Give up, give in or give it all you’ve got!

I had so much fun doing this drawing of my dog,

I am doing a similar one of my cat.

I know this drawing is a dog but I want to talk

about my horse that died two years ago.  When

Hercules died I questioned if I should give up riding.

Starting over with a new horse seemed overwhelming,

but I felt very sad when I imagined my life without horses.

So I stared the process of looking for a new equestrian friend

and found Eli.  He is the perfect horse for me in so many

ways and I am blessed to have him in my life.

I am happy I didn’t give up!

On to the reason I am telling this story…

there is a parallel in the direction of my art career.  For the

past two years I have done many illustrations for what

would have been my second children’s book.  Recently,

the book died for reasons I won’t get into.

This, like the loss of my horse, made me question my

direction.  Will I ever do another children’t book, maybe

but not right now.  However I am having a great time

creating art in my own style and in a playful way.

For now it feels right and easy and I can’t wait to see

where it goes.  If it is anything like what happened with

Eli it will be wonderful.

cowboyjaz

Leaving time

Just finished reading Jodi Picoult’s latest book

Leaving Time.  I loved it!

The book is based on the life of a

elephant researcher and is full of interesting

information about elephants.  This book makes you

question what is real and what is an illusion.  There are

times when people in the book make origami

elephants out of dollar bills.  That inspired me

to make one.  I found I had a book

The Buck Book by Anne Akers Johnson with great

instructions on how to make them.  I made one for

every member of my book club.  Luckily the

group is small.

elephantdollar

Sailboat applique

Was doing a little cleaning in my closet and came across

a shirt that was my Dad’s.  I had saved it after he died

because it had a sailboat appliqued on the back.

The applique was done by my Mom.  I knew I would

never wear it nor would anybody else in my family.

So I thought… I will make it into a pillow.

Blue (the color of the shirt) is not one of the colors

I decorated my house with. So I decided to jazz it up a

bit with other colors.  This is how it came out…

sailboatpillow 004

I had so much fun doing this.  I hope to find a

similar project soon!

Paisley zebra

I think being true to yourself is very trendy

lately.  With that in mind I have created

another zebra not afraid of a little color.

She was fun to draw!

Hope she makes you smile and encourages

you to show your colors too!

pasleyzebrabrightandcurvescutout

Cage your dragon

I did this dragon drawing…

dragon

It is a cross between a bird and an alligator.

I put it in a cage for a card.

cageyourdragon

I also put it in a landscape for a

continuation of my be yourself series.

beyourselfdragon

It will be folded in half and the

zebra will be on the back.

Next horse

I am working on a a set of drawings to be put

up in a conference room.  The subject is equine.

The three pictures are going to be my Eli drawing, my

raninbow zebra horse (Zorse) and this horse head.

It will be about 17 inches tall.  Although I have no

horse that looks like this and I have zero plans

to aquire another horse, my daughter calls

this drawing our next horse.

nexthorsecard

I am also going to make it into a card.

New beginnings

I did my latest collage to help

myself figure out my purpose.

I believe we are all given a gift

and it is up to us to use it during

our life.  I have alway felt you should

do what you love and love what you do;

then eveything should work out.

But sometimes it doesn’t work out

the way you had hoped.

newbeginningwithtype

Two fish

twofish

I did this card with two fish…

I thought it needed something else,

so I added a cat, dog and fish bowl.

twofishacatanddog

I think this has a better story.

Yin Yang birds

yinyangverticalI drew this crow and thought it went well with the

peace dove from my holiday card.  I drew the

yin yang symbol to tie them together.

I think the crow would work nicely on a

Halloween card.  Any thoughts?

Giraffe

One of my best customers loves giraffes.

So I thought I would draw one.

I could only fit part of her on the card.

giraffeandzebra

Holiday card

2015zaxischristmascardcurves

For a few years I have been doing the holiday

card for Z-Axis / Bear Power Supplies

an electronics company in Phelps, NY.

This is my creation for this year.

The bear and outlet are on the backside

of the card.

The owl

I did a quiz on line to find my totem animal.

It is an owl.  I have never drawn an

owl before or had any urge to.

This is my first owl…

owlThis is my second owl….

checkeredowlHere is my third…uniqueowlI feel this one suits me best.

I invite you to be your unique self!