tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30982063976225290282011-07-07T23:50:33.260-04:00A Little Bit of Everything ArtLedahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.comBlogger241100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-4591438662177840762010-03-07T13:03:00.000-05:002010-03-07T13:03:20.323-05:00

This past week we said good bye to a really great man, my Uncle Vin. He was always willing and able to help you out, but never asked anything of us in return. An accomplished mechanic, a brilliant man, he will be sorely missed. Sleep well, Uncle Vin!

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-60911758582686989812010-02-26T10:37:00.001-05:002010-02-28T16:09:57.554-05:00

We just bottled our first batch of honey mead using 6 quarts of orange blossom honey. We split the batch and flavored one blueberry, and one Apricot. This is the early stage of the apricot label using Painter 11. I think I'm calling it Seraphic, as in angelic. I used Makana as the angel from a photo I took of her swinging standing up on our swing set last year. I like it. I figure that if I'm not

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-31286079208234836112010-02-21T20:49:00.000-05:002010-02-21T20:49:24.272-05:00

Soon I will be posting a new website! It is devoted entirely to miniature art and portraiture. Not only will it be a place to see all my miniature paintings, but it will be a place to learn about the history and techniques of painting "in the Little", as well as links to other miniature artists. I will take you step by step as I paint a portrait, with possible video snippets. The site is almost

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-55115944521611585082010-01-25T09:46:00.002-05:002010-01-25T09:49:01.036-05:00

What an amazing exhibit! I have never attended an art show that hung so many excellent works. There wasn't a bad painting in the bunch... 829 of them! They weren't exaggerating when they told me that the collectors line up outside waiting to get in and buy. 20% of the art was sold in the first few hours, my Red Fox and Fern was one of them. And there was an interested buyer for the Fox Den that

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-67916135235811440702010-01-07T07:36:00.002-05:002010-01-27T00:09:06.675-05:00

It's off to Tarpon Springs I go. I learned from a few members of the Miniature Art Society of Florida that the Collectors' Preview of the annual exhibit is a "feeding frenzy" of art buyers! Can't wait to see for myself... with camcorder in hand. They exhibit over 900 paintings in this one venue and sell roughly 40% of the work, mostly during the preview. Pretty amazing. If this pans out, I intend

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-71780751048675484072009-12-16T22:59:00.000-05:002009-12-16T22:59:24.464-05:00

I love this program! Painter 11 is so powerful. I have only scratched the surface of what it can do, but I'm having so much fun doing it. I'm playing with pencil sketching. I love to work in graphite anyway, so doing it digital is great. i like being able to move elements around if the composition isn't working out.

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-17300895636409768082009-12-01T10:54:00.003-05:002010-01-27T00:10:09.963-05:00

November was a terribly busy month. Aside from the usual holiday hubbub, our family had dealings with the swine flu. But on a better note, I won an illustration contest and won an award in a national art exhibit! Also, my husband and I started a new hobby... wine making! The contest was to develop three Gypsy Cob horses into an Anime format using colors requested by the sponsor. And it looks

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-33925897627439117962009-11-19T13:46:00.000-05:002009-11-19T13:46:09.062-05:00

I have to say that the conference was wonderful. Bruce Colville, a terrific author, gave a wonderful presentation. I got to spend a lot of time with Kelley Cunningham, art director of High Five magazine. She was very frank and quite helpful in her critique of my portfolio, yet very easy to talk to. She seemed surprised that I had done my illustrations entirely in Painter 11. That 's a good thing!

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-75013580201914668382009-10-30T20:51:00.000-04:002009-10-30T20:51:10.567-04:00

In one week, I will be attending the Western PA Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Fall Conference. I really look forward to it... it is a great place to network with other writers and artists, meet editors, art directors and published authors, and get your work critiqued by the best. For the last two years I have won the Illustrator's contest. My winning design from 2007 can be

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-36965687308142020872009-10-27T18:49:00.000-04:002009-10-27T18:49:03.724-04:00

It's a wonderful feeling to develop a character... after months of writing the story, to finally know what she really looks like! I've had images in my head as to how she wears her hair, but until I actually drew her, I didn't know what her little pixy face looked like. I haven't put all the line detail in this yet, and this is only a portion of the first page of the book, "Lyddi and the List."

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-9169842500858280322009-10-24T16:37:00.000-04:002009-10-24T16:37:57.742-04:00

Lyddi and the List is my latest picture book story. I'm illustrating it in Painter 11. This was meant to be a promo postcard, but I rethought it. While I love the aerial view and the worried look on the squirrel's face, it really doesn't give you a good sense of who Lyddi is. I need to turn her around so you can see her face. (Lyddi is actually based on ME, as a little girl, who could not

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-43814337213232676232009-10-16T15:28:00.000-04:002009-10-16T15:28:37.030-04:00

This is a page from the book I've written, "Kana and the Missing Koi". I'm afraid I've neglected this blog in order to devote my time to getting as many illustrations for this story done as possible. My intent is to include these in my portfolio at the upcoming WPa SCBWI conference this November. It was done entirely in Painter 11. What a great tool for illustrators!

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-9275672439869304302009-09-27T00:01:00.001-04:002009-09-27T00:03:01.463-04:00

I've done a few more poses of Kana, my little Hawaiian girl for my story. These are just line drawings. Doing quick sketches is forcing me to learn to cartoonize people without fear of messing up. If it turns out, I will use it... if not, I'll move onto the next one, or work on improving it. So far I really like her!

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-13477754518298495962009-09-20T22:18:00.002-04:002009-09-27T00:03:39.514-04:00

I've been challenged by my illustrator friends... a drawing a day of a new little character! I am playing with software called Corel Painter 11. And loving it! Here are the first two drawings. This should help tremendously to develop my almost non-existent  cartooning skills, which are very necessary for illustrating my children's stories.

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-62586312000570268222009-09-14T12:04:00.003-04:002009-09-14T12:17:35.774-04:00

My husband and I just spent a much needed, wonderful weekend at St. Emma's Retreat House in Greensburg. All the beautiful sisters that run the place went online to view the painting Ora et Labora. I got all positive reactions and they are anxious to know if it wins any awards in the South Hills Annual Exhibit coming up September 20. At the retreat, we had the privilege of listening to a young

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-22533926557610510592009-08-31T14:04:00.003-04:002009-08-31T14:11:56.230-04:00

The title of the painting, Ora et Labora, is Latin for Pray and work.From left to right, I'll list the symbols as they pertain to the individual:Nun #1 - The Crane: Loyalty, Monastic life. Ivy wreath: hospitality. Lamp: Wisdom.Nun #2 - Columbine flower: Holy Spirit. Snow: Purity, innocence. Heart: love and charity.Nun #3 - Scallop shell: Pilgrim. Bee: hard work. Potter's wheel: being formed by

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-86470761031127223092009-08-26T22:15:00.003-04:002009-08-26T22:25:04.669-04:00

I've really come along farther than I expected so soon. But I'm racing against the clock to get this done for an exhibit.The right nun's habit is now covered in Christian symbols that I feel represent her: butterfly, sunflowers and ferns. Each is painted with a transparent red wash, and outlined in gold metalic. The color is symbolic of love and joy.Two faces to go, more symbols and the

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-34364525563088812432009-08-25T23:01:00.003-04:002009-08-25T23:07:44.689-04:00

I've re-evaluated the composition on this and came up with some good changes: I took out one of the nuns, furthest back in the picture plane; I changed the lay of the land just a little; and added just the veil of an additional nun off to the right. There was too much space on the right that was unused.Yesterday I painted the face of nun#1, on the right. Today, #2. Sorry I don't have an image to

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-90941508812076644882009-08-12T23:40:00.003-04:002009-08-12T23:54:21.267-04:00

"Fission of Form" is a collaborative exhibit being held at Panza Gallery, Millvale PA. 20 members of the Pittsburgh Society of Sculptors created 3D works; 20 members of the Pittsburgh Poets each took home a sculpture for 2 months and allowed it to inspire them. Then 20 members of the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators (I'm one of them) were each assigned a poem, without seeing the sculpture on

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-50650506113703348822009-08-12T10:09:00.003-04:002009-08-12T10:34:30.735-04:00

Every year there is a couple's retreat at St. Emma's Benedictine Monastery. The good sisters who run the place are beautiful and caring and make an interesting subject to paint.This is a fairly large canvas, 3'x4'. I toned the canvas with a dilute mixture of Viridian green and Transparent red oxide, which creates a range of raw umber colors.Next I started with the far right face. I always block

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-53727468488874948202009-08-09T21:13:00.005-04:002009-08-11T23:02:45.923-04:00

Painting fur can be daunting if you don't know what order to put down the colors. I started out blocking in the fox shape with a transparent red oxide. Using a tiny grass rake brush, the various shades of earthy reds were worked, layer upon layer. The highlights were last. Talk about tiny! The pups' heads are only about 5/16th of an inch. After it dries, I will coat the painting with Galkyd

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-71264820617937809702009-08-06T11:06:00.012-04:002009-08-06T20:21:48.961-04:00

I wrote a children's story and decided I wanted to illustrate it myself. The first "vision" I had of these illustrations was oils done in the tradition of my fine art. This is my first: * * * * * * *I really liked the ominious presence of the crow, but after coming upon a book about Arthur Rackham, I fell in love with idea of the sepia tones in watercolor, with ink. I felt it fit the time

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-51417756486466501642009-08-04T14:40:00.006-04:002009-08-04T15:08:56.453-04:00

The first thing I do is apply a thin dark neutral over the entire piece. Then block in the trees and deeper parts of the woods with black- greens and black- browns. The normal rule of thumb for perspective is the farther back in the landscape, the lighter you paint, but this is a setting with the dark woods reaching beyond.          Starting at the top, I work in very dark leafy shapes, leaving

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098206397622529028.post-73622444656360102672009-08-03T19:47:00.008-04:002009-08-03T20:49:50.329-04:00

                                               Let me quote the Miniature Art Society of Florida: "Miniature art is fine art. Miniature art is most often extremely detailed work, exquisite in color with a strength of composition which can more than compete with larger paintings. A compositional guide requires a gentle, no more than 1/6th scale of the actual subject. A miniature usually takes as

Ledahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13687250608292959317noreply@blogger.com0