When at a convention, there’s a lot of standing, walking, and carrying of heavy things followed by achy muscles. One bit of gear I wish I had remembered to bring to the last convention was this a tennis ball. I find it to be a great portable back massage...
Nov22016
Convention Packing
Oct262016
Solo Show at Chilkoot
Starting November 4th, for the month of November a selection of my art will be shown at Chilkoot Café and Cyclery. Artist Reception: Friday November 4, 2016 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Hosted by Chilkoot Café & Cyclery 826 4th Street South Stillwater, MN 55082 Join me for art and...
Oct192016
Water Elemental Drawing
I needed this picture to tell a story and fit with the other three elementals but what story and how would it fit with the others? This piece had a lot of iterations to explore ideas. At one point I had the water elemental as more of a Naiad...
Oct52016
New Art! Water Elemental
I’m excited to finally release this image online with its companions! This piece is fourth in my series pairing each of the elementals with an instrument. Here the Water Elemental is paired with a harp or lyre. All 4 elements are available individually as limited edition prints. You can...
Sep292016
Studying a Masterwork
Doing a study of a masterwork can be a great way to learn. I have been in awe of the handling of color and value of many of the paintings on display at The Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis, MN so was thrilled to receive permission to do...
Sep212016
Prioritizing
Do you feel overwhelmed by your to-do list? I came up against this again recently and my usual skills weren’t helping me much this time around. Through a class, someone introduced me to a time management tool. They attributed it to Stephen Covey and his Time Management Matrix (just...
Sep142016
Special Presentation: Papers
Lunch and Learn: Papers Overwhelmed by the many available paper options? Uncertain about pH Neutral, acid free, buffered, and “archival”? During this Lunch and Learn you’ll learn about some of the different papers we use in creating our art and the many choices we have. You’ll get some answers...
Sep72016
Flying Turtles Process
I’m not quite sure where it came from. The idea arrived, and delighted me with its silliness. I pretty much followed my usual process on this one: drawing, reference, value studies, color studies, paint. Line Drawing and Value Studies This time I drew on tracing paper and did minimal values with the...
Sep72016
Inspiration from Childhood
We made a lot of trips to the local library when I was a kid. Some of my favorite finds were anything by Bill Peet. Looking back at the stories and art I see playfulness, lively lines, a quirky sense of humor, and fun use of color. Some favorites were:...
Aug242016
WorldCon 2016
MidAmeriCon 2 (WorldCon 2016) has come and gone. I had a lot of great experiences and conversations. One such experience was a conversation I had with a wonderful jewelry artist and writer. I asked her a bit about her creative process (her piece titles are wonderfully evocative). One particular...