Barnum

Illustration for the Vermont Children's Theater's Production of Barnum. I feel like I was really channeling my inner Bill Peet.

12 Dancing Princesses

Twelve Dancing Princesses is the first show for the Vermont Children's Theater this summer. I love doing work for them.

It seemed to me the most obvious option would be to illustrate the 12 princesses dancing. As I thought about it, I realized the amount of worn out dancing shoes would be enormous. I thought this would be a great image that depicts a quite, but humorous moment behind the scenes. Hiding shoes in a few spots was particularly entertaining for me.

The best moment working on this was when I was at the computer painting the illustration and my youngest daughter was at my drawing table drawing. She wanted me to make all the shoes pink. I just couldn't bring myself to do that.

The show runs July 8 at 7 pm and july 9 and 10th at 2 pm at the Vermont Children's Theater. The shows are fun to watch.

New Bow Tie Guy (IF Wool)

Merino Sheep (məˈrēnō sh ēp) 

A sheep that has long fine wool. I enjoyed the look on this guys face.

With the onset of the summer I have set a goal to draw daily. At the beginning of the day after my personal study and prayer time I have been dedicating at least 15 minutes to free drawing time. My hope is that I will be able to continue this through the school year in the fall. The results have been increased creativity on my part and drawing is once again becoming an easier process.

I keep telling my students that they need to draw daily in order to improve their own work. It seems that life always gets in the way and the first thing to go is art. This is frustrating because art is one thing that helps me manage the stress.

Isn't it funny that the things that help us deal with life the best are the first things we drop when life gets difficult.