I always enjoy seeing how illustrators create, especially their preliminary sketches; so I decided to share some of mine. This is a VERY rough dummy for a story that is consigned to limbo until I find a way to make the words sing.This one needs a complete rewrite.  It's a learning curve, that's for sure!

After a lifetime of avoiding likenesses, I suddenly became obsessed with the desire to paint portraits in oil. These are my best student works and I have several ugly paintings awaiting a fresh coat of gesso:-) That's one thing I like about oil; it is forgiving and easy to paint over mistakes. I had help from a great teacher, Stefan Galvanek. If you are in Toronto and want to learn to paint, check out stefangalvanek.com. He teaches at George Brown College and a few downtown studios, and is very patient and supportive. I am still finding my way with paint and need a lot more practice. It is difficult to relinquish control after years of working with a very tight, somewhat predictable technique. I used to be quite loose and experimental in my approach and want to learn to play again. How did I ever become such a control freak? It's supposed to be fun, right?

Now that I have my first wacom tablet, I am excited about painting digitally too. There is a huge learning curve with Corel Painter 12 but will post new works when they are ready for prime time. So many fun things to do; sometimes I wish I could go without sleep!