CELEBRATING THE 25TH YEAR OF MY DAYLIGHT SAVINGS REMINDER CARD BUSINESS!

My brand new Daylight Savings Reminder Card design. Cards are ordered by JW Marriott, Holiday Inn, and Embassy Suites hotels. This is my 25th year in this business!

A BUSINESS CARD FOR TEACHERS

When my daughter saw this picture on one of my recent FB posts she text'd me and said that it makes her smile, and would I please implement it on a design for her new business cards. Not my plan when I did the picture, but I think it works well for this :) 

I Took the Leap and Landed as a MARTHA STEWART AMERICAN MADE 2014 FINALIST!!

                                                       

Yes. I've become a finalist in the Martha Stewart American Made 2014 competition
... but IT'S NOT OVER YET! The next step is: TO VOTE!
Here's how:

1) Click on the red American Made badge below.
2) When you get to my Wee Five Designs page scroll down a TINY bit and you'll see where it says "VOTE"on the right hand side of the page (next to my small art images). Click on that. 
3) Then, if you're feeling generous, do it again 5 more times! (I'm allowed 6 votes per day per voter.)
4) REPEAT these steps each day. ... and don't forget to click on "SHARE on FACEBOOK or TWITTER" to spread the word. :o)

I am so grateful for this opportunity to not only win $10,000, but to get my artwork out there. A Social Media expert I'm NOT, but so many supportive people came out of the woodwork, shared my Martha Stewart nomination page with their Facebook or Twitter friends, and because of it, after 470+ shares, here I am!

I Took the Leap and Entered THE 2014 MARTHA STEWART AMERICAN MADE COMPETITION!

Good morning! See that little guy in the striped sweater? 

That's me... asking all of you for a HUGE, but very quick favor. Martha Stewart is putting on a competition for artisans in different categories of American Made products, so, after much thought, I decided to enter my Wee Five Designs Etsy shop of wall art prints. The rewards are amazing - if I even just became a finalist the exposure would be fantastic! The thing is, in order to become a finalist I need to get a ton of exposure on my own. To make this possible please click on this link now http://www.marthastewart.com/americanmade/nominee/90513/crafts/wee-five-designs to see my entry page, and click on "Facebook" and/or "Twitter" on that same page to share. Then let me know that you did so that I can give you a very grateful long distance hug! (the deadline is around the corner - August 28th.) :o)

"READ TO ME, LOOLY"

Another Looly watercolor. I sooo believe in the advantages of having books for children from the day they come into this world. I'm thinking of this wall art as a little bit of inspiration for those little readers. Can be purchased at my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/listing/197953817/wall-decor-for-the-little-reader-and?ref=shop_home_active_2

EAT YOUR VEGETABLES, OR NO DESSERT!

Looly. She never fails to amuse me!! I found her in the family vegetable garden the other day ... pointing out the clusters of plants sprouting little edibles. Naming them as if she were 30 years old instead of 3! .... (actually turning 4 fingers in a week!) Once again, my inspiration for this new painting.  
Did I say that I also have a greenish thumb? Those vibrant tomatoes in the painting? They're from MY garden! ... Just sayin  ;o)

AVAILABLE IN MY ETSY SHOP

CUSTOMIZING MY CHARACTERS - Little Ballerina & Little Artist

Just filled an order for a couple of prints from my Etsy shop. Since I offer custom hair and skin colors I was asked to give both Loolys dark hair and skin. A delightful challenge testing my Photoshop skills!

LITTLE ARTIST IN THE FLESH!

This weekend my 3 year old granddaughter (AKA Looly) was with me, and brought out little pots of acrylics and a coloring book saying she wanted to paint. I got a good paint brush out of my brush jar (the ones that come with sets for children are bad!), a small towel, jar of water, short card table and little stool. She was all set! This would be her first painting lesson. With soft music playing I proceeded to be a teacher. What a thrill!! They say when the student is ready the teacher appears. It's time. From what I've witnessed I seriously think drawing is in her blood.... big sigh of delight from me. So, here's the real Looly from my Princess of Coloring wall art piece - on her way to art stardom :o). 

DENTAL HUMOR IS ABUNDANT!

Just finished another customized dental picture for an Etsy customer. The dentist print is the most viewed on my site.... grateful for their sense of humor!

LITTLE PRINCESS OF COLORING

Presenting Delaney (aka Laney, Laney-Loo, Loo, Looly, Girly-Girl) East Harris — Artist Aficionado — at my drawing table. A pure labor of love.

IT WAS TIME TO SPLIT.

Never say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. After YEARS of using a huge array of markers and Prismacolor'd pencils as the medium for my illustration work, the last few days I've put my heart and soul into learning and working with watercolors. Bye-bye markers. You're no longer the star (sorry if I sound cold-hearted). HELLO watercolors!! 

I've found that: 

A. Doing serious research to know what you're doing is a must.

B. The placement of the watercolor color doesn't HAVE to be the end result.

C. Helllllloooo soft pastels and smudge sticks! Yes - that's the trick! 

Paint brush in hand, tiny speakers hooked up to Pandora, playlist selected: Michael Buble, Chris Botti, Billie Holiday, and I'm in my own special creative piece of heaven.  :o)

OUT WITH THE OLD

IN WITH THE NEW!

A RUNNER-UP FOR THE PRINCESS OF COLORING PICTURE

My younger daughter has very definite ideas about what she puts on the walls of her kids' room, and I love her choices. When I sent her the Princess of Coloring picture I'd first drawn (top pic) she came back to me with "I like your cartoon illustration style more. This looks too real or portrait like. I prefer no shading or much detail, but that's just my opinion." 

I get that, and agreed that it is a bit stiff. But.... different strokes for diff' folks - I know. Anyway, I decided to give a more whimsical style a try, and the one at the bottom is what I came up with. The coloring is just a practice run using Photoshop - not the final. (Apparently the hair style on this one is the trend for 3 year olds today.) 

I'm not sure which to put up on my Etsy shop. Maybe both? Your input please!

THE CROWN PRINCESS OF COLORING

Excited, but nervous! I've decided to start working in watercolor! I've done a tiny bit before, but this time, since I'm selling my wall art on Etsy, I'm taking it way seriously. I've done TONS of research (Love love love Susan Harrison-Tustain's work and website!!) and bought suggested brushes, paper, and good watercolor paint. After doing the acrylic painting Say Say Oh Playmate, (first time using that medium) for my granddaughter's nursery, I'm thinking I enjoy the painting process more than I do using my usual technique of markers and Prismacolor'd pencils. Here's the pencil work scan of the project I'm about to begin titled Crown Princess of Coloring. My subject and inspiration is that same granddaughter, now almost 4 years old. She LOVES to do art, so recently I lifted her onto a tall stool at my drawing table and took a couple of candid shots of her at work. Love her focus, fell in love with the whole subject matter, and can't wait to get started painting it! ..... jitter jitter

Btw, I'm having some issues with wondering if I should simplify my drawings to be less detailed and a bit more cartoony. That seems to be the look of today. Any opinions on that are welcome!

WOMAN GOLFER .... IT'S ALL IN YOUR MIND!

When my good friend and avid golfer, Suzanne, came to me with an idea for a new wall art theme last year, she had Christmas gifts for 3 of her golf cronies in mind. "How about putting distracting thought bubbles above their heads? Ones that will completely fit their individual personalities and interests, with their names included on the  caption Focusing on Her Game? Put a really difficult shot in there... like a lake seemingly MILES away surrounded by a gigantic wall of trees!"

I was game. Especially with the personalization. We emailed back and forth. She has a great sense of humor, and gave me the most outstanding traits of each of her friends, along with photos. The response from each was exactly what she had hoped for.... lots of laughter and nodding approval as they saw their specific similarities portrayed.

So when Suz and her husband invited us to their winter home in Palm Springs last week I knew what I had to do - a picture of Suzanne. A surprise picture! I know her well, so the thought bubble captions came to me with ease! Grabbing photos off of her Facebook page I went to town, and here's what she got.

REFERENCE PHOTOS:

Her ecstatic reaction as she saw her gift was worth 
a 1,000 hours of drawing!! 

And that's what it's all about!

*To see more fun work go to my Etsy shop!

ANOTHER DRAWING FOR THE BOOK

It's been quite a while since I've done work on this little guy. I go back and forth from drawing grown-up characters to little kid characters, depending on my assignments, causing my style and my thought process to change a bit like a chameleon. I read this morning that one of the traits of being a creative is to not like routine... which explains a lot about my surging drive to make changes.  Often.

So, back to the illustration. To show you how visions can be very different between author and illustrator here's the first drawing of Mr. southern boy brushing his teeth - the unfinished preview stage for the author's approval or NOT

- followed by the final drawing, post author's feedback. We obviously had different perspectives. My thought BRIGHT and childlike. Her thought Southern-subtle, which I actually prefer in this case. 

SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL ... MONKEYS' FIRST SALE!

Their first sale! Yippee! I'll bet they're not keeping quiet about this one ;o).

I first created this drawing with Marriage and Family Counselors in mind, but today I got a new perspective about the target market for this print. I received an order this morning for it to be customized for someone's boss whose last day on the job is Tuesday. Her profession? Human Resources! Never thought of that! Hmmmm.... I wonder how many other professions I may be missing here...

I feel genuinely honored to be sharing my humor with others who see it as a great gift for someone!!

Can be customized and purchased from my Etsy shop . As always, signed & dated on the front.

IT'S BECOMING MY CUSTOM TO CUSTOMIZE

I have an Illustration website where I showcase my portfolio of everything but the kitchen sink: children's wall art, greeting cards, children's picture book art, art for grownups, logos ... yada yada yada. Work I've done through the years. And I sell wall art online from my Etsy Shop site that began with nothing but art prints for children. Little by little I've added humorous wall art for big people (a small child's term for adults... and yes, I'm around little kids a LOT), and I think I've finally — after all these years at the drawing board, found my niche - CuStomIzing. Love it!! Love creating a character to resemble a photo, love figuring out how to turn that character into a story, and most of all a funny story that causes the REAL person-character to light up.... then crack up. 

Here are some examples that I just posted on Etsy to promote my dental office piece, Open Wider Please — and the photos that I worked from.

Will the REAL Jane Smith Please Stand Up... THE ART OF PERSONALIZING.

More and more, one of my specialties has become creating customized illustrations of people in a situation typical to them. It's not only fun for the one receiving it, but a very humorous challenge for me to get the best reaction possible! 

Here's the latest - and believe me, my customer and I had a GREAT time with the details!! I relish putting in as many personalized props as I can, going to the extent of having photos emailed to me for reference. This customer went so far as to get ahold of her mother's purse, and swiftly taking pics of some of its contents with her smart phone. Her mother couldn't stop shrieking with surprised delight each time she spotted a familiar detail.

So, here's the finished art, followed by some bits and pieces leading up to it, and ending with a photo of the leading lady. 

My only available "model" posing.

Near-final sketch- before accessory changes were made.

DASHER, DANCER, RUDOLPH & VIXEN ,,, or is it Comet, Cupid, Donner & Blixen???

HoHoDooDa day ???.

I'm so crazy busy that there's been no time for sketching. But, I did put up wooden Christmas decorations yesterday that my son-in-law cut out and I designed and painted. A little creative holiday cheer. The only thing they need is snow on the ground!

SILENT NIGHT... Day 12 HoHoDooDa

I have a baby in my life. Not MY baby, but close to it. His mom is my younger daughter Katy, so since she lives about 2 minutes drive from us I take possession of him often. I need to get my high of babydom (not in dictionary). The other high I get is watching his 11 year old big sister with him. As it nears the holidays it goes something like this .... 

... ALL IS CALM, ALL IS BRIGHT

CAROLING TO THE MOON

HoHoDooDa Sketch, Day 12

HERE WE COME A-CAROLING

MISSING PERSON

Another day of zero time for the HoHoDooDa sketch roll-out, soooo.... here they are again - my family cast of times gone by. (Dated by the old fashioned red looped mop!) Those were the days my friends — I thought they'd NEVER end!! A second  Christmas card to all our loved ones as a silent cry for help. TEENAGERS...! (Although, I have to confess ... the idea came to me through my own days as a testing teen ;o). 

 THE CHILDREN WERE NESTLED ALL SNUG IN THEIR BEDS

SEEING RUDOLPH

On Christmas Eve, when I was still a believer in "you know who", I was always sure I'd catch him flying across the sky if I stared up there long enough. 

On this Sketch Day 10 of HoHoDooDa I think it's time for his driver to have a part in this. An unexpected sight... like a dangling-from-the-rooftop reindeer peeking in at that curiously hopeful little girl.

It's a tough job .... but SOMEONE'S gotta do it!

HoHoDooDa Day 9.

Speaking of decorating the tree (still on the subject after 3 days ... sorry), I had zero time today to get to my HoHoDooDa sketch. So I thought I'd sort of cheat by putting up an illustration that fits the category, but that I did for our family Christmas card a few years ago. Some of the characters wish to remain anonymous due to feelings of shame that they now feel for being such self-involved rotten teenagers back then. And guess what? The guy reading the paper? Nothing's changed. The trees have only one decorator who cares. :o(

POSITION FILLED

HoHoDooDa holiday sketched Day 8

IF TREES COULD TALK!

HoHoDooDa Day 7

True story. My Christmas tree's been up for a week. Should I feel guilty? 

Oh Christmas tree, OHHHHH CHRISTMAS TREE!

Day 6 out of 30 HoHoDooDa sketch-a-day event.

I'm klnd of into doing a play on words using Christmas song titles, so while thinking of possibilities this came to mind. It actually happened to me as I was feeding one of my grand babies! My back was to the decorated Christmas tree behind me when I noticed baby Caiden's eyes getting bigger and bigger as he looked past me, spoon entering his little mouth. I turned around and there was the tree in the midst of its great fall. No cat involved, but why not put one in?.... after all,  I'm my own boss here in this sketchy business! ;o) 

Oh Christmas tree ...... OHHHHHH, CHRISTMAS TREE!!

SNEEK PEEK

Day 4 of HoHoDooDa .... a sketch a day for the month of December.

When I was only six years old I can remember clearly being bribed by my older brother & sister to sneak-open their wrapped Christmas presents that were hidden in my mother's closet (not the most original of hiding places). Why ME? Because they were 5 years older, and I was their patsie.  And so it was for the next several years - a tradition to open my presents not once... but twice.

It belongs in Day 4.

CHRISTMAS CAROL

This is Day 2 of the big sketch-off, HOHODOODA, originated by one very talented & WITTY illustrator, Linda Silvestri. You can tell how serious this is by the name. 

Basically, this goes on for the entire month of December, and so far, 16 of us have signed up. EVERY day a sketch is due .... or is it DOO?? The great thing about it is that there's no BOSS here. The only one you have to report to is yourself! How perfect is that?!! And the biggest incentive isn't a a gift card to Tiffany's at the end of the month.... it's GUILT if you miss a day!  — Even in this crazed, "Times running out to buy those gifts .... and to make those cookies.... and to put up the tree .... and to decorate the house... and to clean up the house so you can decorate the house... and to send out the Christmas cards (yeah.... not this year)." So, this will either put me in the holiday spirit, or turn me into a Crabby Patti with deadline after deadline after deadline of sketches due DAY ..... AFTER DAY.... AFTER DAY. 

I'm going a little drama-girl here. It's gonna be fun .... here's my 2nd one. 

           Carol loves dressing up for the annual Christmas party!

Twas the first week of December when all through the house, not a creature was stirring .... except for this mouse.

(OK, OK! I know there are two MICE, but the title had to rhyme!)

This is my first sketch for the Hohodooda holiday sketch-a-thon! Two frustrated mice trying to squeeze the bulky Christmas tree through their limited mouse hole space. This is just the step one .... next, let the decorating BEGIN!

It's not so great, but it's late, I'm tired, and it's a start!

HOME OFFICE CASUAL FRIDAY ... at the computer.

For those of you who work from your home I'm pretty sure most of you can relate to this latest wall art piece. I admit it's pretty much a self portrait for me!! (Yeah.... SCARY!) As a matter of fact, if you could see me now you'd be seeing the same image - typing away like I just rolled out of bed. But I'm cozy. And I love that no one can see me. And I love that there's no one around me to cause possible stress ... well, maybe my husband, but he knows to leave me to my focus on my work self. How many of you see yourselves in this picture? I need a good laugh, so please post a comment here about YOUR day at work!

DISTRACTIONS WITH THE MANTRA

With the holiday gift giving time swiftly approaching I'm in acceleration mode to line up some humorous wall art pieces! Ideas are already scribbled down on my "funny art to do" list ... and now I'm putting my pen point to the paper to get them done. The first idea came the other morning as I was trying to quiet my mind with meditation. In Yoga sitting position (it's stressful enough getting my legs crossed), with angelic background music that could calm Daffy Duck, eyes closed in transendental state, barely whispering my mantra ....... "OMmmmmm," everything I've ever had on my mind starts talking to me! And I try again... and again... and again! DAMN! How does Deepak DO it??! 

                                     

SEE THIS & MORE AT MY ETSY STORE

UNDERWATER WITH SANTA

Illustration Friday is a fun site for illustrators to show off their stuff. The idea is to submit a piece of art that relates to the topic given. This week it's Underwater. Since I don't have time to come up with something new, I've submitted a picture I created several years ago for a greeting card company, CardMakers, that I freelanced for during the holiday seasons. I really had fun with this one of Santa handing out fish treats! Loved using the bright colors.

CALLING ALL LITTLE BALLERINAS!

I've never been one to leave anyone out. Here they finally are, the Little Ballerinas and Their First Audience in their very own colors. This is just a sneak preview — see each of them in full view. Begin by clicking here.

Little Ballerina - her first audience

Now all that's needed is the APPLAUSE!   

**For sale on my Etsy site.