For the blog this month, I thought I might highlight some of my latest paintings that are now present on the website. I’ve entitled this post “The Latest and Greatest,” but I’m not sure about the greatest bit. While I love the paintings I’ve done lately, I don’t have a real gauge about how they…
I thought it might be interesting to share with you the process I use to create a painting. I will be using my latest completed image, the front quarter panel of a 1961 Cadillac for an example of how I approach my work. My husband is a vintage car lover, and I have become one…
New Year’s greetings from Rural Girl Graphics! We at the Upstairs Studio wish you and yours a very happy and healthy year to come. If this past year taught us anything, it is to cherish your loved ones and spend your time in productive and rewarding activity. The lockdowns of 2020 have forced us to…
Christmas greetings from the ruralgirlgraphics.com blog! Just a note here to extend my warmest greetings for the holiday season 2020. I’m sure you will all agree, this year has been a challenging one. I know I’m not alone in saying that I am a different person than I was last Christmas. So much of what…
Wedding Day, Pencil, 10 x 8″ Where it all Begins I was intrigued by the question, “What is your favorite painting material?” I have definite preferences, that’s for sure. I am “by trade” a watercolorist. Most of the work I do is in watercolor. I love the wonderful liquid properties of watercolor – how the…
For other posts in this series: part 1 | part two | part three | part four … My experience illustrating children’s books has been a joyful one, though there have been times when it’s tested my mettle. This job is very time and labor-intensive, and you must check your artistic ego at the door….
For other posts in this series: part 1 | part two | part three … After you have completed each page in whatever medium you use (I use pen and ink and watercolor), it’s time to send them off to the art director. The art director will compile your scans of the illustrated pages and…
For part one of this series, click here; for part two, click here … Now comes the magical time when you actually start producing final art for the book. It is a heady time! Some of the euphoria is tempered by all the seemingly nit-picky “rules” illustrators need to follow. As you can imagine, printing…
For part one of this series, click here … Let’s jump ahead and assume you’ve received a positive response from one of your many queries. Now it’s time to begin the actual work of illustrating a story. In my case, I was presented with several manuscripts written by different authors and was allowed to choose…
Welcome to the premiere edition of the new Rural Girl Graphics blog! This is a new feature in association with my new and improved website, ruralgirlgraphics.com. For this first series of the blog, I thought I’d write about my experience as a children’s book illustrator. First I’d like to say that illustrating kids’ books had…
