After being confined to bed for a bit in December, the excitement of the holidays, returning from visiting my son in Arizona for Christmas, even more excitement awaited me upon my return to blog land!

I am delighted to be the featured artist at the Manhattan Arts International – “Celebrate Herstory” for the month of January.

http://manhattanartsherstory.blogspot.com

What a wonderful New Year’s Gift and not to mentioned birthday gift as well, this youngster (me) celebrated my 51st birthday on January 1, 2010!

This year promises bigger, better, wonderful, joy and amazing friendships!

I wish this for all and always in peace!

Manhattan Arts International HerStory Online Exhibition

The purpose of “Celebrate HerStory” is to offer winning artists international exposure for art created related to the chosen theme. This online exhibition features more than 40 extraordinary artists from around the world in a range of media. 

I love Bears, they are my favorite wild animal, especially polar bears. Global warming has put these magnificent wild creatures in danger. So my Illustration Friday piece this week based on the word, “Time” is a tribute to these creatures. Human beings are stewards of the earth, please, let’s try to act like it.

For more information on endangered species like polar bears, visit:

http://www.panda.org/index.cfm

Peace to you and be good to the Earth, it has been very good to us.

When I’m creating, I’m usually in the “zone” as my family calls it! So, in the zone, intense vivid colors catch my attention. So there are very few pale colors in my portfolio at any time. This piece was used for my banner on my first blog.

This piece created some time ago, is my ode to pale pastel colors.

I like creating in black and white first (either graphite or pen) and then color is built upon that. Many times, I will leave parts of the image in black and white, generally it’s the face and I add color to the background or the clothing. It’s a style preference for me, but it is also, my experience of how many people view others, in terms of black and white, yet we can see the landscapes surrounding people in brilliant colors! So my motto and artistic statement, is “Illuminating the black and white of life in vivid color”

Anyhow, this is a pale, playful piece for me, Pale to me is pastel colors and polar bears. But, I like living my life in full vivid colors! Peace