My friend and taekwondo master, Samery asked me if I’d recreate this photo of her with her husky, Leo in watercolor and I was more than thrilled to do it for her. Corona Arch is one of my favorite hikes in Moab, UT.
Samy and Leo Painting
Children's Book Illustration - Hot Topics Hot Serials
In 2006 and 2007, I was only a couple years out of college and trying to dip my toe into the world of children’s book illustration. I was hired by a small company called Hot Topics Hot Serials. They aren’t around anymore, but they were a serial publication that published stories for elementary and middle school kids in newspapers in schools.
I was hired to illustrate two stories that were both historical fiction and they were really a blast to create.
The first book, The Secret Life, was about two sisters growing up in the early 1900s on the east coast when women were actively protesting and lobbying for their right to vote in the United States. They went about their lives, scraping along, trying to help out their single mom when they noticed she was acting differently; hiding something. They learned that she was a suffragette and marching in parades and joining protests. The two sisters get caught up in a riot and it’s an eye-opening experience for them.
I loved researching the different types of clothing girls and women wore back then; even the differences between what working women wore versus wealthier women. Reading through different accounts of the events that led up to the passing of the 19th amendment was fascinating.
The second book, All in Good Time was about a New York City middle schooler who struggled with taking history class seriously. One day his history teacher gave him a subway token and it transported him back to Manhattan in the 1930s. He met a girl his same age who lived almost entirely on her own and had to make ends meet in a time when there was corruption and not much in place to protect kids from danger.
For this book, I actually flew to New York for a day to take some photos in the spots where parts of the story took place. I went to Times Square, the Brooklyn Bridge, Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty, Chelsea Piers, and I got some good photos of older apartment buildings in the city for painting inspiration. It was fun looking up what a subway car looked like, what Times Square looked like, and what an Automat was (Google it!).
In January of 2008, I got a random email from a reporter for the Saginaw News in Michigan. They were going to be printing “The Secret Life” in the local newspaper there and she wanted to ask me a few questions about my experience illustrating the story. It was really, really cool to know that my illustrations were going to be printed in a real newspaper! I wish I’d known someone who was local who could pick up some copies for me.
About six months after I finished the second book I got a letter in the mail from a woman named Maureen who’d seen the story All in Good Time published in her local newspaper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune. One chapter was in each day’s paper for the length of the story. Most of the illustrations were black and white, but a few were printed in color along with a couple of teasers on the front page. She saw Alexandra Tebow listed as the illustrator and reached out to my grandpa to see if we were related. Turned out Maureen’s husband is my grandpa’s first cousin. My grandpa passed along my mailing address and she was kind enough to collect the newspapers, cut them out, and mail them to me.
Pretty cool, right?!
After Maureen reached out to me, I scoured the Star Tribune’s website for online versions of the chapters and printed them out too.
It’s funny to me how different I would make these if I was to illustrate them all over again, haha! I have no way of knowing if these stories and my illustrations have been printed in other newspapers since then. I wish Hot Topics Hot Serials was still around too, they were really fun to work with. I truly had a wonderful time illustrating these stories and if I’m ever able to illustrate historical fiction again, I’ll jump at the chance.
Follow me on TikTok!
As a middle-aged lady, AKA: member of the Oregon Trail Generation, I avoided TikTok as much as I avoided Twitter… which was a lot. But this spring a friend convinced me that TikTok could be a potentially awesome funnel for my business, so I begrudgingly downloaded it. I’m still learning how to upload videos at different lengths and how to find music that fits, all while trying to figure out how to create interesting content. But I’m starting to feel more and more comfortable with it.
My new Canvas Lamp has TOTALLY helped with this. You can read about it here.
One thing I do know, TikTok is a HUGE time suck. I will flip through a few videos and suddenly two hours have passed. I’ll go all day without looking at TikTok and see 50+ notifications that my sister or my husband has shared videos with me. #enablers
I plan to keep the content art-related as much as possible. I did post a video last week of me making peach jam, so there will be randoms non-art here and there. Although some may argue that making jam IS an art.
I have gone back and forth many times on whether to share about my taekwondo training and black belt journey. But since my black belt test is in two weeks, I feel like if I was going to document that journey, I should have started six months ago. Oh well. If I ever decide to get a 2nd Dan in taekwondo, maybe I will document THAT journey. Practicing martial arts is a whole other world when you don’t start as a kid.
Any requests on art content?? Any techniques you’d like to see?? I do a lot of landscape watercolor and wet-on-wet painting. I am considering diving back into oil painting, so maybe I’ll take some videos there too.
Redbubble Store Merch
As much as I love being able to sell stickers of my artwork that I order and mail myself, I have been wanting to offer my artwork on a few different products. But I don’t want to have to buy the equipment to print on these items and then stress about shipping them. I already stress about the stickers and small prints I have, and they are pretty small!
So I have been looking for websites that will let me upload my artwork and sell fun items and I can make a few bucks when something sells. I sell a few t-shirt designs on Zazzle and I literally make $0.40-$0.60 on each shirt that gets sold. Yeah… that’s it. But it’s a place that people already know about to find fun t-shirt graphics.
So I’m giving Redbubble a try. I have set up a store with five paintings of my artwork. You can check it out HERE.
I’m just starting with a few right now. And once I have a handle on how it works, I may start adding new artwork that can also be printed on apparel. I love that you can get my paintings printed onto a coffee mug, magnet, water bottle, or a drawstring backpack or a throw pillow.
This artwork here on a drawstring backpack may be a new one for my fans. I made this painting of Delicate Arch from Arches National Park last year and gave it to a friend for her birthday. I am thinking of doing another sticker series like I did for “I heart Public Lands” and feature National Park Service sites and #npslover on them. I’m hoping to see more national park sites in the coming years so I can get more photo reference.
Anyone know of any other sites that work like this? I would like to sell prints through Redbubble, but they don’t let me pick and choose the print and poster sizes, and my images are too small for posters. I would like to sell greeting cards too, but they are grouped in with posters. I also would LOVE to find one site that does everything I want and not have multiple different websites where I sell merch…. someday.
Hike it Baby 30 - April 2021
Hike it Baby 30 is here! What is this, you ask? It’s a challenge to get outside with your family every day for 30 days during the month of April. Hike it Baby is a nationwide nonprofit that aims to support families with young children to get outside and explore; no matter what that outdoor exploration looks like. Every April and September, they host a 30-day challenge and fundraiser that encourages and supports families getting outside every day for 30 days. Families who join and make a donation get to join a Facebook group where everyone shares their adventures and supports one another. They are also entered into drawings to win prizes from sponsors and everyone who joins the challenge gets a sticker that is unique to that challenge. Adventures can be in your neighborhood, backyard, local park, beach, lake, paved trail, or in the woods or mountains.
It’s been my privilege to get to design the stickers for these fundraisers since late 2017. Last September, I created a sticker that embraced the uniqueness of spring 2020 by showing a city park rather than a remote wilderness. For this April’s challenge, I continued that theme with a city fishing pond. The hammock and fishing pond was where my family spent a lot of our outside time in 2020, so it was special for me to create it in watercolor.
In addition to the sticker, Hike it Baby had me create a Spring Workbook for participants to use during the challenge. We grabbed some of the activity sheets that I created in the past and added a few new ones along with a spiffy, spring cover. I really love how it turned out.
30 flowers to color for 30 days.
Lastly, we almost always have a t-shirt campaign to go with each HiB30 and this time is no different. I was asked to make our sticker artwork into a t-shirt design that coordinated with previous t-shirt designs and there is a campaign with Bonfire for t-shirts, tote bags, and mugs. Check it out!
I cannot wait to see what we can create for the next Hike it Baby 30 challenge this coming September.
Product of the Month - April 2021 - iPad Pro + Procreate
I have been somewhat of an old lady when it comes to trying new things in the art world. Even though I’ve been working with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for about 17 years, it took me an embarrassingly long time to consider getting Procreate.
About a 12 years ago I had a Wacom digital drawing tablet. It was finicky, and not easy to use considering I was looking at a monitor while drawing and not at my hand working the stylus. It was not effortless for me and I ended up going back to drawing with my mouse rather than deal with it. It gathered dust and then became obsolete as my computer upgraded and my Wacom tablet sat on the shelf.
As the years went by I didn’t take the time to see what the world of digital drawing was doing. I started following a few artists who were using tablets again and it was clear the technology was kicking ass. I learned about the Procreate app and other drawing tools and decided that I’d save up for an Apple Pencil and Procreate so I could give them a try. Then my husband informed me that the my iPad was too old to work with the Apple Pencil. That $200 goal was now closer to $1000. Deflated is the best word to describe how I felt. I couldn’t justify spending that much money on this new tool when I really had no idea how much I would really use it. I put it off to a “someday” thing.
Lo and behold, my husband surprised me with an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil for Christmas last year. This was a big deal because we don’t exchange gifts at Christmas; a deal we made with each other a long time ago.
It has been SO much fun to play with these! I watched a few videos on Skillshare to get myself started on Procreate and it’s been a fun program to learn. I’m nowhere close to feeling like any kind of pro, but it’s been a blast to figure out. I love that I can work in layers and build a simple, rough sketch up to a finished drawing or digital painting. I can layer in photo reference too.
The first thing I did was a self-portrait to commemorate my taekwondo black belt test later this year. It resides on the cover of my black belt binder (where I keep study materials and essays). I’m currently working on a portrait of a friend next.
Thanks to a few artists I follow on Instagram, I downloaded the Amaziograph app next. It’s an app for drawing tesselations and mandalas. It’s like therapy and meditation on an iPad. I’ll sit for an hour or more drawing mandalas and then coloring them. I’ll paint colored shapes and then draw a mandala on top in white. It’s mesmerizing to use and even my kids enjoy using it. For them it helps build fine motor skills too.
I learned quickly that I don’t like to draw when I can’t rest my hand on the iPad. A quick search on Amazon revealed these two-finger gloves designed to work with digital drawing. They work with either a left or right hand and they work like a charm. My iPad doesn’t register the palm of my hand when I’m drawing; just the pencil or my fingertips.
So this month’s POTM was more a group of products than a single product. They are tools that I am slowly adding to my repertoire and thoroughly enjoying along the way.
What are some other apps that are super fun to use with an Apple Pencil?? Share in the comments.
Watercolor Prints are Here!
I’m doing a trial run of selling watercolor prints. I ordered a few and I’ll list them for sale. If there is enough interest and I can get them shipped with little-to-no hiccups, then I will order more and in some larger sizes.
Right now I have these available to order as giclée prints. Giclée is a printing method that ensures vibrant color and fantastic detail using archival inks. These are printed on acid-free, archival paper that has a matte finish and a subtle watercolor texture. I’m really happy with the print quality.
There are only a few available for each of the 5x7 and 8x8 prints. You can order them here or click on any photo and it’ll take you to the link to purchase.
Sundial Peak and Lake Blanche - Brighton, UT
Lower Calf Creek Falls - Boulder, UT
Babylon Arch - Hurricane, UT
Coyote Gulch - Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
Corona Arch - Moab, UT
I have decided that Corona Arch here won’t be available in any print larger than 8x8. The original painting is about 5x5 inches and when enlarged, the stars will start to look weird as they are enlarged too. Someday, I’ll repaint this on larger paper so it can make for a prettier print in bigger sizes.
What should I paint next?? I have a few pretty places on my list from the Uinta Mountains in Utah AND also a few spots in California. Stay tuned.
Kula Cloth Design Contest - 2021
I entered a new painting into the Kula Cloth Design Contest this week. They are running their second annual contest and the grand prize winner gets $1250 and their artwork on a Kula Cloth to be sold for the whole world to purchase. The 15 designs with the most votes will get 2 Kulas with their artwork on them. I would honestly be stoked to make the top 15. Click HERE to vote!
What is a Kula Cloth? It’s one of the best inventions for people who squat or use a funnel to pee. It’s a washable, reusable, antimicrobial pee cloth for when nature calls when you’re camping, on a the trail, or out where there isn’t a toilet. Heck, even if there IS a toilet, there isn’t always toilet paper, is there? Use your Kula as a pee cloth and you don’t have to worry about packing toilet paper in and out. Clip it to your pack to dry and it’s good to be used again or washed. The fabric dries quickly too.
Image by Zion Adventure Photo - Me hiking with my Kula Cloth
I have had Colonnade Arch, aka Five Hole Arch, on my radar and I just hadn’t painted it yet. It lies close to the Green River kinda near Moab, UT on BLM land. I thought the layout and composition would work great for a diamond shape, so off I went.
Such a beautiful spot to watch a sunrise; which is the vibe I was going for here. I call this one “Windows.”
This is an approximation on what my Kula might look like. I think the corners will be more rounded.
Everyone can only vote one time, but you can vote for as many designs as you’d like. There is some really beautiful artwork on there, Click HERE to vote!