Illustration Friday: Voices

                                                © Deborah Melmon

In my world, nothing could be sweeter than the angelic voices of a reindeer choir singing Christmas carols. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Awards!

Thank you lil Kim for passing on some wonderful awards my way! Such a nice gift as we wind down for the year. You'll have to visit Kim's blog...she is a children's book illustrator with an adorable style. And her blog shows a lot of her process when working which I always find so interesting. 

And since awards should not sit on a shelf and gather dust, I pass them on to two fabulous artists who I'm sure have plenty of awards already....but I just love their blogs and want you to love them too!

Kathleen Rietz

Lynne Chapman

Illustration Friday: Similar

                                             ©Deborah Melmon

I created the ice-skating kitty a couple of weeks ago as a similar piece of art to go with the ice-skating dog for a potential client. Both animals were painted in watercolor. Backgrounds are digital. It was a good thing I did the art separately as I had to play around with the composition several times, enlarging the animals and creating a series of borders to go with both pieces. 

These pieces definately put me in a holiday mood. Christmas is right around the corner, right?

An Award!

                                             ©2008 Deborah Melmon

Just want to thank Alicia Padron and the Picture Book Junkies for the Marie Antoinette blog award!! I'm honored to be noticed by such wonderful artists. You must visit Alicia's blog as she is an incredibly talented children's book illustrator. I so admire her artwork and her dedication to her craft. And the PBJ's blog is one of my favorites to visit. Fantastic artists and a creative site...they're always doing fun stuff over there! You guys so inspire me!!!

Color Version of Yesterday's Post

                                        ©2008 Deborah Melmon

As promised, here is the colored version of the line drawing from yesterday. I had inked yesterday's sketch on watercolor paper and then painted the squirrels and tree with watercolor.

After scanning in the squirrels, I tweaked them in photoshop and added the background. With everything in layers, it gives me the flexibility to use the image in more than one way. 

Happy Thankgiving everyone!

Tuesday Sketch

                                        ©2008Deborah Melmon

Wow, it's been over a week since I posted. Lots of deadlines right now. Funny how that happens around the holidays.....Thought I'd post this drawing, which is the line work for the painted piece which I will post tomorrow.

I've Been Tagged!

Wow! I've been tagged by one of my favorite bloggers Alicia Padron. She is a fabulously talented children's book illustrator who I know works very hard at her craft. It certainly shows, if you've seen her work lately. She is a true inspiration for me and I love watching her progress! 

I've been blogging for less than a year, and I've never been tagged, so you'd think I would have lots of interesting facts to reveal about myself....but when it comes right down to it, I  consider my life pretty darn ho hum. But the rules are to share 7 things about myself. So here goes:

1) I love to do things that require physical labor, like work in the yard, paint my house or wash my car. 

2) I  am tall (5'10") which was always so uncomfortable for me when I was young, because I was ALWAYS the tallest girl in the room. Now it seems women are just getting taller and I know lots of young women who are much taller than I am. 

3) I hate to shop. Period. For anything....except children's books and art supplies :o)

4) I used to rehabilitate injured and orphaned animals and have raised baby hummingbirds, robins, mockingbirds, ducks and squirrels to name just a few. 

5) My favorite food is chocolate...in any form. Okay, that sounds boring because lots of people like chocolate, but I put chocolate chips in my cereal for breakfast.....

6) I ran the Silicon Valley Marathon 8 years ago and finished in 4 hours and 20 minutes. (I am especially proud of this achievement!) 

7) And, finally, I love to watch trash tv on the BRAVO channel....Project Runway, the Housewives of Orange County, etc.....pure indulgence, but so fun!

OK, so now I get to tag more people to share some interesting tidbits about their lives:

Guy Magallanes

Yoon See

Tom Barrett

Home Again

                                                  ©2008 Deborah Melmon

Back from a wonderful trip to Maui and home to the cool weather of Northern California. A lazy morning to catch up on the mail, news and my favorite blogs!

Taking a Trip

                                           ©2008Deborah Melmon

I'll be gone for a week on a quick vacation where it's warm and I can play lots of golf :o) See you next week!

Illustration Friday: Vacant

                                               ©2008Deborah Melmon

Our first storm blew in yesterday in the Bay Area, and it feels like Winter is on it's way. We tend to have beautiful Indian Summers in September and October, so it is a bit of a shock to the system to have wind and rain.... Anyway, the weather makes me think of the birds flocking together for the Winter and all the nests that have been abandoned until next Spring. 

Little vacant nests lined with feathers and crusty old bird poop. 

Doodles from the Sketchbook

                                                                      ©2008 Deborah Melmon

Illustration Friday: Repair

                                        ©2008 Deborah Melmon

Daniel had that sinking feeling that his quick Saturday morning chore was going to turn into a weekend of repairs....I did this illustration years ago for the Palo Alto Weekly Newspaper. I think maybe 15 years ago...yikes, where has the time gone?? Thanks to Photoshop, I scanned in my image (had to scan in four sections and piece it together) and then changed a bunch of stuff that I never really liked about the piece. I altered the guys shirt, the length of his arm, the color of the wall, the pillow, the dogs face, all sorts of things. Easy repairs!

Illustration Friday: Late

Hurry Nick! You'll be late for the Halloween Party!

Color Study

I wasn't happy with the last elephant I posted, so I reworked him and added a background. I painted the background as a separate layer so I could move the characters around in photoshop. I had drawn some other kids to go into the illustration, but I kind of liked the tension between just the little boy and the elephant. 

More Character Studies

Another color sketch I worked on today. Main character is an elephant, but am also working on ideas for kids. Now that I see today's elephant compared to yesterday's sketch, I think I like yesterday's elephant better. Looks younger, rounder and cuter. Back to the drawing board!

Character Study

Working on some new ideas and playing with some new techniques. The beginnings of a character study of an elephant that goes to swimming class. Black colored pencil line drawing on Arches 140 lb. watercolor paper. Color is good 'ol Winsor Newton watercolor. No digital messing around this time!

Illlustration Friday: Sugary

The Anna's Hummingbird's primary source of food is nectar. If man had as high a weight-specific metabolic rate as a hummingbird, his daily intake of food would have to be approximately twice his body weight. Also, his temperature would be over 750 degrees F and he would use up 155,000 calories per day. Now that's alot of sugary!!

Tuesday Sketch

A quick sketch to get warmed up for the day. Sketched in painter with a calligraphy brush and colored in photoshop. Mowing the lawn is one of my favorite activities, although I prefer a gas mower....but little Gracie is reducing her environmental footprint and getting some great exercise with her push mower!

Illustration Friday: Clutter

This is a piece I did a long time ago for School Zone. When I saw the theme for today I had to laugh. Clutter is one of my favorite things to draw, but also aggravates me to no end around my house and studio. Can't seem to get rid of it!!!

Watercolor Lessons

Here's something new I'm trying this summer.....watercolor lessons! I've always wanted to paint roses and I've always wanted to master watercolor (is that possible??) so I've been going to the studio of Guy Magallanes in Redwood City on Tuesday evenings and have been painting with a talented group of women. So far, I'm working small...I think it's the illustrator in me...but trying to loosen up with it. I'm having a blast, and it's such a nice break from work!

Illustration Friday: DETACH

I have been growing tomatoes at a friends house who has a huge raised planter with fabulous soil. I went a little crazy and planted too many plants. Yikes! I spent Saturday harvesting about 75 tomatoes and  spent this morning making sauce! As I was "detaching" the skins from each tomato, it reminded me of skinning the clothes off little kids before putting them in the bath. Arms up over their heads, pulling off their little shirts....well, you get the picture. 

Day 14/21 Creative Exercise

This sketch was inspired by the dads who were carrying around their kids on their shoulders at the U.S. Open this weekend. I spent Father's Day watching the final round on television and it reminded me of the times I spent on the golf course with my own father. Happy Father's Day!

Day 13/21 Creative Exercise

Haven't had time to post, but have been sketching. Probably going to take me 42 days to get through the 21 day exercise! Here's some sketches of the falcons doing their exercises to build up their flight muscles. All the birds have fledged the nest and are learning to flying around the tall office buildings of downtown San Jose. I took a trip down there on Sunday to see the birds first hand and it is truly amazing to see them perched on a ledge on the 18th floor of City Hall. They've all had a few mishaps and volunteers on the ground have been there to rescue and rerelease them, but they are learning to fly pretty well now. Lucky for me they are still returning to the nesting box during the day and I can watch them on the falcon-cam. Sometimes they sit on the ledge and the parents swoop by giving them flying lessons. Soon they will be learning mid-air transfers of food which will teach them to hunt on their own. It can take six more weeks for them to become self-sufficient. Oh, and they all have names now. Elementary school kids researched names and submitted them in a contest. Two girls and a boy, Meyye, Cielo and Mercury.

Day 12/21 Creative Exercise

I haven't blogged about the Peregrine Falcons that have been nesting on a ledge of the San Jose City Hall building lately. While I was away, a volunteer from the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group rappelled down the side of the building and banded and sexed the birds. One male and two females. When I returned from New York, the birds no longer looked like the fuzzy white chicks I remembered. All their feathers were in and they were hanging around the ledge looking at the world below. Everyone has been anticipating their first flights next week.

Well, that was until yesterday!! 

The male decided to take a flying leap early and landed on a ledge right outside the staff kitchen on the 15th floor.  Volunteers were on it immediately and banded together with binoculars, towels and boxes in case the young fledge needed rescuing from the perils of the downtown area. He took another flight and landed in a tree about a 1/2 block away, perched at the top of a deodora pine.  As the winds started to pick up in the late afternoon the fledge decided to head back to City Hall. As he took off, Clara flanked him on his right and Carlos on his left as they urged him up towards the nestbox on the 18th floor.  As they turned towards the building, he was unable to gain altitude and flew right into the building and spiraled downward and landed on the sidewalk next to a small tree! An alert volunteer tried to approach the bird to see if he was okay. In his defensive mode, on his back hissing with wings spread and beak and talons up, the brave volunteer managed to capture him in her towel and get him into a box for safety. 

After an exam from the people who work for the SCPBRG, it was decided that the bird was not injured, but would spend the night in a safe and secure office at City Hall and would then be released in the morning. At 7am this morning, he was taken up to the rooftop and his feathers were misted down with water so he wouldn't take another flying leap until he got his bearings. He was given a meal and his parents were there to greet him immediately, no worse for the wear. 

The SCPBRG has a Flickr site if you'd like to see photos of the birds from the very beginning. 

Day 11/21 Creative Exercise

Do you ever get "the stare" from your animals?? Having returned from New York with a million things to do on my computer, I forget about the time....and along around 5pm, I sense someone is watching me from behind. Little Gracie is so polite. She would never order me around (ha!) but there are times when she just gives me the stare, like she is willing me to feed her, or take her for a walk, or just get off my butt and get out and smell the roses. Without my dog, I'd barely see the light of day :o)

Back from New York!

Well, I'm back from Surtex and the National Stationery Show in New York. The trip went very well, although it got off to a rocky start with a 2-hour plane delay on the tarmac in San Francisco and pouring rain in New York. Took all day Saturday to set up our booth at the Jacob Javitz Center. No matter how hard you plan, it always takes longer than you think. This was our second year to participate at Surtex and it was 100% better than last year. More clients, lots more interest and great feedback from the designs I showed. I am now madly sending out the samples everyone requested for June meetings with their clients. 

I also got to see the art director for Innovative Kids, Liza Page, who brought advanced sample copies of the two books I did for them last year. They turned out so cute! Can wait for them to come out. "On the Farm" is coming out in September, and the other book is for Easter so that won't be out until next year. I'm starting a third book for them for them in June. Have to keep quiet on the details, but it's going to be really fun and creative!!

New York is always so exciting to me. So much energy, so noisy, so BIG. We stayed at the Affinia Hotel at 30th and 7th Avenue, across from Madison Square Garden and Penn Station. I don't think that part of town ever sleeps. When we arrived, there were dead umbrellas tossed all over the sidewalks from the storm that had swept through. I guess if your umbrella turns inside out, the only thing to do is toss it aside. Too unruly to cram into a trash can. 

Although the trip was a success, I was exhausted. I spent the Memorial Day holiday relaxing and playing golf and by Monday afternoon, I felt as lazy as this princess kitty. Tomorrow I am back on my Creative Exercise. I felt so guilty setting it aside to get ready for Surtex, but it couldn't be helped. Looking forward to seeing what all my blogging creative buddies have been up to for the last two weeks! Did you miss me? I missed you guys alot. You're all such inspiration to me!!

Day 10/21 Creative Exercise

Thank you to everyone who dropped by with comments on my mice sketches. Spurred me on to start working on them in color. I painted the mice by hand, scanned them into my computer and then worked on them in photoshop and added the digital background. Hope to get a couple more up before I leave on Friday for New York. 

Day 8 and 9/21 Creative Exercise

Haven't posted for a couple of days, although I have been sketching. I'm jamming for my trip to New York next week, and have madly been working on my winter holiday designs for Surtex. So sketching little mice on ice-skates came easy this week. Hope I have time to get these guys painted to take with me....

Day 7/21 Creative Exercise

This sketch was inspired by comments made by Alicia Padron, my tender-hearted blogging buddy, who felt bad for the poor pigeon in yesterday's post. Gave me an idea to illustrate  Falcon feeding time with a softer side.  The sketch came quickly, but I spent a little more time playing with it in Photoshop. A nice break from all the other work I'm trying to get done tonight. 

Day 5 and 6/21 Creative Exercise

                                   There's a show off in every family, right?

I've been jamming all weekend getting ready for the Surtex show in New York. Hasn't left much time for anything else. Luckily, I can watch the falcon-cam while I work. I did this sketch yesterday and colored it in today. Going to have to count this as two days.... :o)

Illustration Friday: SEED - Day 4/21 Creative Exercise

Juggling lots of work today and had to combine Illustration Friday with day four of creating a 15 minute sketch everyday for 21 days. Whew! Wish I could have worked the IF theme "Seed" into more falcon sketches, but those chicks are definitely not seed eaters! As I am posting, I'm watching them feed on the Falcon-Cam (see my links list) and Clara is teaching them how to pull and tear at the meat. A little tug-of-war with dinner! 

Day 3/21 Creative Exercise

This morning I got up at 4:30am to take a friend to the airport. By the time I got home I was very sleepy, but decided to fight through it and start my sketch. The peregrine falcon nest was also quiet and the chicks were so cute all piled up against each other for warmth and comfort. They also looked as sleepy as I felt. Were they dreaming of their next feeding? Peregrine falcons hunt from the air and capture birds in flight, snipping off their heads and then plucking all the feathers before bringing the fresh kill into the nest....kind of like us shopping for chicken in the poultry section of our local market. After they are fed, they once again collapse into a heap and sleep it off. Hmmmm.....may have to take a cat nap after lunch today. 

Enjoy the day!

2/21 Creative Exercise

Well, day two of this creative exercise and I'm still here! Actually woke up this morning looking forward to posting a sketch. I'm addicted to the Falcon-Cam here in San Jose (see yesterday's post) and did this sketch while watching a feeding. My new thing....right after walking the dog!

Day 1/21 Creative Exercise

I've decided to join Alicia Padron and her talented group of blogging buddies in a 21 day creative exercise. Sketch for 15 minutes everyday...they say it takes 3 weeks of doing something consistently to form a new habit. You can check out the other participants and their work on Alicia's blog links list. You'd think sketching everyday would come naturally to an artist, but like everyone, life gets in the way. The premise is to try something new, step out of your safety zone, so to speak. So here goes with day one! 

I've been fascinated with the Peregrine Falcons that are nesting atop City Hall in San Jose, California. The eggs hatched on Earth Day and Carlos and Clara have been busy catching local pigeon to feed their growing brood. You can catch them on the Falcon Cam that has been set up by the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group at UC Santa Cruz. Here is a sketch of Clara with her chicks from this morning taking a cat nap waiting for Carlos to bring home the chow!

Watercolor Workshop

On Friday and Saturday of this week, I stepped out of my box and took a watercolor workshop from a fine artist and fabulous watercolorist, Jann Pollard. The class was held at Filoli in Woodside, California which is one of the finest historical country estates of the 20th century. It was a gorgeous weekend and the gardens were in full bloom. An incredible place to visit.

I've always struggled with watercolors. Part of my problem is that I learned how to use them from an illustrator's perspective, always rendering and noodling everything to death. So taking this class forced me to give up on some of that mindset (no colored pencils to rescue me!!)  and just use color and value and the looseness of the brush. We worked from photographs, and I picked an interior setting because painting a landscape seemed too overwhelming for me. Our palettes were limited and we had to paint a predominately warm or cool painting...whatever was opposite the photograph we were using. So, this was my attempt, which took me about 4 hours....sweating all the way. The hardest part was knowing when to quit....luckily our teacher was hovering close enough to say "Fini!"

Madly working on collections for my trip to Surtex in May. Nose to the grindstone. Seems strange to be working on winter holiday collections when the weather is so great in California right now!

Today was a really good day!

Illustration Friday: Save

Some years ago, I helped run an organization in Palo Alto, California called Wildlife Rescue. Our mission was to save injured and orphaned wildlife. Several thousand birds and mammals would come into our shelter seeking treatment which was staffed by one or two paid employees and the rest volunteers. Our rescue hotline number was 494-SAVE, and we got all kinds of interesting calls from the frantic public with wildlife issues that needed to be solved. Some of the more fun calls were from stores or markets who had hummingbirds fly in an open door and then became trapped inside the store. A couple of volunteers would be sent out with nets to try to "catch" the hummingbird. Sounds impossible....but the hummers eventually would run out of gas and would land, completely exhausted. After being transported back to the shelter, they were set up in a temporary cage for the night with a syringe of sugar water to regain their energy. The next day, after being tested in an aviary, they were released. 

This piece was partly inspired by my experiences with raising baby hummers and rehabilitating the injured. I'll never forget the baby hummer that took it's first flight in my studio!

Illustration Friday: Homage

This is my homage to Spring and Henri Matisse  (with lots of help from Photoshop!)

Illustration Friday: Heavy

Nothing like a little late-night heavy reading...!

Illustration Friday "Garden"

Here is a piece of art from my new "Weeds" collection, inspired by the growth in my garden!

I've just returned from a 17 day trip to New Zealand. When I left, the weather in Northern California was cold and rainy. Since I've gotten back, Spring has sprung! And so have the weeds in the garden. I painted this today and spent the afternoon manipulating it in photoshop to create patterns for the Surtex Licensing Show in New York in May.

Illustration Friday "Choose"