Raining Cats on Dogs

Dr. Longbody is sick of the weather and is looking forward to the hot summers without rain cats.

Summer = Hiking

(This is my husband on top of Mt Timpanogos in Utah, a phenomenally delightful 8-12 hour hike.) Hooray for summer!!! Summer to me means I get to go hiking and camping. We'll see how it goes on my incredibly puffy feet... but I think it's worth a try. (Maybe not a 12 hour hike try though.)

U Printing is sponsoring a pretty neat contest where someone could win $250 for the winning summer picture and a 16x20 gallery wrapped canvas print. (I pick me to be that someone... but we'll see if they agree.) For those who are curious, UPrinting.com is a leading online provider of business cards, color brochures and mailing postcards. Which can be pretty useful.

Feed Me Seymour!!!

For those of you interested in the status of my pregnancy? ...hungry. I'm very hungry.

I'm definitely working on a few projects right now but I thought I'd flash you some sketchies of some peeps from reality television shows that my husband despises. (I'm into Intervention and Obsessed right now.)





Y hay esta. :)

Maybe Babies

Surprisingly enough I have lots and lots of friends that are co-pregnant with me... so this has been an interesting experience. Needless to say babies are a lot of what I think about. (How dorky)

But yeah, this is an illustration that I did for a baby shower.

"What's in a Name?"

This is a cover I did for New Moon Magazine. (I was too lazy to scan in the cover as it was been printed.) The topic is about ancestry.

So there you have it. :)

Chola-Maid

Getting your nails done underwater is tricky. But totally worth it.

The Birthday Bird

Lots of people I care about are celebrating Birthdays this month so I decided to make this. Yay for getting older and eating lots of cake.

p.s. Thanks to the patient followers of this blog. Come to find out I've got a bun in the oven and that's why I've been feeling so "sick" lately.

Tag-tastic

(My corgi Radar is an emphatic reader! He likes Historical Fiction best.)

So I've been tagged by the very talented and versatile Sylvie Van Hulle to write 6 random things about myself and then tag 6 other amazing artists.... so brace your self for random!

1. When I was a tween I was a recurrent extra for Doogie Howser M.D., and Neil Patrick Harris was in Starship Troopers with Denise Richards who was in Wild Things with Kevin Bacon. Which technically puts me at "4 degrees" from Kevin Bacon. How cool does that make me?! (I guess not very.)

2. I've lived in 4 of the biggest cities in the world; LA, Buenos Aires, New York, and London.

3. Among the millions of jobs I've had before realizing what I really want to do... I've been a secretary for the F.B.I, a Floral Designer, and a Construction Worker

4. Growing up I would draw in my journal instead of write in it.

5. I have a thing for stop-motion animation. It really really makes me want to cry. I uber excited about the release of Coraline.

6. My favorite Shakespearian play is Othello.

Phew... It's official. I can't be tagged anymore because I don't think there are any additional "interesting" or "random" things about me.

Anyway, these artists I command that you visit. Cuz they're cool...

Brooke Sadler




David Habben




Emmalee Powell




Houston Trueblood




Jennifer Eichelberger




M. Scott Hammond

Back from the Abyss... well, sort of.

(Here's a sketch I did observing two chatty boys discussing how easy their homework was. They were cute cute cute!) So I've been extremely under the weather recently... and sometimes bedridden which is no fun. And when you are so sick that everything takes extreme effort to do (like sketching or reading) then your mind turns to mush. So I'm glad to be returning from the land of the dead. Yippee.

...hello living.

Another day at the grindstone.

Penguin was sick of these clandestine meetings. He was an accountant for goodness sake!!

Ho Ho Ho!

...and a bottle of Rum.

Have a delicious holiday everybody :)

Yippie

So Lil' Kim gave me an award a little while ago, which made me feel all squishy inside... and I took it because I'm greedy. Thanks Kim and thanks to everybody that follows this blog. You all are much cooler and more amazing than I am, but it's nice to be cool by association ;)

You are all weirdos!

That's a random quote from one of my favorite muppets Sam the Eagle. I thought you might like a post from one of my sketchbook pages of nerdy animals.

I've officially decided that everyone is nerdy in some way. I would definitely consider myself an art nerd. I love the history of furniture and architecture and don't get me started on the Golden Age of Illustration. (Really I'm nerdy in a lot of conventional ways too i.e. Harry Potter, LOTR, old school Science Fiction like 1984 and Fahrenheit 451... it's pretty ridiculous.) My husband is a word nerd. He's a linguist and he's pretty fascinated with pronunciation and word structure... and my dog Radar likes to eat paper. Okay so that's not nerdy per se, but he's pretty obsessive about it. Edward and I were eating dinner within Radar's reach and he decided to go for the paper napkins and not the delicious meats nearby.

Anyway what kind of nerd are you?

'Tis the Season to buy lots of crap that you do and don't need...

So yeah... it really is that time of year to start on that Christmas Shopping thing. Why you say? Because you don't want to be stuck shopping on Christmas Eve or sending out Christmas Cards out in January. Because... that's dumb.FREE shipping at my Greeting Card Shop for orders of $20 or more before November 21st.

Okay... I'm done with my shameless promotion :)

Tag-errific!!

So I got Tagged by the amazingly talented Vanessa Brantley Newton. (Yup... pretty much amazing.) This tagging thing kinda reminds me of all those chain letters that I wrote and received in Middle school that were always carefully folded and written "to a t" so that I wouldn't get some terrible curse that would make my toes fall off. So potential curses and a really talented artist friend have motivated me to respond to this Tag for illustrators.

First off the rules of this Tag (OR BE CURSED!!!!) hehe

1. Link to your tagger and post the rules.
2. Post 7 Random facts about yourself
3. Tag 7 Friends and link to them
4. Let them know that they have been tagged by leaving
a nice little message on their blog.


Okay... so here are some random things that I'm sure you were dying to know about me ;)

1. I wanted to be a truck driver when I was six. Probably influenced by my desire to travel.
2. I was a discus thrower in college and was thinking about training for the Olympics until I got a super lame injury. A very long and even more lame story.
3. I didn't know I wanted to be an illustrator until recently, but I always drew all over everything (my journal, school notes, letters, my arms and legs).
4. I've read and listened to the Harry Potter audiobooks so many times it's nerd-tastic and creepy. I know way too much about the Harry Potter world.
5. I've collected scrap (beautiful clippings of art and photography) since I was about eight.
6. I stare at people a lot. Mostly to look at their interesting features. I've gotten into "trouble" a few times because I was too obvious. (A guy threatened me at a Burger King). Needless to say I need to get sunglasses.
7. I once kicked a kid in the head on a ferry when I was three. Fortunately my head-kicking days are over.

So here are some incredibly amazing artists links that you HAVE to check out, or be cursed (..."that's bad.")

1. Andy Erekson (Amazing Designer for LAIKA Productions and former arch nemesis/school buddy).


2. Ashley Glover (the best nerd-friend ever and a fantastically bizarre and delightful artist)


3. Lida Motamed (A good friend and a very creative artist/graphic designer from Iran.)




4.Shane Lewis (Storyboard artist for Avalanche Software, former character design teacher and pretty much the most hilarious human ever.)


5. Steve Morrison (Former school-mate, currently freaking amazing, quirky, and unique artist).


6. Kathleen Rietz (Delightful and charming Children's Book Illustrator).



7. Kristin Elder (A fantastical and dreamlike artist).


ps. There are a million more that I would tag that are amazing artists. (Some of those you can see on my incomplete link list on the side-bar).

pps. Sorry I haven't posted any paintings recently I'm working on some super dooper top-secret stuff that'll have to be posted later.

Blog Schmog

So I get easily distracted by pretty much anything shiny that moves. I will catch up with all you blogsters (so I say) in a jiffy... but here's a random head sketch as a teaser.

With his well organized mind, Mittens was aware that small children meant candy corn... and those were his favorites.

Hooray for a month long sugar high! So it's wouldn't officially be October without some Halloweenish stationary with the infamous black cat... Mittens. Click here to visit my greeting card shop!

Here's the inside of the card incase you were curious.

'Tis the Season

So it's that time of year again... the best time of year. HOORAY FOR FALL! I feel all warm and squishy. Yay for the season packed full of delicious goodies and the best holidays ever. Yay for dressing up and giving/getting presents. Did I mention the food? Anyway... I'm excited. Pretty much.

"Bad news in the chocolate factory."

If you can guess that quote... I will put you on my "coolest people ever" list.

So I have some horrible news peeps. So listen up because this will effect the plummeting economy as it will seriously effect/damage all the creative arts community's businesses. The Senate passed their version of the Orphan
Works legislation by hotline yesterday (meaning by phone... the bums). While both bills would devastatethe creative arts communities, the Senate version of the bill (S 2913) is much worse for our cause than the House bill (H.R. 5889). We are
deeply concerned that the House Judiciary Committee might now abandon their version of the bill and adopt the Senate version before adjournment. We are desperately trying to reach members of Congress to implore them NOT to adopt the Senate version of the bill. Given the financial crisis our country is facing, surely this is not the time to risk our nation's intellectual property as well.

What to do?

1. First, decide to TAKE ACTION NOW...

2. If you haven't already clicked on the link to send a letter to
your representative, please do that now. USE THIS LINK

For our international artists and colleagues click this link.

3. CALL members of the Judiciary Committee (see list below) and tell them the following:

a. You oppose this controversial bill
b. This is a VOTE DECIDING ISSUE for you
c. We do not need to have a copyright crisis on top of an economic crisis
d. Ask them NOT to adopt the Senate's version of the bill
e. Ask them not to pass the House's version of the bill without a full and open hearing

4. SPREAD THE WORD- if you belong to an arts organization, please share this information with them. If you haven't yet imposed on your friends, family, neighbors and colleagues to contact their representatives, NOW is the time to ask for their help. (If you have already asked, please do it again.)

5. STAY ALERT-- Check out the Illustrators Partnership website

6. And for those of you who believe in the power of prayer... praying
couldn't hurt.

Thanks for all your efforts... together we can-and must-make a difference.

~Meridth

Zombie Island

This is one of those "personal projects" that has been put on the back burner and floundering in the underpainting stage. But here it is. Zombie Island. Not really a fun place.

No. Not really at all.