Before Satellite!

Growing up, my brothers and I eagerly awaited Sunday nights when

"The Wonderful World of Disney" came on. Television was a time when we all gathered together as a family to watch some of our once-a-year events. I have great (or should I say vivid!) memories of hiding behind dad's big blue chair during the "child catcher" scene in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", and the entire sequence of the flying monkeys in, "The Wizard of Oz."

Ahhhh..the memories. : )

Very, very belated Thank You's!

Ahem...I am SO delayed in thanking my friend Ces, for bestowing upon me such a wonderful honor as the "Deborah" award...and I'm hoping she knows how much it means to me. Ces, from the bottom of my heart, thank you..you are such a wonderful friend who continually inspires me with your words and art. You rock, sister! This award was created in honor of her sisterfriend, Deborah, who is an amazing woman! Please read here for the significance of the award, and visit Ces's and Deborah's blogs if you haven't had a chance to visit them yet. Thank you, Ces!

And, it I just had to share my heartfelt gratitude to Ces, for this beautiful illustration. I whooped, and cheered, and just sat in a daze after receiving this piece. Lovely doesn't even begin to describe it. Thank you, Ces!

About a month or so ago, my dear friend Lakhsmita Indira (Mita), sent me a package that had many wonderful treats for myself and my two little faeries...Mita, you are the sweetest witch I know. Thank you SO very much for your thoughfulness and amazing items showing your wonderful illustrations. You are so very talented, Mita! Hugs to you from the three of us!

A few days ago, I was rounding through the ripple blog and came upon an image that really touched my heart...and I thank Cathy Delanssay for this truly remarkable print. Please visit her here.

And last but not least, dear Yoon See, had sent me a sweet package of her wonderful illustrations and pom pom creations for my little girls. Wow! Thank you again, Yoon See!

I must say, I've had an amazing time here on the blogs with all of you. I have been able to try new things, work harder, be braver, be less serious about my work, and I definitely have made some great friendships though we have never met in person. Being able to connect in this way has been a truly rich and rewarding experience for me. There are so many gems out there, and it is truly comforting. Thanks everyone, and thanks as always for your kind visits..they mean so much to me! : )

A Giveaway - from my Etsy shop (smileshop.etsy.com)

Hi everyone - did you know that I have an Etsy shop? I've had it before I started blogging, and it offers more of my graphic and lettering art (though I have added a few of my watercolors). I have neglected the shop a bit but recently Brandy, at www.brandyatyoudontknow.com, kindly asked if I'd like to participate in an opportunity over at her blog and so please check out my little giveaway here. The giveaway ends on 7/2 at 11:59pm (CDT) (Oklahoma, USA) and is open worldwide. Brandy will mail the handlettered love tree print to the winner. Please check out all of the other fun giveaways she has going on..she is one busy, busy lady! Thanks, Brandy for such a lovely write-up and review, and THANKS to all of my bloggin' buddies, and to those who may be new...it's great you've stopped by!

~ Call for Entries - just wanted to pass this on! ~

Also...FYI, if you haven't visited Julie Fortenberry's wonderful blog, please check it out: http://picturebookillustration.blogspot.com/. She recently posted this: call for entries from the Society of Illustrators for "The Original Art: Celebrating the Fine Art of Children's Book Illustration" 30th Annual Exhibition. The entries are due by July 30, 2010 and the eligibility is here. Good luck to everyone who has a published Children's book! : )

A big lemon...

...but I am making lemonade!

Last Friday, unexpectedly, my computer of 4 years died. Apple could not recover the data and so it has been a big week of re-building, figuring out what has been lost (I had archived most of my work up until about 3 weeks ago, and unfortunately did not back up my new website! Argh!), and re-loading and updating apps. Thankfully, though, I had been working on my website and so all of the flattened files were still with my ISP, and so I have since been able to recover the files and at least have them as templates to work from.

It makes me wonder what has been lost forever,

and it has been a process this week trying to make peace with it.

Funny how very attached we can become to technology, files, email, and data.

The good news is that since there was no recovery possible,

I decided it was time to upgrade, and so I have a wonderful new MacBook Pro.

I am truly enjoying all that this new machine has to offer,

and best of all, it is FAST! : )

It was a really hard lesson, but the silver lining is that I "cleaned house" and am back at square one to create again. If you all have backup capability, I highly recommend backing up all of your precious files.

Off to make some lemonade now. : )

Ripple:: Two contributions to the cause

"Fly"

~The Brown Pelican, Louisiana's State Bird ~

"The Dolphins Flee"

In the news today, I read that the sea creatures are now fleeing the Gulf oil spill area. It broke my heart many days ago to read of a death of a dolphin in the area..they weren't sure if it was the oil that caused the death, but to know that this disaster will forever change the area is real. I am contributing these two 2.5 x 3.5 watercolor illustrations to Kelly Light's Ripple effort..if you are not familiar with it, please do visit here.

As of today, the donations to the two non-profits, The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, and the International Bird Rescue Research Center, has exceeded $3,000.

Thank you Nina and Amy for purchasing them on behalf of the cause! I will send them very soon.

Thanks everyone for checking out ripplesketches.blogspot.com/

Each day, there are so many more amazing works of art available...and it looks like Kelly is getting some great support, too. What a great community of artists and art-lovers this is. : )

Alice in Wonderland:: Um from Umbridge, and "Drink Me"

"Um, from Umbridge"

"Drink Me"

It takes me awhile to see the current films, but have you all seen the new Alice in Wonderland film with Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham-Carter and Mia Wasikowska? I enjoyed our family movie night and was inspired to paint a few illustrations.

As I painted "Drink Me", I realized that I am heavily influenced by the Disney film and so Alice definitely looks more Alice from that movie. Funny how that happens!

And as for one of my favorite visuals from the new movie, I just had to paint "Um from Umbridge"...and those hardworking monkeys. I realize now that I have to study monkeys - as these definitely didn't turn out how I had envisioned!

Have a great week everyone! - Shirley

We Love to Illustrate....for Children! :: New Group Blog

Hi Everyone - I'm so excited to let you know that I've joined a marvelous group blog called "We Love to Illustrate...for Children!". It's an honor for me to be amongst these fabulous, friendly, encouraging, and down-to-earth group of illustrators who have a passion for children's art. Each month we'll have something to share, so please pop on by and say hello!

Our first post is an introduction, and so each of us were to fill a polaroid frame with a photo as an adult, child, or an illustration,..so take a peek at www.welovetoillustrate.com and see what we came up with. Looking forward to your visits everyone!

Ripple :: Illustration Friday

This is in response to the horrible disaster in the Gulf.

My heart goes out to all of the people and mostly the wildlife affected by this.

I wanted this piece to be a symbol of hope, and not sadness...perhaps a ripple of healthy Louisiana Brown Pelicans flying overhead in the near future.

Please visit Kelly Light's wonderful blog here to read more about her efforts to help.

Trail:: Sierra's Fabulous Piece!

A belated entry for Illustration Friday, but I am SO proud to present to you, my 10 year old daughter, Sierra's, illustration. Her charming character, and attention to detail (pretzels, berries, chocolate chips!) made me say, "WOW!".

Trail :: Illustration Friday (two images!)

"Trails of Raindrops" (painting and title by Noëlle, age 8)

This is my daughter, Noëlle's painting. She's 8, and she's amazing! Look at the palette... and all of those tiny raindrops, and the way she made them splash on the water surface

....simply fantastic!

Watching overhead, the trail of ladybugs

make sure that Monsieur Olivet's

summertime nap is undisturbed.

Ahhh, the lazy days of summer approacheth!

Schoolkids

It's the last day of school for my kids today...yippee!!!

I have little schoolkids on the brain at the moment.

I'll be helping with the "Fun Field Day" Limbo Station all afternoon. : )

Thanks everyone, for all of your super kind visits..

I really, really love hearing from you!