Visions of Sugar Plums Dance in my head

As promised, here is a peek at some more of the work that has kept me en pointe  lately.

Please welcome our next guest. She isn't a sugar plum, but she could teach you to make one, and she dances (though, admittedly, not well);

she's ChefArella!

ChefArella Is a rhyming story about a princess who wants to be a chef, but whose mother insists princesses should be ballerinas.

If all goes well, the story will be self-published by the author sometime next year (cross your fingers). I have been contracted to do some editing and illustrating.

I recently finished a mock-up, or "dummy" for the project. A dummy allows you to see how the book will split into pages and where the text will fall. It's a rather involved process, but a lot of fun. 

 For now, I will post some of my favorite thumbnails from the dummy. 

No Longer November

Obviously, it's no longer November. The last time I posted, I was excited about NaNoWriMo. Did I "win"?
"We all won!" the cheerily inclusive voice in my head exclaims.
"Ummm . . . no," the hard-boiled voice corrects, "don't be obnoxious."

So, to be honest, no, I didn't write the 50,000 words that I wanted to write in November. I did write about 27,500 words (to make a total of 32,088) for which I am justly proud.

I meant to write the extra 22,471 but life happened instead. To be exact, some jobs happened . . . all at the same time. Wanna see?

Here are a couple of coloring book covers created in Illustrator (or parts of them). They're highly Christmas appropriate, no?

. . . and a few interiors (drawn in Photoshop):

There is another project that has kept me busy lately, and I'm excited to share it with you all. I'll leave you with the tantalizing promise to post about it soon. Really. 

NaNoWriMo!

So, I'm a little late getting this post up (as usual), but I'm excited to announce that I am participating in NaNoWriMo!

If you didn't already know, I'm here to tell you that November is national novel writing month. Who decided that? I have no clue. Why November? Probably because it creates a nice alliteration with "national," and "novel," (which is something a writer can appreciate).

You can still join the site (and the madness) at nanowrimo.org. We're an online collective of scattered people attempting simultaneously to write 50,000 words in one month.

If, during the next twenty-odd days, you notice anyone scribbling madly while waiting at a stoplight, attempting to type while walking, or looking generally exhausted while mumbling about plot development, they're probably participating.

I, personally, am continuing work on a piece already in progress. I'm shooting to add 50,000 more words this month. Yes, I might be crazy.

The site allows users to upload a "cover" image. I got really excited about that (big surprise) and spent a lot of time searching for fonts instead of writing. I think it was worth the effort, if for no other reason, than because it makes me feel all fizzy inside whenever I access my NaNoWriMo page. I know, I know, I'm supposed to be a writer, but that really might be the best way to describe the feeling.

In case you're wondering, I used Sleepy Hollow by Filmfonts, and One Two Trees by CloutierFontes on fontspace.

Many miles away there's a shadow on the door of a cottage on the shore of a dark Scottish lake. --Walter Scott

OK, so we're not in Scotland . . . and we don't live next to a lake. But, we do live next to a pond, and there is indeed a shadow on my door, and that door is, you guessed it; on a cottage.

So, obviously, we moved.

We packed one tiny dog, one very disgruntled cat, and all our worldly possessions into a moving van, said "tra-la and goodbye" to the pink house and brown cockroaches of Georgia, and ascended to the wilds of . . . New Jersey.

It was a long trip and it deserved a long sentence.

I've literally been too busy painting our new house (as in slapping gallons of green paint onto ancient, once white siding) to take the time to paint our new house (as in, well, you see).

But, I finally sat down and did it. Yay me.

Post Cards

           

They're here! My first official postcard samples have arrived. The edges are a bit raw, but I'm not fussed. I used Vistaprint and went with their standard paper and a gray-scale backside. As far as I'm concerned (and I've been known to be picky) the color and saturation look pretty much like the files I uploaded. 

A warning: Vistaprint is a little wacky. You have only two size options; 5.47"x 4.21" or  8.52"x 5.47". Oh, you already have a design in a standard 5"x 7"? Fuhgeddaboudit. They at Vistaprint go in for no such tomfoolery. Also, printing quantities are 100, 250, 500, 1000, 1500 or any multiple of said options. So, your agent specifically requested 350? You'll have to upload your image(s) twice and purchase one set of 100 and one set of 250. In the end, I would say the image quality for the price is well worth the fanegalin' if you ain't rollin' in the green. 

A big Thank You! to my super SIL Meghan Molumby for her graphic design advice.

Pop! Snakes

Last time, I posted about the Pop! Owls and my original intent to do a series. Well, I got all pumped-up over the idea again and lit a little fire under my own tush. Here's the next installment! I have several more ideas. Let's see if I can maintain my own interest.

I went ahead and put this one up on society6 as well. You can find it: HERE

Pop! I'm new on society6

I originally did this piece for my sister. I hear it's hanging merrily in her kitchen in Oregon. I had plans for a whole series depicting a variety of creatures "popping" into life. If only the pictures popped as effortlessly into existence as this little owl did. 

The hubby, Brandon Keehner has been very successful selling his work on society6. It has something to do with the type of work he does, the type of shoppers on society6, and also with his general awesome-ness. I've always felt that most of my work was too illustrative and child-oriented to be very well received on the site, but I recently got a wild hare up my---well, I just decided to try it out.

Check it out HERE 

 

 

 

More Coloring Book Pages

From: Police Dog Hero Coloring Book

From: Wise About Water Conservation Coloring Book

From: Wise About Water Conservation Coloring Book

Busy Busy

I've been too busy with my coloring books to post. Yes, I realize that sentence conjures images of a five year old, sprawled happily on the living room floor, surrounded by an explosion of Crayolas. Twenty-three years ago, that was indeed me. I still play with coloring books but these days I'm drawing instead of coloring them, and it really has been keeping me very busy.

From: Braces Making Faces Coloring Book

From: All Hallows Eve Fun Coloring & Mask Book

From: Your Healthy Bones & Body Coloring Book