And the blog-book-give-away winner is:

I just wrote out everyone's name
(and thank you all for entering. I always enjoy your comments here.)

- and shook you all up in my husband's gigantic Australian Akubra hat. Drew a name -

-and congrats to Gina! One of my 'neighbors'. :-) Thanks again everyone -

(Gina - send me an email with your address. I'll get these out to you!)

Sunday Sketching

*sigh*

Apparently my ability to stylize is hugely dependent on how long I have to look at the person I'm drawing (which this week, was not long enough), and how close I am to them. My eyes are getting detectably older, and drawing-from-a-distance is demonstrably more difficult.

At least when I am attempting to base the drawing on actual, recognizable characteristics, and not totally make it up...

maybe someday when I grow up....?


[I will post the winner for the book-giveaway tomorrow.]

Blog Book Give-Away...

Books number 5 and 6 in the Wind Dancer series are due to be released on September 1st. My covers of which you see above, and the interiors I co-illustrated with my good friend Jo Gershman.

I received a hefty box of them today. And from my abundance, I wish to share with you, gentle reader, a signed copy of each for the lucky commenter whose name I shall draw on the eve of Sunday, August 30th. Just in time to mail off to you by their official release day.

So if you would like to toss your name in the hat, just leave me a comment on this post by 7pm Pacific Time, 8/30/09.

Wishing winged horses your way.....

[Added later: I will ship anywhere. Feel free....]

Book Cover #11 - WIP (ribbons and roses)

This is the cover drawing that would never end! Took forever this week to finish it up.

In my initial thumbnail, I attempted to have a significantly different pose from the previous two. However, the publishers did not like this one, so re-draws were required. I had already worked out the color palette and elements to include....

So I went reference hunting - for both references for the elements I already knew that I needed, and much searching for rearing, 3/4, tucked-head horses... Since flying-horse-pose reference is not so easy to come by, it take compiling what you can come up with and for me at least, quite a bit of working and re-working until the anatomy feels somewhat believable...?

...And of course, here is the flower featured on this cover. Herb-lore for the day: An Anglo-Saxon herbal of the 11th century speaks of a conserve of rose petals "taken in the morning and fasting at night, it strengthenest the hearte and taketh away the shakings and tremblings thereof."

I grow very old heirloom roses. They are not the most beautiful varieties, but their scent is heavenly and intense, their petals make for very flavorful candied garnishes and the most fragrant syrup you've ever tasted, and they have huge, plump hips. Decorative *and* tasty (jelly, tea, etc...) These wild roses above have been fun to draw and made me acutely aware of the occasional waft of deliciously intense rose fragrance from the roses that grow beneath my studio window...

Here is the revised sketch, which was approved-

-and here, at LONG last, is the finished cover drawing...

Three down, one more to go.

Sunday Sketching

All-female day at church this morning...

I find I am fighting with myself a bit with this kind of sketch - I am drawing actual people, live, but can't seem to come to any internal consensus regarding how much to strive for realistic likenesses versus how much to suggest a likeness whilst stylizing the way I am wont to do... I seem to tend towards the latter, but not entirely. I should probably make a decision and then push it more in which ever direction I come down on. I'm not so happy with this inbetween stuff...

Ren Fair-ing - Part Last

Even though I had hoped to do a bunch of sketching -

I got sucked into *watching* the performances rather than drawing through them. (I did sketch some of the audience backs while waiting for them to start..)

So many things to see! So much to watch!

...Lovely long day. Clear to the very end....

Ren Fair-ing - Part V (Gypsies and Horses!!)

The most thrilling part of the Renaissance Fair for me was watching the Cavallo Equestrian Arts perform their Ma'Ceo act.

It's described as their gypsy themed equestrian performance -

-that includes daredevil cossack riding-

-truly unbelievable acrobatics -

-and horseback juggling (balls, pins, and great big curved blades. That was scary.)

This Florida based equestrian group come from a circus background -

-descending from 6 generations of bareback circus acrobats....

Some of the moves looked truly dangerous! There were a few falls, and missed landings - limping gypsies - but many thrilling, gasp-worthy stunts were successfully performed to wild cheers and applause.

It was enough to make me want to run away and join the circus...

Ren Fair-ing - Part IV (Fairies)

Besides the medievally garbed, the pirates and the belly dancers, there always seems to be the inevitable contingent of winged-folk... (Most of which I had to photograph from behind - to get the best views of the winged-ness):

This elaborately appareled blue-fairy spent the bulk of the day making a trilling purring sound while handing people invisible fairy treasure and hoping for tips in return...??

OK - we now need the collective term for fairies - a swarm? flock? flight? glittering? dusting? - whatever it is, this was my favorite group of them - gingerly picking their barefoot way across the parking lot...

And these two little darlings - with matching dress, wings and hoodies! :-)

New to me this year were the morning-glory hats that many a little fairy was adorned with.

Of course there were the cortege of the darker, more goth variety...

...or the redder....more...redder? variety....

And yes, these would look totally smokin' on my dog!

Ren Fair-ing - Part III (Costumes)

People-watching taken one step further - focusing on their costumes (and matching personae) -

This gentleman claims to be Robin Hood. Or just a random man-in-tights...?

Tudor-esque lady with her Musketeer escort -

And this dapper gent runs medieval security by the arena, complete with crossbow in hand. We discussed his terribly cool, hand crafted, multi-laced footware.

Here's one of the 'fools' - with an authentic boiled leather mask. I luurve those...

I really don't need a hat like this however...

And check out these studly Norse warriors! Alitor of Clan Brickhome (on the left) was the Master of Ceremonies - and so cute, you wanted to pinch his hairy little cheeks!

Ren Fair-ing - Part II (People)

One of the primary reasons to go to the fair is to People Watch.

Here be the Bawdy Juggler.

There were many a long-haired musician.

And Pirates! Can I tell you how many pirates there were? [What is the collective noun for pirates? A Robbery? Rabble? Criminal? Brigand? Peril? Invasion? Treasure?]. At any rate, a brigand of Pirates invaded and rabbled in the Ale House...

The anachronisms are always fun. The Renaissance Lady using her cell phone... The Crusader using his Visa card (By the fire extinguisher)...

There were places for participation also. You could try your hand at archery, fencing, sword fighting, or as in this photo, get your melee on... (These young participants were a little hesitant to fully engage in bloody battle, but the sheer numbers were fun to watch).

But the funnest things we got to watch were the equestrian shows with their amazing riders. The "Dark Knights" complete with Games of Skill and jousting were fabulous. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery after this shot, so that's all I got of the noble knights...

However, I *did* get many of the gypsy equestrian show - which was even better. So stay tuned!

Ren Fair-ing - Part I

Yesterday, the Laundry Faerie and I spent the day at the annual Renaissance Fair.

I haven't been for about 5 years, but since I missed the Scottish Games (which were during the heat wave!), and the Summer Faire at Camlann, and needed my Medieval fix for the season. It was at a new venue this summer, in rural Buckley on a fabulous farm.

On paying our entrance fee, we are given change in the 'coin of the realm', which could be used for any number of tempting options -

There were lots of fair-ish culinary choices -

There were booths and booths of costuming ensembles - from fairy to historical to pirate - lots of jewelry, leather and weaponry...

There were also miscellaneous objects - hand-tooled leather journals, magic wands, horned helmets, and just plain horns. [I bought a couple of the twistiest ones - drawing twisty horns in various perspectives is one of my banes! Having the thing to look at should make it MUCH easier!]

The local blacksmith was selling *his* twisty wares... How about these spoons?

And speaking of spoons - this dragon sculpture was constructed predominantly out of oval cutlery.

Shiny!