More Bunnies and a Horse

 Well, I suppose I could say that I was trying for a full year without a blog post but that wouldn't be true...... and I really have meant to write, so many times...... I've dashed off quickie drive-bys on Facebook and even quicker ones on Twitter even though, of course, it's not quite the same. Everyone knows what the road to Hell is paved with and while it's not as bad as all that...I do feel a bit embarrassed. At least I've been painting up a storm  since I posted last.
     I recently was commissioned to create a couple of designs for a fabric overshoe. This remarkably engineered object will cover anything from a flat to 4" heel and allow one to walk about in the pouring rain without insult to prized leather footwear. One of the designs was a "Bunny Toile". It was great fun for me to impersonate a copper engraving as my first love before watercolors was black and white pen and ink. I've probably spent half my life with a 4 ought Rapidograph or crow quill pen stippling, crosshatching... making tiny inky scratches, very hypnotic and relaxing!  Here is the boot and the tongue which hides beneath a zipper:

Bunny Toile Boot

    
        I'm about half way finished with two different picture books. All the drawings for both of them are finished and now I'm painting everything. I am loving painting horses...and, surprise, surprise...more snow!  Here is a detail from one of them:

detail from "Over The River"

    
        My latest quilting fabric collection , "So Many Bunnies" a soft book to sew, along with other projects has just come out from Wilmington Prints :

"So Many Bunnies" soft book panel

"So Many Bunnies" quilt and pillow patterns

   Lots more happening, I'll be back sooner than later next time!  Thank you.

    

Sweet, Silly, Snowy

        Lately, there's a lot of stuff happening in the World that I feel uneasy about.
I'm grateful that I find Joy in the details, in the enduring small bits that continue always like gardens and flowers, sun warmed ripe tomatoes, dogs, babies, love, color and beauty, prettiness, always....and in the Awesome Enormous, the One who has, amazingly, chosen me to be the vessel of a gift...for that I am thankful daily, everyday.
The best way I know to show my gratitude and make some sort of sense of the world, and feel at home in it, is to paint my heart out. Painting is like a prayer. I'm painting a LOT, lately.


Sweet......the first in a series of cakes and pies, coming soon
 

Rose Cake 2

Rose Cake

 Silly....wait and see

Brush Your Teeth

Snowy.... a new collection

Happy Snowman

Chickadee

Happy Snowy Animals- Black and White

Happy Snowmen Icons- Black and White

Happy Snowman border

Happy Snowman Landscape border

Happy Snowman Landscape repeat

Mittens, mostly

Small Happy Snowmen

Scarves and Hats

Scarf

       Thank You Very Much, Grazie Infinite, Merci Beaucoup, Muchisimas Gracias, Toda Raba
 

Blooming......Painting

    This year as much as I am longing for the scent of newly turned earth and the sweetness of the
tenderest of green leaves unfurling in the early morning sun, and all the loveliest joys of a garden.........
I am letting it pass me by. My garden spot here, where I'm renting right now, gets too little sun and so I've chosen to spend my energies painting gardens and all the growing and blooming and ripening instead. So far the quickly passing days and evenings are producing an  explosion of paintings and it's not even Summertime yet.
   A bit of what's been going on, been growing...... on the drawing board lately:

Vegetable Garden

Container Garden

Birdhouse Border 1

Birdhouse Border2

Wild Rose Border

Garden Spots

Flower Garden

  "Gifts of the Season" my new Holiday fabric group for 2011 is shipping now........will post next time, soon...and, would you believe......I'm back to painting SNOW.....and snowmen, for Holiday 2012.
 Enjoy the lovely weather, and if you have a garden....send my regards! Thank you!

   

Springtime

     It really is hard to believe that here it is Springtime.....April Fool's Day, in fact......and I am finally writing my first blogpost of 2011......I am certain I should be embarrassed or horrified, but I've just been busy with the business of painting and the two projects that I've been so busy with are done and dusted so I can peer out for a moment, sniff the greening air and write something...quickly, as I am about to start something new.....painting Gardens and Garden-y Stuff which are perfect to paint right now.
     I've been painting about a million bunnies......which is appropriate considering it is the Year of the Rabbit.....which has nothing to do with it but is fun anyway.

One Rabbit

Two Baby Rabbits

Mommy +1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 Bunnies

 

 

                                                            
                                                              and 26 dogs, here:

Mutt

  
         Also, I am really excited and pleased to say that my second fabric collection, Alphabet Soup, is out and in shops now. I had such a blast working on this group!

Soft Book/Quilting Panel A is for Alligator and.....

Alphabet Soup group, panels, prints, stacked animals!

Alphabet Soup Quilt Project

        And lastly....I am so pleased and delighted to mention that Bartholomew's Gift by Diane Dignan, one of my last picture-books was a Mom's Choice 2011 Gold Medal recipient! Thank You, Mom's Choice!  Lucky book gets to go to the London Book Fair!

Bartholomew's Gift, Mom's Choice Award/Gold

    Now I'm going to order some paint...Blockx Burnt Sienna Light and Deep and Burnt Umber, I LOVE these browns, they use glycerin and honey as binders, and are a joy to work with. Also Imperial Purple, Garnet Genuine and Black Tourmaline from Dan Smith...swoonworthy colors.....and new brushes ( pure heaven! ) and paper!!!! Nothing is as inspirational as new art supplies, I'm so excited.
More  news soon.....W

Winter Wonderland & St. Nicholas, Snow!

 Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Mysterious and Lovely Solstice, Delightful Snow and general best wishes for It's a Wonderful Life, for everyone.

New Cover for "The Baker's Dozen"

       "The Baker's Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale" is back in print --
just in time for Saint Nicholas Day! A paperback 15th Anniversary Edition is available in the U.S. right now at Amazon.com and BN.com, and also for special order from your favorite bookstore. Over the next few weeks, it should become available on other Amazon sites worldwide.
        The new edition has a brand new cover and the lush, vibrant colors ofthe original. You'll also find one very nice addition: a bonus cookie recipe and pattern for Saint Nicholas cookies. The pattern was
contributed by the book's illustrator, yours truly, while the recipe comes from Gene and June Wilson of HOBI Cookie Molds, as modified by Anne L. Watson, the wife of the author, Aaron Shepard, for her new book "Baking with Cookie Molds."
   I am thoroughly delighted that this book is back; alive and well in the world as, of the books that I have had the honor of illustrating, this is one of my favorites.

    Happily, there has been more praise from others for "The Baker's Dozen":

    "The goodwill of legendary Saint Nick resonates in this tale about the origin of the term "baker's dozen".... Shepard's easy-to-follow retelling has an appropriate Old World flavor"- Publisher's Weekly

" A particularly nice holiday story accented by paintings full of detail"....Well-paced and a good length for groups or individuals, this is right on target for audiences. Edelson's artwork is filled with marvelously-alive characters who almost step from the pages"- Ilene Cooper, Booklist

"A lush new version of a traditional tale....A treat for the holiday season"- School Library Journal

" A story with a message to be heard during the holidays and all year long"-Children's Book Review

  American Bookseller Pick of the Lists
  Trumpet Book Club selection

click to see me larger

........and a Winter Woodland painting......

   and

and

   May your Holidays be beautiful and filled with Love and a sense of Wonder, love Wendy

Going to The Dogs....or It's a Dog's Life....or something about Best Friends

 "The dog is man's best friend,
He has a tail on one end.
Up in front he has teeth,
And four legs underneath"
     Ogden Nash  ' An Introduction to Dogs '
   
 Not too terribly long ago, I was a unacquainted with dogs and had only given my heart to a series of Maine Coon cats, including my current Coon, Stella Carabella.
My heart was stolen one day in Elmore State Park in Vermont by a beautiful golden wolf hybrid who had run away from someone, somewhere and adopted me, who I grew to love and named Daisy and who's death put a sad hole in my heart. After Daisy, I adopted Baci, the iconoclastic floppy ear-ed, fluffy, tricolored Corgi, who spends his days in my studio with me and his night curled up on my bed.
I am now an official Dog Person.
 Right now I am taking a break to paint bunnies, lots and lots of bunnies, Virginia Bluebells, ferns and violets and Spring mushrooms and pussy willows but I have been busy busy busy painting dogs.......and will go back to them again soon, then more bunnies, then more dogs, then bunnies

"Bulldogs are adorable, with faces like toads that have been sat on."
- Colette

Henry the Eighth and his Yorkie

Portrait of Gracie, a Chihuahua-Poodle cross

"When a dog wags her tail and barks at the same time, how do you know which end to believe?"
- Anonymous

 Dog - a kind of additional or subsidiary Deity designed to catch the overflow and surplus of the world's worship.

Ambrose Bierce

          If you think you might like a portrait of your dog, I'd be happy to hear from you and talk about what you have in mind! Please see my Pet Portrait blog Love Unleashed for more dogs......and cats.
          Thank you for visiting & I'd love to hear from you, don't be shy!