Revisited, Revised

When is a drawing completed? Here are some recent examples of revised pieces where I saved scans of the earlier states. All: mixed media on sketchbook paper.
Time to move on!

state 1: colored pencil and wash

final: graphite added to get more contrast

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first state: interesting concept and details but not unified in any way.

The final: just add more stuff!

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state 1: collage, ink, litho crayon

state 2: red added to pink bird, wash added to backgroiund

state 3: an attempt to warm up and mute the red coloring

Final: local color added, more collage, fish.

The Dandelion's Tale

The first major crop of dandelions blankets the fields and byways of my neighborhood. They remind me of a picture book I illustrated a few years ago.

"The Dandelion's Tale" written by Kevin Sheehan and published by Schwartz & Wade (March 2014) is a story about the unique friendship between a fuzzy old dandelion and a youthful sparrow. The dandelion knows that she has a short time to live and she wants to share her memories with her offspring. The sparrow learns these stories by heart and vows to pass them on.

Below are a few watercolor illustrations from the book.

Friendship is timeless.

…the sparrow heard the dandelion crying in the meadow

The dandelion couldn't survive the terrible storm of the previous night.

Later, the sparrow found a happy group of ten new dandelions in the meadow.