Rozzie Land

Good news!

I have been trying to keep quiet until I'm officially on her website but I give up, I'm too excited.
I have an illustration rep!

We have been chatting back and forth for the past couple of weeks and I'm thrilled to say we are in the process of signing contracts and planning a marketing strategy.

I can't say enough good things about Janet , she is so warm, professional and encouraging...everything that I have been hoping to find in a rep.  I am really looking forward to working with her and hope it is viable for the both of us!

cute overload

Blogging is like exercising... the longer you go without doing it, the harder it is to get started again!

So to get back into the swing of things I thought I'd post my new favorite blog. I discovered it while scanning the bloggie nominees.

If you're into "cute" and need a smile, this is a must see!

CUTE OVERLOAD

Puzzling

Growing up, a winter past time was working on massive puzzles with my parents. We would go to the "pic 'n save" and spend hours choosing the "perfect puzzle" with lots and LOTS of pieces.

So, when my parents came out this Christmas,we decided , hey why not, let's do a puzzle! I had forgotten what a pleasure it is to sit and mull over a complex puzzle. Mum and I would stay up til the wee hours of the morning "puzzling" and gabbing determined to get it finished before they had to go home.

I enjoyed working on this so much that the "puzzling" continues and I highly recommend it if you are looking for something to do to relax.

(Emily and I recently finished this cute puppy one.)

We start ours on a large piece of poster board on our dining table and just have it sitting there for when the mood strikes...which is usually while I'm cooking dinner or right before bedtime.

Okay, so what does this have to do with illustration? Well for me, the more I'm working on these, the more I'm thinking about how fun it would be to have puzzles out in the world with my artwork on them.

I've decided I'm going to work up some designs this year and start submitting to publishers that produce puzzles. Check out your CWIM book and you'll find several listings if you are interested in submitting your work as well. Storybook artwork is perfect for puzzles. And sitting here working on these, gives me a good sense of what works/what doesn't as far as colors and design.

Another idea ...what a fun gift a puzzle would be for family members.  Imagine next year, giving your children , favorite niece and nephews a puzzle to work on that you designed!

I googled "personalized puzzles" and there are several companies out there. I think the one I'm going to try is "Positively Puzzled".  Looks to be a pretty easy process. You send a high resolution jpg in the appropriate dimensions and bing bang boom..a puzzle is made. I'll let you know how it goes.

Happy puzzling!

Celine Dion

  Emily and I went on a girls night out to see Celine Dion performing at Caesars Palace. WOW,what a show!

Kevin and I saw her in concert years ago when we lived in DC but this was completely different... choreographed with a wonderful cast of dancers and cool special affects. I recommend it to anyone coming to Vegas for a visit. A definite must see!

Back to work

Okay, it's time to get back to work and I'm thrilled to be writing that I'm busy! Busy with illustration work.

Recently, I told you about the "Ladybug Mag" assignment. My sketch has been approved and I'll be finishing it with felt. The only change request was to make the flowers in the grass larger. yay!

I turned in my article about blogging this week and the editor was happy with it. Oh man, what a challenge. The editor had asked for it to be 2500 words. Yikes. I am amazed at my writing buddies who actually write this amount daily!  I want to thank you all again for the time you took answering my questions about your own blogging experiences. It helped so much.

Right before Christmas I received an assignment for a 'pull out' book for an educational publisher where I had to draw bobcats. I turned in the sketches yesterday and just waiting now for the okay to go to finish. But I must have done something right because they've assigned me with another short story and the sketches are due on monday.  This one will be about a duck playing in a mud puddle, how fun is that!
These will be finished in black ink line.

Yes, I am a very happy lady. Tired but happy.  The kids and hubby have been very understanding about the house being in disarray for the past several days. Actually,I think they love it because I haven't had time to pester anyone about picking up behind themselves.   I think "deadline mommy" is much more fun to live with than "anal mommy"!

YAY TEXAS LONGHORNS!!

WHOOHOO! GO LONGHORNS!

What a game, what  a game.

Ra Ra Ra!