Moving day is almost here

The kids are almost out of school and I can't tell you how thrilled I am at the prospect of not having to make school lunches for a couple of months. Fantastic! I've finally been able to make their lunches fast enough in the mornings but for many of those days they come back uneaten. I'm hoping to figure out some tastier options for next September and warm lunches are in the plans. The kids will be going to a new school next year and I'm sure I will be dealing with more than just disputes about their lame sandwiches.

At the end of this month we'll be moving to a new home which is about an hour away from here. We've outgrown our rental apartment and the lack of hot water is beyond annoying. I'm really excited to say though that our new place will have a room for each of the kids AND there will be a studio of my very own! I'm sure I will fill the space faster than fast but I'm going to try my hardest to keep my new studio ultra-functional.

So as of this Friday I will be putting my shop in vacation mode and I will be taking a break from blogging so that I can get ready for this epic move. Because I will probably be knee-deep in boxes for a while next month, I will be off-line for the first half of July.

Have yourself a great start to the summer and hopefully I will be able to show you some pics. of our new place once we're all settled in. : )

Illustration Friday: Secret

"Michael wondered why he never noticed the secret little door in the old tree before."


Here's another digital painting I tried for this week's Illustration Friday: Secret. Any thoughts?
I use Photoshop Elements and it doesn't have the pen tool and a bunch of other functions I would like to use. Have you ever used it?

My beer mat submission to InkyGoodness

I just sent off one of my latest illustrations to the U.K. today. I saw a call that was sent out by Inky Goodness for original beer mat illustrations. For those of you on this side of the Atlantic a beer mat is a drink coaster. I had to Google it.

Because the entry fee was in my price range of "free", I set about doing some sketches. I got a few ideas that I will be coming back to later but the image below is the one I sent in. The goal for me again was to create the image digitally and quickly. Hopefully the jury will enjoy my happy little pig and it will make it into the off-line exhibition of 50 artists. All entries will posted online.

The deadline to submit for this show is June 29th so you might still have some time to great a beer mat of your own. Cheers!

Illustration Friday: Shiny

I have this older monotype which I think fits this week's theme of "Shiny" pretty well.

New website is up but how does it compare?

I finally gave up with my attempt to create a Wordpress website. For whatever reason the template I chose would change every time I logged back into my admin. page. I spent way too long to trying to create my website. I finally found a drag-n-drop website that I can afford AND that's made for artists. Right now I have a free account with CarbonMade which gives me probably everything I need for right now. I will probably upgrade soon so that I can add more images.

What I really want to know from you is how does this new site function as compared to my older site. I really wanted to keep the site simple, easy to navigate and highlight my artwork.

Here are my links: Lori Dean Dyment.com
                            Lori Dean Dyment  on CarbonMade

What do you think?
                           

I got my Leftovers!

I almost forgot to tell you that I got my Leftovers! Many thanks to Wingtip Press for organizing this fun print exchange. Below is a picture of a few of my favorites that were sent to me.

L-R: Amy Nack, J. Lombardi, Olson

To see the full exhibition in person check out the tour locations and dates on the Wingtip Press site. 

Have some leftover print paper yourself? It won't be long at all before the next call is put up and you can join this exchange too.

Illustration Friday: Hurry!

This week's submission to Illustration Friday's: Hurry!

I think doing these weekly posts have been just great for experimenting and learning how to illustrate on the computer. I'm still trying to find that style to call my own though as there are so many techniques I would like to try. I think my watercolor and my reductive work is the strongest but I would love to hear your thoughts.