IF - Surprise... oops I meant Secret

Ellie was surprised to find such a willing dance partner in Mr. Fluffington.

This topic gave me the push to try this old sketch out in watercolor. It looks better than it did in its digital incarnation but I am still not 100% happy with it.

Edited to add - I just got some time to look through the other IF entries and realized that the topic this week is not "surprise" but "secret." Oops...  Maybe Ellie and her cat are sharing a secret before their performance?

IF - Hurry!

Hurry Little Elephant or Miss Butterfly is going to be late for her party!

IF - Faded

 

When she saw the cupcake tray, her resolve to forgo desert faded into nothing.

Only time for a quick sketch this week, drawn ironically while I waited for my husband to come out of oral surgery.

Illustration Friday - Kernel

This chipmunk might have gotten the nut but he will have to work hard to get at the kernel.

A fun topic for Illustration Friday this week :)

Jumping in puddles

I used to love doing this as a kid :) So many puddles and not a parent in sight :)

Jumping into Mommy's Arms

Mommy's arms are the best and the safest place to be...

There is no new prompt for Illustration Friday today, and I think jumping into mommy's arms fits well with last week's word "Jump" so I am going to submit another entry :)

I appreciate and read each and every comment and would love to hear what you think!

Illustration Friday - Jump

 

Jumping for joy.

I decided to just keep it light and quick today :)

Illustration Friday - Heights

There is nothing like free-falling to experience the true majesty and exhilaration of heights.

I love that I got to relieve a great moment in my life while working on this week's Illustration Friday topic - heights. Unfortunately this was not my most successful effort. I couldn't quite get the feel of height here. In retrospect, maybe I should have made the ground look like a patchwork of squares (thanks to one of my facebook fans for the suggestion!), or place the line of the horizon lower on the page. I also think that I lost something in the final version compared to the original sketch:

The bunny especially has a more carefree, open expression here. I lost it when I tried making the snout (Do bunnies even have snouts? What do they have?) more defined. Oh well. That's how we learn.

Illustration Friday - Puzzled

The bunny was puzzled by acupuncture but trusted her friend the hedgehog and was willing to give it a shot.

Illustration Friday - Vocal

This hippo is very vocal about enjoying his bath.

I usually try to come up with a piece specifically for the IF topic but this week is proving to be too hectic. This is a quick sketch I just did inspired by a children's poem (in Russian) http://elenat.livejournal.com/153955.html. It wasn't intended for IF per se, but seems to fit, I think.

Illustration Friday - Return (2)

We will build a plane and soar
Over woodland, sea and shore,
Over woodland, sea and shore,
And return to Mom once more.


Agnia Barto, translated from Russian by I. Zheleznova

I love that this week's IF topic is so open ended. Agnia Barto is one of my absolute favorite Russian children's poets so it was a great opportunity to illustrate one of her nursery rhymes. I have to admit that growing up with her books, the illustrations  become as ingrained in you as the poems themselves so the composition of this piece was heavily influenced by the Russian illustrator Svetlana Borisova.

Illustration Friday - Return

Special Delivery - Returns are NOT accepted.

I am dedicating this to 3 very special moms:

I - who gave birth to her second little boy 11 weeks ago and inspired the original sketch for this.
K - whose little boy is due to arrive in a little over a month
and last but certainly not least
A - whose little boy is celebrating his first birthday today! Happy Birthday M!

Illustration Friday - Swamp

The Dragonfly fairy made the swamp her home. Every morning she chose a new leaf from the most beautiful plant in the swamp to serve as her wand. Froggy was her trusted companion and had magical powers of his own - he could sing all the baby animals that lived in the swamp to sleep. The momma animals loved the Dragonfly fairy and Froggy and always made special treats for them: Water Lilly nectar for the fairy and mosquito pops for Froggy.

I have to admit that this week's Illustration Friday prompt gave me pause. The first thing that popped into my mind is the Swamp Creature but I just couldn't visualize it in my mind. I wanted to do Swamped in the Swamp with the Swamp thing holding a little swamp baby and with another baby and household items floating around her. The problem was the swamp thing kept coming out looking like me except with a greenish tint which didn't do my complexion any favors. So I decided to call on the help of the Dragon Fairy to come and rescue me and as a thank you painted her portrait. I hope she likes it and I hope you do too.

Illustration Friday - Shades

This penguin escaped the cold, put on his shades, and is enjoying the sun from the shade of his umbrella.

Illustration Friday - Yield

Who will yield first?

Illustration Friday - Intention

This is a sketch I actually did yesterday for a little story my daughter came up with. When I saw the Illustration Friday topic this morning, I was struck with how well the sketch fit and so decided to enter it.

This puppy has full intention of taking flight.

Illustration Friday - Capable

This week's Illustration Friday topic word is "capable":

This little bear is capable of anything she puts her mind to.

I used markers and ink for this illustration and markers are a lot trickier a medium than I anticipated. I imagined something a bit lighter and  more fluid (to borrow last week's word) but I think I will have to break out the water colors for that.

Here is my initial sketch of the bear reaching for the stars:

I changed the angle a little in the final version to make it more visually interesting. I think in the original, the "reaching" action is more pronounced but my sample audience of a 4 year old girl (my daughter) and a 33 year old boy (my husband, who pointed out the flatness of the original sketch and so was a bit biased) preferred the later version.