reading
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How the cow went over the moon, a dragon and got books that were banned
In my last post I shared my methods of making the original artist books “How The Cow Went Over The Moon” and “Tiny Notes”. The handmade original one-of-a-kind books are the basis for a printed version, newly released, titled “How The Cow Went Over The Moon and Tiny Note To The Sun” (https://www.blurb.com/b/11033023-how-the-cow-went-over-the-moon-and-tiny-notes-to) Almost exclusively…
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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.…
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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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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, box project, cards, chats, contrasting books and soup
I’m steadily progressing on my children’s book “The Professional Dog”. Here are three art pieces together so you can see how the colors flow from one piece to the next. This project will be both a book an art exhibit. So each piece needs to both work with the others and stand alone. My last post…
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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, 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…
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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.…
