Super-duper busy mode

My hastily assembled work area in the kitchen, complete with coffee mug and unopened baby listening monitor on the table—I hope to open the monitor and actually use it, once hell-week is over.



I've been scarce for several days (and will continue to be for a few more) while I finish up a freelance project I'm working on. The deadline suddenly changed, and time to finish the work was suddenly in very short supply. So, I've been living and breathing this project for days now. I'll resurface in a few days and go back to blogging (and reading my favorite blogs).

Oh, and meanwhile, Pete is already recovering and in therapy for his knee. He'll be off for another week and a half, which is wonderful because I love hanging with him, but I'm going crazy from watching the Military Channel and cleaning up after him—but what else is new?

Anyhow, hope you all had a great holiday weekend...now back to the drawing board!



Spanky and Max, looking outside together during a moment of inter-species harmony

Back to the drawing (and proofreading) board—again!

I'm happy to say that things are perking up a bit in the freelance department for me lately. I've just been given an illustration project that will run for a few weeks (about 30 hours worth of work). And a potential temporary proofreading position has opened up as well, for which I just need to hash out the details and see if they'll work with my schedule (since I'm working on the illustration project first). AND, I'm beginning a collaboration on a children's book with an friend of a former coworker, which doesn't pay right away but has already been to a publisher and approved, so it's definitely got a chance of turning into something good.

I'm glad this is all hitting me right now, as I'm in the early part of my second trimester (I'm 15 weeks 2 days as of today). I was so severely fatigued, nauseous, and just generally feeling like crap for the last few months that I had trouble simply going about my daily routine at home (walking up stairs, doing laundry, feeding pets, brushing my teeth, etc.). So now I'm a bit refreshed, and although I have to take it easy with the physical stuff cuz I seem to keep pulling my ab/groin muscles (a wonderful side effect of pregnancy), I can certainly sit at my computer and work.

It's amazing how good it makes you feel when you have prospects (and hope for future prospects) after several months of no work and no job leads (except for the one freelance project I did back in June). I'm hopeful that work will pick up, and even if I'm not able to find full time work, perhaps I can become a full-time freelancer at home, which has always been my dream, and would be perfect with the impending arrival of our little one in February.

May you all have great success in your career and creative endeavors!

Setting up...

Well, I've dragged that old teacher's desk out of our storage room and placed it in front of that gorgeous wall of windows in our dining room. Of course, Pete might complain, but we're not set up in there for dining yet anyhow. So when we actually do put our dining table and china cabinet in there, which are patiently waiting in other locations, I'll assess the situation and see if my drawing desk still fits. If not, I'll go to Plan B and possibly C. But for now, it works. And I can spread out my drawing supplies/SCBWI info/journals on the table without having to pack stuff up again.



Yes, it's a plastic chair, but I don't really need anything new right now, unless I see something for a great price. But I'd love to hang up my inspiration board too, perhaps in some sort of temporary fashion so that I can move it if need be. Nice rusty burning barrel in the background, eh? That's Pete's thing. I wish I could get rid of it, but he likes to burn stuff in the middle of the yard in an old barrel. Go figure.



Now I just gotta go back to my parents' house and drag out all my drawing supplies from the garage. Wow, has it been that long since I've done traditional drawings? It's been all computerized work since I left home to be with Pete, so this is both exciting-new and comfortable-old territory.

Happy

I find myself in a really positive state of mind lately, and it's odd, but extremely nice. Kind of like a new dress that you can't wait to wear and like to dance around in, yet it feels new and alien and different than the "normal" you. I take the utmost joy in picking flowers in my backyard, savoring the taste of a chocolate bar, snuggling in some freshly-laundered linens, and having a great conversation with someone. That's how relaxed and just plain happy I feel these days.

I also think it's odd that I'm so happy now that I'm unemployed, but I think it's because I've been slowly finding my way down a few new paths, as well as because I'm away from an extremely stressful and depressing job. The children's book writer and illustrator seminar I went to on Saturday really opened my eyes and heart. She emphasized how an artist should always have a place in their home to create, and how they shouldn't apologize for what they are or what they see or what they make. She encouraged us to go for our dreams and just try. If the work doesn't come to you, then make your own work. I was so excited when I called Pete to tell him all about it. The teacher was wonderful, and she filled me with so much hope and potential. I feel like I can pursue my love of illustration, photography, and children's literature during a time when I would have been stuck in a bad job, doing something I cared little for, and not getting anywhere. When I think of my life a few months ago, I shudder at all the misery. Not that unemployment is a cake walk, but I didn't realize how utterly miserable I was before, and I guess it takes being truly happy to realize how unhappy you once were.

On the same day as my seminar, I also found out I'm getting another freelance project at the end of the month from my usual client. This fills me with so much joy and excitement. I'm hoping to carry that energy into new pursuits, new freelance contacts, and new projects. And I guess a lot of the enthusiasm comes from the continued remodeling of my home, which has been a long time coming. I'm actually able to walk around in my kitchen, to open my sliding screen door, to turn on my porch light and see who's at the door, all things I couldn't do only a matter of a week ago. You tend to take such mundane things for granted, but when they're not there, boy, do you feel the effects. When home is pretty and cozy and happy, so am I.

Thoughts of the future come to mind, things I'll be doing during the next six months, year, five years, and so on. The growth of my family, hobbies, work, and marriage...life seems so full of purpose and potential that I can hardly contain myself. I'm thrilled to be getting in touch with my long-postponed artistic career, and thoroughly enjoy puttering around my house, fixing things, finding great flea market finds, and relaxing with my animals.

I think this pretty dress suits me just fine.

Back to the drawing board

(Ha ha, no, not THIS drawing board...)

I've been doubly blessed during the last few weeks. First, I got a new assignment from a good client of mine to illustrate/design a new game. Then, I was contacted out of the blue to do a children's book, which is something I've always wanted to do and is a profession I'd like to sort of slide into this year. I figure I'm probably going to be forced to make a career move sooner rather than later anyhow (it's pretty grim at my current job, if you haven't heard me gripe about it before). So to start off the new year with two jobs is just the best feeling in the world. I'm so grateful that I have been granted the opportunity to pick up my pen again (whether a real pen or a computer drawing tablet pen) and play with those images floating around in my imagination. I can only hope that I do the best job possible and start paving my way toward a happier and MUCH more creative future.

It's good to have a career-related reason to smile. It seems like it's been forever for me. I suppose I should stop blogging and get to work, eh?

The wizardry of John R. Neill

I have always adored the beautiful and whimsical images of Oz illustrator John R. Neill. Not only are they colorful and quite delightful, but they perfectly compliment the writings of L. Frank Baum. A definite sense of the era from when the stories are based (early 1900s) is evident in the dainty girls, rosy-cheeked boys, and flowing skirts, tassels, and ribbons of many of the characters. Neill definitely had a touch for rendering animals in a sweetly humorous way, and they are major players in the Oz series.



I think my favorite of all time is the sawhorse.

The books are absolutely wonderful, too. Don't think that they're just for kids or young adults. Once I start reading one, I can't put it down til it's finished, and I immediately want to start another. I only read the first two of the fourteen books in the Oz series, and have had trouble since then finding the other twelve books. I'm still looking for a source for the awesome Del Ray series of paperbacks, which feature Neill's fabulous illustrations. And it's been so long since I read the first two books, I've forgotten what I've read. No matter, it'll be fun to read them again.

I plan on getting some colorful Neill prints in the near future, and would love to cover my walls in this happy little world called Oz.

A few samples

Well, I'm always talking about how I am an illustrator and how I want to do children's illustration full time, blah blah blah, but I've yet to post an example of any illustrations. So to avoid being all talk and no product, here are a very few out of my collection (I have TONS more). The top one was for a memory matching game I did a few years ago for a client (drawn via the Wacom drawing tablet attached to my computer). The other two are student pieces I did eons ago for my illustration class in college, to show that I could draw people and so I could pass the portfolio review (which I did, with flying colors). The color pencil drawing is just a picture using models from a magazine, but the black and white line drawing (stippling, actually) of the little boy with the candy in his mouth is my brother, who's all grown up now—see recent pix of him here.

I'm only thinking about this now because right now I'm applying for freelance jobs, as well as one full-time children's illustrator position I was lucky enough to stumble upon this morning. So I've been working all morning updating my resume and putting together a CD with portfolio samples on it for the art director. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on all of these opportunities, but it's a tough market, and there is a lot of excellent competition. All I can do is try, right?

I'll be showing more of my work in the near future, as I get my act together and my portfolio in shape. I have a bunch of cute children's illustrations I'd like to share that I think you'll like, and some other odds n' ends as well.