About an hour's worth of pushing color around in photoshop. This isn't for anything in particular- it's just having fun.

Still learning to paint digitally.  I think this would have been a better image if I'd had the plums in front of me, but I finished the last of them a few days ago.  No regrets.  I'm only sorry that they're gone.  They were sweet and cold from the icebox.  Hmm.  These sort of look like they should be on a paper towel wrapper, or printed on fake stretched canvas at one of those big art supply/craft warehouses, don't they.  Oh well.  

Several color ideas for a freelance job.  A wraparound cover for an anthology of small press short fiction- fun stuff.  Several very familiar cats, there.  (Vlad, Sadie, Katrina, Thor, Connor, Miss Mouse, Quick, Alistair, Mimsy.  I don't think I got Bubkes' black mask quite right but I tried, Stuart!)  I like the first one. 

Oh. Hello, Cilla!  You think I should redraw the Lions of Valletta? To finish the story so our kind readers will have closure?  To render it the way it looks in my head? 

... 

Oh.  You just want to finish your fish and be left alone.  Right.  Sorry.

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I have a friend who writes out small talk between herself and her characters as a way of making them more three dimensional.  She never shares these with her readers, but they help to add nuance and authority.  What kind of coffee would they order, or are they tea drinkers?  What type of music do they listen to?  Are they morning people?  If they had a day to live, what would they do, where would they go, who would they tell? 

 My friend does not draw cats.  I start to see the reason behind this.  (and yes, elephant's children, the cat story is coming back.  I just want to make sure that it's done properly this time.)

'ey, Betto!  Authors and parents shouldn't have favorites, but I am very fond of Betto.  Prosaic, pragmatic, and practical.  A real cat's cat.  He's looking properly scrawny here and wears it well.

Playing with contrasts between back, middle, and foreground.  Lions is a story that needs to be in color just as Looking Up is a story that needs to be in black and white.  What the practice doodly scenes like this are telling me is that I need to be less lead fingered on the environments and to use that heavy line more selectively for greater effect.  It looks neat as a pattern breaker in a page, but is distracting in consistant use.  Variety, spices of life, and so on. 

Random people doing random things.

Cilla spends most of the story looking for an even break.  She's not asking for much.

The new start date for Lions is looking to be sometime in June.  Sneaky announcement here for the five of you who have stuck with me- Thank you thank you thank you!  :) 

My bike, the bike I've had since I was 13, was stolen.  Here is a quick guide to knowing her if you see her.  I miss her very much.  If you see someone riding her, please knock them off of her and break their knees  shake your fist at them. 

Here's a darling video with cute kids about a stolen bicycle set to a Decemberists song.  It doesn't help my broken heart, but it's sweet. 

Does anyone else remember the elemantry school music class rhythm section?  I was always given the bells because I could read music, but I still have pity in my heart for that one quiet kid who always seemed to wind up with the plastic egg full of pumpkin seeds.