new digital painting

Pin It Now! Here is the digital painting version of the drawing I posted a couple of months ago. I had a lot of fun painting this one. It was fun to do something that had a border again too. A while back I used to use a lot of borders with my illustrations, but I had gotten away from that for a while.

And speaking of stuff I haven't done in a while, I also have a very intricate Celtic page design I'm working on. I have a number of Celtic & Norse designs on my website, but it's not something I have done much of in a while, though I really enjoy it. Anyway, the one I'm working on is pretty much the most intricate one I've ever done. I look forward to finishing it so I can post it.

In other news, teaching is finishing up (yes!) so I'm looking forward to having more time to focus on my artwork. Though I do teach a couple of summer classes as well... Not as rigorous as the regular school year though. I'll be preparing my portfolio for the SCBWI Summer Conference in LA in August. Big opportunity to show my portfolio and seek new work.

Cheers!

holiday business and good times

Pin It Now! Argh, it's been far too long since I put up a new blog post. Since my last post--which was after the summer SCBWI conference in LA, I've had a few things going. First, I've been working on some line drawing art. I'm trying to get a black & white line drawing portfolio going. I've had it in the back of my mind for a long time, but I'm taking some action on that. I'll try to put up something soon. Secondly, I've been producing some beginning stage work for a small publishing project that came out of the summer conference--Woo Hoo! I don't want to say too much about it since it's still in early stages but I'm very excited about it. It has to do with mythology which I love!

Besides that, I'm teaching my usual art classes at OC High School of the Arts. It's great and I feel privileged to be there, but I was really ready for the holiday break. I had a very nice Christmas--stayed here instead of flying back to see family in NY--and had a good time with friends here. I'm planning on visiting NY in the summer instead since that is the time of year I love the most back east.

Hope everyone has a great New Year's!

New Resolves and Summer Teaching

Pin It Now! Here's the latest...I'm continuing to work on the Shunning Tree sequel illustration. It's moving along, but it's not quite there yet. In the meantime, I made a decision not to attend the summer children's illustration conference (SCBWI) in LA after all. In looking over my portfolio, I'm moving in a new direction stylistically in my new stuff. I'm at a point where I don't really like a lot of the stuff in my portfolio--well, I don't think it really fits where I'm at anymore. With my newer pieces, I'm aiming much more specifically at book cover art for middle grade and young adult fantasy. So...I need to spend more time developing this newer work so that I can phase out the older stuff. With this in mind my goal is to produce about 10 new illustrations in the coming year. I think this will really help in going after the specific market I have in mind. Better roll up my sleeves and get to it!

In other news, the summer arts class I'm teaching begins next week. I'll be teaching a 2-Dimensional art class for children ranging from 3rd all the way to 8th grade. There is both a morning and an afternoon class and it lasts for 6 weeks. I'm a little nervous about the wide range in ages. But I'm also hoping to really relax and have some fun since I don't have to worry about grading the work. We're just there to learn and have fun. I'll be experimenting with some new techniques and projects that I hope will turn out really cool.

That's all for now. Hope you're all having a creative summer!

Cara