This is my latest greeting card. It celebrates diversity in a subtle and woodland creature way. I suppose the chicken isn't a creature from the woods, but you get my point. I love the quote: 'When the Sun Rises, it Rises for Everyone.'
When illustrating, there are so many iterations of an idea. Pencil, eraser, and paper are wonderful companions while going on the 'idea journey'. It's so easy to erase, adjust, change your mind. Working with these 'traditional' mediums, there is always the hint, a slight pencil stain left behind when a new idea wants to be known and the previous one is removed. It's the history, the footprint, of the idea.
One thing I struggle with though, is the lost looseness, or fluidity of the original drawing compared to the final watercolor. This past year I've been adding ink lines with my watercolor painting, and I think this helps suggest some of the original drawing's character.
I considered hand drawing the lettering on this card, but did not because it would have taken too long and I'm lacking the confidence... maybe next card.
Knitting Report: this is a sweater I started about 30+ years ago. I altered the original pattern (called 'Dancing Girls and Boys') to the point that it wasn't really coming together. I put the sweater away until earlier this year. In the end, it was too short. To solve this problem I cut the sweater in half right above the gray dancing boys. I then knit a 4th white diamond pattern and used the 'kitchener' stitch to marry the two halves back together. I'm quite happy with how it came together... except the overall design is a little 'loud' for my life at this point! Question: Do you write 'gray' or 'grey'. I just heard a saying that says Americans write 'gray', and people from England write 'grey'. Gray with an A for America, Grey with an E for England. I use
both, but there you have it. Here's the sweater before I cut it in half.
both, but there you have it. Here's the sweater before I cut it in half. 
