A Family of Harts

I am working on a commissioned family portrait for our friends the Harts. I'm having lots of fun working on it and wanted to share the initial sketch and color scheme.

Sketch of the Day

The Reveal

Julie received her painting so I can now officially unveil it for all of you.

Sketch of the Day

I did this sketch for a painting that I eventualy want to go over my living room couch. I think it ended up looking a bit like my younger sister, Lorajean. I've named her Lola.

Sketch of the Day

Atticus eats his breakfast.

Project Alert

I recently finished working on a campaign for Project Alert through Larry Brown Graphic Design. I worked with them on a similar campaign last year which was a lot of fun. Thanks guys for calling me again. You are great to work with!

A Sneak "Peep"

This is a spread from the children's book, Princess Peepers, by Pam Calvert, that I am working on (via publisher Marshall Cavendish). It's such a funny story about a princess with who wears glasses. I can't wait to show you more when it's all finished.

Elvis and Olive

Elvis and Olive is up on amazon for pre-order. I'm so excited for this book to come out (release date April 2008). It's such a fantastic story and I felt very connected to the characters while working on this cover. Stephanie Watson is truly a wonderful writer.

Julie Morris-Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek at the custom portrait I did for Julie Morris. I will unveil the entire painting when she has received it in the mail. For now I'll have to keep you guessing.

Real Girls of the Bible

I just found Real Girls of the Bible on Amazon as well. I don't know a lot of my stuff is out there already until I do web searches. Crazy. Zondervan publishes wonderful Christian material and I love the FaithGirlz! line so I was very excited to work with them on this. I can't wait to get a copy. The book would be a great Christmas gift for all my nieces, don't you think?

Ten Ways To Make My Sister Disappear

Yeah! I just found out that Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear has hit the shelves. It's so exciting to see my work out there. I have yet to see the cover in person so I can't wait to hop on over to my local Borders and take a look (I haven't seen Vampire Island in the flesh for that matter either. It will be a fun filled outing for sure!).

Sketch of the day

I found a photo of a profile of this beautiful girl and couldn't help but sketch her. If only I could look so fabulous.

My Big Fat Family

I loved working on this illustration for "My Big Fat Family" written by Chad Evans, a friend and the man behind Castle and Cobble. It's such a great story about a boy who doesn't quite fit in with his large and very messy family. It's loads of fun. Currently it is unpublished but I have high hopes that this manuscript will be snatched up in no time.

Sketch of the day

I had fun with this one. Can't wait to go to color on it.

Working on new web layout

I've been working on a new web layout for tmourning.com. Here is a sneak peek of how it's going so far. I'm really excited so stay tuned for the new launch.

Vampire Island

Vampire Island has hit the stands and should be available at your local book store. I loved working on the cover for this. The story is really a lot of fun and I highly recommend it for vampires of all ages.

Girl Stuff

Here is a look at the cover I did for Girl Stuff a while back.

Chicken Dog

My younger sister Sarabeth worked on a story called The Chicken Dog. She did this when she was nine years old. Each member of her grade school class came up with a different line or page in the story. I decided to illustrate the page that Sarabeth wrote. It was a very fun story and altogether surprisingly gruesome for little nine year old's. My guess is that the boys in the class had a lot of influence on things :).

Immersed in Verse

Immersed in Verse has been receiving great reviews. It was chosen to be in Librarians' Choices 2006 and in Best Books of 2006 by the School Library Journal. I had a lot of fun illustrating this book and am so glad it's doing so well. Allan Wolf, the author, really did do a tremendous job. He's even made me want to delve in to poetry again!

Studio Sneak Peek

Here is a shot from my home studio.

Sisters

I did this sketch a while back and really liked the relationship of these two girls. While staying with Daryllyn, my oldest sister, and her three girls the memory of this sketch came back to me. These girls make me think of her eldest two girls, McKayla and Lilyanne. They love each other yet there is definite mischief behind their eyes accompanied by some serious sibling rivalry. I can say that Daryllyn and I know this look well :). We are also happy to say that sisters do grow out of it and can look back fondly at the stages of clothing tug-a-war and cat fight scratching and know that it is all apart of growing up with your best friend(s).

So here's to my SISTERS! I love them!

Sketch of the day

OK, so it was more like a week ago that I did this sketch but the title "Sketch of about a Week Ago" just doesn't sound as catchy.

Again getting together with my sisters for the 4th of July was inspiring (I have 4 sisters in case anyone was wondering-one older and 3 younger). My little sister Lorajean, of Little Lola's, and I were discussing our Etsy shops that we want to start and it got me in the leisurely sketching mood. Here is the drawing that came of that conversion.

Sketch of the day

I want to go to final on this for a series I want to do on prairie girls (sort of homage to pioneer girls). If only I can find time to do it :).

Danziger books

So all of my Danziger covers are out on the shelves and it's very exciting. You can find them online as well at www.amazon.com and www.bn.com. I love this author and I would like to continue to get more cover illustration work in classic young girls literature. So much of it really resonates with me. I like how the heroins are very real with flaws - still innocent yet capable. They often go on a journey, touching on what it really is like to be a 8-13 yr old girl - somewhat insecure, curious about the world, still naive, but trudge through the thickness, coming out in the end as very beautiful, perceptive girls on the cusp of womanhood. I really think it's a beautiful time in a girls life.