A New Portrait

Illustration Directories

Excellent advise from Mark Mitchell and Jo Ann Miller: Should you advertise in an illustration directory?

...there are always people — right now especially — looking for that nostalgic, hands on feel in the art. Watercolor, draftsmanship, the simple pen and ink line have a more important place than they had three years ago. Everybody’s been touched by someone who’s lost a job. People are going through a tough time. They want an emotional comfort level. That means images that strike an emotional, warm and fuzzy feeling, that appear hand-made rather than in your face and MTV-like.

...

There’s always a need for the humaneness in visual images —  particularly in an economy that’s struggling. And it’s often found in pictures done in the very traditional mediums like watercolor and  pencil. I think artists of that old school style have shied away from promoting themselves when they should be embracing opportunities to showcase their art.

New Neighborhood

We will be making the big move to North Carolina this weekend. Our new home will be in the Trinity Park neighborhood of Durham.

A Little Colored Pencil

Snow

I really like Uri Shulevitz, and his book Snow is certainly appropriate for this season.

We got our first snow accumulation here in Madison this past Thursday, which is always beautiful. We will likely get more tonight and tomorrow.

Illustration Art

Here is a great illustration blog.

Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales

This was a wonderful present from my husband on my birthday (Nov. 27)!