Heron On A Clear Day

My newest illustration, a heron on the water:
(click image)

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Updating Images On RedBubble Site

Since I now have internet at home (yeah!) I've been going through my RB site and updating some of the images onto their new products. Here are a couple.

You can click on the image to get to the rest of the series:




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Paris Street Sketch

I was watching one of those PBS travel shows on DVD last night and decided to pause so I could sketch some of it.
This is from the Paris, France section: people hanging out at an outdoor café and a street view with Montmartre in the background.

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Arcosanti sketches For Travel Book

This weekend was very productive as far as doing drawings for my 2nd Travel With Me book.
These sketches are for the chapter on Arcosanti, AZ:
 

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Enduro 125cc Dirt Bike

This weekend I felt inspired to re-visit the 2nd "Travel With Me" book I had written about a year ago and continue on the illustrations for it.

This is the little dirt bike I had at the time:
Yamaha 1973 Enduro 125cc

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Teaching Middle School Art

Yesterday I made a few tokens specifically for my middle school kids.

Kids will earn Tokens for their art work and various classroom participation and glue them in their "art book" that we made earlier this year.



At the end of each semester quarter, we'll count them up and give out prizes.

"You're Awesome" is given out occasionally for kids helping out with gathering textbooks, passing out papers, volunteering to read, great participation, etc.

"Book Smart" is earn for each day we work out of a book with reading and discussion involved.

The "Golden Ticket" is a sneaky fellow! This one is going to be fun to give out. :)

Kids catalog their work into an "Art Book" that we did earlier this year.
They glue in a thumbnail picture of their project (which I take with my phone and print out) and write a reflection on the assignment, how they did and what they learned.

When I take it up to grade, I leave a sticky note to the 3 or 4 kids that did particularly well in their reflection. They exchange that sticky note for a "Golden Ticket" to glue in the book and an immediate small prize (stickers).

I teach in a very poor area and love giving out prizes to these kids. 
 
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Baby Elephant

Here's a pleasant surprise: lots of sticker sales this past month out of my RB account for this baby elephant illustration.


This little fellow was done in ink and watercolor as an illustration for my mother's book "L'argent n'a pas d'odeur" (Money Has No Fragrance).

Find him here

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Level Pins and Egyptologist Badges

With school starting soon I've been busy the past 2 weeks with cleaning the classroom and getting lessons in order, and the never ending stream of teacher meetings and training for this past week.
Thank goodness the kids are coming in next Monday!

I'm still slowly adding to my collection of Tokens and Badges for The League of Art Traveler project.

Check out the newest Adventure Token & Badges: Egyptology

And, I've finalized the Basic Level Pins, yeah!
Here's a few of the series:

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Coloring Pencil Badges

I have two new sets of Tokens and Badges finished today, and a couple more in the making:



For more details about these, go to
The League of Art Travelers

 

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Coloring Pencil Badges

For The League of Art Travelers:

Found a few minutes to work on this new Token and the start of the Badge series: for the Color Pencil art skill. This is a picture of my computer screen, with the circle Token and Basic Level 1 in square. (see link above for more info).

Little by little, I'm going to get there...
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Charts and Expedition Pages

Update on The League of Art Travelers project: a couple shots of my computer screen.

In the first one I am working on the stat charts students will fill out as they go through their art expeditions. These pages have been filled out partially as an example.

The first form is to log in progress for various Tokens earned through the expeditions. These will be generously handed out throughout missions. Each 3 Token for a particular skill earns a level for that skill.
The second form logs in missions (3-5) per expedition. Levels are gained through the number of missions completed. I will also rename that one to something less clinical ... maybe "Mission & Levels", as that is what it does.

I'm doing a general run through for the first expedition, with boxes and placements to be filled with illustrations and other elements critical to that particular story later on.
What you see here is the start of Mission #1 of the expedition, with Objectives listed and the adventure part of laying out the scene and introducing characters. 

It's all work in progress really, so anything you see here might change dramatically before it gets to the finished line - and that's part of the fun of creating these adventures!
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Advanced Level Pins for The League of Art Travelers

These are the still work in progress though I think I have the general feel of what I want.
I'll clean up the design and decide on a texture next.

This is the Advanced Level for The League of Art Travelers.
Levels 1, 5, 8 & 10:

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Level Pins for League of Art Travelers

Things have been so busy I have not worked on this project in a while now. The good news is I am back at it.
This is for The League of Art Travelers project.

I did a first run of the Level Pins from 1 to 10 for the Basic or Introductory Level.

The Apprentice pin is given when a student signs up for the first course/training. Once they complete this initial mandatory step, they become a "Traveler" and can progress up the Levels.

These following ones are for Levels 1-10.
Here are Levels 2, 5 & 10:

I'll post examples of the advanced level next.
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Trailer sketch #2

Another trailer sketch, this one being the view into the kitchen corner.
I might add a quick touch of color with watercolor pencils, just to see. If so, I'll repost.

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New Mexico Sketches

Last Sunday I just had to get out of the house, so I grabbed a pen and my little sketchbook, and headed out to the surrounding area for some quick ink sketches.
Here's the result:

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Trailer Sketch

Watching a DVD on my laptop - no TV at the moment.

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Daily Sketch #2

Daily sketch in the trailer - I think I'm going to start calling these "Trailer Sketch".
I was kidding yesterday that I could do 20 sketches easy inside the trailer from all possible angles... with no internet and no TV, got to stay occupied, right?

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Daily Sketch

Daily sketch inside the trailer - my temporary living situation:

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Final Badge Version and Stickers

I've settled on the final versions of Tokens and Badges.
Tokens will get a "metal" or "tin" look.
Badges will have a canvas look.

The League of Art Travelers

 I've also created a few basic items in both RedBubble and Zazzle, mostly because at first I'll want to get stickers and a t-shirt, and to call attention to the site.

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Landscape Token and Badges

The second set of badges is done, this one for creating a Landscape.
This is part of The League of Art Travelers.

I am creating these for all art mediums first, i.e. color pencil, pencil, pastel, paint, craft, 3-D, etc., and landscape and portrait.
See link above for more details.
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League of Travelers Logo and New Name

I am re-naming The League of Travelers to "The League of Art Travelers" to better include the obvious main keyword to the point of the site and program, namely, "Art".

The logo is done! And very cool at that. Here it is, with the lovely Arctic Tern as mascot:

I've got the first set of Badges done too.
"Tokens" are earned throughout Art Expeditions. Levels are earned as these tokens accumulate.

The set below goes as follows:
- round = Token - earned everytime a student completes an assignment requiring paint.
- square = Basic - Levels 1, 2, 3
- shield = Expert - Levels 1, 2, 3

There is a Master category that is not done yet.

I'll post each set as I get them done. I will also start updating the site with a little more information soon. You can sign up for updates on the site if you'e like, which I will start sending out as I get these various elements done.

Do you have middle / high school kids at home? I'll be looking for kids to try this out at no cost in the next few month. Sign up for updates for more info as we get closer to that particular step.
There'll be prizes for the kids ... :)

PS - yep, there is a typo! I'll fix and update.
Updated with corrected image, LOL.
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League of Travelers Badges

Another series of sketches for The League Of Travelers tokens and badges:
I have about 30 minutes maybe twice a week to sketch ... so progress is slow. It's progress nonetheless.

Spring Break is coming up and I can't wait to scan and get colors on these, which I will post here of course.
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View from The Porch

I'm in temporary living situation in a trailer park - a new experience for me.
Here's the view from the back door and steps into the "yard":

 

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Logo and Badges

The League Of Travelers logo is all figured out with the Arctic Tern at its center. I'm very happy with the way it's going to look.
The other drawings are for Level Pins (the winged boot) and a start on tokens and badges for various skills students will earn as they go through the lessons.

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Sketch at Local Diner

A quick sketch at a local diner: Camille's.

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The League of Travelers Logos

I've been working in possible logos for The League Of Travelers project and have found the perfect mascot: the Arctic Tern.

It's a beautiful sea bird and the farthest traveling migratory bird - which is the reason I picked it.
It has an overall white body varying from very light gray to dark gray. It also has a black spot on the top of its head.

Here are the rough ideas for logos level pins:

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