visual story

Alphapets Too: Y, Z, the book cover and Storyberries

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, animals in art, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, ebook, illustrated poem, poetry, published art, words and pictures, writing and illustrating

This week I finished Alphapets Too my sequel to Alphapets by Clancy! It began at the request of my fans and Storyberries – the publisher/distribution house I’ve been working with! (See my last post for prior letters)

The Alphapets Too portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters Y and Z. Here’s my abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :

Yaka yawns under the flap

Zorro zealously says “Zip it! Let’s nap!”

Here’s the artwork (somewhere on each piece is an alphabetical letter):

I did portraits of a mouse and a hermit crab.

The theme, loosely, in this book is creature comforts. One of my personal favourite comforts is to read before bedtime until I get sleepy. So I did a portrait of a mouse, named Yaka, yawning while reading.

Earlier in this project a friend suggested that I do a hermit crab named Zorro. Naturally the crabby crab would like us all to be quiet and have a nap.

As I completed the original artwork for my abecedarian poem I also worked on the graphic design of Alphapets by Clancy. That’s part of what makes this an “artist book” – it was conceived and constructed like an art object – by me. My spouse did proofread the text, make some book design suggestions. That, in my mind, is akin to submitting a bunch of artwork to a gallery for exhibit. Here’s a photo of me doing the graphic design hocus pocus.

You can see a bit of my book cover design in the above photo but here, below, is a better view of the front cover of the printed book.

Alphapets Too by Clancy is now available as both hardback or soft cover printed books or as an ebook. All versions can be accessed here: https://www.blurb.com/b/10195818-alphapets-too

And – drumroll please – Alphapets Too is now available for free on Storyberries.com here: https://www.storyberries.com/bedtime-stories-alphapets-too-by-sue-clancy-free-alphabet-books-for-kids/

Since AlphapetsToo is the sequel to Alphapets you can see that book on Storyberries here: https://www.storyberries.com/bedtime-stories-alphapets-free-books-online/

Thank you for riding this ride with me! I hope you had as much fun as I did! On to the next ride…

Alphapets Too: U, V, W and X

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art exhibit, art techniques, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, fine art, illustrated poem, miniature art, pet portraits, published art, visual story, visual thinking, words and pictures, writing and illustrating

My work this week on Alphapets Too my sequel to Alphapets by Clancy is in this post. It began at the request of my fans and Storyberries – the publisher/distribution house I’ve been working with! (See my last post for prior letters)

The Alphapets Too pet portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters Q, R, S and T. Here’s my abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :

Ugo upsets the cart at a run

Vava vigorously twisted and spun

Waldo went outside for a bit

Xena excitedly moves flit flit flit

Here’s the artwork (somewhere on each piece is an alphabetical letter):

I did portraits of a miniature donkey, a Guinea pig, a bullfrog and an Axolotl.

Some of my extended family have full size donkeys and they were on my mind as I chose a character for the letter U. I decided on a miniature donkey named Ugo as miniatures have smaller heads that I thought I could more easily fit on my art board.

As part of my work on this project I’ve been learning the visual distinctions between gerbils, hamsters and Guinea pigs. In my researches the Guinea pigs seemed inclined to turn about in circles more than hamsters. So Vava twisted and spun.

On past walks in local natural areas I’ve seen and heard bullfrogs speak. To my ear it sounds as if they’re saying in a deep voice “Wall-doe! Wall-doe!” I couldn’t resist naming my bullfrog portrait Waldo.

When talking with Jade at Storyberries about doing this book, Alphapets Too, she joked about me doing a portrait of an Axolotl. I’d never heard of such a being and was instantly off to do fun research! A fish that walks! Wow! Xena was my result!

Like my first series “Alphapets” this artwork, too, is created with ink, gouache and color pencil. I do these portraits on board, size 3.5 x 2.5 inches. The original art will be framed…eventually … and be a miniature art exhibit at the Aurora Gallery.

I will also be making an artist book titled Alphapets Too – in a format like “Alphapets by Clancy”. You can see print and ebook versions of “Alphapets” by clicking here.

And when I get it all done “Alphapets Too” will be available on Storyberries.com (Btw: there are two different stories by me currently on Storyberries.com- search the site by my name)

You can follow my progress during the week on my Instagram pages and see the details of my creative process here in my Monday blog posts.

Thanks for your encouragement and support as I’ve worked on this project! You’ve helped!

Alphapets Too: Q, R, S and T

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, fine art, illustrated poem, miniature art, pet portraits, poetry, publications - publishing, words and pictures, writing and illustrating

This weeks work on Alphapets Too my sequel to Alphapets by Clancy at the request of my fans and Storyberries – the publisher/distribution house I’ve been working with! (See my last post for details)

The Alphapets Too pet portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters Q, R, S and T. Here’s my abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :

Quinn qualifies for the fun race

Rico really likes outer space

Sailor stares right at the thumb

Toodles tries bites of the plum

Here’s the artwork (somewhere on each piece is an alphabetical letter):

I did portraits of a turtle, butterfly, goldfish and an iguana.

While I was rereading Aesop I was also thinking about possible characters for the letter Q. So Quinn is a turtle who is a foot race enthusiast.

My portrait of Rico was inspired by the expression “the butterfly effect” which, roughly, is about how we are not alone in this world and our actions, however small, affects others. Also in my mind as I painted was the idea that we are literally made of stardust, that chemically humans are no different than the rest of the natural world. We are all interrelated.

While I was reading inspirational quotes and etc spirit-lifters I read, again, this quote from Albert Einstein “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing itself to be stupid”. So here’s Sailor whose name reflects his true abilities.

Long ago on a planet far far away (or so it seems now) I worked as a biological illustrator. One of the many animals I shared an office with was an iguana. Often I would bring food scraps from home to share with my animal office mates. The iguana seemed particularly happy when I brought fruit. So Toodles is portrayed as enjoying a plum and possibly plotting to get more.

Like my first series “Alphapets” this artwork, too, is created with ink, gouache and color pencil. I do these portraits on board, size 3.5 x 2.5 inches. The original art will be framed…eventually … and be a miniature art exhibit at the Aurora Gallery.

I will also be making an artist book titled Alphapets Too – in a format like “Alphapets by Clancy”. You can see print and ebook versions of “Alphapets” by clicking here.

And when I get it all done “Alphapets Too” will be available on Storyberries.com (Btw: there are two different stories by me currently on Storyberries.com- search the site by my name)

You can follow my progress during the week on my Instagram pages and see the details of my creative process here in my Monday blog posts.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement as I work on this project!

Alphapets Too: M, N, O and P

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art gallery, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, ebook, fine art, illustrated poem, illustrated shorts, miniature art, pet portraits, poetry, story, words and pictures, writing and illustrating

Here’s the latest work on Alphapets Too my sequel to Alphapets by Clancy at the request of my fans and Storyberries – the publisher/distribution house I’ve been working with! (See my last post for details)

The Alphapets Too pet portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters M, N, O and P. Here’s my abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :

Major makes do with a rock

Nala nibbles the clock

Opie oogles the big blue sky

Paco pokes the large pink tie

Here’s the artwork (somewhere on each piece is an alphabetical letter):

I did portraits of a green lizard (basilicus plumifrons), a pygmy goat, a squirrel monkey and a parrot.

The thing about this green lizard that makes me smile is its ability to run on water for short distances which has given it the “jesus lizard” nickname. This lizard lives in trees, around water and will, as I depict Major doing, bask on a sunny rock.

Pygmy goats are just cute. But like all goats they’d eat almost anything. This week my time dissapeared all too quickly. So I imagined my clock-time was eaten by a pygmy goat named Nala.

As I thought about what character to portray for the letter O, I remembered climbing trees a lot when I was a kid. Grandma even called me her “monkey”. I loved to climb to the top of the pear tree in Grandma’s yard and look at the sky. Squirrel monkeys eat fruit…so, here’s Opie!

Memories of my childhood reminded me that I strongly disliked the color pink and would “pick at” such clothing especially when it had bow ties or itchy lace. Why that memory merged with a large parrot named Paco I’m not sure – but it’s fun – so here it is.

Like my first series “Alphapets” this artwork, too, was created with ink, gouache and color pencil. I do these portraits on board, size 3.5 x 2.5 inches. The original art will be framed…eventually … and be a miniature art exhibit at the Aurora Gallery.

I will also be making an artist book titled Alphapets Too – in a format like “Alphapets by Clancy”. You can see print and ebook versions of “Alphapets” by clicking here.

And when I get it all done “Alphapets Too” will be available on Storyberries.com (Btw: there are two different stories by me currently on Storyberries.com- search the site by my name)

You can follow my progress during the week on my Instagram pages and see the full details of my creative process here in my Monday blog posts.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement as I work on this project!

Alphapets Too: I, J, K and L

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, ebook, fine art, illustrated poem, mental health, Narrative Art, poetry, printed books, publications - publishing, story, visual thinking, words and pictures, writing and illustrating

More work on Alphapets Too my sequel to Alphapets by Clancy at the request of my fans and Storyberries – the publisher/distribution house I’ve been working with! (See my last post for details)

The Alphapets Too pet portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters I, J, K and L. Here’s my abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :

Itsy is happy to sit on a twig

Jojo jumps when trying to jig

Kane keels over when putting on pants

Libby looks sideways while hoping to glance

I did portraits of a green tree frog, a Pacific jumping mouse (also known as a western/woodland jumping mouse), a jerboa and a chameleon.

Tiny green tree frogs look like little living jewels to me. So as I painted Itsy I hung the letter “I” like a pendant.

My inspiration for Jojo was having seen the Pacific jumping mouse on my past woodland hikes in the Pacific Northwest. If I’m quick enough, on hikes, to freeze when I see movement out of the corner of my eye I’ll get to see more of the mouse. The mice can jump about 9 feet so when encountering one during a walk they give the impression of a tiny bird trying to fly up from the ground. If the mouse is jumping forward to travel it almost seems like someone trying to do a hopping dance.

While researching the Pacific jumping mouse I came across the jerboa. The jerboa is similar to the Pacific mouse – but very different too: larger ears, longer skinnier back feet and are a desert rat rather than a woodland one. The skinny back feet of the jerboa had me imagining, for my portrait of Kane, how difficult pulling pants over such feet would be.

Eyes are one of my interests. How humans percieve the world is part optical data driven and part cultural training/interpretation. (And the ways our brains function, stories we tell ourselves, did a whole book about that… but that’s not today’s topic) Humans tend to see only what we expect to see. So in my work as a biological illustrator- and as a fine artist I enjoy reading about animal eyes and scientific studies about eyesight. When creating the portrait of Libby I read this article about the chameleons ability to see in 360 degrees! Wow! A whole different way to “sideways glance” or see out of the corner of ones eyes.

Like my first series “Alphapets” this artwork, too, was created with ink, gouache and color pencil. I do these portraits on board, size 3.5 x 2.5 inches. The original art will be framed…eventually … and be a miniature art exhibit at the Aurora Gallery.

I will also be making an artist book titled Alphapets Too – in a format like “Alphapets by Clancy”. You can see print and ebook versions of “Alphapets” by clicking here.

And when I get it all done “Alphapets Too” will be available on Storyberries.com (Btw: there are two different stories by me currently on Storyberries.com- search the site by my name)

You can follow my progress during the week on my Instagram pages and see the details of my creative process here in my Monday blog posts.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement as I work on this project!

Alphapets Too: E, F G and H

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, books, ebook, fine art, illustrated poem, illustration, miniature art, printed books, publications - publishing, published art, visual story, words and pictures, writing and illustrating

Continuing progress on Alphapets Too my sequel to Alphapets by Clancy at the request of my fans and Storyberries – the publisher/distribution house I’ve been working with! (See my last post for details)

The Alphapets Too pet portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters E, F, G and H. Here’s my abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :

Eddie elects just when to pounce

Floyd finds words hard to pronounce

Gilda greets most days with joy

Hammy has one favorite toy

Here’s the artwork (somewhere on each piece is an alphabetical letter):

I did portraits of a ferret, a galah cockatoo, a chinchilla and a hamster.

When I was in college, to make extra money, I did house and pet sitting for people going on vacation. One of my clients had 2 ferrets. They loved to romp and play with each other and with me. Plotting when to strategically pounce seemed a big part of the games. This experience was in my mind as I painted Eddie

Cockatoos can talk and can be trained to do it well. So as I painted Floyd I wondered if any of the birds found certain words or certain sounds more difficult than others. I’d imagine words beginning with the letter f would be hard to say with a beak.

After college I worked as a biological illustrator. I shared an office with a chinchilla and other animals. When I would insert my key to unlock the office door the chinchilla would make excited noises. We had a routine in which we would talk with each other as I made coffee then I would let the chinchilla out of her cage and would sit and comb her for a few minutes. Then I’d make her breakfast, put her back in her cage, feed the other animals and get to work. This joyful start to a day was on my mind while creating this portrait of Gilda.

I’ve not known a hamster so it was fun to research them. They’re much smaller than a chinchilla. And toys, chew blocks, are must have items for a happy hamster. So I imagined Hammy content with a favorite toy.

Like my original Alphapets this artwork, too, was created with ink, gouache and color pencil. I do these portraits on board, size 3.5 x 2.5 inches. The original art will be framed…eventually … and be a miniature art exhibit at the Aurora Gallery.

I will also be making an artist book titled Alphapets Too – in a format like “Alphapets by Clancy”. You can see print and ebook versions of “Alphapets” by clicking here.

And when I get it all done “Alphapets Too” will be available on Storyberries.com (Btw: there are two different stories by me currently on Storyberries.com- search the site by my name)

You can follow my progress during the week on my Instagram pages and see the juicy details of my creative process here in my Monday blog posts.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement as I work on this project!

Alphapets Too: A,B,C and D

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, books, creative thinking, drawing as thinking, fine art, illustrated poem, illustrated shorts, illustration, miniature art, pet portraits, poetry, visual story, words and pictures, writing

Here begins Alphapets Too my sequel to Alphapets by Clancy as per the request of my fans and Storyberries – the publisher/distribution house I’ve been working with! (See my last post for details)

The Alphapets Too pet portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters A, B, C and D. Here’s my abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :

Abby adores the window ledge

Bunny bounces into the hedge

Clark craves a wee bite of flower

Dash delights in a cool rain shower

Here’s the artwork (somewhere on each piece is an alphabetical letter):

I did portraits of a parakeet, a rabbit, a tortoise and a cockatiel.

In researching these common house pets that are not dogs or cats I realized that I’d never drawn a parakeet before. So it was fun to practice drawing them, to see how many different shades of blue parakeets there are and to create Abby. I now have a new image in mind when I think of a “blue bird of happiness.”

For Bunny I had a lot of drawing rabbits experience to work with. On my Instagram pages I’ve been doing a “Home Hare Care” series of rabbits doing self-care comforting activities at home – some are complex art pieces. So it was relaxing for me this week to pull a simple rabbit out of my drawing hat. Lol!!

Some friends have kept a happy tortoise for years in their condo patio garden. Their tortoise has a different name but shares Clark’s enjoyment of eating flowers. We know about flowers as tortoise guilty pleasures because of holiday card exchanges we have with our friends.

I’ve drawn cockatiel birds before – usually having cocktail drinks – but I learned during my research for this book that some cockatiels like to accompany their human in the shower – if the human doesn’t have the water too hot. So I had fun making dash-shaped water drops and naming the bird in my portrait Dash.

Like my original Alphapets this artwork, too, was created with ink, gouache and color pencil. I do these portraits on board, size 3.5 x 2.5 inches. The original art will be framed…eventually … and be a miniature art exhibit at the Aurora Gallery.

I will also be making an artist book titled Alphapets Too – in a format like “Alphapets by Clancy”. You can see print and ebook versions of “Alphapets” by clicking here.

And when I get it all done “Alphapets Too” will be available on Storyberries.com (Btw: there are two different stories by me currently on Storyberries.com- search the site by my name)

You can follow my progress during the week on my Instagram pages and see the nitty gritty details of my creative process in my Monday blog posts.

Thanks again for coming on this adventure with me!

Starting Alphapets Too

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, creative thinking, ebook, fine art, illustrated poem, miniature art, pet portraits, printed books, sketchbook, words and pictures, writing, writing and illustrating

As I mentioned in my last post my book Alphapets by Clancy has been such a hit at Storyberries.com that they want a sequel – and my fans do also! So this week I’ve begun Alphapets Too.

For several days I looked for popular house pets that are not cats or dogs. I made a list of over 26 kinds of pets: parakeets, hedgehogs, hamsters, gerbils, rabbits, turtles, lizards…and so forth. I didn’t realize there were so many house pet options! Here’s a photo of me doing some of this research work – with the help of my dachshund.

As I saw images of hedgehogs, turtles, newts, frogs, gerbils and such I practiced drawing the animals in my sketchbook. I just drew the animals and had fun with them in my sketchbook – merging the animal drawing practice with whatever thoughts I was having at the moment. I regularly post my sketchbook pages on my Instagram page (@artistclancy).

Also in short bursts over several days I wrote a new poem for Alphapets Too. I write in longhand on a legal pad with a fountain pen. Typically I sit in my dining room near a collection of books on writing and several dictionaries. I view this as play-time and since I’m just writing drafts I take nothing seriously. It’s all play. So I make sure to have a fun beverage at hand. Milk and cookies. Coffee or tea. Or as in one of the photos below a yummy steaming hot mug of “lemony lucious luck”.

To make “Lemony Lucious Luck” heat water in a tea kettle, cut 2 to 3 generous slices of a fresh lemon and remove the seeds. Put the lemon slices in a mug. Put a bit of honey onto the lemon. Pour hot water over all. Let it steep a bit and enjoy!

That’s my creative process in a 12 ounce mug-size description.

Also this week I varnished all of the original artwork for Alphapets and delivered the art to the Aurora Gallery for framing and exhibition. Since the coronavirus pandemic is what it is, the delivery-to-the-gallery process was very different. In addition to wearing a mask it was arranged that I would leave the art just inside the gallery door, holler that I was there and then go home. Details about the framing and exhibition were arranged via phone and text.

Since all of the Alphapets artwork is small – 3.5 x 2.5 inches – all 26 pieces fit into a box that fit into a gallon size zip bag. It was rainy the day I delivered the art so I put the box in the plastic. Having everything in one box made the art delivery easy.

Due to the novel coronavirus the exhibit will likely be online only and will be on the Aurora Gallery social media pages – https://auroragalleryonline.com – All of this is very different – but quite doable! Here’s some photos of me spray varnishing and then, days later after the varnish was dry, delivering the Alphapets…

Its been a busy week. As mentioned in my last post I hoped to start creating the new artwork for Alphapets Too. That didn’t get as far along as I’d hoped. Ah well. Something to look forward to posting about next Monday!

Hope to see you then!

Here’s the link to both print and ebook forms of “Alphapets by Clancy”

Thanks again for reading and riding this ride with me!

Alphapets published and starting Alphapets Too

A Creative Life, Abecedarian, Alphapets, Alphapets Too, Ambassador for Small Frames, animals in art, art exhibit, art gallery, Art Licensing, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, ebook, pet portraits, poetry, printed books, visual story, words and pictures

Last week my book Alphapets by Clancy came out in print and ebook forms. Quickly it was picked up by Storyberries and has over 6000 views as of this writing! Storyberries has already asked me for a sequel! Details below! First here are a few photos of pages inside the printed Alphapets book.

Here’s one of the delightful pictures I was sent by a grownup to show me how much my book was enjoyed! I love seeing the smiles!! That’s why I do this work – smiles like this!!!

As I finished Alphapets several people following my project asked me if I would please start the alphabet again because it was such fun. Some also asked if I would include house pets besides cats and dogs in my next book. I replied yes to both questions! These questions, and the discussions with Storyberries got me excited and an idea for Alphapets Too began to form!

So right away I began work. My first task was to think about what I and other people enjoyed most about Alphapets: the “hidden” letters, the colors/clothes on the pets and the silly rhymes. I, personally, enjoyed the audiobook version Storyberries.com created! I’m having fun thinking of poetry as pictures with sound now! Here’s a link and the photo below shows where to click for the audio: https://www.storyberries.com/bedtime-stories-alphapets-free-books-online/

To begin Alphapets Too my working process is roughly like this: Here I am looking online for a list of common pets other than cats and dogs. I came up with more than 26! I didn’t realize there were so many “common” house pets that aren’t cats or dogs! And, yes, my studio laptop assistant is helping!

In this photo below, I am writing notes on a pad with my fountain pen. These are very loose notes, I’m just playing. (My studio laptop assistant had another project to work on and so isn’t in the photo.) I’m sitting near a lot of books about writing – and several dictionaries – just in case. 😉

This week I’ll varnish the original Alphapets artwork and hopefully deliver all 26 pieces to the Aurora Gallery for framing in prep for upcoming fine art exhibits. Doing this makes studio space for Alphapets Too production work – and, of course makes my gallery happy!

I’m also hoping this week, after gathering more house pet data, to work more on the poem for Alphapets Too and possibly begin the new artwork. I’m often optimistic about what I can get done within a day – life happens – so it’s possible I may not get new Alphapets Too artwork started. We’ll see. As is my usual in the midst of life happening I will work in short bursts daily and longer snatches of time when possible.

My thought is to do Alphapets Too in the serialized way I did Alphapets: posting on my Instagram my artwork (along with other art projects also in progress) as I get them done and then next Monday posting a summary of Alphapets Too progress here on my blog. Here on my blog I can describe more of my thought process than I do on Instagram. Anyway, we’ll see what I get done…

Posting here on my blog once a week seems manageable. Hope to see you next Monday! Thanks for riding this fun ride again with me!!

Oh, and here’s the link for print and ebooks of Alphapets by Clancy. You can catch up by following the trail of the creation of Alphapets here.