20% off print sale through Tuesday!

Now that I'm over stuffing myself with fabulous tofu turkey and iterations of cauliflower, I'm having a sale in my Etsy shop! Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Football Sunday, you name it. It's on through Tuesday. Greeting card sets that normally include 3 cards and envelopes will also include an extra. By the way, you can mix and match your set. Just give me instructions when you order. Here's a new one, just added today.

Snowflakes greeting card set.

Go fish

Thanksgiving is a great occasion for a trip on a train. Along the way, a lady and her young cats pass the hours playing card games. Be warned — the youngest does not play fair.

Go fish

16 Jolly Holiday illustrations

Here's a set of Christmas and winter illustrations that can be downloaded and used for creating all sorts of holiday stuff, from invitations to emails to web pages. It's no surprise that lots of silly animals are included and a few retro elements as well. All are on transparent backgrounds. They're new in my Creative Market store.

Downloadable holiday illustrations

In autumn, we winterize

A little knitting by the fire. What better bulwark against the coming storms than a snuggly woolen or two? It's terribly inconvenient when one gets the sniffles.

Winterizing

All at sea

In a coastal town on a brisk fall day, there may be a storm coming, or perhaps just a ship or two. Either way, a lady and her young cat will go about their business.  Further ruminations on yesterday's sketchbook painting. This print is now available in my shop.

All at sea

Suddenly, it's fall!

This one got a little complicated and a bit of a muddle, but here it is, warts and all. I really must try to keep these simpler! Barely a week ago the temperature in Los Angeles was over 100. But now, suddenly, Autumn has come, bless'er.

A fine fall day

Desk Set

New in my Creative Market store: 18 vintage office supply illustrations. Downloadable clip art inspired by my own groovy office collection. It's on sale at 20% off all week!

Retro office supplies

Together again

I'm just managing to squeeze in one more spooky journal while waiting for any darling little neighborhood ghouls who choose to knock on my door (and trying not to eat too many boxes of Milk Duds). This is No. 5 in my series "The Spirits of October." A lady and her young cat enjoy a night of fine dining, joined by the dear Cap'n, who wouldn't miss the little fellow's birthday. Happy Halloween! Stay safe!

A lovely haunted evening

The Spirits of Household Tasks

A bedtime story or two while old friends insist on continuing with their duties, even though it's no longer required of them.

The Spirits of Household Tasks

5 freaky halloween Illustrations

New in my Creative Market shop, one last set of Halloween illustrations before the day of all hallows dawns. This set includes a Runaway Rocking Horse, a Gothic Kitty Pram, a Bat in flight, a Black Cat "Familiar", and a very happy Grave-robbing Pup.

5 Freaky Halloween Illustrations

At the Botanical Society

Do plants have ghosts? Who's to say? The Spirits of October #3: A lady and her young cat take an outing to the Botanical Society where they observe the curious Amorphophallus Titanum.

The spirits of plants

Dear Departed Cap'n

For this Halloween, I'm doing a series of paintings in my journal that I fondly call "Spirits of October." Here's No. 2. He sailed away but forgot to sail back.

Spirits of October, No. 2 | Dear Departed Cap'n

Nanny Park

The Spirits of October No. 1: Would you like to take a stroll with me to the Nanny Park? Let's wait until it's nice and dark. A lady and her young cat take the night air at the local park, where a little dawdling with friends and associates of the past refreshes the spirit.

The Nanny Park

22 Horrific Halloween Illustrations

I've opened a new shop on CreativeMarket.com.  And my first product is a set of silly and scary Halloween illustrations that you can download digitally and use to create all sorts silly and scary things. Each element is about 4 inches in size and comes on a transparent background.

A cover illustration for "The Inlander Annual Manual"

New in the shop: "The Longbotham, Spokane, WA" an illustration I did for the cover of The Inlander Magazine of Spokane. For their Annual Manual, they asked me to illustrate the life of downtown, centering on the historic 1909-built Longbotham building. A limited edition giclee print is available here.

Good times were had in Spokane, WA

Loon lake

What's up at Loon Lake

Ever so random

This one is just stream of consciousness. I wanted to do an abstract thing on the left and another image on the right, but instead it just became a hodgepodge of randomness. My friend Yvonne and I were talking about drawing hands which she kinda hates and I kinda love.

Sketchbook Number something-or-other

Hollywood, CA, July 4, 1941

Happy 4th of July, freedom-loving folks! lately I've been wanting to draw an old Hollywood leading man, a fancy cowboy, and a swimming pool. And then by the time I got around to it, it was practically the 4th of July. So naturally, I had to add a few more elements. I think I spent WAY too much time on this. I probably shoulda gone ahead and done a full-size painting.

Hollywood, Ca, July 4th, 1941

Rita's Window

Here's a cover for a story I'm working on. Rita has the best window on the block. She can see north, she can see west. But I believe the south is the view she likes best. Isn't that an old song?

Rita and her neighbors

Florian meets the bees

Today I'm into greenhouses. Especially victorian greenhouses. So that means I have to paint a scene with a greenhouse. Check!

Florian meets the bees.

The croc who ate our golf balls

Here's another take on a fabric design that I did for Spoonflower, "Goats on the Green."

The croc who ate my golfballs

Back Window

"Something very peculiar is going on," thought Rita.

Early morning bus ride

The young wolf siblings join their mates on the school bus one rainy morn.

Early morning bus ride

The sketchbook painting

Thief!

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Somebody took something they oughtn't-a

Freeeeedrich

At last I have some time after a couple busy weeks to get back to some "serious" painting.

Friedrich

New in the shop: Snowflakes

Just added this print to my Etsy shop. It's a signed, limited edition of 200.

Snowflakes

Here's Bully!

Here's a quick one in a busy day. This is Bully. He has an affinity for cheese.

Bully

A manly man

Here's a fine fellow in his double-knit pants.

Doug is a very manly man.

Birds & blossoms

Here's another fabric design for the latest Spoonflower Design challenge. As the theme is Birds & blossoms, and my sister, who's in Japan on a teaching gig, has been posting delectable images of the Cherry Blossom trees there, I knew what must be done. Voting begins today, so go on and vote for your favorites here.

Cherry blossoms, y'all.

The Easter bunny truck

Did this actually happen, or did I imagine it? Happy Easter!

Did it happen?

Cabin Cruisers

For some reason I'm obsessing about vintage cabin cruisers lately. I grew up in a neighborhood that bordered on a creek and river, so many of my friends and neighbors had boats of all kinds. My family once owned a metal canoe. Not very exciting.

Lola and the Cabin Cruisers

And here's a little animation project

The Stinky Sock Factory

Horse and Dog statues

When I was a kid, my friends and I used to have collections of cheap china animal figurines from the drugstore (or as Grandma called it, the "Dime Store"). Sometimes dogs, sometimes horses. In my little crowd, you were either a dog or horse person, and your statues reflected your preference. It seems the girly-girls were all horse people, and the tomboys were dog people. I was a dog person, Kelly was a horse person, Anne a dog person, and boy was Jeannie a horse person. The figurines sometimes sat on a shelf, but mostly they were trotted around on the floor, horses and dogs rearing up and saying hello. Consequently, their legs and tails were always being broken off. But we were handy with our Elmer's, so most recovered nicely!

Horse statues & dog statues

Employee benefits

Even the sheep got paid vacation.

All in all, we were pretty happy at the sock factory.

Welcome to Sox Bridge, home of the Stinky Sock Factory

There's only one road leading out of Sox Bridge, and after it leads you out, it leads you right back in again.

Home of the Stinky Sock Factory

Disruption at Madame Faverolle's Egg Emporium

Snaking its way through the streets, it caused much disruption. Even at Madame Faverolle's, where poached, scrambled, coddled, fried, deviled, creamed, soft- or hard-boiled, you could buy any sort of egg your heart desired.

Disruption at Madame Faverolle's

That's Mrs. Peel to you

I have a bunch of incomplete pages in my art journal that I'm trying to finish up. Here's one from March 6th, dedicated to Diana Rigg and her kick-ass Avengers character, Emma Peel, from the original UK series of the swinging 60s. She knew chemistry and karate, and how to rescue her "veddy" British partner John Steed, all while rocking the greatest 60s fashion.

Mrs. Peel, Avenger

Suddenly

What was anticipated to be a convivial meal, instead went another way.

Suddenly!

Happy Valentine's Day

Let's get together

Citizens of the rainforest

Here's another fabric design for the Spoonflower Design Challenge. These recent challenges are for a shoe company called Bucketfeet, who are doing a series of spirit animal inspired shoe designs and contributing to NARF (Native American Rights Fund). Spoonflower is also contributing a buck for every entry in the challenge. Voting starts Thursday, Feb. 9.

Rainforest citizens fabric on Spoonflower

The mountains of my mind

Here's another fabric design for The Spoonflower Design Challenge on the theme of mountain animals. I'm into bears, goats and owls lately, so this was a fun project to work on. I wish I had remembered to get in a Moose! Go here to vote for your favorites.

The high life 

Desert Animals

I can't seem to think of a clever name for this, but it's my entry in this week's SpoonflowerDesign Challenge. Can you guess the theme? Could it be Desert Animals? Today's the last day of voting here.

Desert Animals on Spoonflower

Women Painters on Spoonflower

Women painters

Goodbye 2016!

And good riddance to ye. Here's my first sketchbook of 2017, complete with a list of some of my many, many resolutions for the coming year. And more Raccoons, naturally. Happy New Year!

Late & incomplete, some resolutions & raccoons.