Beginning to dream...

For years I've put my dream of illustrating on the back burner. Now I'd like to at least take some baby steps and begin DOING SOMETHING, even if it's something small!

I'm taking some good advice from Alicia Padron, a talented illustrator of children's books. Alicia suggested that I read good books, visit illustrator's websites and take classes if possible. The books she considers a must read for prospective artists are Illustrating Children's Books: Creating Pictures for Publication by Martin Salisbury and Writing With Pictures by Uri Shulevitz

Alicia mentioned that many illustrators post process videos on their websites to show you how to create art. She has a great video on watercolor painting that taught me a lot already! Just click on the link to watch it.

Another friend suggested sharing artwork via snail mail. I thought this was an amazing idea! We're resurrecting the old-time tradition of using the U.S. Mail! The idea is to mail small drawings or paintings to each other, thereby inspiring us to create art on an ongoing basis. I now have a reason for creating something. It's sort of like a deadline, but a very flexible one. If I didn't have this kind of incentive it would be easy to put off actually creating indefinitely.

This blog is also an incentive to create drawings/paintings. I hope to eventually display some of my art here just for fun. So, here's to beginning!