IF - poise

I can't think of a more poised creature than a cat. I love how they sit so elegantly and look so comfortable in any position. I also love how they sliently come into a room and all of the sudden you look over and they are there, looking, of course, very poised.

IF - subtract

A quicky for Illustration Friday this week with the theme word - subtract. A little creative warm-up before I begin my workday.

new banner!

check it out! Since it's officially the beginning of spring, I had to change my banner from "hello winter" to "happy spring". I've been wading through sheets of paper and am covered with pencil dust, sketching and sketching for the book I'm illustrating and for the upcoming holiday release for A Muse. I haven't been on the computer much, so it was fun to do this quick little banner.

so sad

One of the hardest things to deal with as a parent is seeing your child hurt, either physically or mentally. This week was a tough one. My daughter, who's a freshman in high school, spent the last 2 weeks in Cheerleader Boot Camp, in preperation for trying out for next year's squad. This has been a dream of hers for years! To be on the cheer squad and date the hot quarterback is her idea of the ultimate high school experience.

Even though it was never a dream of mine (far from it!), I supported her wholeheartly. She had to be at school at 6:45 everyday for the 2 week "camp", which meant getting up at 5:30 to get ready to leave by 6:15. She put her heart and soul into these practices and did everything that was asked of her.

They had to make a poster with a picture of themselves and words like "I'm enthusiastic!" They had to be interviewed by the head cheerleaders, "What would you bring to the team?" They had to dress up for school one day to prove they were role models for the school. They had to make their own pom poms to show their creativity. My daughter did all these things and did them well and with 100 percent enthusiasm. I've never seen her try so hard and be so excited about anything. And you guessed it, she didn't make the squad.

The cruelest part of all, was the way they let the girls know the outcome of all their hard work. They were to go home and wait by the phone. If they made it, the phone call would be to the parents, asking them if their daughter could be kidnapped for the night (a sleepover) or a phone call to the kid, saying "sorry, try again next year". They had to have their bag all packed, just in case. I found this to be so humilating to the girls who didn't make it.

And the final worst of the worst parts was, 2 of her friends made it, and she was the one who talked them into trying out!

We had a few rough days, lots of tears and hurt feelings, but the kid is amazing. She's back to her normal, happy self - ready to take on the world again. I think it may take me longer to get over it than it did her. I wanted to fix it somehow, go to the school, talk to the principal, demand something! Of course, I couldn't do that, the girl was already humilated enough. So, life goes on, we survived.

If you read all of this, my blogging friends, thanks for listening, this was a long post for me!

IF - intricate

Intricate steam and background on this oldie but goodie (pre-digital). Done with acrylic paint and decorative paper for my greeting card line, n7 designs.

IF - breezy

I didn't want to let another Illustration Friday go by without entering, so I'm digging out another older image that fits the theme pretty well. I luckily have too much going on right now to do a new piece!

I'm working hard on the illustrations for the children's book project I landed. Yay! I still can't believe I'm actually illustrating a children's book! So far, I've - figured out what illustrations will go on each page, made a small storyboard, did some initial sketches of the cover and title page and now I'm working on character sketches of all the quirky character's in the story. So much fun! I am one lucky girl!