Illustration Friday: "Ruckus" Yay Spring!

I've spent that last couple of months with my many Snowmen friends (see all on Facebook) and last week sadly said goodbye to my snowmen for a bit and transitioned to Bunnies with this illustration - since I realized the other day that Easter is TWO WEEKS AWAY! Yikes.

The Illustration Friday theme this week is "ruckus" and I think this little Illo could fit. These bunnies first appeared in a my second Snowman Magic illustration and I am becoming very attached to them. I wish you all a very happy first couple days of Spring!

Illustration Friday "Ruckus"

St. John Ogilvie Children's Illustrations

March 10, 2015 is the 400th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. John Ogilvie of Scotland. The Jesuit Insitute in London commissioned me to do nine watercolor children's illustrations to accompany the story of St. John's life that children in their school were writing. It was really a great project and the priest I worked with was a wonderful client. You can see more of the illustrations in my portfolio gallery or go here to see the project on the Jesuit Institute website.

I'm celebrating today...

I'm celebrating today because...

1. It's Friday

2. I just finished a children's illustration project for the Society of Jesuits London about the life and martyrdom of St John Ogilvie that I've been working on for the past 4 months (some pics are posted on my website), and

3. It gave me a reason to paint another snowman ;)

Have a nice weekend!

January = Snowmen in Stripey Scarves

I've decided to post my blog both here and on my website so here I am. ;)

Snowmen are one of my favorite subjects to draw and paint so I thought after coming off of my "25 days of Santa" project in December which I juggled in between client projects, that January would be a good month for a smaller project.  (See the whole 25 Days of Santa Project on Pinterest.)

I have had a photo that my sister took years ago of my nephew standing next to a snowman that they built so I decided to finally do something with it. That first snowman was cute based on the one they built, but it wasn't very lifelike so I gave the next ones much more personality. I posted about six on my Facebook page and also listed them as a clip art collection in my Etsy store...And since it's just started snowing in Nebraska after a balmy January, there still may be a few snowmen to be born. 

I am most active on my Facebook page, so come on over if you want to see more watercolor illustration. ;)

I'm now blogging on my website

Hi to everyone who may read my blog,

I just discovered that though my website linked all of my posts from Blogger, I need to actually post from my website now so I just double posted my illustration friday post and came back over to let you know that you can now follow me on www.kathyjurek.com

Illustration Friday "Trouble"

It's been a while since I posted anything. I've been doing quite a bit of marketing over the last 6 weeks or so. I joined Hire An Illustrator and rebuilt my website with Virb.  I was delighted that Virb could link both my Etsy store and my blog. I was especially tickled that it linked my blog here at Blogger because I didn't want to lose everything. It also looks more put together than my old one - featuring my art in a cleaner more attractive format.

This week's theme for IF is "trouble". I'm redoing some illustrations for a children's story that my sister and I wrote and this page fits the theme well. My original illustration had just a white background but I decided to experiment and added a gradient and some texture with Photoshop.

Latest Watercolor Portrait and Studio Update

My summer has flown by and it's back to school which makes me sad. I've had almost two weeks to start adjusting to the back to school carpool schedule which is sometimes a welcome break in the afternoon.

I just completed a portrait for my aunt and uncle, two of the most photogenic people in Rhode Island. Everyone is delighted with it including myself - especially since it ranks among my most difficult portraits. The reason is because the image I had to work from is a 72dpi 100kb black and white file from 1966. My mission was to transform it into an 11 x 14 colored watercolor. The color part was actually the least of my worries. I spent hours trying to get my drawing correct working with this very blurry black and white photo. I wouldn't do this for someone I didn't know because it really helped that I know what they look like and had other photos to use for reference. I had my moments of doubt, but I pressed on.

And I am so glad I did. 

Other fun things I have been working on this summer include a Country & Western and a soon to be released Dance/Gymnastics scrapbook paper collections for Big Busy B's as well as some clip art collections I've added to my Etsy store (Back to School, Halloween, Black Cats and Sunflowers, Pumpkins & Mums). 

And I also took the plunge and participated in Lilla Rogers' Global Talent Search. I'm hoping to make it to round 2 and as soon as the gallery is open for the first round, I'll be able to share my wall art design.