Send Some Holiday Love

Christmas is almost here, and we're all running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get all the obligatory gift shopping and merrymaking crammed in. But please, take 5 minutes and do this one little thing.

It's so easy- just drop a Christmas card in the mail, addressed to

Ed and Betty Vogel
425 E. Coleman Rd.
Clare, MI 48617

Why? Well you can read the whole story over at the blog of their granddaughter, Mrs. Greene. It's Miss Betty's last Christmas, and her family is trying to harness the power of the internet to brighten her days and show her how much she is loved, even by total strangers.

One of the things Mrs. Greene has requested is for people to send drawings from their children to cheer up her grandmother. Obviously I'm a little old for that request, but I decided to send a drawing anyway. I couldn't help myself. As a kid, when my grandparents' health was failing toward the end of their lives, I would spend hours making art to hang in their hospital rooms. I've never had the right words in times like that, but I could at least make them smile with my little gifts.

I hope this makes you smile, Miss Betty. Merry Christmas.

Scientific Illustration: Cicada

Take a look at my latest piece, a small painting of a Costa Rican Cicada. I've always loved scientific illustration and this little guy was super fun to paint.

Dragon*Con Art and a Gallery Wall!

Every year at Dragon*Con, I go through the same routine. I tell myself I'm not going to buy anything, I'm going to save money for once, I don't really need anything anyway... And then I wander into Artist Alley and all self-control goes out the window. I've discovered quite a few new artists that way, and this year I went a little crazier than normal and bought a gazillion prints.

I finally got them into frames, and, along with some of the other framed arty things we had lying around, my husband and I hung them all up on one super awesome gallery wall. The enormous blank space over the couch had been empty for way too long, so we decided to throw everything up there and see how it looked. It definitely outs us as mega-nerds right off the bat, but anyone we invite over probably knew that about us anyway!

(Please pardon the awful phone photos in this post!) Since you can't really see them well, here are the prints I bought at Dragon*Con:

ShiShi by Leslie Ditto

Sketchy! Take a peek in my sketchbook

When you're an artist with a full-time, non-artsy "day job," it can be hard to actually, well, make art. In an effort to keep my drawing skills up to snuff, I've been making sure to at least sketch for a while every day. My husband has joined me in this endeavor, and we've made it over a month now. Woo!

I will admit, on some days when I'm too tired and/or lazy to come up with something super awesome, I just draw whatever happens to be close at hand. And more often than not, that is a cat. (Yes, I am outing myself as a crazy cat person a mere three posts in. As a certain obese Coloradan child would say, I do what I want!)

Cats make great models- when they're sleeping. Fortunately, my little chubsters are extra-lazy! So today, for your viewing pleasure, here are a few sketches of my teeny gray cat, Merle, doing what she does best- sleeping and being adorable.


And because I can't quite do her justice, here she is in all her fuzzy glory.

Time for Spring!

The weather here just can't make up its mind. Yesterday felt like spring; today was dark and chilly. I'm ready for some color, so let's hope spring arrives soon!

Here's a little something for those of you in need of a break from gloomy winter weather. I did this piece as a wedding gift for a friend- two cute little birds in a cherry tree.

Barcelona chair

This little illustration is for a blog about the first 24e Furniture Design Awards tomorrow night. I could not pass up the opportunity to depict one of my very favorite chairs, Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona chair! I painted it a nice red-orange because I am a little bit obsessed with that color right now.
So, if anybody's out there, what is your favorite chair?