children’s book
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Our current times, tuning in to awe and books
This week war began and for a second being an artist felt frivolous. But in difficult times we need art more than ever. We need things and people that feed our spirits and remind us of why we’re glad to be alive. We need hope. That’s how we fight for democracy and win. When the…
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Benefits of miniature art, celebrations and a love letter to librarians
Some of my sketchbook pages this week felt like personal milestone markers, like “Yeah! That’s exactly the point of it!” This what I enjoy about having a regular sketchbook habit, the aha moments. In the studio I’m working on a fine art reproductions project that I can’t talk about much yet. But I’ve discovered another…
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On using banned book lists as a buyer’s guide and other subversive activities
Book banning is a hot topic with me because I’ve been on the receiving end of bans. Those occurrences happened in Oklahoma over 10 years ago when I lived there. To name just one example, in 2008 I was to have a one person art exhibit at the Oklahoma State Capital. More than a few…
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Miniature art, books, dogs, a cow, a bird, a dragon and a rabbit review
This week I finished the dog painting you saw in my sketchbook and on my easel in my last post. The cow is still active in the field of my imagination as is a wee bird. More on that later in this post. Here’s the completed dog portrait titled “Being exquisite”. Like the dog portrait…
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The Professional Dog and Jolabokaflod
Here are this weeks featured Professional Dogs … waiting excitedly for Jolabokaflod! Or… … maybe not. 🤣 Anyway, below are closer views of each dog portrait and below each is the text line in the book. As mentioned in a prior post the Aurora Gallery quickly sold out of my book The Professional Dog and…
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The Professional Dog book on Storyberries, Thanksgiving and holiday box details
Lots to share: The Professional Dog is out in print and as an ebook on Storyberries! In a bit I’m sharing my creative process for my holiday box project. But first, because people tell me they’re enjoying it, I am continuing to feature 3 dogs from The Professional Dog per week so here’s this weeks……
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Professional dogs, books, Thanksgiving art and some about the holiday box!
Here’s news about The Professional Dog and all of my projects that I couldn’t talk about in my last posts! First, this weeks sequence of dogs. Below is a closer look at the artwork of each of those dogs with the book text beneath. As I mentioned in another post I tend to work first…
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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…
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Professional dogs, clutch pencils, fountain pens, writing and drawing
More progress this week on The Professional Dog, my latest childrens book project. Here are three together and like I mentioned in my last post perhaps you can see how the colors transition from one piece to the next? Here are closer looks so you can see the details. I’m creating each portrait using ink…
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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.…
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