OC Weekly "Best Of"

So here's the finished product on all the hard work. I can't tell you how much fun I have had doing this project. I have a handful of the cards posted on here, but they can all be seen on the OC Weekly site


I was especially happy with the cover. She turned out really sweet, yet still sexy.
The following are the full-page illustrations....






and these cards were made for 1/4 page illustrations...




Dylan staked claims to the Small World piece :) It made me happy to see him so in love with it.


So anyway, that's what I've been doing with myself lately. I can't wait to get my mitts on a copy :)

The happenin's

Okay, well here's a small sneeky peek of the OC Weekly cover in progress. It comes out this Thursday, so I'll post more art then.
Dylan is now in Pre-K and had his first field trip this past week. Luckily my Mom went with us so I didn't have to try and manage both boys by myself. Thanks Mom. We went to Parrish Apple Ranch in Oak Glen, just up the street from us. Seriously, the yummiest cider EVER!!! Plus we got to sample some apple pie!!! mmmmm....

And these past few months have been crazy with fires in our neighborhood. This picture was taken of one from our front yard in September...

And this one was taken from our backyard last week.... It's pretty crazy there was a 16 year old boy arrested after this latest one. He's responsible for about 12-14 fires in our areas dating back three years.


Here's a sneaky peeky at Bodie's Halloween costume. :) This makes me smile. And this past Friday we went to Disneyland for Mickey's Trick or Treat Party. Bodie stayed home with Nana, so me, Dyl & Honey went. This rocked my socks, here's Sally & Jack walking around the park. I'd never seen this before and these costumes were phenominal!!!

Here's me trying to lop our boys' head off with my sword...Honey went as a jailbird, and of course, Dylan as Lightening McQueen!

Me & Dylly... whew, I really wish i had more excuses to dress up like a pirate. I love it.

And my bunny is molting... poor Ollie.

Life is pretty busy right now. I was lucky enough to be asked to do all the artwork of OC Weekly's "Best Of" Issue. It's a pretty intense job, 6 full page color paintings, full color cover, and 50+ spot illos, all full color as well. But I'm having an absolute blast on this project. I"m very proud of the work I've done so far on this one. I think it's due to come out October 8th or roundabouts there. If you're a local, watch for it!
And, as some of you may know, I'm really big on making our backyard birdie friendly. So this last project was a simple one, but one that I've been wanting to do with boys for awhile. We gathered up some pine-cones on one of our morning hikes, slathered them with butter and rolled them in oats. Tied them up to the trees in the backyard and tada.... eco friendly bird feeders. The boys get so excited when they see the birds eating off of something they made.
And this past week we took them to the "JumpZone!" in Redlands Ca. I am all about this joint now. It's pretty much like walking into Pleasure Island sans cigars, pool, and donkeys...
it's a kids dream come true.

My lovely friend Hilary and her son Noah joined us for some of the action. Actually Hilary is the one who told me about this little jem!
Dylan on the off-road slide
Bodie in the basketball castle. I was kind of wondering if adults can rent this place out and just go nuts for the night. Man, that'd be a party.
And here's a little picture of me and boys taken today.

It may be awhile before I can sit down and blog again. On a pretty strict deadline with everything...but I'm super excited to show things off when I can! I'll be back!

burlesque & bunnies

Here's a quick little painting I did for this crazy book thing about a pair of Siamese twins who are burlesque dancers. The story gets really creepy & strange when they hook up with this guy and the sisters end up with this total jealousy/power struggle thing happening. Anyway... a bunch of illustrators were asked to contribute to the project by making a piece of art dealing with the story. Pretty neat. Here's mine
I really like this gal. I don't understand why, but sometimes when you don't have a lot of time and you can't fuss with things... they just come out with a really nice energy. I was really happy with the brush strokes on her.

And my birthday was in June so Hubby got me this little guy *Ollie*
He's a Jersey Woolie and I am in LOVE!
The boys dig him too!


I need to get back to the grindstone on the painting front... but I've just been dealing with this incredible level of exhaustion. The boys neither one seem to sleep through the night...so I've had little, or totally broken sleep for like, 4 years now. Plus I cut out caffeine....maybe not the smartest move right now... but hell, I'm down 15 pounds thanks to drinking tons of water and eating better...and a crazy morning hike/jog with the boys every day. I've just been trying to listen to my body lately and it keeps sayin' "More Sleep Sister!!!"
And I can't believe it, but we're gearing up for Bodie's 2nd birthday this Friday. Sadly his birthday party will be rather tiny...this is such a busy time of the year for everyone. Now...if I can just control myself around that birthday cake...

Ex.Arte

Not that I even pretend to be considered in the same league as the rest of these guys...

I am happy to announce Hobbs & Kent ex.arte cufflinks have officially launched. This project has been in the works for about a year... and I can't wait to see them in person. They're sending each artist a few samples this next week. The first series of artists are Gary Baseman, Jeff Soto, Gary Taxali, Ray Ceaser and myself. The theme had to pertain to "foursome" so I chose the four cardinal directions.




And here's a shot of me at this weekend's wine party partaking in some Absinthe. Cheers!

FIRE!

From the San Bernardino Sun:
"YUCAIPA - A wildfire started about 3:50 p.m. on Thursday in the hills north of Oak Glen Road and west of Yucaipa Regional Park. The fire came within 75 yards of homes along Golden Crown Way in the Chapman Heights neighborhood before fire fighters had it under control.
"My mother-in-law opened her front door and yelled, 'fire!'" said Diana Gamache, who lives on Golden Crown Way. "The flames were coming right at our houses."
Fire fighters had the blaze extinguished at about 5:30 p.m."

Yeah, so this is what happened at our house yesterday. The fire broke out right behind our next door neighbors' house. Me and the boys were out back, saw the smoke/flames...and got out of there. I didn't really know what else to do...all I could think was "just get to a safe spot". Luckily, the conditions weren't bad... there wasn't a lot of wind. But pretty scary all the same.


That white house in the picture is our next door neighbors' Tom & Bonny's home
Michael got home about an hour after the fire started and snapped some pictures from the backyard.



It all turned out okay, thankfully. Dylan was a tad traumatized last night because the firemen were still up behind our house working to put out any flare-ups, and it still smelled like smoke. I'm going to be a bit more nervous during the hot/dry times living here.

It's about time

Okay, I know... I know... I've been just terrible on the blog updates. So this one will be a bit long. Here's a little piece I did for MModern Gallery's Russ Meyer Tribute show. It actually opened a couple of weeks ago. "Vixen's Fishin' Hole"
And finally, some new merch my way!!!! I happen to be a fiend for tote bags... I love 'em. These are $20 apiece/ plus $5 S&H available through my website:

See here to purchase either of these fun little bags. And big thanks to Embroide-Me Northridge!
I've been feeling a bit crafty these days... so I whipped up a couple of these chalkboards to put up around the house. I thought it would be fun to have one by the dining table... for menus, or good quotes... whatever.
Took Dylly to Disneyland for his birthday a week ago. I didn't know this, but if you're a season pass holder... instead of paying your way into the park for your birthday, they give you a gift card for $70 to use in the park. Awesome. So Dylan got his giftcard and went nuts. It was a really great time. Both Mike's parents and mine joined us for the day there :)
Here's Mr. B in Toon Town.
And Mr. D giving a good birhday pose!
And I never get handmade things... I'm always the one making them... so I was tickled to get these two surprises. First a great door hanger for my studio made by the very wonderful Amanda Crum. See her delightful blog here. Thanks Mandy!
And some May Day Goodness came my way this past week. A very wonderful, yet secretive, neighbor made this beautiful Mayday basket and left it on our doorstep, leaving me giddy with excitement. Thanks You ;)
and, alas... Spring is here, Spring is here... it's the best time of the year!!!


Dylan and I made these really cute ladybug stones to put around our garden. I'm really loving our backyard right now... and terribly excited about the hydrangea plants blooming this year. Last year would have been the first year for blooms... but Bodie fell into them and broke off all of the stems. So fingers crossed for this year!
So that's my update. Now it's off to bed... our beloved little Bodie Bear has begun sneaking out of his crib during the night... so tomorrow we build the big boy bed for him. Man, they grow up fast.