Hello, Fall!

A few shots from this summer.

Lately, it's been frightening to see the trees start to change! I know time flies, but where the summer went, I have no idea. It just kind of evaporated this year. Not complaining though, we're welcoming the fall with open arms. However, I will be missing the late summer night bike rides along the beach, trips out east to the farms for fresh fruit, gardening and the new bunny who lived in our garden this season!

Tiny pies!!!

With the cooler weather on the way, the urge to bake treats has been setting in. The past two weekends I was able to put a little time aside to brush up on the baking skills! Both recipes were from the net: Pie a la Apple and Peanut Butter Blondie Cake Bars. The apple pie recipe had a few things that I felt needed adjusting. Firstly, I cut down the white sugar to 1tbsp and doubled the brown sugar. A few extra spices plus double the amount of cinnamon (Seriously, I can't bake without Penzeys Baking spices...especially their China Tung Hing Cinnamon ! It adds so much yum to whatever you're baking, I highly recommend!), and we were in business! For the topping, you can use a pre-made crust, which is just easier-I've had a lot of luck with Whole Foods pre-made pie crust, they also offer a vegan option! The Blondie cake bars came AMAZING! I was weary...baking with beans?! I know. But they came really good and you couldn't taste any bean flavors in the cake. I also think the vegan chocolate chips, lots of spices and cinnamon helped, too!

MLP #1! Out in November.

Aside from all the baking and deliciousness, I've been painting like a wild woman lately. I can't really talk about a few of the projects just yet-but they're pretty much dream gigs and I can't believe I've been asked to paint and draw them. *Hopefully* I can share more news on that front soon. As of now, I've been having a blast painting away on these My Little Pony covers for IDW. How fun this gig has been! I've posted a tiny shot of the painted cover for #1-out in November. I'm also gearing up to head out to Cincinnati Comic Expo the end of this month! I'll be set up at the show for the 22nd and 23rd, I'll have some prints, a few originals and will be painting 5 or so watercolors over the weekend. Looking forward to the show and I'll post a few of the pre-show painted commissions on here as soon as they're all done.

Little after work paintings

I've also been trying to paint more for myself. Selfish, selfish painting! Mainly little pieces I can bang out fast after working on assignment during the day. Most people have warm up paintings/drawings, these are kind of my "cool down" paintings, especially after a frustrating day. It really helps to loosen up my hand and allows me to paint whatever the heck I want...which isn't something I've been doing a whole lot of lately!

It started off as these tiny paintings (no larger then 3" or 4") and kind of turned into something more. While painting them, I started to think more about creating my own deck of tarot cards, a pretty overwhelming task! But something I've been wanting to paint for a long time. Tarot cards are very personal, rich with symbols and meaning and loaded with room for creativity/interpretation.

A few of the tarot cards I'm painting.

I decided to say the hell with it, and just start working on them, no pressure, just a painting here and there when I have the time. To the left is a shot of two of the cards. I'm sticking with an animal/nature theme, no humans. Hoping to get more done over the next few months. I'd love to post more about it and what they mean to me in the future. Once the set of cards is completely painted, I'd really love to have them published, which is another overwhelming thought. So, for the moment, I'm just going to enjoy painting them :)