Things are looking up and things are WARMING UP! Parting ways with old passe´endeavours is always hard to do, but I find once the old crutch is gone, new and exciting things are waiting in the wings. Hard to talk about here, being that my business is hush hush till published. Let's just say I have gone beyond what I once was. Karma is a real thing. And being that I have tried to live my life as an artist, true to myself and honest with all other artists....I think there is a pay-back. The universe appreciates artists treating artists right. And we are all artist's oui? Those that don't, well......karma will haunt you. Don't have the time to ramble on today, summer is here, been working out ( sore as heck!) and I am ready to rock n' roll. Have a safe and fun summer all you artists and of course you normal people out there;) . Planning to beach and boat the summer away, and of course do lots of artwork!! Here is a mermaid piece that is appropriate for the season and a children's book piece that is creating a buzz ( tee hee). Enjoy!

Last month roared in like a lion and kept roaring all the way through. I was crushed by a sudden turn of events and am still feeling a bit bruised and tender. Was it a wolf in sheep's clothing, or a sheep in a wolf's? I thought it was the end of the world as I knew it....and it has been in a way. I had a few false starts work wise, with a religious project that went no where fast topping the list. But as "they" say, with every door that closes, an new one opens... and this month it surely did open. I am feeling very hopeful, and spring is blooming with possibilities. Along came a multi cover project that was absolutely "sinful" in it's topics but was a complete pleasure to do. I felt renewed by the challenge of a quick turnaround and positive feedback. Sometimes we have to let go to grow, and since it is the beginning of growing season, I am in full swing with loads of energy for my new endeavors, and planting seeds, lots of seeds, literally and figuatively. I can't show the work I have just done, due to fact that the illustrations are unpublished, confidential and still not yet ready for prime time viewing.

Below is my once again, newly wed pretty friend Betsy, who's wedding I recently shot and mentioned in my last blog. She inspires this thought which I leave you with. It is a motto of mine and very good advice to live by. "If at first you don't succeed, try and try again". What other realistic options

do we really have?

Enjoy!

Spring is coming!

Here comes it comes, I can feel it in the air. Crocuses are popping, the huge piles of ice-y snow almost gone. Soon the trees will have a pink tone to them, from the buds, then comes my favorite color, spring green. This is a good thing! And the art world seems to be awakening as well. I have a few projects brewing, but nothing I can show or discuss, due to the private nature of projects yet to be published. Was at the arraignment of the East Coast Rapist last week, that was an unusual experience for me in a different New Haven courtroom. Traffic court! There were two NY artists there. One was in a meditative state when I arrived, sitting on the ice cold cement steps, I guess composing herself before the onslaught of court. The other woman had a different style, loose and sketchy, oil pastels, mixed mediums. Interesting. The court officer that managed the courtroom we were in was very accommodating to us artists. A very nice surprise. The week previous I was at the Komisarjevsky Change of Venue hearing. He had certainly changed his look! Hair cut in a blunt pageboy, attitude bright and talkative. Looks like he beefed up over the years since I sketched him right after the murders. Very odd for a man on trial for a horrendous murder. He will be an entirely different story when I sketch him for the trial. Even though the evidence is piled against him, he seems hopeful. Oh how awful this is for the family. I can't imagine how they stay so composed.

Enough of court stuff. Shot a wedding recently. What a lot of work it was. Good learning experience. From shots to retouches to the album ($ ouch!) I learned a lot. Wedding was great fun too. My upcoming projects are very exciting. Only guessing that they will come to fruition. So many things are false starts. Maybe the prospect of spring is really getting to everyone, plus I feel the economy is beginning to rebound.

Have joined a gym, working out now, very sore! Will hopefully fall into a pattern of health and exercise with ( eek) bathing suit weather coming. Pic is of my gorgeous daughter, in NY with us on my birthday.

January has traditionally been a very blah month. Business is usually slow, nothing much to do (except for one big thing at the end of the month!). To make a positive out of it, I am going to make new art in my pastel style. I sat and thought, "what do I want to draw?"........and looked back at my last piece. Alice in Wonderland, I'll do it again! Yes, my favorite. Maybe a series of them. What could be better? I thought of that crazy cheshire cat... and wikipeida-d him. Turns out the cheshire cat came before Lewis Carroll is an old english phase that describes someone who "is laughing, showing all their teeth and gums". Hmmm. The cat in Alice in Wonderland is quite the character, posing philosophical questions, having nonsensical conversations and disappearing!! Sounds like some contemporary people I know. There have been many variations on him, looking cute, silly and a bit ominous. I go for a cross between the ominous , interesting and intelligent, with a touch of silly. Here is my "Alice and the Cheshire Cat" as she first meets him crossing through a field.

Today is 1.1.11. Nice numbers! 11:11 has been popping up for me, for a long time. I know it sounds crazy, but I consider it good luck and use the moment to communicate with the universe, sometimes asking for help, expressing my feelings, asking questions....being open. Having just realized it is 1.1.11 ( and feeling a little "duh" for "just" realizing it) , I feel I have an entire day to be open to the possibilities out there, open to express myself fully, to ask the cosmos for anything, to give anything. We have a new year starting today, and it will have so many opportunities to define ourselves. Each day we can make a decision in the right direction, make something artistic , be nice to someone, reconsider a negative loss, look for a new project, learn something, take a deep breath and try not to react harshly when you encounter negativity. What I am saying is that we can allow the new year to be new.... new you, new me. Start fresh, like a baby, with clear eyes, unbiased by the past, but with still the wisdom of our years. 1.1.11, make a wish......ALL DAY LONG!

Moving on

On to lighter themes. Back to trying new styles and chipping away at the ever challenging publishing biz. Am known to be able to morph styles to fit the publisher's needs. To the right was a piece done as a sample for publisher. Art director had wrong info on project, making my piece another sample to pile on the portfolio heep. He's a sweetiey though, and it was fun to do. Keeps me from being bored. Would prefer a project from them though....after a lonnng time waiting. Am starting a project on monday, that could prove to be something cool. Or not. It's on the hush hush. May do some t-shirt designs as well, while continuing my rep duties. Here is an illustration of Alice in Wonderland, done in my newly reborn pastel style. AD likes it, need to do more in this vein. God knows my pastel skills have advanced after the "trial"....oh, there is goes, popping into my head again.

What's New

It has been a long haul doing the Steven Hayes trial in New Haven Superior court. Tuesday was the beginning of the end at the agonizing sentencing hearing. We heard the family make “impact statements" telling how the murders had destroyed their lives, wondering if they would ever be able to lead a normal life again, as the beautiful beaming faces of the victims flashed across a screen. Baby pictures, vacation shots. Happiness. Gone. Tears streamed down the faces of men and women alike. Then Steven Hayes spoke. He stood, facing the judge as he read a statement he had supposedly written, bearded and scruffy, in an oversized bright orange prison jumpsuit, a mix of Elmer Fudd and Charles Manson. His voice had an unexpectedly goofy quality, maybe it was a minor lisp. Judge Jon C. Blue then pronounced the death sentence to Hayes in a dramatic and serious tone, ending with “ may god have mercy on your soul.”

Outside the courthouse the reporters waited for the family to come forward with a statement. There was none to come, but a written piece passed out to all. The other courtroom sketch artist came out, and knelt before the cameras, offering her sketch to all those who wanted it. Good lesson. The day had been so painful, listening to the family's wrenching descriptions of their loved ones, their deep loss and the way the loss will effect them always. I was heavily effected by the intensity of the statements, being the emotional sort. Then there was a rude awakening later that evening. The drama was not over for me.................