books
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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…
A Creative Life, Alphapets, animals in art, art commissions, art gallery, art techniques, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, book design and layout, books, Cats in art, children’s book, dog portrait, Dogs in Art, fine art, miniature art, poetry, publications – publishing, published art, reading in art, visual story, whimsical art, wordless story, words and pictures, Writing And Illustratinganimals in art, artist books, artist/author, books, boxes, coloring book, concertina, dog, fine art, folded book, handmade books, how to draw a dragon, Kidzstoriesandmore, leporello, poetry, portraits, printed books, rabbit, selfpublishing, slipcase, Storyberries, whimsical art, wordless books, wordless poem -

Miniature art, dogs, cows and books
This week had a cow in it (more on that in this post) and a dog portrait. I selected one of my sketchbook drawings as an idea for what to paint using the new brush technique I learned from the book, Miniature Art by Joan Cornish Willies that I talked about in my last post.…
A Creative Life, art book review, art techniques, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, Books In Art, creative thinking, dog portrait, Dogs in Art, drawing as thinking, fine art, handmade books, household surrealism, humor in art, miniature art, poetry, sketchbook, small things, Sustainable creativity, visual thinking, whimsical art, wordless story, words and picturesart book reviews, art studio, art techniques, artist, artist book, author, book making, books, cow, dog, dog portraits, Donna Young, fine art, miniature art, Mother Goose, reading, self publishing, The Annotated Arabian Nights, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, tiny art, whimsical art, work in progress -

The Arabian Nights, miniature art and studio equipment
This week was … there. Reading Marcus Aurelius helped. So did the oranges, the coffee, the leaves in the yard, the books and art. Talking with my spouse helped too. I kept returning to this quote from Marcus Aurelius so I did this gouache and ink painting. Then I added it to my “for encouragement”…
A Creative Life, art prints, art techniques, artistic inspirations, books, creative thinking, Creativity Chats, fine art, household surrealism, mental health, miniature art, publications – publishing, published art, sketchbook, small things, Sustainable creativity, words and pictures, Writing And Illustrating -

The last Professional dogs and The Arabian Nights
Drum roll please… here are the last pages from The Professional Dog. I finished the social media postings of this series on the very last day of 2021. How’s that for timing? Lol!! So you can see a closer view… and read the accompanying text 👇 Thank you for following my entire process as I…
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The Professional Dog and our Jolabokaflod festivities
Here below are 3 dogs from The Professional Dog and details about our Jolabokaflod holiday! The text from the book is below each dog portrait. In my last post I shared some of the books we’d ordered that came early for Jolabokaflod. Our house “rule” is that any adulting ceases and we open the book…
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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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Professional Dogs, a book review by a dog, some cats and Jolabokaflod
Here’s the dogs this week from my book The Professional Dog. A famous dog reviews my book. Some people asked if I have cat artwork… but first the three dogs… Below each enlarged portrait there’s the text from the book. My friend Liz Gauffreau typed up and shared her dog, Mr. Johnson’s, review of The…
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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…
