a creative life
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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.…
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 dog, the box project, encouragement, a chat and gnocchi
My childrens book “The Professional Dog” has moved into color! Over the last week I’ve inked more than 12 of the illustrations just so I could see where I was going. Now I’m doing the same testing with colors. I’m using my butterfly palette (a post about that here) – it’s a fun challenge to…
A Creative Life, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, art prints, art techniques, artist book, artistic inspirations, books, children’s book, Creativity Chats, Dogs in Art, fine art, greeting cards, illustration, life of the mind, mental health, pet portraits, sketchbook, Sustainable creativity, visual thinking, whimsical art, words and pictures, writing, Writing And Illustrating -

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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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…
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Dragon, the creativity cat and baby blankets
In my last post I talked about how I manage art projects and time. I have an heretical approach and I was asked for more details. Here goes: One of my longtime interests is in how humans think, learn and how to maintain good mental health. I read on the topics often. Here’s a few…
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Dragon in the details
A work rhythm has been fairly firmly established. I wrote about that in my last post. My days now have a regularity that goes like this: Breakfast time contains sketchbook drawings with or without characters from my currently in progress childrens book “How To Draw A Dragon” Perhaps after eating breakfast I spend a few…
A Creative Life, art techniques, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, book design and layout, books, business of art, creative thinking, Gifts, household surrealism, illustrated poem, Odditorium, On Looking At Odditorium, recipe illustration, Sustainable creativity, visual thinking, whimsical art, words and pictures
