It's a big day for astronomy in the US! For the last few years, this solar eclipse has been on my radar (that's pretty punny...!). The path of totality is running right through northern Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, crossing through a lot of places where I've lived or visited. So it feels kind of personal! We decided not to seek out the path of totality. Even in northeastern Massachusetts, where I am, it'll be impressive if not total. Continuing in my haphazard "random holidays" paper doll series, I made a solar eclipse paper doll. If you click on the image, it will enlarge to full ..read more

I am so incredibly lucky to do what I do. It is a labor of love every single day. Not just the drawing and painting part. I mean, that's excellent. But my favorite part, really, is bringing other artist's work out into the world. Sometimes that's some light editing with cover designs. Sometimes it's a bit more involved, like completing work for an artist who has passed. It's always something I do with reverence and respect. Today I want to highlight a few of the books I worked on with Jenny at Paperdoll Review.  The Nutcracker Ballet by Deanna Williams This is a lovely book, beautifully ..read more

Sometimes I struggle with art block. It's easy to make other people's art look amazing. I get really excited about that! But sometimes I find myself blocked. Maybe I can't come up with an idea. Or I have an idea that I don't think I can pull off. Or I have part of an idea. Or, what happened a lot this year - I have an idea and can't find the time to pull it off! I lost part of January 2023 in the construction of my studio and I lost a good chunk of October through December. Realistically, I was most active between February and September. I had a hand in three books this year: Everything Eighti ..read more

It's hard to believe it's 2024! Holidays with teens & tweens are a bit different than when the boys were little. Fun, but different. I had a very busy 2023 both personally and artistically. My new studio was completed in January and that was HUGE! I have a dedicated space just for me. I also fully transitioned from my Surface Pro 7 to an iPad Pro/Procreate and a shiny new desktop computer. It's exactly what I needed to improve my art. One of my goals for 2023 was to draw more, especially on paper and from life. There's a local art group that gets together twice a month for clothed model &a ..read more

 I had every intention of posting this on Christmas but clearly that didn't happy. December is always a really busy month for me, but it was REALLY hectic this year! Regardless, I wanted to share this with all of you. (Click on the image and right-click to save it full sized) Whatever you celebrate, I hope it's been terrific! Happy holidays, happy New Year, and most of all Happy Paperdolling!! See you all next year ..read more

Recently, Paperdoll Review published its Spooky issue (you can order a copy here) and I knew exactly what I wanted to tackle - Morticia Addams! Is there any ghoul more glamorous than Tish?! I think not!!   I've always been mildly obsessed with the Addams Family. As a kid, I watched reruns of the old TV show after school.  Then in 1991, there was The Addams Family movie. To say I love this movie is an understatement. I have seen it over a hundred times. At one point, I had ALL of the dialog memorized. I had magazines devoted to the making of the film, complete with costume close-ups ..read more

I'm working on a commission right now in Procreate and I needed a pinstriped pattern. I looked through the oodles of brushes I have (seriously, it's a problem) but nothing was really working. There was one that was close but not quite. So I made my own and you can download it!  Custom brushes are new to me so it isn't perfect! But it did what I wanted it to do, so I'm sharing it with anyone who wants to give it a shot. It create a nice, pinstriped pattern that followed the path of my brush instead of being a pattern that covers the whole area. I wanted it to flow along the fabric. And I w ..read more

 I don't really mean to go months in between posts! There are a few reasons. First, posting here requires time & effort that I just haven't had lately. Summer is always a challenge for me. The kids are home (which I love) but that takes a lot of time. It's amazing how many meals a tween boy and a teen boy can eat in a summer day!! I have always been very aware of the fact that my time with my kids is short, so I prioritize it. We go to museums, swimming at the lake, visiting friends & family, and we almost always take a vacation at the end of August. This year, we went to Paris. I ..read more

 Last week I started a study of Fanny Gray, one of the earliest American paper dolls. I started with a pencil sketch, scanned it, and continued in Procreate from there. The video above shows the 5 or so hours it took to line and color Fanny Gray in Procreate sped up to a 30 second video! One of the things I love about Procreate is that it automatically does this. I know how long I spend on a project and that's pretty great. Here's the breakdown in photos. The very first thing I did was distortion and proportion correction in Photoshop. There were a few stylistic changes that I made at ..read more

 Surprise! I had a few minutes today to create a paper doll set for The Big Game...you know, the one with the copyrighted name?!  I'm not a big football fan but we'll be watching the game. My husband LOVES football so it'll be fun. Maybe I'll take a minute to cut these out, too. If you'd like different dolls, pick any of the fashion model series and it'll fit. Have fun ..read more