My final cuckoo clock submission

After a somewhat scattered process of sketching and assembling images, I created my final collage for my first MATS Bootcamp submission (more about this assignment + sketches can be found here).

I wanted my cuckoo clock image to portray time as a bit static and stuck, but also very layered and rich. This is the image I posted to Lilla's online gallery...
















As always, I welcome your comments and feedback.


MATS Bootcamp has begun!

I've enrolled in another course led by Lilla Rogers. This one is called Make Art That Sells: Assignment Bootcamp. It's different than the MATS A class that I took last year in a few ways:
  • In Bootcamp, we get three weeks for each assignment, plus one week downtime before the next one starts. In MATS A, we had one week to complete an assignment and no downtime. 
  • Lilla will not be critiquing the class submissions as she had in the A course, so there is much less interaction with Lilla herself.
  • Bootcamp is less expensive. Less Lilla, less $, I suppose.
The class began on February 3rd, and we were given the subject of Cuckoo Clocks. Lilla posted some great examples for reference and encouraged us all to just play for this first week (no worrying about money, career, results). I thought this was a super fun topic, and on various occasions, my son and I sat down at the kitchen table with his craft basket and drew with black pens and his favorite purple marker. Some of our drawings are here:



















At the beginning of the second week, we were given our actual assignment: create a phone cover with a cuckoo clock theme. Because of the vertical nature of the cover, and because I love drawing city buildings, I began focusing on the cuckoo clock as a Brooklyn brownstone. Here are a couple of examples:


Sketching bricks and worn-down facades kept veering me toward decay and the assemblage of broken pieces, however, and I start sketching hardware and darker birds, like the crow...



Ultimately, I realized I was envisioning a collage. Gears, hardware and premonitory blackbirds. A bit of melancholy and a bit of peace. I'll post my final piece shortly.

Snow days and a late Valentine's Day party

It's well after Valentine's Day, but we've had a ton of snow out here this winter, and my son's class is actually having their party today. We created cute little bags for his classmates, and I thought I'd share the template and our results.

To get the ball rolling, I made some of the hearts and a few other decorations, but my five year old impressively put in another two hours coloring the rest. I did the cutting, and my husband did the gluing (with a little Mod Podge). Together, we made 23 of these:


























We stuffed them with a piece of dark chocolate and a few heart stickers and sent them off with my son this morning. I am looking forward to hearing what the kids think!

If you'd like a copy of this template, you can download this picture below (select Fit to Print on your printer), or leave a comment, and I will email you a PDF.

Happy belated Valentine's Day!


Lions and Leos

In my free time, I've been working on a faux assignment that has a Circus theme. The circus has always seemed pretty sad to me, unfortunately, so I have had some difficulty figuring out a way to create from a place of joy. Because I do love cats, and because my son and husband are both Leos, I decided to focus on just a lion -- a tent-less, happy lion who likes to do tricks.

I will post again later with more little feats for my lion (and hopefully an entire pattern).
























My illustration in USA Today!

I received great news last night!
My illustration for The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly was featured in an article in USA Today, alongside a glowing review for the children's book publisher, ustyme! You can check out the article here.
I'm truly thrilled. Congratulations to us all!


A tattoo side project

Although I don't usually take on tattoo projects (I feel tattoos should be a collaboration between the tattoo-ee and the tattoo-er), I am helping one of my dearest friends from childhood design her new tattoo. This tattoo creation is an homage to her wonderful and jubilant mother, who sadly now has Alzheimer's Disease. We will be including a cardinal (her mom's favorite), the purple ribbon (for Alzheimer's awareness), and the forget-me-not flower (a symbol of the Alzheimer's Society).

I'm in the first stages of sketching, but here are some rough outlines thus far. I'll post more as they develop, and we decide on color.





Holiday card collaging has begun

I've tried a variety of both digital and traditional ideas for our holiday cards this year, and I've decided to stick with traditional cut and paste. Using all of our scraps from unused painting and drawings, my son and I will be creating little collages of wintry, holiday scenes.

Below is one of my first. I title this one, "Dream Big This Year."

Closeup of my bird cutout































Tomie's Sneeze

Last year, when I saw other illustrators posting on Facebook about their entries to the Tomie dePaola Award, I felt wistful. I love his work, and my son and I have read Strega Nona's Harvest at least 100 times. I wanted to send something in to him too.

This year, I was reminded of the contest in Kathy Temean's informative blog, Writing and Illustrating. The contest this year was to illustrate a short poem, targeting a very young viewer. Square format, 8x8, and must either include this poem or leave room for it:
Sneeze
A sneeze
Is a breeze
In
Your
Nose. 

I've been on a real bird kick these days, and I started sketching bird ideas right away. With snow days and half days at my son's school, though, I didn't really get started until a couple of days ago, and its been a pretty intense few days of drawing and re-drawing.

Before submitting my final drawing last night (the deadline was midnight PST), I thought of all the elements I could have added. All the tiny details that would have made this more curious and intriguing. I became insecure and hesitant. I wondered if I should submit it at all. After about an hour of hemming and hawing, I decided to let the doubts go and ship it. At the very least, I will be more aware of adding those details on my next (and current) projects. Try, learn, improve. Repeat.

Below is my final drawing, as well as some of the sketches that got me there...

My final drawing.






















This sketch has the sneeze going up his nose, instead of out. Oops. Redo.
























One of my first sketches. Again, more of a hay fever-type of inhale-sneeze. Redo.

Finishing last week's bird illustration

Although I draw using traditional methods (generally with a Sharpie marker or Pilot Rollerball), in last week's bird illustration I had decided to add color traditionally as well, using watercolor. I enjoy watercoloring, but I was very aware at how long it was taking me. I felt confined by the paint's permanency, and not being free to hit Cmd+z and try something else. I just wasn't losing myself in this art, which is something I really love to do.

So, I switched gears, and began to color my illustration digitally. As I'd hoped, time slipped away, and I was immersed in the process. I felt light and happy, which I hope I conveyed through my bright red birds.

This work is titled "Birds in the Tree (Commit)," and is now also available as a print here.

Next week, I hope to focus on this year's holiday card. I'll be posting along the way.

Adding color

I've started to watercolor my bird drawing, moving along in phases. The yellows ended up with a much more greenish tone that I had wanted, and the transition to blue is a bit harsh, so I will probably digitally tweak the background. But I'll fill in the tree next and decide which colors feel unbalanced. More to follow!



































Like finding an untouched page in a coloring book

Today's drawing has begun with a slight change. Instead of drawing with my black ink pen on 8-1/2 x 11 typing paper, which I scan and color digitally, I have started this piece on watercolor paper. I used a Sharpie (which won't bleed), and I'll be pulling out my watercolor palette shortly. I have a similar anticipation that I had when I was a kid, when I would find an untouched page in a thought-to-be-completed coloring book. I'll post the color results as soon as I can. Here is my drawing so far...



Advent calendar begins

Yay! It's December 2nd! We're a day late, but we've started creating our advent calendar for Archer. Last year, we made a Brooklyn-style brownstone facade out of a cereal box, with windows and doors that opened to reveal each day's surprise. We are in a new home this Christmas, and since we have a fire place and mantel, I've decided to use it as part of our advent calendar display.

Here's how its looking so far...

Today's star, #2, said "Choose 1 gift." Archer is starting to read, and it was so much fun to hear him sound this out, and then look around with excitement for where this gift might be. My husband made up a bowl of advent gifts, all with a different wrapping paper. Archer chose the brightly blue wrapped present, which was a collection of Eric Carle stories. Eric is one of my all-time favorites, and I cannot wait til Archer gets home from school so we can read them together.

Cat foot

I unpacked my acrylic paints a few days ago and decided to make some new textures on canvas. Without intending to, I created another Midwestern landscape. So, I added some ghostly/dreamy hay bales. Archer wants me to add a man inside a tractor, but I'm liking its calmness right now, and I'm not sure what I'll add next.

While taking a picture of this stage of the painting, no matter where I went, my cat, Milla, insisted on putting her paw in the shot. For now, I'll call this, "Nebraska With Hay Bales and Milla Foot."


My latest order from Skreened.com

Yesterday, I received onesies from my Big Bridge Studios shop on skreened.com -- "Rocket Memory" and "Boom Boxes." Once again, Skreened did an excellent job. The colors are clear, and the line work, though digitally printed, looks great. I'll be sending these off to my friends with new babies in the morning!






















All designs are also available in various toddler and adult sizes and colors. Please visit http://skreened.com/bigbridgestudios for more information, or feel free to contact me at kendra.shedenhelm (at) gmail.com.

More collaborations with Archer

As I've mentioned, my five year old and I collaborate on art projects quite frequently. We generally begin with some sort of painting, and then we forget about it for awhile. Weeks or months later, one of us will find what we'd started and add to it using another medium.

Below is a painting that we created together, that I later picked up and penciled on some birds.




















I then cut it into a postcard shape and laminated it with packing tape. I experimented with some sewing (in lieu of the Great Stitched Postcard project), but I became discouraged, and I put it away.

Archer ran across it a couple of weeks later and thought the stitched buildings were fascinating. He immediately asked for a Sharpie, and drew "buildings with portals" hovering above my pink brownstone.



Although it's not complete (Archer has a few ideas about what to add next), I adore how my son saw a story in this, when I was ready to throw it in the trash.

I will post again once its finished.

Foxes

I've started a new book illustration project this week, and this one features a fox. Not a cuddly fox, but a rascally one, and I've been drawing, painting, and collaging foxes like crazy trying to find my character.

Though I decided against this more painterly fox below, I found him quite beautiful, and I think I'll keep him around for some other ideas.


Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap

Last week, I stitched my first postcard for the Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap. How strange it was to compose a scene so slowly, thread in, thread out. It was difficult for me at times, because I wasn't exactly sure where it was going, but I also found it quite calming.

My recipient was a woman in Australia. I'm not sure if she's received it yet, but I hope it makes her feel like home is a good place to be.





I am finally posting my fired piece from the Painted Pot (I posted the unfired tile here several weeks ago). It turned out better than I'd even expected -- colors were so bright, and all of my erase lines and scratches are still in there. It was my first painted tile, and I loved it so much, I'm considering a series. Any suggestions on products/glazes/local studios are very welcome.