CONFESSION: Of all weeks to have my theme selected for IF, I would have paid MONEY to not have it be this week! Aaaaaa! This is the mother of all weeks this summer….seriously overbooked here!!!! I will be “back” soon, though! And I promise to check out all the wonderful submissions for PUNCHLINE then! This is crazy! I even have tons of newer versions of this theme already done, but will have to save them for something else! Meanwhile, a black and white version of one I already posted for “HOMAGE” back in April is going to suffice! Thanks for all the emails from so many of you asking where I AM!!!

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY! All this rain has not been good for our basement. We have been pumping out water, throwing away many FORGOTTEN items that are now ruined, and trying not to use water unless we absolutely have to.  There is just no place for any more water to go around here! Roads are flooded, fields look like lakes, and there are some yards we could probably use a boat in! But life is good! 

We did get to go fishing yesterday, and finally got some ball practices in this week.  This along with trying to keep up with orders for paintings is keeping me busy. 

Here is my post for this week’s Illustration Friday theme: FORGOTTEN.  The first is a photo of a drawing I literally had forgotten about.  (With good reason! I was 17 years old, and that was 21 years ago…wow, time flies!)  I used NuPastel, I believe.  The child looks so hungry and forgotten..at least that is what I had in mind at the time… I still have the original but it is packed in the back of a closet in an old portfolio.  My 9 year old daughter wants me to get it out so she can see some of my older work.  Last night she used some charcoal pencils I had when I was her age.  That was kind of cool… 

 

The last image is something I just sketched quickly last night.  Guess she FORGOT to show her parents that report card.  Easy to do when summer is here… catching frogs and jumping puddles is way more of a priority…

“Jam Session II” (inspired by the title of the first jam session posted a few days ago, and by my other domestic amphibian) This one includes some yummy samples from Betty Croacker’s 101 Best Jam Recipes book.

This is still really just an idea, but fun to play with.  The next day I messed around with some color. Didn’t get very far, but here it is–still needing much help:

The next day, this took me into a world where fish do laundry and wear aprons…The fish was one 15 minute session, and then coming up with the rest of the scene was the next day. I tried a few things and this is the one I like best:  (It also fits for this week’s IF theme of WORRY) 

“Washday Surprise”

Again, I messed with color, and again, not getting very far.  I am trying to push myself to work with digital techniques so this 21 day habit is really helping me get some play time in.  Most of what I have tried is not anything to post, and this isn’t really either, but I have to show you something!:

Miss Kathy has tagged me for a little fun.  I have had such a busy week, I either have deja vu or else I read her post about the dogs, and did not notice that she called me out to play! Well, here goes…

The rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.*
3. Find the fifth sentence.**
4. Post the next three sentences, so if my math is correct that’d be sentences six, seven and eight.
5. Tag five people and post a comment to the blogger who tagged you.

The alternate PB version is to go to page 23 and just put down the text.

My answer:

Page 23 from a fabulously illustrated book called HELP! A Story about Friendship reads:

“Now make sure the know it tight.” 

 Hedgehog did it. 

“Now watch!”

—————-

And because they were actually equally close to me, here are sentences 6-8 from page 123 of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane:

“She’s sick. She had her a baby doll made out of china.  She loved that baby doll.”

——————————-

Wow, that was a painless meme! YAY! I now tag: Lil Kim, Candice, Sarah, and Chris!

“Rapunzel-in-Waiting”

“Serenade” (sorry for the dark, fuzzy scan)eek

“Jam Session”

I’m having fun with this sketch challenge. I drew Rapunzel with various facial expressions. I should have posted them all. This is the one I liked best….waiting, even if impatiently.

Busy Week ahead…Hope you all have a great one!

xoxo, Teri

Catching up on posting these… Apparently, I am on a music-theme kick. Poem for this is in progress.

I played with lots of backgrounds as a study.

Below is a two minute sketch that isn’t post-worthy, but posting anyway. Will be fun to revisit the idea.

Next is one I quite like.  Sketched very quickly, and has some potential.

Lastly, I have got to show what my friends in the boutique clothing world are up to this week.

I am way too busy to offer a custom listing for this, but my sweet daughter is listing her story. It is doing quite well, thanks to all the generous girlies out there looking out for my friend, Mud. Click HERE to see the listing, and be sure to check out the other ones too. 

Whew, that along with working on some items for clients and setting up for the art show at the school, end of the school year activities,,,,I am a little overwhelmed.  WIll post more of the 21day sketches in a few days.  It is such great practice and is definitely challenging me to try some new things.

Here are some of my random sketches from the past few days.  This challenge has been really fun and inspiring. Be sure to check out all the other wonderfully creative participants.  Click on “pop out player”, then “launch playlist” to hear a song.

I made a commitment last week to work on something new each day.  If I could just squeeze in practicing with the Wacom, using Photoshop, and other mediums I have gotten away from the last few years, for just 30 minutes a day…something good will come of it!  Then, last night I ran into this challenge on Alicia’s blog: THE 21-DAY CHALLENGE…perfect!! 

Here is one of the pieces I did yesterday. I wrote the little poem last week, and then could not get this image out of my head so I had to give it a shot.  I like the sketches better than the color version,,,but I may make another version too.  That is the purpose of the challenge, after all!

The ever-antsy PrincessPepperCloud has thought of me as a recipient for the Pico Award. Just a nice little pick-me-up for us to encourage us to keep on keeping on! Thanks PC!

The Rules:

1) Pick 5 blogs that you feel are deserving of this award based on their creativity, design, interesting material and their contribution to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2) For each award giver, include the name and the link to the blogger so they can be visited. 3) Include the names of the recipients and a link to their blogs so they can be visited. ( rules 2 thru 4 seem the same to me.)

4) For both giver and receiver, show the link http://studiololo.blogspot.com/ (Studio Lolo)
5) Publish these rules

The first person I am going to award the Pico to is Kathleen Rietz.  She is always offering helpful comments to everyone, even new-comers.  She is super-talented, and really lives through her art.  She pretty much rocks. 

The second person I thought of is Kathy Weller.  She puts herself out there for us all to see.  Talented?Check.  Designs? Check.  Interesting? Check.  Contributions? Check. Yep! Thanks, Kathy! She has a lot going on right now and this might make her smile. xoxox :) 

Number three is going to go to Alicia Padron.  Her energy is absolutely sneeze-worthy! Such a sweetie.  Always right there for practically every blog entry on the planet! LOL.  Very talented, very open, very Pico.

Eek, only two more.  Ok, we cannot forget KIM! She is da bomb!

And….drum roll for Sketched Out. Linda’s creativity, talent and wit are so refreshing.

I don’t usually post about my kids, but this week has proven to be a big one for my sweet daughter.  (See post below this one!)

As if that weren’t enough to make her year, she ALSO just won first place for a different story in a different contest! This one is a fable.  Oh how she loves fables! She wrote one called STICKY SITUATIONS.  Her teacher sent it in for the state’s Reading Council contest.   Of all the stories sent in for our state, my little author won first place. What a treat.

In other news, my sweet boy, is just as excited. His big news for today is that he got to wear shorts for recess! You must understand what a huge deal this is for him! Woohoo!!! As I always say, life is good. Now, back to your regularly scheduled blogging.

Right after Dad’s funeral this past winter, my sweet daughter was trying to decide if she wanted to enter the Reading Rainbow contest or not.  She said she didn’t think she could write one with a 350-word limit. (She is a novelist at heart).   So, the last weekend came before the Monday deadline, and she decided to give it a go.  Rather than cut down and edit one of her longer stories, she decided to start fresh.  She wrote the story on Saturday, did the illustrations on Sunday, and we sent it.  Therein lies the lesson: Start fresh and just do it!

I got a letter in the mail today (sorry, no picture yet) stating that her story has been chosen as FIRST PLACE for South Dakota’s Third Grade! I cried.  I am so very proud of her.  She works so hard, and she has a heart of gold.  

You can read the stories that placed  here. They are a riot!  Hers is the one called the LONGEST PIGTAIL.  

After sending her story, I found this great information for helping kids write. It is, of course, full of basics that I am sure we can all benefit from reviewing once in a while.  Click here for that link.

Signing off for now. Today was just jam-packed…even got to shoot BB Guns at the Scout meeting tonite.  My little guy could LIVE outside, I swear. Oh what the heck, let’s end it with a little cheese: a little lesson from a second grader to top it off: Set your sights and pull the trigger. 

*Added afterthoughts Friday 4/18:  I was just thinking about the lessons above and how refreshing it is that kids can inspire us.  I love that each one of us is born with talents and tendencies, love and hope.  This child-like faith in ourselves and in others is simply wonderful.  A serendipity to all this is how these talents and desires can truly shape us as individuals.  I knew from a very young age that I loved art and words and books, line and color and stories…ah! just standing in the pencil/crayon and paper aisle at the grocery store as a kid made my heart beat wildly.  And I know that the same kinds of things inspire my sweet daughter.  She has always loved words and drawing.  One of her favorite things to do is go to her Word Document files on the computer and work on her stories.  And my son, he likes words and art too, but his true tendencies, talents, and passion is for things like skateboarding (wow! you should see him!), basketball, climbing, breakdancing (he can spin on his head!), shooting BB guns, cooking and eating! You can just tell how happy each child is when they are doing things they LOVE.  I hope for them, that they can always follow their heart.  I am truly grateful that I get to do what I love and get paid for it.  What a bonus! Life is so good.

xoxox,

tomatogirl

**another P.S.  I should just make a new entry, but all this is so related! I have been chatting a bit with the talented Kathy Weller, and her recent post is one that strikes a tender chord with me.  I am guessing there are countless artists out there who are also writers at heart.  More on this can of worms later   Have a super weekend, all!

Super*Fly*Girl Saves the DAY!

(I turned of the song that went with this slideshow since I added the playlist …if you prefer to have music off, or to skip to a different song, look for the widget on the lower right)

| View Show | Create Your Own

Now that the boutique emergency has been taken care of, maybe you all can help me with a bit of a situation I need help with.  My website was recently revamped, and I am trying to get some final decisions made.  I paid a friend to design the pages and help me get it started.  www.princesstomato.com  

My question is in the portfolio section.  There are several “gallery” sections. 

Should I have the background for those be 1)BLACK, to match the homepage.  2) aqua/turquoise to match a color i use often in my work  3) the tomatoish red color with green accents to match the dots, etc on the homepage?

I have asked several people and opinions vary greatly.  At the moment, I am leaning toward 3) the tomatoish red with some of the lime-ish green.   It is growing on me. I think it sets my work off ok. It is a fun color, and it goes with the rest of the site ok.  But then again I have been looking at it constantly this week so I  need fresh eyes! Save me! 

 I am totally open to suggestions!  The site still has plenty of tweaking to be done, so be patient when viewing.  I hope to have it done before the weekend is up.

 Thanks bunches in advance…

teri

Today, I am listening to the Beastie Boys and Dr. Hook, if that tells you anything about my mood. So, for Illustration Friday’s HOMAGE, it is only suiting to pay tribute to the most famous KNOCK KNOCK JOKE of all time. Happy day!
 

Go tell some knock-knock jokes to a first grader today. Their maniacal laughter at the punchline will make your day. At least the first 7 times they tell the same one. Seven is the limit. Then it’s time for something–anything–else.

For more laughter, check this out. Illustrators should especially love it. The characters are fabulous. http://kateharding.net/2008/03/31/best-thing-ever/

I was not going to post an Illustration Friday this week…just swamped. BUT, since I am trying to notify my mailing list of a resale, and wordpress does not allow my listing html code to post without getting all whacked out, I am a tad peeved. So, my pet peeve is that I have to post this link: ****CLICK ON THIS LINK to see what I am trying to post!!!!!!!****

in order for you to view my painting. I am seriously considering moving my blog to either typepad or blogger…PLEASE talk to me about blogs! I want one I can customize, etc.

Flies in soup would definitely count as a pet peeve, and although it been several years since since I have waitressed, I could mention that a pet peeve from that job would be when people called me “Miss” and asked me for more of something that I was already giving to them. I actually enjoyed waitressing, though. Good money for an art student who likes people.

Ok, now for the link to see the actual resale. It is here for a great price:

http://cgi.ebay.com/BOUTIQUE-JAYNES-GYPSIES-SSJ-FLY-SOUP-PRINCESS-TOMATO_W0QQitemZ320232189848QQihZ011QQcategoryZ79714QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Don’t forget to give me the scoop on blogs! I need to decide if I am staying here!