I am thrilled to let everyone know that "Jake, the Puppy and Emma, the Cat" - the children's book written by Krista Ralston Oakes - is available for order on Amazon.com and on it's way to bookstores around the country.

Obviously I'm biased about this book because I was fortunate enough to paint the pictures for it. But setting that aside for a moment, it's really a great story and it's worth taking a look at. Krista is my cousin and I remember hearing the poem that makes up the text of the book at a family function years ago-long before it was in the process of being published and definitely before I had any inkling that I would someday be illustrating it. Even then I, and everyone else who heard it, was touched by it. I'm so glad it's available now for everyone to read.

Congratulations to Krista's family, and everyone at Higher Ground Press, LLC. Thanks for letting me be a part of this.

Click here if you'd like to be redirected to Amazon.com to purchase the book.

I know it's been a while. If you're still checking my blog, I really appreciate it. 

I wanted to share a little project I've been working on for a few days. I'm always fascinated to see other artists' processes, so I thought I'd show how I usually approach this type of a piece.

If you've had a chance to meet my little daughter you know she's adorable. In her three years of life, I've never done a portrait of her so I recently decided it was time

I started be doing a pretty detailed drawing of her using my favorite Tuscan Red Col-erase Prismacolor pencil.

I scanned the image in and started playing with some different backgrounds. I like to use a lot of texture and pattern which I usually get from scanning scrapbook papers and layering those with other antique textures that I have found or have created.

After getting a good idea of what I want in the background, I start laying in a very flat layer of color. This gives me a good base to start working with.

Next I lay in the darks. Each of these steps is a different layer (in Corel Painter) which I can delete later if I don't need it, or combine with other layers later in the process.

Next I start adding highlights. Throughout the rest of the process I'll jump between shadows and highlights and in doing so, my mid-tones will develop on their own.

I also toned down the background a little bit so that it doesn't compete too much. I want my darkest darks and my lightest lights to be on the portrait so that the focus remains there.

You'll notice I haven't done much in the hair. This is a habit that I have--I tend to spend a lot of time on the face and other areas that are more interesting to me and neglect the hair and clothing. So my next step will be to get her hair to the same stage her face is and then start finishing everything up.

That's all I've got so far. There are still a few more steps before this is a done deal, so check back and hopefully I'll have something up in the next day or so.