Calendar Page Blizzard

     The last couple of months have been a whirlwind of art and deadlines. Been feeling like either a free-ranged artist, roaming the massive fields of the art world while being stuck in a blizzard of calendar pages and clocks. So unfortunately my chances for announcements here and explaining in better detail has been rather limited due to my schedule currently and what free time I am able to muster is usually spent attempting to relax. With that said, I do have some interesting things happening. 

'Moving Waters' by Dawn Star Wood

     As some of you may know from keeping up with me on Facebook that I have recently been accepted again into the KVIE Art Auction. This will be the 8th consecutive year that I have had the pleasure of being selected as one of the participating Californian artists who are donating their work to raise money for public broadcasting. My piece for this year is actually a remake of a previous painting I had done back in 2009 that was based off of a photo I had taken which I wasn't completely satisfied with. With my style having changed a bit since then and my understanding for colors much more tuned, I went back and redid it. I was thrilled when I was informed that I would be participating once again in the event.

     For those not familiar with the KVIE Art Auction, the auction has been a yearly event for the last 34 years which allows artists from around California to being in their work. About 200 pieces are chosen to be entered then are juried by a handful of well respected artists within the community. These donated pieces of work are then auctioned off and all proceeds are to the KVIE public broadcasting station to help fund them and produce more educational programming. This year's juror line up are Marcy Friedman (figurative), Esteban Villa (contemporary), Maria Winkler (California's gold), Paul Kitagaki Jr. (photography), Stephanie Taylor (sculpture), and Kathleen Stock (landscape/still life). The curator of the show makes a point to put each piece into as many of the categories as possible to give each artist a chance to possibly get an award. If you're interested in bidding on work or finding out about how else you can help support KVIE, I strongly encourage you to visit their web page.As they take the time to review each piece of work created by local artists, you can review information of how you can bid on pieces along with what days, times and stations you can catch the auction live.
website: KVIE Art Auction Page
Dates: Preview Gala Sept. 14th
Art Auction Sept. 18th-20th

'Twinkle the Christmas Mouse'
by Talina Collier
Illustrated by Elizabeth Mueller
Colored by Dawn Star Wood

     I have also been recently added to the PDMI Publishing staff as an illustrator after the encouragement of my dear friend, author Etta Jean, after she had introduced the owner of the company to my work. The first project that they had me on was being the colorist for a children's book, Twinkle, the Christmas Mouse by Talina Collier and illustrated by Elizabeth Mueller. It was certainly an interesting first introduction to things but in the end, I reminded myself that it was much like any of the private commissions that I receive from customers. Since then, I have actually been approached to do possible cover art for a couple of books. Of course I can not really talk about them at the moment until everything goes through but when I am able to make announcements, I will be sharing with you all of the details of those projects.





     

'Shadow on the Sea'
by Etta Jean

     Most recently, Etta had approached me to work with her by creating a cover for her novela, Shadow on the Sea. The whole imagery that she was wanting was such a fantastical mash of imagery, in the beginning I was actually unsure if I would even be able to create what she was wanting. Luckily she did ask for the entire image to be a wrap around so I wasn't confined into attempting to create the entire piece into an 8"x10" type format, but still.. how in the world was I possibly going to pull this off? Seeing it as a challenge, I was determined to not let doubt ruin this chance for me and I went for it. To hear the squeals of an author as talented as her then discover from others who did the trial reading that what I had done was painted a scene in the book nearly exactly as to how she described- there really is no words for that feeling of relief and victory I felt at that moment. She and I may end up partnering up again sometime in the future but it depends on our schedules and what plans we have going on. She does have other works which you can check out and I highly recommend it. 

Website: Etta Jean Fantasy 
Facebook: Etta Jean 
Online Store: Etta Jean Fantasy Store

Cover art for 'Shadow on the Sea'
by Dawn Star Wood