sketch

One of the projects I have going right now is illustrating a children's book.  Details on publication are still in the works but I've completed two paintings for it and am working on a painting for this image, this weekend.  I think there will be at least a dozen paintings in total for the book, maybe 15.  Initially we were looking at finishing it by the spring but we might complete it earlier now that things are moving along.  I should have this one finished this weekend.

It really feels like fall now.  There's a chill in the air, I heard Canadian geese tonight and I swear I can always catch a hint of distant smoke in the air.  Maybe the Pine Barrens are on fire again, I'm not sure!  It will warm up a bit again this week but I have to admit that I'm soon not going to be able to be out in the woods for two hours a day, every day, quite like I've gotten used to since May.  It is sad but being indoors can be fun too.  Last year I spent all fall knitting a Doctor Who scarf and watching Dark Shadows DVDs.  Right now I'm reading Ulysses.  Being inside, drinking tea and working on introverted things is very fulfilling, though I know I'll start to have dreams about the woods again before the end of the year.  I'll still be IN the woods, but I will have to go home by 5 p.m. and wear a hat. :P

Back to the basics

The first painting you see above is the very first Halloween painting that I sold on eBay, close to 10 years ago.  My scan from back then was not the best quality, but you get the idea -- I was very interested in trying to capture the look of the jack o'lanterns from the turn of the century postcards, in my paintings at the time -- but since then those images have become somewhat popularized as the postcards have been reprinted in various forms, so now I'm doing simple carved pumpkin faces like the one below, for the most part.  

I wanted to do a simple pumpkin and cat painting again to usher in the season this year, so the one below is up on Etsy right now!  My first pumpkin cat was a 12 x 16 painting I think though and this one is a delicate 8 x 10 which has always been my preferred size for easy framing.  I wanted to use bright, bold colors and a lot of green in this one -- though the same black cat modeled for each, even if she doesn't know it!  Certainly, she wouldn't have sat still for that long if she knew she was being watched.

Only a little over two more months of enjoying Halloween decorations in stores!  But it will be awhile before people start decorating their houses, around here.  After all it's still 90 degrees out!