creature for the day december 18, 2010The prompt for this week’s Illustration Friday was mail. In keeping with my creature of the day daily doodle, I made an angry mailbox.

This time of year seems to make our mailbox into a beast. So many catalogs and fliers and what-not seem to fill it everyday. Some days it is so stuffed, it is difficult to get things out without something tearing. It as if the mouth of the mailbox has sharp, pointy teeth. I even have the scratches on my hand to prove it.

This creature also marks the last page in this sketch pad. I have a brand new daily doodle book waiting for me already. I got one with a soft cover this time, and it looks as if it should fold open flat so the shadowing I’ve been dealing with because of the spiral binding on the old one when scanning will no longer be an issue. It would be nice if I could start the new book on the first of the year, but I don’t think I want to take the next 2 weeks off from my creatures. They are fun.

It’s Saturday, so I should be taking the day off, but I have deadlines that need to be met and places to be later, so as soon as this post is updated, I am pulling out a sketch pad (not the doodle one) and working on character studies for my picture book. The main character’s looks and visual personality are eluding me with this story. But on of my crit partners just said to scribble until something happens and the girl shows up. I also want to work on some new portfolio pieces and some patterns for licensing. Yeah, a slow day. Go ahead. Laugh at me, I’m laughing at myself.

Later on we are heading in to see the new daughter-in-law graduate from college. Afterward we will have dinner at Pi (a gluten-free pizza place!) with her and her parents who are in town for the graduation. We didn’t get a chance to spend time with them while they were in town for the wedding this summer and they told K they’d like to get to know us better. Should be fun.

We went to my grand daughter’s piano recital last night. She is very sweet and really enjoys the musical instrument. She’ll play when ever she can. Sadly, some of the other students didn’t seem to have the same ideal. The stops and starts through out the performances were painful to observe. It was nice to spend an uninterrupted hour and a half sitting next to my hubby and the grandson and daughter.

Mudding and taping on the drywall began yesterday. The floor guy will come in when that is done. It looks like I get to paint primer on all the drywall next weekend after the mud is dry and sanded and before the floor guy comes. Then over the New Year’s weekend I can put the color on the walls. Since it will be a three day weekend, I am considering getting some stencils and jazzing up the walls in the dining room with something fancy. We’ll see how ambitious I am feeling after the floor guy does his bit. Also, how far along I am on the final pencils for my newest picture book.

The full size pencil stage always takes the longest to finish, the little changes and back and forth for approval can eat up days. I got approval on the final image thumbnail for the cover. I can’t wait till I get to lay in color. That is always the most fun part for me.

My husband has proclaimed eating out has gotten old. I am attempting to make meatballs for spaghetti in the crock pot! So far it smells good. I plan to “boil” the noodles in the microwave. Wish me luck. I have a feeling I am going to really need it to pull off a home-cooked meal without a stove! LOL