Christmas Lily

Here are Chicken Lily and her little bug friend on the card I sent to Lori Mortensen. 

Happy Holidays! Best wishes for a very happy 2017!

Christmas Giggles

Dragon Doodle

I drew this fellow from Cedric and the Dragon on the holiday card I sent to Betty Raum this year.

Christmastime Daydreaming

So much daydreaming to be done.

Cheers!
Priscilla

Toucan is trying to get into the Christmas spirit, too!

Have a great weekend!
-Joy

December Girl

December is finally here, and she is pretty jazzed about it.

Waiting...

Mmm, roasted Christmas Carrot! The waiting takes so much longer than the eating part... I'm so sorry, I'm a week and a day late! Lucky for me, there's a fifth Tuesday this month!  a : )

Dragons

Here is a sketch I made a while ago. You can see the where I moved the big dragon's tail and the baby dragon around (thank you, photoshop!).

THANKSGIVING DAY is Here!

Messy sketchbook pages

I don't know about anyone else, but my sketchbook can look a mess when I'm trying to find a look for a character! This isn't even as bad as some. A lot of times I draw on top of sketches, too.

Have a great Weekend!

Take A Hike Day!

It's November 17th and they're headed to the neighborhood celebration of Take A Hike Day!

Guinea Pig Portrait

I am posting this a day late. Better late than never, right? 

A Fall Afternoon

"It's kind of a Summery Kind of Fall Day, isn't it?"

When it's November, but feels like August.

inktober idea sketch-Joy

Sorry for the terrible photo! This was a first sketch for the Inktober prompt "friend". I had the idea of an imaginary friend and asked my son if he had one what would they look like. His answer was a bear cub. I didn't go with this image, but like how things can start one way and end up a different way with sketching!

This was the image I ended up with for the inktober prompt

Have a great weekend!
-Joy

November Friends

Kitty

This is a quick sketch of a cat I made on tracing paper with an ink pen I borrowed from my husband. The ink smells like brand-new band-aids! I can't get over it! Needless to say, he gave me the pen because I was so in love with it. Thank you, Alex!

Halloween Prep

The beginning of a beautiful friendship, I'm shure.

October Tree Siblings

Did you know October trees sometimes giggle when their leaves fall?

They do.

Ode to Lane Meyer

October Friends Rough Sketch Ideas

Rough sketching an idea… Immediately I know these two are friends who will dress up as birds for trick-or-treating, and they need to practice flying.  First, I thought they'd be outside on the sidewalk, but the more I sketched I found out they wanted to be in her bedroom, because she planned to cut out big clouds for their sky.  Characters always have the best ideas!  We just have to listen to them…

Cheers to all you sketching something fun out there!
Priscilla

Nudie boy sketch

Sometimes you draw something for something else and end up not using it for that and then you have this drawing. You like it and it sits there in your sketchbook asking you "what are you going to do with me now?" Also, what is he doing? Naked babies, gotta love 'em.

Have a great weekend!!
-Joy

World Smile Day

Harold isn't exactly celebrating, but they're sure he will warm up to World Smile Day, and even if he doesn't, his friends understand him and let him just be him.

World Smile Day is tomorrow ~ Friday October 7th!
Cheers!

Jellies

It's National Coffee Day!

Helen at the Henhouse Cafe, and that feeling when your coffee is done.

I understand.

~ Priscilla

Sketch to finish

Sometimes the brainstorming for a story leads to ideas that probably won't be used in the book, but you don't want to let go of them completely.

That's what this is. The storyline has bounced around a bit and the characters have morphed too. I found this small sketch in my big 21" tall sketchbook of story ideas, and I thought, the relationship between this pair needs to be explored in watercolor paint.
Is the grownup a teacher? An aunt? A mom? A neighbor?

In my story she's the little girl's mom -- but that could change, just like a hundred other things about this work in progress could change.
Monday, September 26 is National Dumpling Day. Go hug your lil' dumpling. :) 

-- Ruth McNally Barshaw

Fall Begins NOW

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF FALL!

~ Priscilla
(guess what my favorite fall treat is, too?)

It's Make A Hat Day

Sylvie and Chester.  Happy Hat Friends today!

~ Priscilla

Post-its, a fun tool

I'm sure many of you have used Post-its to sketch on before. They're fun and a quick way to jot down sketch ideas!

Here are actually some ink drawings I started and I put one in my son's lunch bag each school day as a special note. A art teacher friend of mine has been doing this with her kids and gave me the idea!

Have a great weekend!
-Joy

Fun Friends

Fin

School Aromas

Fresh, new sharpened pencil fragrance is her most favorite of all.

Before & After

Hello! I totally forgot to post when it was my last turn, so I thought I'd post two sketches this time to make up for it. I was commissioned by a friend to make paintings for her daughters. Each daughter has a different favorite animal, so I'm going to do a little series that will feature the three creatures. The first one I started sketching is an alligator who loves flowers. At first I thought it would be cute to have the owl and cat peeking over a hedge, but then the more I thought about it, I realized I needed to make a change otherwise the green alligator would potentially get lost against the green hedge (not to mention not being able to see much of the owl and the cat). So...

I removed the hedge and made a little rock wall instead. I am pretty happy with how it looks so far, I look forward to showing the sketches to my friend to see what she thinks before I move ahead to making the final art. Thank goodness for erasers!

Cow Mornings

Up before dawn, ready to face the farm.

World Elephant Day!

Today is World Elephant Day! What loving, intelligent creatures they are!

Have a great weekend!
-Joy

Gosh Girl

I call her Gosh Girl because that best describes her personality.
"Gosh, isn't it the most fun thing in the whole world to swing and sing at the same time?"
and
"Gosh, I think we should swing as high as that tree, wouldn't that be the best? GOSH!!"

Happy Summer Day to you!
Priscilla

A Summer Thursday

When you start out to sketch yourself in a cool, refreshing pool because it's blazing hot outside and your pen (stylus) takes on a life of it's own and draws this instead.

I gave in and added in some pool water to dream about!  =)

Happy Summer Thursday!
Priscilla

Hummingbird Process

I thought I'd show a little bit of my process. 

It begins with an idea and a messy sketch,

and then I ink for a while 

until I feel like it is finished.

There are things I could have done differently, I'm certain, 

but this is the way it was meant to turn out, so I am happy!

Postcard cub

A sketch from part of a new promo postcard I'm finally doing.

Have a great weekend!
Joy

Summer Days on the Farm

Herbina and Petunia doing their summer cool dance all around the farmyard.

A good mindset for hot, summer days.

Ball O' Yarn

Happy Thursday

Cale was pretty sure they weren't going to be playing fetch for awhile. . .

Who?

A little screech owl. Have a great weekend!

-Joy

She Loves Flowers

She's off for a fun visit with an old friend this fine summer day.

Happy Beginning of Summertime to you!
Priscilla

Love Bug

Daddy Day

Giggles and Daddy sipping up his coffee were the best sounds on that quiet morning.