Collaboration, blue warblers and 'no the yes'

Last night, before the sun went down and my five year old came home from his kickball game, I realized I had a few minutes to make some art. I currently have my watercolor tray out, so I looked around for any scraps of thick paper.

I love to collaborate with my kid, and we often paint and draw over each other's work, so I quickly chose one of my son's drawings that I've been holding onto. I grabbed my reference book about birds, and this is what I ended up with.

"You, the Magician"

"Observe your performance, your daily routine.
You make yourself up to teach yourself things."
—You, the Magician

This little excerpt is from the upcoming book that I've been illustrating, "You, the Magician." Written by husband and wife team, Jodi and Josh Carothers, this children's book has an incredible message that I think both kids and parents will enjoy and benefit from. I can't wait for people to read it.

Though I'm unsure of the release date (they are still looking at publishing options – suggestions welcome!), they now have a Facebook page that you can Like for more information and updates. Follow them here!

Last submission for MATS Bootcamp

Today was the deadline for my last submission in Lilla Rogers' MATS Bootcamp class. The initial mini-assignment and the overall focus was on our Favorite Beverage. The final piece should be something to give to a dear friend, or something that we'd put on our bedroom wall.

What was very different this month, was that we were asked not to post our works-in-progress on the MATS Facebook group. This prevented us from being influenced (and/or intimidated) by our classmates' work, and from seeking the opinions of others to make our own decisions. I needed to ask myself if I liked my final work and not be concerned with anyone else. Seeking approval can be a big challenge for me, and I loved this exercise.

I worked on my project up to the last minute, wavering between two very different directions. One was more editorial-ish; the other, very personal. I went with the personal one below. As I thought of my favorite drink, I thought more about memories of drinks and mealtimes. I thought of drinking juice in the morning at my Grandma Erma's farm, out of little, glass jelly jars. I thought of the lighting when I would sit down for breakfast, the window to my right, the expansive grass out the window, the big farm sink to my left. And I also thought of my Grandpa Iver, and how much I'd have liked to have him sit down with me for some juice and buttered toast. I used watercolor and graphite paper drawings to create this collage.

Part of me wanted to go with a more obvious Favorite Beverage theme, though, and I created many variations of the collage below. It was based on my coffee cup drawings, and I wanted it to seem soothing, like she was drinking a morning elixir.

As always, your feedback, comments and suggestions as welcome!

A quick watercolor sketch of Grandpa Iver

For an assignment I am currently working on, I have been thinking about who I'd like to have my morning cup of coffee with. Anyone. Who would I want to talk to, ask some questions, smile at, look around, pour another cup...?  My beloved grandfather Iver, whom I've never met and only have heard about, came to mind.

As I looked at old pictures of him today, I decided to sketch him. He was an eel farmer, a restauranteur, and a furniture maker (amongst many other things). He loved classical music, as I do. He was a tall and notoriously kind and patient man. He left such an impression on my mother that I named my son, Archer, after him (in Swedish, Iver = the bowman, the archer). Here's my quick watercolor of him. I love him so!

An artist date to see Neil Gaiman at Carnegie Hall

As I've mentioned in a couple of my very first blog posts, I try to take myself out on artist dates as often as possible. My most recent artist date was to see Neil Gaiman at Carnegie Hall. The performance opened with a few songs by FourPlay String Quartet (amazing!), then Neil came out and read his version of Hansel and Gretel. After a brief intermission, Neil read from his new book, The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains. FourPlay String Quartet performed as he read, and illustrations by artist Eddie Campbell were projected on the wall behind them. It was exactly as I had hoped -- moody, mysterious, exciting and extremely memorable. I loved it.

Here's a quick sketch I made during the performance. You can see the overall set up, as well as Neil's awesome, floppy hair...

Here's my ticket and my pre-show Cabernet:

To find out more about this event, check out this fantastic interview/preview with Neil at hearandnow.wbur.org.

Quick sketch of a dogwood tree

I drew this quick sketch a couple of weeks ago, scanned it, and then left it in a pile with a bunch of other drawings. I found it again last night, and, as I mentioned in this post, I liked it more than I had initially.

Eric Carle's "What's Your Favorite Animal?" Project

I absolutely love Eric Carle. I love his work and his joyful presence. "Brown Bear, Brown Bear. What Do You See?" was given to my son when he was born, and we've been hooked on Carle's work ever since. We frequently have Eric Carle-themed library visits, and our longtime favorite is "Draw Me a Star" (I still tear up whenever we read it).

A few months ago, I saw that there was a digital exhibition at the Eric Carle Museum, called the "What's Your Favorite Animal?" Project, and anyone could upload their art to the online gallery. I've been prodding my son almost daily to create something for it, but today I decided to let him off the hook and just create something for it myself. I submitted this piece, titled Cardinal.

If you or your child would like to participate, submissions are still being accepted until August 1st, 2014, and the online gallery is on display here through August 31st. I highly recommend that you take a look at all the amazing art!

Reviving and recycling my art

It's funny to me how often I love the art that I'd initially ditched and also adamantly dislike what was once a favorite.

A couple of days ago, I ran across some art that I'd created for a client a few months ago. It was ultimately never used, and I suppose I felt it wasn't any good because of it. But when I saw these characters again, I realized how much I did like them, and how much I could see myself in them. I even put a couple of them in my society6 shop, so that I could create prints. And perhaps I'll turn this Crane into a baby onesie.

Though much of my art that I've rejected probably will stay in a folder somewhere, as I get more comfortable in my art-making skin, I can see me and my process in the bad stuff too. And I find that I appreciate those castoffs more and more.

Boats, wall art and MATS Bootcamp

This month's MATS Bootcamp with Lilla Rogers kicked off with a nautical theme. Boats, boats in bottles, oceans, whales...

We had a week to play around, sketch and experiment with these ideas, and at the beginning of the second week, we were given the assignment: square-shaped wall art.

I knew that I wanted to focus on boats, so I drew gobs of sailboats and pirate-y boats, and I assembled them over a variety of background textures. I still haven't decided which final piece to submit, but these two are the contenders. Your feedback is most welcome!

The Happy Earth Bird

With the encouragement of the writer/publisher of the book I've been illustrating, I've created a print of a detail from one of the pages. I call him, "Happy Earth Bird." You'll see him again once the book is available, but for now, you can find him in my Society6 shop here. He's available as a print, a t-shirt or a onesie. Keep checking back for more sneak peeks of this upcoming book!

Creating a new character and sequence, and the Tomie dePaola contest

Yesterday was the deadline for the 2014 Tomie dePaola contest. I learned a lot from participating in the last Tomie contest, and I decided to submit to this one as well.

The assignment was "to create a six-panel sequence that has a beginning, middle and an end that is obvious, featuring a character of your own invention. It can be funny, sad, dramatic or ordinary, but interesting and with lots of invention and finesse, and depicting emotion in 4 to 6 frames."

While I could have done more with the background, and with adding more details, I had many new ideas by working on this. My five year old son felt very strongly that the bird would not fly away forever, and we made up several stories of what they might do together next.

A quick DIY tie for my kid

My family and I are traveling to Florida today to attend my niece's high school graduation. I realized a couple of days ago that I had forgotten to get my son anything fancy to wear to the ceremony. So I made a quick scan of the dress that I'll be wearing, created a tie template in InDesign, and printed the design on iron-on paper. Voila! A new tie to match my dress. What do you think?

My first editorial illustration

I've had a growing curiosity about editorial illustration, and I was excited when Lilla Rogers assigned a magazine ad for this month's MATS Bootcamp class. We were asked to create a full-page, magazine illustration to coincide with this article on meditation, titled "How to Meditate: A Primer for People Who Don't Like to Meditate."

I wanted to convey a person who was unable to immerse themselves in meditation, amongst others who seemed to do it so easily. This was my final submission:

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome!

Last-minute underwater mural for a Brooklyn school and mural design for a team

NY Cares contacted me a couple of days ago, asking if I could quickly sketch a mural for a local school in Brooklyn. Because I live in Croton now, it would have been almost impossible for me to sketch an 18 foot mural on-site in the allotted time. So we agreed that I would design the mural, and leave it to someone else to project and sketch it out on the canvas. As always with NY Cares, a group of volunteers will paint the sketched mural.

Here are my sketches and final design (if I get any pictures, I will post the finished painted piece):

When I first started designing murals for NY Cares in 2004, I had no idea how to create something that could be painted successfully by a third party. My designs were too complicated, using complex shading or foreshortened images that weren't understandable to a group of volunteers. Or, my sketches were too vague and gestural, and the volunteers were unable to decipher my drawings well enough to paint them accurately.

As I have learned to keep my mural layouts simple and clear, I find that the experience for the volunteers is a heck of a lot less overwhelming, and they seem to walk away feeling excited and proud of the final work.

One of my more successful experiences was with a team of volunteers from Crossfit718. Because of the legibility of my drawing and the simplicity of the colors and shapes, these women were able to paint with enthusiasm. They got it. Their attitudes were positive, and they did an outstanding job.

Here are a couple of shots of that completed mural, and one of me adding some finishing touches.

Your questions, comments and suggestions are always welcome. Thanks for stopping by!

A Mother's Day note card for you.

I created this little card a couple of days ago for my mom and my husband's mom. To my great joy, it printed out on watercolor paper beautifully, and I was able to send them out on time.

If you'd like to download a copy of this little note card, I've created a printable page with crop marks and fold lines. You can either download this PNG below, or you can email me at kendrasred(at)gmail(dot)com, and I will send you a hi-res PDF.

Let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy!

Back to watercolor

Today, I challenged myself to make art using an uncomfortable medium. All types of traditional painting has proven a challenge for me the past few years, so I broke out the watercolors and watercolor pens to see if I could loosen up a bit. Below is a doll I painted, based on an upcoming assignment for my class with Lilla Rogers, plus a couple bird paintings. I ended up really enjoying myself, and I think I'll watercolor tomorrow as well.

More work with texture

My pen has felt a little resistant lately, so this week, I decided to give it a rest and focus on another love of mine -- textures. Since I gravitate toward bird-creating, especially when I'm feeling a bit stuck, I started a "Rusty Bird" collection. I am unsure if I'll add to the backgrounds, or keep these as solitary birds on a blank page, but here is a preview of what I've been working on....

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.

In like a lion

While working on my happy lions for the circus pattern project a few weeks ago, I made a rough sketch of a voluminous lion face. I tossed it aside at the time, but I keep running into it, and I decided to try another one today. I'll post more once the linework is completed and I've added color, but I look forward to seeing where I can go with this. Stay tuned!

Lilla Rogers and Jell-O patterns

I submitted my second assignment for Lilla's MATS Bootcamp earlier today. The focus this month was on patterns, bolt fabric and Jell-O — Jell-O molds, colors, retro ads, anything Jell-O. I found myself uninterested in the molds, but I really loved looking at the desserts. The colorful stacks of Jell-O layered with whipped cream and a cherry on top, served in a tall glass with a pronounced stem. Just cool.

As with every Lilla assignment so far, it was another fantastic experience of learning, questioning, researching and drawing. Not only did I spend time checking out old Jell-O ads (totally enjoyable), but I also paid more attention to the patterns around my house, I drew gazillions of fun desserts, and I tried some new color combinations. Another perk this month was finding www.colorexplorer.com. Using the "Image Color Import" function, I was able to upload images that I was drawn to (my Ikea bedspread, a shirt at the Nintendo store, a mudroom on Houzz.com, etc.), and Color Explorer provided Illustrator-ready .ase swatches for me to use with my drawings.

I created several variations for my final assignment, but I went with this one in the end:

There were a few other contenders, too...

Which one is your favorite? And why?
I welcome your comments!

Textures and more bird sketches

I'm working on a project that now requires more background colors and textures, so I spent time yesterday creating watercolor paintings with different shades of blues, greens, and oranges to add to my library.

After I scanned these texture paintings in, I pulled out my white and graphite transfer paper and sketched on the still-damp paper. The wetness of the paper and the smudginess of the transfer paper give my drawings a dream-like quality, and I generally love the results.

On the cropped out sections below, I added some saturation in Photoshop to boost the background texture further...

How I will incorporate this particular background, I'm not sure yet. I am hoping for further instruction while I sleep tonight.

Your comments, questions and suggestions are always welcome.