Tiger Sketch

An update, hoorah! As of late, the Holidays have consumed my life. For the past week or ten I have been trying to get my shopping, wrapping, and artwork done. Other than a recently launched Etsy shop (next post!), I have been enjoying my time with family and friends. Today is the first day I've had some down time. As a result, here is a tiger doodle.

As a side-note, I saw Frozen this past week. Months ago I saw some concept sketches involving Sven the Reindeer and Elsa/Anna. I was pretty pumped, but the marketing for the dilm eventually turned me off. After hearing only good things about Frozen, I finally had to opportunity to go, and I'm so glad I did! I LOVED IT! I will be seeking out the art book as soon as possible.

To Where the Wild Things Are

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Maurice Sendak's beloved children's storybook Where the Wild Things Are. I've loved this book for a long time, and perhaps my love for it has only grown over the years. The monsters in "Where the Wild Things Are" serve as an embodiment of the imagination. For me, it's a visual reminder to the magical worlds I created in my own home while growing up. I made my own dinosaur costumes out of printer paper and crayons, exploring the vast wilderness of my hastily constructed blanket forts from the comfort of my own living room. He was a boy in a wolf suit, King of the Wild Things. I was a girl in a paper T-Rex suit, Queen of the Three House Cats and a Lab/Rottweiler Mix. (Coming to a child's bookshelf near you, Spring 2015)

This book has been analyzed in many different ways, and it's no secret that Sendak had dark overtones in many of his books. On a simpler level, Max is just a wild little boy with a vivid imagination. Perhaps he'll grow up to write his own books. Maybe he'll be an inventor or a storyboard artist. (Or some sort of terrifying masochist, but hey, who's to say?!) Imagination is a powerful thing, and I think Sendak himself sums it up quite nicely:

“Children do live in fantasy and reality; they move back and forth very easily in a way we no longer remember how to do.” ― Maurice Sendak

Monsters!

Shhhh... don't tell. I love monsters. Here are some monsters from my brain.

Cat & Dog Sketches

Wolf Park | a study of anatomy

Wolves, and canines in general, are one of my favorite animals. This is a pretty bold statement seeing as I am a complete and absolute lover of any animal, big or small. Back in 2011 my boyfriend and I visited Wolf Park, which is a "not-for-profit organization dedicated to behavioral research, education and conservation, with the objective of improving the public’s understanding of wolves and the value they provide to our environment." Additionally, Wolf Park offers photography seminars under the guidance of one of my most favored wildlife photographers, Monty Sloan. Alongside Monty and a handful of other photography/wildlife enthusiasts, we spent several hours inside an enclosure with three of Wolf Park's resident wolves. This was one of the best experiences of my life to date. Our visit afforded me not only the opportunity to meet and interact with wolves *insert high-pitched noise of complete and utter joy here*, it gave me once in a lifetime photo opportunities, as well as an entire library of photo references for anatomical study. Above I've provided a sketch of Ruedi, one of Wolf Park's at-the-time Ambassador Wolves. Below is a photograph I took of him during my visit.