author illustrator
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Professional dogs, artist books, unmentionables and hamburger
My new childrens book, The Professional Dog, is progressing nicely. I’ve been thinking of this as a fine art dog portrait album inspired by the idea of the 19th century parlor game The Minister’s Cat. My book concept is an excuse to talk to my friends about their dogs and see if I can do…
A Creative Life, art commission, art exhibit, art gallery, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, business of art, children’s book, creative thinking, dog portrait, Dogs in Art, fine art, fine art commission, public art, Sustainable creativity, whimsical art, words and pictures, Writing And Illustrating19th century parlor game, art studio habits, Aurora Gallery, books, caplan art designs, children’s book, dog portraits, dogs, fine art, fine art commission, fine art exhibits, friends, hamburger, In Diane’s Kitchen, local art galleries, Pacific Northwest, play, playing, reading, recipe, sketchbook, Sustainable creativity, the Minister’s cat, The Professional Dog, time management, word games -

Professional Dogs, puzzles, holiday box and figure ground relationships
I got my Covid19 booster shot and thought of the relationship between individuals and community. That brought jigsaw puzzles to mind. Quite a number of people were getting vaccinated the same time I was and it got me to thinking of how each one of us fit into the local community in some interlocking way.…
A Creative Life, art book review, art gallery, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, children’s book, creative thinking, dog portrait, Dogs in Art, fine art, Gifts, illustration, life of the mind, mental health, mundane and magical moments, pet portraits, small things, Sustainable creativity, visual thinking, words and pictures, Writing And Illustratinga creative life, a creative process, Alan Watts, book reviews, books, caplan art designs, community, covid booster, Covid19 Vaccine, creativity, dog portraits, dogs, Edgar Rubin, Emotional health, figure-ground relationships, fine art, Gestalt Shift, holiday box, individual, jigsaw puzzles, Liz Gaffreau, mental health, optical illusions, Rubin Vase, thinking -

Professional dogs, box project, studio tour and veggie lasagna
My childrens book The Professional Dog progresses along! Below are three in a row. Do you see how the colors in one piece leads to the colors of the next? For example the background color on the left dog becomes the shirt color on the middle dog… My use of color is one of the…
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Professional dogs, box project, cards, books, the first chat and some biscuits with gravy
The Professional Dog text for my in-progress childrens book is solid enough that this week I focused on the illustrations. I’ve done about 12 of them in ink and have established a pattern for the artwork that relates to the text. I’m working on bringing the illustrations up to the same semi solid level of…
A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, creative thinking, Creativity Chats, food in art, greeting cards, illustrated poem, illustrated recipe, kitchen art, mental health, poetry, publications – publishing, published art, Sustainable creativity, This Rabbit, words and pictures, Writing And Illustrating3d art, art gallery, Art Licensing, art prints, biscuits and gravy, caplan art designs, children’s books, community, community-care, encouragement, fine art, holiday box project, illustrated recipes, illustrating, illustrations, Kidzstoriesandmore, love and support, mental health, publishing, reading, recipe postcards, self publishing, self-care, writing -

Dogs, boxes, old stories, cards, nachos and video vibes
The text for my newest childrens book project “The Professional Dog” is shaping up. I’m still collecting dog photos from friends but I’ve almost gotten them all. The project still feels vague but it’s more in focus than it was last week. I’m content to view it with my peripheral vision so to speak. Dog…
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Professional dogs, new books with mac and cheese
All week I’ve been collecting photos of dogs from my friends and writing and rewriting the text for my newest childrens book project to be titled “The Professional Dog”. I’ve been thinking of the 19th century parlor game called The Minister’s Cat and have been updating that game idea with a variety of professions and dogs.…
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The professional dog and what’s in the cards
I’m starting a new childrens poem project “The Professional Dog”. It’s an excuse to do a series of portraits of dogs owned by friends who have professions that fit neatly in an alphabetic format… accountant, botanist, chef…. (Yes, another abecedarian book!!) Several friends – with dogs – have different professions that could fit for the…
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How the Odditorium and Dragon are going
So far so good! 4 of the artworks in my Odditorium exhibit at Caplan Art Designs sold! 3 sold before the official opening! The exhibit is virtual but the gallery still had an “opening night” – as I wrote in my last post it wasn’t the same kind of party as pre-pandemic ones – this…
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MAGIC BEANS – The best since jack found his enchanted beans
Bernadette from newclassicrecipe.com asked me to share my magic beans recipe with her readers – so I told my secrets and included sketches! The triple threat she mentions below is me…🤣😇🥳 My story and recipes from my college art school days are in the link below. Enjoy! Fee-fi-fo-fum!I smell the blood of an English man.Be…
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Dragons, margaritas, a toad and a garden
Progress was made this week on my “How To Draw A Dragon” childrens book project. Here’s what my studio looks like when success happens. Yes, doesn’t that look a whole lot like what my studio looked like in my last post and the post before that? Being creative is like cooking – you get one…
