbey Holy Grail murals and the John Singer Sargent Triumph of Religion murals are the tip of the iceberg. There was cool art everywhere, even a room of amazing (but creepy) puppets.

Some of my mediocre photos are posted here on the Cincinnati Illustrators Blog. 

Anyway, more sketches of course...

One of the stairway lions...

Gorgeous courtyard

Marble turtle lamp in the Abbey room...

Northeast Vacay 2012 Sketchbook Part 3

Sketchbook pages from the Norman Rockwell Museum

After Vermont, we stopped at the Norman Rockwell museum. It was a little rainy, but still worth it. I wrote more about the visit on the Cincinnati Illustrators Blog. As a fan of Howard Pyle, I was not disappointed. The campus was dotted by Norman Rockwell's son's sculptures.

Me standing in front of NR's studio.

We then made the trip to Boston. Here are some images from the sketchbook. We stayed at Taylor House Bed and Breakfast in Jamaica Plain at my friend from high school's suggestion. Super cute area of town...

Our bed and breakfast...

Northeast Vacay 2012 Sketchbook Part 2

Pixie the cat, the cute Rhode Island Reds (Yay fresh eggs!), and the giant forklift (maybe 10' tall?) at the marble quarry.

 

My feeble attempt to capture the light.

As I mentioned in the last post, we headed to Danby, VT to visit our friends Andrea, Ed and Olivia.

The view from their house is breathtaking. Since our only view is of North Bend Road, it was refreshing.

The light was always different and the night sky amazing. It was a wonderful visit and they send us home with honey from their own bee colonies.

I should also mention that they arranged for us to have the most amazing tour of the marble quarry. It was cool to see the operation and scale of the tools required.

The real thing...

Keeley the wonder dog. Such a sweetie!

Me and the neighbor's dog Whiskey. We have a similar fashion sense.

Next, it was on to Boston with a side trip to the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Northeast Vacay 2012 Sketchbook Part 1

We just got back from whirlwind tour of the Northeast including Upstate New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts.

I have been attempting to keep up my sketchbook.

Here are some of the images:

My Aunt Joan and Uncle Dick's Victorian mansion in Stamford, NY.

The trip up was a little grey and got rainy. It was storming when we arrived in Stamford. We visited too briefly and headed up to Vermont.

Welcome to Vermont...

The main reason to go to Vermont was for my Godmother's daughter Nora's wedding in Woodstock, VT. The bride and groom went by "Team Floogen". It was a lovely ceremony and included a happy hour the night before at a place called Bentley's and Brunch the day after.

The day of the ceremony, there was a really cool food and art festival in downtown Woodstock.

Looked good but we stuck with a lobster roll.

The first bite is taken with the eye...

 That afternoon I got a bit of sketching in even though rain was a worry. They had some gorgeous buildings in that town, especially the public library...

I also sketched the building adjacent to the library.

Cool building in the library quad...

Here are some wedding sketches:

The bride got a wonderful dress at Kleinfeld, lost of detailing. I never got the name of the designer. Sadly, she did not get on the show, but discussing the name "Kleinfeld" gave me an idea of a Seinfeld/Kleinfeld mashup comic for Pop Smoothie... I will post it this weekend.

The bride and groom left the ceremony on a motorcycle and their cake topper feature and bride and groom motorcycle theme as well.

The next day was a farewell brunch.

Pano of Quechee Gorge outside of Woodstock

Next, we headed up to Danby, VT to visit our friends Andrea, Ed and their daughter Olivia.

I will post the sketches from that the next post, but first, the view from their backyard:

Bernie Sanders and this view! (This photo is in evening light...) What more could you ask for? Stay tuned!

New Samples! Squeeeee! Sensing Their Prey

It is a good day when there is a big ole' box of books on my doorstep. I just got samples of the 6-book series I did for ABDO/Magic Wagon. They are available on the Barnes and Noble website.

It was a delightful project to illustrate and had the most variety of any animal project I have ever done and that is REALLY saying something. Everything from lions to creepy crawlies like the fellow below...

This Brownsnout Spookfish creeped me out, but they are probably attractive to each other...

Sketching: Washington Park

I wised up this time and sketched from a shady spot.

Even though I am buried in deadlines, we took a quick trip to the newly renovated park downtown across from Music Hall called Washington Park.

It was such a beautiful day. They have a wonderful fountain, playground and dog park.

Here is the dog park. This puppy had the right idea:

I could have stayed all day if I did not have crazy deadlines. The hour there was rejuvenating.

Outing to Loveland Castle

We went to Loveland Castle today with my nephew Joshua. Out in the middle of Symmes Township, this guy spent most of his life building a real castle. The lifestyle must have agreed with him. He died at age 91 and not of old age. He never married, oddly...

Joshua barely made it past the dagger clearance sale.

Cool dragon sculpture

Little entrance gate where I sat and sketched. Note to self: Sketching in the hot sun is a really bad idea. Find a shady spot next time...

Panoramic view

Final Taos Sketchbook Post

Two fighting/playing dogs. The little one reminds me of my in-laws' fox terrier Angie.

This is the final Taos post. As I mentioned earlier, I plan to go to the sketch journal workshop in Ireland next year. Until then, I will have to sketch here and on our trip to Boston and Vermont in August.

Some visiting art teachers suggested painting with wine. Maybe it has to sit out for a long time...

A mother and daughter with matching hats. So cute!

On our way to the Denver airport, we stopped in Colorado Springs to see the Garden of the Gods and ran into a lot of these Scrub Jays. Sadly, the fires got really bad right after we left in CO.

New Pop Smoothie Comic: Cosmos by Seth

This is a teaser... The rest of the comic is at popsmoothie.com

My latest Pop Smoothie web comic: What will Cosmos be like with Seth MacFarlane at the helm?

http://popsmoothie.com/2012/07/09/cosmos-by-seth/

Happy 4th of July in the Year of the Dragon

No, I am not over the Year of the Dragon yet... Many more holidays to go. Here is my quickie sketch to celebrate.

New Pop Smoothie Post: Maryline and a Wizard School in Scotland

Yes, I have finally posted a new comic to Pop Smoothie!

Full comic here:
http://popsmoothie.com/2012/07/02/maryline-and-a-wizard-school-in-scotland/

The idea has been in my head for a while and I had to unleash it on the world.

It is Harry Potter drawn in the style of Madeline...