ImagineandCreate

Arctic Ocean Today

The delicate colors of the sky, along with the return of the ice pack inspired me to take some photos today! I would need a wide angle to even come close to how pretty it was, standing on a cliff over the beach. But these will have to do. See the ducks? See how huge they look in the far away pics? I thought they were seals at first. Does anyone (Teresa, your son??) know what kind they are? They seem to come around every year when the water is getting really cold, and I always wonder how they can stand it. They were diving, also. There must be some yummies in that freezin water for them.

hello mr. 5 months old!

Ian is wearing his new animal ears hat from this etsy shop!

goose in watercolor

I've been working on this goose study this weekend. The actual size is about 6 x 8 inches. Still working on it, just wanted to show it so far! I found the perfect feather out in the grass long after they had flown south. I love finding feathers!

New Lisbeth Zwerger book!

Lisbeth Zwerger is my favorite contemporary illustrator, so I'm always thrilled when she has something new out. This latest book-The Pied Piper of Hamelin, is only available on the amazon.com German site. I have waited a few months for it to come out in English here in the US but it still hasn't so I just ordered it from Germany! I cant read it, but I really just want to see her paintings anyway. Here are my favorites:

i love the shadows in this last one.

greater white fronted geese and fall time tundra

Ahhh it felt good to get this done! I started at 10 pm last night after children were sleeping. I can see myself painting more in this style - it is relatively fast and i didn't get bogged down with details- which fits my free time challenged life style right now. I want to do at least 2 more to go with it of a snowy owl- and a snow bunting.

beautiful beach - arctic ocean

I love the colors of the beach today! The sun was out- the gulls were swooping- the ocean was loud- it was fabulous! 

new toy

It was time to get a new toy for Ian, he's so curious now and loves tummy time. So this one has lots of bells and whistles for him to explore. As you can see he's growing right along! My lil' chunky monkey.

and so it goes...

The frost crept in last night and we woke up to a, well, frosty sort of morning. I think this particular frost is called hoar frost. I think it's beautiful but I feel for all those poor blades of grass. I hope they had a happy life.

Check out my SIGG

Ever since I stopped drinking out of plastic containers, I've wanted a SIGG bottle but couldn't decide on which one I wanted. So I decided to try their design your own option! Fun! I like how it turned out- I used a watercolor sketch from my moleskine book. I think I'll make one for my laptop next.

littles

I made these little ACEO cards last night, for a local craft fair that happened today. I haven't ever made them before- it was fun to work fast and small (2.5" x 3.5") and feel like I had created something. 

a picture, and a list

Recent good things:

1. Marisa's e- course

2. early bed times for children and time to play with art

3. watching two foxes (fox?) chase each other at mach speed back and forth across the tundra

4. painting the colored wall in my bedroom back to a neutral shade of sea glass blue, from a bright spring green that limited my decor choices

5. Ian's yummy warm snuggles

6. Isabelle practicing 'ballet' 

7. a new macbook pro coming in the mail

8. paying off a credit card

9. frozen ground - no more mud or wet soggy tundra puddles

10. coffee in the morning

11. talking to a friend who makes me laugh

Fall is upon us

Early morning walks on the tundra, while the world is still quiet...foxes run and owls watch. Discovering frozen puddles to skate and draw pictures on in the fallen snow.

Book release getting closer

Oh what a treat to see the Spring 2010 Charlesbridge Publishing catalog- with my turtle right there in the middle of the cover! It seems forever ago that I finished the art for Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!. I'm so excited for the release in February 2010.  They also list Whale Snow on their top 20 books list! This was the first picture book I illustrated, it came out in 2004.

Another exciting thing for me- my co worker just taught me the basics of how to use my sewing machine! I am SEW excited to have this skill. There is so muchfabric out there that I love, and want to be able to use! I'll start with some basic curtains and pillow cases. Will post if anything turns out!

lucky day

This pretty girl just landed on the closest power pole to our house. She and a white male have been hanging around catching lemmings. I took a similar photo last September, here. 

Tundra and Tundra-Goers

More lichen! I love them. 

Really beautiful colors this afternoon out on the tundra. It is flat as far as the eye can see.