Sunshine

The weather is clear and COLD, more like Vermont but the beautiful sunshine is a blessing after what seems like an eternity of grey skies and low slate clouds.
There are pots of primroses and crocus in front of the store and plump, red buds and the sun is sticking around longer....ahh Spring, I await you with a joyful heart!
These pictures are bits of spreads from the a l m o s t nearing completion "Saturn For My Birthday" picture book that is taking longer than it should but I am pretty happy with the way it's coming along.
Back to work now....

Saints, Angels, Ascended Beings, FINISHED!

The Irish Goddess Aine, Merlin and St Teresa above, a mere drop in the bucket of my new Celestial Friends.
Wow........finally after a final slog of working for 32 hours straight.......I am finished with my 100 Saints, Angels, Ascended Masters and Avatars.....I had no idea at the onset that my life would be so overly consumed with these beings..... the final batch was pushed out of the nest to the Publisher today and so tomorrow I am happily back to the realm of picture books where one illustration has to do with the following one.
This has definitely been an adventure into the nether regions of the Art Warrior, that driven and passionate secluded land that holds little room for other people and other diversions, that place of tunnel vision where what is paramount is the brush and the tube of paint directly in front of ones' myopic gaze, the illustration in front of ones' face and then the next and the next......one bribes oneself to work a few hours longer with movies, "I'll work for one more movie" then sleep at 3 am or so. Then coffee and a walk for Baci the Corgi and me by the water and then back to the studio......3 months w/o a day off and now they are finished!
Oh and Yes! The duck couple has returned to the wet marshy pond across the road....an early teasing hint of the Springtime to come. I tear up bread before Sig. Bacio and I go out for a walk and we take it out with us and I toss the bread across the still shivery cold dark water and Mr & Mrs Duck come paddling up and happily eat it up. I wonder if it's this same couple that come back year after year or are these the happy offspring? I must find someone who is fluent in Duck and find out. I understand that soon it will be "Make Way For Ducklings" and there will be baby ducks to feed as well. Sig Bacio is well behaved and doesn't bark at all, is simply very curious about these swimmy, feathered creatures.
Tomorrow morning I will tidy up the studio and perhaps buy some daffodils.......then back to work.