My new fixation is "The Saratorialist". If you haven't stopped by to visit this blog, I recommend you do so. Yummy! I love style and fashion and you'll find plenty here to interest you. There's a little something for everyone no matter what your taste and isn't that what art is all about too?

This past week my husband and I sat down to relax and watch some TV and came across the movie "Robots." This is not something we would have planned to watch but it captured our attention and we soon were caught up in the plot. We chuckled and laughed and were amazed at how the characters were created. Our youngest son has studied 3-D animation and it is an amazing process! One of my favorite screen captures is of Rodney and his friends Fender and Piper. A delightful show and cast of voiceovers that include Robin Williams, Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Paula Abdul, Drew Carey and many more.

The robots reminded me of my great aunt's 1940's-50's wringer washing machine. At that time you were fortunate if you had such a nice machine! You had to hand feed the clothing through the press to squeeze the water out of the clothing. Later she bought a more modern machine, but as a child I remember watching her doing her laundry by hand for many years. My dear great aunt Elvier, just passed away on February 19, 2006. She was 92 and a huge influence in my life.

What a gem to find! I could wander through here for days upon days. It's like having your own bookstore right at your fingertips without every leaving home. Of course they aren't serving Starbuck's, however I digress...

Check out this eclectic collection of Book Illustrations at BibliOdyssey. PURE EYE CANDY! This one's for you Laura. :)

I can see I won't be getting to bed anytime soon tonight. Oi'!

A preliminary sketch for Illustration Friday's theme "spotted". This is part of much larger illustration that is taking more time to research and develop. I'll be working on this piece for a time and will post when finished. Check back from time to time won't you?

I find spring and Easter are speeding their way upon us and I thought this a perfect post for Illustration Friday.

Today a friend and I headed to our local nursery to see what they had to entice us with in the way of flowers, fountains and patio furniture. I think we both came away with ideas, though we'll have to take several more trips as the weather gets warmer to seal the deal. Getting out in the fresh air and sunshine does wonders when facing the long midwest winters!

Tonight my husband had a great idea to go to Moe's grill for dinner. We sat in a booth by the window. Right across the courtyard was CheeseBurger CheeseBurger. I drew the unsuspecting patrons in blind contour. It's tough to eat and draw in blind contour at the same time! Ok, so it was half a blind contour because I kept picking my pencil up to start drawing again between bites. There was a set of patio furniture and a huge planter with a tree in it between the restaurants. For more cool BC's visit InkFinger!

I decided to post my first Self Portrait Tuesday thanks to my friend Kim who is an infinite source of creativity and inspiration. My husband (the cute one with the mustache) took this photo of me with the curled "do". I have been seriously considering some sort of new style without giving up the length. It must be the "spring" thing.

A quick blind contour for Illustration Friday's theme "Spring". The reds came out motley, probably due to the low resolution and the large areas, but I think you get the idea. For better clarity visit my Flickr account.

For some reason I just felt I needed to illustrate in blind contour rather than traditional as in Simple Simon.

I miss the weekly BC challenges at InkFinger however I think Blind Contour First Friday April is this Friday coming up, YEAH!

Today was beautiful here in the midwest with temperatures in the 60's. My husband and I enjoyed a sunny day outside cleaning out the flower beds. We have a few small crocus flower varieties popping up in places under the front tree and tender shoots of hostas everywhere. Odd this nice weather when we just had 8 inches of snow last week, and a tornado on Thursday which sent our office to the mailroom twice to take cover.

It is still so hard to go into the back yard without Blue there. We miss him so much. *sigh*

On the illustration side, I have a sketchbook full of spring ideas and am working on one to post for Illustration Friday. A slow process with nice weather in the air however I will try, try, try to get it posted!