Here are a couple little sketches I did at this time last year.  

This is Little Miss Big Ears at the beauty parlor.  

She got a bit spooked by her new hairdo! 

Have a safe and fun~filled Happy Halloween!!!

*As you can see I am working on updating my blog, website, and logo as well. 

Please be patient with me, so much to do!

Rubber Puppy You're the One

I'm having a little case of the

Sunday night blues.  How about you?  

I thought a bit of puppy might cheer me up.

This one is a vintage lover's dream, 

copyright by the Edward Morley Co.,

manufactured by Arrow Rubber and 

Plastics Corporation.  No date on the 

belly by the maker's mark but I am 

guessing 1950's? 

The moment our blinking eyes met I was driven to
draw this sweet guy-or my version anyway.













This one came out with a mischeivious look in his
eye, like he may be about to doggie doo something,
which ultimately does the job of making me smile.

Have a great week friends!

1 Little, 2 Little, Love Little Indian Dolls

Hello everyone!
As you might know I am a huge fan
of flea markets and rummage sales.  This summer I
scored when I found a collection of vintage Native
American Indian dolls.  I recall begging for this
same kind of doll when we went on family road trips.
Anyway, I only bought 6 out of the collection and was
kicking myself for not buying more when not long ago
the church had another sale and they were still there (!)
so I bought the rest plus some funky,
amazing Jamaican dolls.

They are really fun to draw.

I have become a bit obsessed and have them in baskets around my studio.

I painted this one with gouache,
which I haven't used in quite a while.
I love the brightness compared to watercolor.

Still warm enough to get out there and scour those sales!
You never know what you might find,
maybe even a piece of your childhood:)

Grab a Coke!

Well, I'm finally back!  I know it has been a long hiatus, but I

guess I need to sort some things out.  I've decided to shift gears

a bit and focus more on my textile work. I am still trying to

adjust my style so my textile and illustration work can skip along

merrily hand in hand.  There are quite a lot of artists who do this,

one of my favorites being Helen Dardik (http://www.oneluckyhelen.com).

Her work is super cool, and she has a wide range of work in her portfolio.

One thing writing my blog did was to push me to finish illustration sketches.

I know I need that again, so here I go.

Continually inspired by Lilla Rogers (http://www.lillarogers.com/) Studio.

Lilla gives these free inspiration prompts.  One recently was something

like "What is your favorite beverage, and why?"  It immediately made me

think of drinking Coke as a kid at Grandma and Grandpas.  They had

these cool plastic cups that had little straw textured "fabric"inside them.

(I was thrilled to find some at an antique store- Judith's Attic Antiques,

in Ripley, Ohio.)

Grandma would load it down with ice and pour in the Coke.  We rarely

got soda, so this was a big deal.  Now when I pour cola, the scent takes

me back.  Summer weekends playing behind Grandma and Granpa's house in

Cincinnati.  Grandpa would fill the aluminum boat up with water 

(if we were lucky) and we got to cool off in our dry dock pool!

Above is my rough sketch of that moment, and a tracing below.  

I decided to add the adults having cocktails because that is usually

what was happening and it adds to the story.  

    Here is my final watercolor and pencil painting.  I am interested in collage and 

      thought it would be neat to add a piece of lace (scanned and printed onto paper) 

            to look like the tablecloth grandma always had on the dining room table 

beneath the Roseville vase of gladiolas.

What are your fondest memories of childhood?

Grab a Coke and sing along with me..."I'd like to buy the 

world a Coke and keep it company..."