Life Book Journal Class #3

Currently I'm taking a mixed media Journal book class and there are now over 1100+ student from all over the world participating in it. It is called Life Book 2012, and it offers 14 talented instructors from all around our planet, a new one every few weeks.
Here is the link:
http://willowing.org/lifebook.html
This #3 Project was a hard one to interpret, I even put it aside.  I'm not always able to do these pages in order, especially if I get stumped as I did in this one.

The Assignment:

Identify two opposite & conflicting sides within yourself,
Then depict your two sides as characters, 
Draw them together in harmony.
Most the students used Greek or Roman mythology.
I took a fun quiz, which determined I'm most like Athena, Goddess of Love .
However, I choose to do mine using Thai mythological characters because I did grow up in Thailand and this is supposed to represent me.

My Two Conflicts:

I sometimes find myself in conflict with where to live. I'm an Aquarius who loves the water, tropical beaches & sand, but
I equally love the forest & mountains too.
I started with two traditional Thai characters, one represents land/forest whereas the other ocean/beaches. I transformed them, giving each my own unique spin. Something similar can be found on Thai temple walls carved into their century's old stone. My interpretation has changed each to be much more whimsey & modern.

First I drew this in pencil, then I scanned it into photoshop, and made a selection of my line art. Then I opened it into Corel Painter 12 as I'm trying to brush up on my computer art skills. Instead of painting with watercolors or acrylics, this time I painted with light. I'm super rusty in Painter and needed some work time in it.
Now I feel like taking a class to relearn Painter....Steep learning curve if you put it aside too long.

Life Book Journal Class #5

This is Life Book Assignment Wk. #5

Artwork when cropped, often looks better 

See how these fun fibers sparkle? 

I painted this on my Birthday (yesterday Feb.1st)

 I had fun playing around with "Angelina Sparkle Fibers" for hair. 

This is how the original artwork really looks.

A portrait of me with my fantasy hairstyle. 

And Yes,

 I think it would be very cool to have pink & red dreads.

I'm probably on Facebook with my kitty,

 who often reads FB with me!

Life Book #1

This is January 2012

Time to Start a New Journal Art Book. 

So, I began taking a Journal Art class called "Life Book" via the web. The cool thing is there are 900 make that 1225+ students & 15 17 instructors, from all over the world.  The teachers are tops in their fields, and this is a big opportunity to learn from the best of the best...........crème de la crème.

If YOU are interested in enrolling, it is not too late to join. The class goes on for a full year.  You can go at your own pace and we get to learn tons of new art techniques.

Click here, this is the link to the class to enroll;

LIFE BOOK class link
And This Is the Course Outline for the Entire Year

Step 1. It always starts with blank Fabriano Hot Press Paper

Here is the 1st page. The assignment was titled "My Superpower's".  It is about yourself....me....and I'm to list my superpowers on the fold-out flap side. Everyone has special traits, characteristics, qualities, attributes... the hard part is listing them. Narrow them down to your finest qualities. I haven't done that yet... I used color pencil & Pen & ink with 2 rhinestones hidden in it. 

Then I also made a Banner for my Etzy store using my girl. Which BTW, is me, and in real life I really do have 2 different colored eyes. I almost always change my eyes in Photoshop, to reflect just blue. But maybe having 2 different colored eyes is my superpower marking?

I ended up having to do it twice,

because I accidentally ripped it...long story...but I had fun with it.

Here is the first try at it, using mixed media.

She makes a cute cropped image too.
This is the original hand-painted design

This is after I touched her up in Photoshop, just a wee-bit :-)

Organizing Art Supplies

Happy New Year Everybody
Today I'm organizing my art supplies in the studio
OK let's call this my New Year's Resolution.

Art supplies are expensive, but what good are they if always kept tucked tightly away in their original tins & boxes (reminds me of fine dinner china we bring out occasionally). That is not very conducive to creativity when it becomes a chore to open & repack art supplies. 

I'm looking for a better way...

So here it is, my new Philosophy, it's something to help me stay actively creative in my space. I'm going to start throwing away all the original packaging, boxes & tins that my supplies came in 
(OK store some & recycle others)......But my point is,
to keep them opened & available at all times...
no more unpacking & repacking. 
Besides, I can always tell when I'm not being very creative, because my studio is all neat & clean. Well,  I'm not against keeping my studio tidy, but not to the point I have been.
I will continue to search for more ideas,
for a start, here is what I did today; (double click to see full view)

Say goodbye to the tucked away storage concept

Invest in good open-storage systems

Find fun new creative ways to store supplies.
I used cute old cookie tins, jam jars & a Lazy Susan.
Now the pencils are at my fingertips.

 Unpacked my Golden's too 

Fun birds handmade by friend Kim Brian Sorden
owner of Magic Fairy Candles 

Grab your party hats

Happy New Year Everybody

You can always double click to super size

SCBWI Mentor Program

I'm Excited
I've been accepted into "The Rocky Mt. Chapter SCBWI Mentor Program"

 Woohoo! My application was approved!

I get to participate in the 2012 Mentor Program through

"The Society of Children's Book Writer's & Illustrators".  

My Mentor Coach will be the talented New York trained,
 Boulder based Illustrator, Roberta Collier Morales:

www.robertacolliermorales.com

She will get me pointed in the right direction!!!

The Mentor Program was born from a desire among members, like myself, 

who would honor the opportunity to thrive & bloom
 in a 6 month intensive one-on-one craft focus.

A significant way to start my 2012 New Year
I am very excited & quite nervous too.

Cute Tiny Business Cards

A cool new idea, something different,  is to use small business cards called "mini cards",  they are 1/2 the size of regular cards. 

I found a company that I'm really pleased with called MOO.COM. I got 100 cards for $19.00, with an extra -10% off on my 1st order. The best part is they have something called "MOO Printfinity" which means you can have numerous designs (even up to 100) within your 100 card pack. Now that is cool! These Mini Cards are printed in full color, on both sides, with no extra hidden charges.

Check out my cards below on MOO proof sheets. It's so much fun playing with their user friendly software. Gee, I sound like a commercial, but I'm not affiliated with this company. I just found this company to offer top notch quality & I was impressed. Oh & my cards arrived in 3 days, now that's fast! 

So which one is your favorite? 

You can double click to get the full Zoom view

A Merry Christmas Card

A 

very 

Merry Christmas

especially to you.

My pen & ink drawing

made on watercolor paper.

Honor each & every day with gratitude