Painting bears and fish

Hey all 

It snowed last night in Seattle, so it's a great excuse to stay in and paint! It's bears and fish and trees and whales today. I'd say its already a perfect day.

1828 part two

Hey all
Things are busy is book world for me these days. I've been painting all of these summer beach scenes for my book lately which is funny because outside my window is a glorious colorful fall! I guess that's how it works in book land sometimes, always living in another world.

Anyway, I wanted to do a follow up post with the rest of the pieces of the show that Aaron and I had last month. So without further adieu, here part two of 1828. Enjoy!

1828 art show

Hey everyone!
It's be a month I've been off blogging. I was quite wrapped up in makin' lots of art- the best reason for not spending more time blogging! My husband Aaron and I created work for a show we had a Joe Bar in Seattle. Here is a synopsis of the show and some images of the work! The show is up until October 8th at Joe Bar ( 810 E. Roy, Seattle, WA 98102) Some if you are in town, come and check it out while you still can. Enjoy!

1828" is a collection of illustrations and comics based on the house built by Aaron's great grandfather Marvin E. Pack. Two long generations of Mormon relatives inhabited the house until Aaron's parents took over. Years of de-cluttering revealed many bizarre religious and antique occupational relics. The house invokes its own mythology by leaving a trail of such esoteric delights. Aaron and Jessixa explore the visual vocabulary inspired by this very real Salt Lake City house and expand on it's oddities through a series of comics and ephemera.

City & Color studies

Hey all
I've been pretty busy with my current book projects as well as some personal things, but I've been wanting to explore some city images lately so I made some time this week to experiment. I've been doing some small sketches in my sketchbook of my little woodland creatures hitting the city. Here is an idea that I had of a city full of foxes. (Which is getting me thinking about a story of a city of foxes and perhaps a naive chicken wanting to make it in show business decides to head to the big city to get her start...hmm, perhaps there is something there!)

Anyway, I wanted to explore some variations on color within this theme. I think  prefer the cityscape background a lot softer, with the light brown versus the blue. It feels more within my palette and feels more like it is a background instead of popping forward so much. Also, I should have toned down the green on the grass; it came out a bit brighter than I wanted. And I think in the next one, I will draw it larger so I can explore an even more complicated and chaotic scene. Then it will really feel like the big city!

 I also wanted to see how it would feel in sepia and just black and white. I think these would be fun and worth exploring by painting some similar images just in these monochromatic tones.

 

If you have any thoughts let me know! I have also been studying one of my favorite painters lately, Pieter Bruegel The Elder. I LOVE his work and have always been very inspired by his compositions, palette and details. As I study his work more, I hope to be able to invoke and bring more of his elements of fun, depth, and storytelling to my own work. Thanks for looking!

Exciting updates!

Hey folks!
So it's been about a month and a half since the NY SCBWI conference, and a lot has been happening. I had the flu right after so was knocked out of commission for a while, then I've been in the throws of some really fun freelance work which has been keeping me quite busy. The most exciting news just happened within the past week. Some of you might know, but I just signed with Upstart Crow Literary with the super awesome Alexandra Penfold! I'm so honored and thrilled that she will we representing me! I got the privilege to attend Alexandra's workshop at the NY conference and was very connected and impressed by her experience and her dedication to children's books. Alexandra has a great energy and a LOVE of picture books. I'm still pinching myself! I'm so excited about getting to take this next great step with her! Thanks again, Alexandra if you are reading this!!!

So this is a little plug for all of you who haven't:
A) joined SCBWI-do it. It will change your life if you are serious about children's books.
B) gone to the conferences before- they are right- magic can happen there

So after all that awesomeness, today is the first day where I've got a moment to breathe and do a could of short quick illustrations for fun. Here is one below that is a little painting of Tic and Tac hanging out in an abandoned boxcar.

I think they had a plan of going on an adventure on a train and got so caught up in the preparing for the adventure that by the time they got to the train, they just wanted to have lunch. And not really paying attention to the fact it was a non-moving train car, they called it a successful adventure, then went home! I told my husband this is something I've always wanted to do- well, jump on a train while it was moving with a bindle like a hobo- but I think the same thing would happen to me where I get so distracted with lunch I don't even mind that we didn't really go anywhere. All in all, it would be a good day.

Anyway, I'll post some work, if I can, about my freelance project I am doing. It's sort of a dream, so maybe I won't post until I'm finished- then I can wake up from the dream. Other than that, look for more little paintings of Tic and Tac and other picture book ideas!

Hope you are are doing well, and drawling lots!
jx

Illustration Friday: Eye Glasses

Hey all!
I've been out of the IF loop for a while. I've had SOOOO much going on lately, but I needed to get back into quick illo mode so I wanted to get back on the horse this week. Here are a couple of takes on this week's theme; one in black and white that is about eyeglasses, the other in color about glasses of lemonade-the word "glasses" inspired it even though it's about a different kind of glasses. Enjoy!

Inking mania!

Hey all!
Quick check in: I'm two pages away from finishing part one of my graphic novel! I have some final inking and some last edits to make, the layout begins! Phew!

Happy New Year!

Hey all!

Just a quick note to wish you all a Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. Mine was out of sight and a blur of action. But I really miss it even though it was exhausting.  

I just have a couple of updates. My website has some new work up. Mostly work I've mentioned here on my blog, but hadn't made it's way to the site yet. But my wonderful husband has made it all shiny and current, so that is a good thing and I sooooo appreciate him for helping me with my website.

In some fun news, I'm featured in the January February issue of the SCBWI newsletter in the Art Spot as well as having a couple of illustrations dotting the issue. I'm very excited to get that shout our from SCBWI. Thanks again!

Also, I am officially signed up and attending the annual winter conference for the SCBWI in February. I'm VERY excited to get to attend that conference. Cross your fingers for me that I can get off the waitlist for the portfolio showcase as well as the intensives and workshops I want to take part in. Here's hoping!

Here's a quick shot of my holiday card I sent out this year featuring my badgers Tic and Tac!

Here's to a great 2013

Illustration Friday: Explore

Hey all
For this week's theme, I'm furthering my exploration of black and white. This little guy is certainly about to explore this whale, hopefully the whale will be kind to his new visitor. He's gently going in but there is still something unsettling about his adventure and the atmosphere.

Thanks for looking!

Little Women=finished!

Hey all,
Just wanted to share my finished piece for the Tomi dePaola Award competition. I really like how it turned out! It's always so interesting to paint things mono-chromatically, but really fun! The passage it's describing is below. Let me know if you have any thoughts!

Illustration Friday: Tree

Hey all
I've been bad about my IF posts the last month or so. I am currently working on new picture book project though staring my precocious badgers, Tic and Tac so I decided to do some practice sketches of them based on recent IF topics. I've done a couple for this week's "tree" theme as well as the catch up entries. Enjoy!

Little Women, big boo boo

Hey thar!
Here is the piece that I was planning on submitting for the Tomie dePaola award through SCBWI.

It's based off of a passage from Little Women. It's from one of my favorite scenes in the book. I really love how it turned out! Unnnnnnnnnfortunalty, I was SO excited about the painting, I forgot that it's supposed to be in black and white! Oops! Back to the drawing board! Oh well. At least I have another really lovely painting I'm pleased with. Any thoughts before I start over in black and white?

Painting Saturday!

Hey all,
Today was a sublime autumn day! Morning at the Farmer's Market, a crisp fall walk down to the Pugeot Sound and topped off with some yummy Molly Moon's Ice Cream. But in between all of that I did lots and lots of painting! Yay! The perfect day!

I wanted to share some of my recent paintings for one of my current book projects "Drift." I posted some test paintings a while back, but have some finished pieces I thought I'd post a few. "Drift" is about a little beaver, Buckley, who makes boats out of driftwood. I fell in love with getting to paint all of that wood. So take a peek and enjoy. I'm off to paint and draw some more!

City Arts Fest 2012!

Hey All
I've been on MAJOR blog and picture book hiatus the past few weeks. My husband and I just finished a nearly 300 drawing installation for the City Arts Magazine art festival, City Arts Fest- a four day long festival around the city of visual & performance art, music, lectures and pop up performances. Our installation is in the hub site of the three day long festival, called "Culture Club." 

Our piece titled "Grizzly 1971" is a series of portraits based off of a year book that we found from Seattle's Queen Anne High School from 1971. We drew 280 yearbook style portraits based off of the senior class. We then made up names and titles & clubs for the students, mostly very strange and funny.We created a walk-in year book room where all of the portraits were displayed as well as two small  trophy case like pocket displays that flanked the doors of the venue as you walked in. We wanted to breath life back into an otherwise banal and forgettable account of the past, the yearbook.It took us nearly two months to draw all the portraits.

The show will be up in downtown Seattle at 411 Union Street (between 4th and 5th) through October 20th. The venue is free to enter and is open from noon-11pm Oct 17-19th, then from noon-9pm on Saturday the 20th. If you are in town check it out!

For more info, go to: http://www.cityartsfest.com/

Illustration Friday: Book

Tic and Tac are back for this week's IF challenge. They are taking a mischief break and enjoying some reading time in their library!

Illustration Friday: Imagination

 

Hey everyone!

I haven't done and IF in a few weeks due to some other projects that have been taking up my time (to which I will post about soon) but here is my latest piece that I've created. I am not sure where this idea came from, but its my own sort of take on Little Red Riding Hood. What if it was all a game in the wolf's mind and these where just his play things? Or maybe in his reality, people are not more threat than just bugs? Either way, I think this little bad wolf is using his imagination. That is to say if he is bad at all...

I forgot to mention I've been watching all lot of Twin Peaks lately and I think its creeping into my children's books illustration. I'm taking it as a good thing- and perfect company for my Woodland illustrations! Thanks for looking!

jx

Camping Adevnture!

Hey everyone!
Here is a piece I made based on a recent camping trip I had with my friends and my husband. The animal representations are oddly very accurate. I am the squirrel with all the marshmallows and my husband is the otter with the hotdog on a stick. We even had lanterns like the ones pictured, only ours were paper with glow sticks in them. I would love the see if the lightning bugs in a jar work though. I hope to do more pieces based upon this trip!

Illustration Friday: Freeze

What's the first thing you do after the first winter freeze? Well this little guy goes ice skating on the pond!

Applied Arts Magazine

Hey Everyone
I just wanted to share that the design firm I work for, Hornall Anderson, was just featured in Applied Arts Magazine for an internal brand book that we did last year, and a drawing that I did as a part of the book was one of the images featured in the spread! Woo Hoo!

Illustration Friday: Lonely

This little guy got trapped in a bell jar when he was running through the field. I'd say he feels pretty lonely right about now.