Well, the fishies aren't done, but you haven't seen the last of them! I'll finish the painting up and post on the progress, whenever it's completed. I've enjoyed painting each day, and even though I won't be posting a new pic every day, I'll still be creating like mad - though in June I'll be looking forward to having time to do other things, like sew, cook, and do some journal writing. Not to mention spending more time with the hubby since he's done teaching... :)

Congratulations to everyone who pledged to create every day, and to those who supported them. I would love to hear from everyone - how'd it go? Was it fun? Was it torture? Would you do it again?

See all my month's posts for May here. See the whole Flickr group here!

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the NEWS!

I thought I was going to be spending the evening with masking fluid and toothpicks, blocking out the white areas so I could do the water, blah blah blah, and all of a sudden, I thought, why? So I decided to just jump in and get splashy and wet with it. Believe me, I had a lot more fun! :)

♥ May may be almost over, but make sure to tune in JUNE 1 for exciting news! ♥

When my incredibly talented friend Allyson posted this photo for her Every Day In May project, I told her I had to paint it. So Ally, this one's for you!

The sleeping fairy in our garden, a present from Snowflake. I think she has more if you'd like a fairy to take a nap in your garden too. :)

My studio is sweltering hot... will work more tomorrow. :) I just may be done with this one, but I always need some breathing space to decide for sure.

My last part of my portfolio article is up at Design Sessions! You can read the four parts here:

Showcasing your illustrations
Setting up your gallery
Finishing touches
How to get it all done

♥ ♥ ♥ RECITALS ARE OVER! ♥ ♥ ♥

On-the-go playlist for a ride to Grandma's with three preschoolers who like to sing (links to YouTube where available):

1-2-3 Sesame Street - Stevie Wonder
Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing - Stevie Wonder (I swear, the other day, Petey put his hand on my knee and said, "Don't you worry about a thing, pretty mama.")
Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day - Stevie Wonder
Falling Over You - Rockapella
We All Stand Together - Paul McCartney
Let 'Em In - Wings (this is the kids' new favorite song)
Mah Na Mah Na - Jim Henson
Here Comes the Moon - George Harrison
Flowers are Red - Harry Chapin
Jennifer Juniper - Donovan
Wynken Blynken and Nod - Donovan
The Owl and The Pussycat - Donovan
There is a Mountain - Donovan
Don't Let's Start - They Might Be Giants
C Moon - Paul McCartney

One more night of recitals... eight more days of straight painting. How are you guys doing?

I just wrote, and erased, a recap of my ride home from Grandma and Grandpa's, complete with needing to physically restrain Angela from kicking and hitting her twin repeatedly in the car, but you know what? It was enough going through it the first time.

Running on fumes today.... the background was all I could manage. Three recitals down, two more to go.

. . . . . . . . . . .

Do yourself a favor and check out Summer Pierre's fantastic 'zine, "The Artist At Work." Not only does she completely get it, she is sending it out for FREE, just for asking. Go right now and ask her for a copy while she's still offering! I have mine!

There is definitely a feeling out there that the only real artists are the ones who quit their day jobs. I can tell you that you can be just as serious and inspired by having a day job to support that dream. Am I completely dedicated to my art? Yes. Do I enjoy having health insurance for my family? That gives me the peace of mind I need to paint. (And, in my case, my husband is self-employed and I am happy to provide the health insurance.) I have three day jobs: being a Mama, being an Art Director, and being an Illustrator. They are not mutually exclusive, but it is really nice to see another artist like Summer acknowledge that art and work can co-exist.

Just started a new one.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I was asked recently what kind of supplies I use, and so I found this list I'd done a while ago of some of my favorite things.

Watercolour sketchpad. My sketchpad of choice is the Canson All-Media Book. It's acid-free, 90 lb. cold press paper that seems to take everything I throw at it: watercolour, ink, colored pencil, pastel, you name it. Mine's 9" x 12" and has 100 pages. This book is portable and lets me feel a lot freer to be experimental since I don't feel like I'm wasting a big sheet. I actually wish these did come in a bigger size. Which leads me to...

Watercolour pocket box. This is a wonderful travel box of watercolours that you can fit in your pocket. It's the Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colour Sketcher's Pocket Box. (phew!) It has 12 half pans of paint and comes with a tiny brush. When we went to Italy, I brought these and painted all my pictures with these tiny paints. They're really marvelous.

The Watercolor Bible is something you should check out at your library for even more watercolor fun.

I also draw with mechanical pencils, gummy erasers, and paint with whatever brushes are on sale and come in a pack. I occasionally scan in art and add finishing touches in Photoshop (like that crosshatching), but I really enjoy leaving things in their natural state and staying away from the almighty Undo.

Rethought the wings. :) I get a lot of questions to answer about how I work and the materials I use; I'll do my best to write whatever I can... but now, off to bed. Tonight was the first night of five recitals, and after taking the kids out of the house for 6 hours, getting them home and off to bed, painting tonight and then knowing that I will be doing this for 4 more nights in a row after work... what was it I said? Oh yes, bed.

Detail of a new painting in progress. :)

Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of my hero Jim Henson's death.

Life's like a movie.
Write your own ending.
Keep believing.
Keep pretending.

I just may be finished with this one, I want to live with it for a few days. I added in a lot more green to the background which I think helps Petey "pop" more from the background.

Day 15! We're almost halfway done! How's everyone else doing with their creative endeavors? ♥

Was up super-early and couldn't go back to sleep, so I painted instead. Maybe I'll reward myself by going to bed early tonight! (That would be a first!) I think I've been subcousciously leaving Petey's hair for later because it's a dirty blonde - I want to make sure it's different enough than both his skin tone and the background. That'll be tonight's challenge. (That and adding blues to his skintones.)

In other news, I have a new set of articles up at Sessions.edu - about presenting your illustrations online in a portfolio. Enjoy!

The fairies left another note for the kids today. We're gathering their letters in a beautiful box Sophie made me in preschool and gave me today, painted pink and covered with gorgeous shiny (fake!) gemstones of varied shape and color. We found the note on the fairies' rock while Daddy planted the little blue hydrangea bush he gave me.

Three years ago, I had the most heartbreaking Mother's Day ever when Angela was still in the NICU and I couldn't bring her home with me. I had a one-year-old and one newborn twin at home (who was on medications and a heart and lung monitor), and was making twice-daily trips to the hospital to visit Angela until she was well enough to come home. Peter was in for one month, Angela for almost 2 and a half. I thank God every Mother's Day since that my kids are strong and well and healthy, and that we're all together. My day was probably tame by most people's standards - but as long as we're all together, it's pure heaven to me.

Happy Mother's Day, to all moms, grandmas, nanas, and to everyone trying to become one.

Peter's turn.

This is not an Every Day In May pic, but I had to post it nonetheless. :) Juicy!

I think I am allllllllmost done. The real painting sitting in front of me is 20 times more luscious than the scan. :)

I wasn't 100% certain what color to make the bird - I always thought it would be yellow, but I needed to test other colors first. So I just did a quick and dirty color test, on the computer, like this.... yup, yellow it is!

Interestingly enough, the subject of this painting is doing her best to foil every chance I get to actually work on it. (sigh)

More progress on the Angela painting. I am having so much fun with this one! Not done with the hair yet, I actually want to take more detail out and make it more blotches of color.

in other news... please vote if you feel so moved! ♥

Starting a new painting, of Angela this time. Guess who she inherited that gorgeous cloud of hair from?

The fairies have been busy!

As reported yesterday, we left a dandelion chain out for the fairies yesterday. I didn't disappoint! I took a small sheet of paper with flowers pressed into it, folded it in quarters, and wrote a thank you note from the fairies to leave on the rock. Weighted down with a rock, the note sat there while I gathered pale pink and deep magenta azalea branches to put in a jam jar on our dining room table.

I walked Sophie home from school and suggested we go check the rock before we went inside. She was thrilled, and it was really sweet to see, she read it over and over and showed it to Peter and Angela when they woke up from their naps. We tucked the note under a beautiful statue of a sleeping fairy Snowflake gave to us.

I am looking forward to see what other gifts the fairies will leave for the kids in the back yard this summer....

Painted in my backyard, with kids playing around me and helping Paul plant. Each year I think the tulips are even more gorgeous than the year before. Can that be?

I made a dandelion necklace that none of the kids would wear, so we placed the circlet on a rock deep in our backyard for the fairies to have. We'll check tomorrow and see if they liked it and took it to keep. Even if a large fairy (wink, wink) needs to get up early to see that it's gone when they go look for it!

I think I might be done. (A little more detail in the chair, but that's it.) Painting while West Side Story is on in the background keeps your brush moving... while I hate the story, the music is so fantastic I have to watch it every time. Plus, hello, Rita Moreno! She rocks!

A detail:

More progress on Sophie and birdie! In the real painting, the shirt's not quite so Magenta-with-a-capital-M. Just a lovely pink.

♥ I'm going to be a guest blogger for the next two weeks at the design college Sessions.edu... and I'm writing all-new articles. The first one appeared today, and I'm working on one that's about working on your own web gallery to showcase your work. Enjoy!

Sometimes, after a long day, and when the only time you get to paint is after you have put the kids to bed (and put them to bed again, and again, and again), it is very, very, hard to paint.

You do it anyway.

The start of a painting of Sophie and a little bird. I took a ton of photos this weekend to work from, I am just itching to get at them all!

Today we all took a break to go to the townwide Balloon Parade - all the preschools in town get together for a picnic and music at our park, and then each school gave out balloons and they all paraded around the perimeter. It was quite colorful, Sophie got to walk with her friend from class, and if Angela and Peter could have refrained from screaming and bludgeoning each other over the head with their ballooons, it could have been quite idyllic.

Started on location under my favorite tree in our park this morning. Finished up during a all-out painting session with the kiddos this afternoon. ♥

Check out what other people are creating today on the Every Day In May flickr group. There's even a site feed!

site note: comments are now being moderated. No need to post twice. :)