Last one?

Today I did my last illustration (I think) for Teen Summer Reading. We are doing a "Makerspace Meetup," which is to say, we haul out all our crafty crap (tools, materials, stencils, found objects, etc.), come up with a few concrete suggestions for the kids who don't know where to start, play a few YouTube how-to videos, and turn them loose.

We have no idea how well or poorly this will go, because we've never gone free-form like this before. Usually, we have a specific craft (stenciling T-shirts has been a favorite, and calligraphy, and card-making for various occasions), but we're giving it a shot--encouraging their creativity instead of imposing our own ideas.

So--I picked up some random things that can be used to make stuff and painted a picture of them for the brochure and flyer illustration. It was hard to decide what to include and what to leave out, and I'm hoping no one says "I can't paint or sew or draw, so this isn't for me!" because there are many other things they can do, and many other tools and supplies that will be on hand.

I was fairly pleased with this, but about 2/3 of the way through, I really wished I had done it on good watercolor paper instead of sticking with my sketchbook paper. For one thing, the sketchbook paper was a bit too small, and I redrew this three times to get the top of the glue bottle and the bottom of the scissors and paintbrush into the same drawing (and they barely made it!). Also, it's hard to do multiple glazes on this smooth, thinner paper, and with the shadows I didn't have near as much control as I would have had with 140-lb. rough. But…it's done!

I may need to paint just one more thing, because Anarda reminded me yesterday that I have to design this year's Reading Log, and I need something for the front of that. Some random book covers would be fun. Stay tuned…