Saturday, October 31, 2009

My Favorite Halloween Character!


My daughter was always my favorite halloween character! I loved it when she dressed up (she still does). This little painting is a very old one, but it was always one of my favorites of her (even though I overworked it & made some mistakes on the face). I miss those wonderful days of trick-a-treating with her--where did the time go?!

WW Return


Pumpkin Eaters?
Hello Watercolor Wednesday! I have been trying to get back into the routine of creating and it has taken me a while just to do this one...and it's late. But I thought it would be better to participate when I can than not at all.

And, WOW! You guys have been knockin' out some cool stuff. And there are new members who are awesome ...And I guess time waits for no man.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Witchy Love



An oldie. The desire to create is there, just not the time. Soon, I hope.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Favorite Halloween Character (Mummy) - sruble

I decided to do a favorite character that I like to draw. I love drawing simple ghosts like these from last week, but for this prompt I decided to do a mummy, which is also fun. This is a more traditional mummy than the ones I usually do, so I played with texture in the background and added the little dog.

Oh No!

Oh No!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Colors of Fall

October was unseasonably cool. The newsmen claimed it had been the wettest one on record, too.

One day, late in the month, the sun battled its way through the ever present clouds and shined briefly on the world.

Juan and Levont took advantage of the break to burn off energy at the neighborhood playground in the watery sunlight.

"Mom I want to be a Show Girl!"

Oh yeah, I know it's a bit shameful and over the top, but I always wanted to be a Show Girl!
I loved all the makeup , feathers, fancy colorful costumes and lots and lots of bling!!!!
Happy Halloweeny everyone!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Halloween Character


Another black & white for now ...( I'll try my hardest to get the last three illos watercolored up! ) ... this little Octopus and her sea star sidekick. ( ... this is my youngest daughter's costume this year ... her sister is going as a chinese dragon (I'm thinking Grace Lin's Year of the Rat may have had something to do with that choice) ... I tell you ... rivers, cherry trees, octopi, dragons .... thank goodness their Granny has the patience of a saint!) :)

Have a great Halloween everyone!! :)

SCBWI-NY Conference

Anyone going to the SCBWI-NY Conference Jan 29-31??? I'll be going & need a roommate. Registration starts this Wednesday at 10am EST. I'll be taking a book dummie to show with portfolio & signing up for Illustrator's Intensive on Friday. Hope some WaWe members are attending!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Class Party


I know this is called "Watercolor" Wednesdays, but I just have been crazy busy lately, and haven't had the time to sit and paint. (I will try to paint soon though!) I have been trying to keep up though ... so here is my Class Party! I have two that I have to go to this year! (I think I'm going to hand this illo out as a coloring sheet for the kiddies!).

Have a great Halloween Weekend everyone!! BOOOOOOOO!!!!

Pumpkin Madness

"The fields lay fallow. The pumpkin harvest had been exceptional this year. People had come and gotten the best pumpkins to take home to carve into Jack O Lanterns. Only the small and lopsided fruits remained. A lone crow landed on an orange gourd and cawed loudly into the still, moonlit night. Nothing answered."

In the 'better late then never' mode, I attempt to catch up with the rest of you. LOL. I finished the last of my traveling unpacking and putting away yesterday. I have a vague idea on my NaNoWriMo novel. I signed up for PiBoIdMo. (Picture Book Idea Month) Plus, I have a book to illustrate that final art is due to the publisher on February 21, 2010. So I have enough projects to keep me more than busy for the next month. Hee. One of these years I'll learn to simplify.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Mrs. Katz's Foodie Halloween

Mrs. Katz always inspired her class to be different and unique. Eric, Keshia and little Megan
really pulled out all the stops when they came dresses as the Mrs. Katz's favorite fruit and
spices. They make me hungry he he he!
Happy Halloweeny!!!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Dragon Fly Queen


I just had to get in on all this fun you guys are having so I took a break from work. It was relaxing to draw and paint again. See you again soon.

Yucky



The activity for the class party was carving pumpkins. Pulling out all that slimy goo was kind of yucky.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Colors of Fall

Life has gotten more than a little nuts these last few months. I have been lurking and seeing everyone's lovely work, though! I've loved the prompts and plan on making some new pieces, even if they won't be posted because I love the ideas so much. :)

Here's my piece for the Colors of Fall. We don't get much in the way of fall color down here in Houston, but it's one of my favorite seasons, regardless.

Halloween Character


Hello everyone! This is my drawing for 'Halloween Character'. I know... it has nothing to do with pumpkins, etc... I'm sorry. But when I told to draw a character that I'd like to be for Halloween, I came up with the idea of this nonsense rhyme, all of a sudden. So... can I be Alice as in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? :-)

Interview with illustrator Matt Phelan

Visit my blog to read about Matt Phelan, award winning illustrator of "The Higher Power of Lucky," as he answers questions about his new graphic novel and his other work.

http://wendymartinillustration.com/wordpress/2009/10/21/interview-with-matt-phelan/

Please spread the word to any others who you think might be interested.

---

I've been on book tour for most of the last month or so. I am slowly digging out from under all the accumulated "have-to"s and hope to be able to jump into the month's illustration prompts this afternoon. Yeah! Miss you guys!

Picture Book Directory competition

Thought WaWe Members might want to know about this: http://picture-book.com/content/win-free-page-or-line-portfolio
The deadline for entering competition is October 31st (pressure!) & two winnners will be selected to win a page in Picturebook 2011. Runner-ups will win portfolio subscriptions.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Colors of fall

Hi, everyone! It's been a long time, I know, but here's one little watercolor for fall. It's inspired by one of my favorite books, Leaves by David Ezra Stein. And just like this little fellow, I feel a bit sad and worried when the last leaf falls and we head into winter.

Class Halloween Party (a sponge painting) - sruble

I painted this one with cut up sponges (except the vampire). I painted the vampire with brushes to set him apart from the rest of the class. I thought the texture would be fun, and it is, except that the painting was too small (8.5 x 11) or the sponges were too big to make it look the way I wanted it to. Still, it's something I might play around with again in the future, or use brushes to try to re-create the texture. 

Eddie was out sick the day Ms. MacDonald's class decided to dress up as farm animals for the class party. Everyone forgot to tell Eddie when he came back.

Ms. MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O

Ms. MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O

 The chicken costume is my favorite. :)

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Leaf Fun



I've been putzing around with this for days and finally decided enough is enough. I'm done. Sometimes you just got to walk away, you know?
I'm taking a break from my University studies (I'm about 4 classes away from my BFA) and am amazed at how much harder it is to create art without the deadlines.
If it wasn't for WW I'm not sure if I'd do anything.

Now on to the Class Halloween Party.....

Autumn Days


I didn't get a chance to paint yet, but in order to stay in contention for the drawing at the end of month, here is my post .... I'll try to paint tomorrow!


Saturday, October 17, 2009

The Colors of Fall

Are better when they're shared.

Class Halloween party


Walter was always a bit of an over achiever! A regular halloween costume just wouldn't do for him...(click the image to enlarge it)

Pumkin man





I sincerely apologize about not participating as often as I'd like. I am learning so much from you all but my absence is really for a great cause. In September I enrolled in college to earn my BFA. I am having lots of fun but it's also a lot of work. However, my goal is still to become a children's book illustrator so I'll be here. Just not as much as I'd like.


This is a 15-minute sketch of a pumkin man. Every time I thought about WatercolorWednesdays this man kept popping in my head so I did the next logical thing and put him to paper. Sorry he's not painted but I have to edit my 1200-word research paper that is due tomorrow. I never thought I'd be writing so much while earning a BFA degree but we learn something new every day, don't we.


Until next time...


Carla

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Colors of Fall - sruble

Here's my painting for The Colors of Fall. 

Fall Kids / Fall Colors

Fall Kids / Fall Colors

This is another attempt at layering. I like how it turned out, but I think I’ll do a bit more planning next time. Want to see how I got to the finished painting? I posted the process on my blog :)

Autumn Night's Walk

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Frankie Stein

Frank always was abnormally tall for his age. You can see this old class picture antiqued at my blog: She Sure is Sketchy
Afterall, it's a very old photo from the archives of Frankie's boyhood.

The Colors of Fall

In Louisiana, we don't have a lot of changing of colors on the trees...we pretty much stay green all year. But I know I'd be the one rolling in the leaves if we did!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Frankie Frankenstein

As a young monster, Frankie loved Halloween best of all & dressing as an angel was his favorite thing to do. He just needed to learn the difference between good and evil (his heart was still young and pure and held no evil thoughts)...

Young Frankenstein - sruble

I painted Young Frankenstein with his first monster, FrankenTeddy, and his little dog Frankie. I think Young Frankenstein would have worn PJs with his lab coat over them.

Young Frankenstein and FrankenTeddy

Young Frankenstein and FrankenTeddy



Looks like everyone else painted the monster as a kid ... I went with the scientist.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Frankie in High School



If you're tall, the high school basketball coach tracks you down,
and signs you up. I'm sure young Frankie was tagged early in his youth as someone who was definitely NOT going to be vertically challenged. It was a good thing. Nobody makes fun of the weird-looking scar-faced kid who can slam dunk like nobody's business.

Friends of the Spooky Kind

In Frankie's younger days he had a thing for cute little Lili.
This is the couple at the fifth grade dance.

Young Frankie Boy


Fire BADDDDD!!!!

Even as a young lad, Frankie hated fire. His classmates hated him --- the daily in school showers were enough to drive anyone crazy. The ones who weren't driven crazy by the incessant fire drills, were driven to madness by his constant admonitions "Stop, drop and roll!," "Only YOU can prevent forest fires," and of course, the ubiquitous"never play with matches."

Pumpkin Madness

I love all the wonderful decorations that are displayed this time of year.
Pumpkin Lanterns with black tulle and sparkly garland and ribbons
adorn my friends store window.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Pumpkin Madness - sruble

Happy October - fun topics this month :) I’m in a Halloweeny kind of mood already! Here's my pumpkin madness painting. It's mostly watercolor, with a bit of acrylic and pencil too.
Kitty Ghost

Kitty Ghost


Sunday, October 4, 2009

Scary



I did it! I finally sat in my studio and pulled out my watercolors. When I took the lid off I had some seriously moldy paints, but one of my instructors once told us he thought that improved the paint, ha ha. My pieces are usually so static compared to the wonderful movement in the pieces of so many of you, but maybe that's just my style. I'm just happy to have actually finished something enough to post it. Happy October everyone!

Pumpkin Madness

A pumpkin carving contest...

School Character (catching up!)


Whenever the principal spoke to her, Mitsy thought she saw a huge, loud lion...maybe it's her imagination!

Making New Friends (catching up!)

Ava knew that making new friends might mean jumping into the game...she's almost ready.

School Lunch (catching up!)

At Rabbit Elementary, the kids love to play with their lunch & entertain each other (sounds like regular kids to me!)

Pumpkins Attack

WaWe Members:

Please make sure that you link back to Watercolor Wednesdays from your blog or web site. Thanks!