What's your nightmare?

Some of you might be thinking that your Christmas was a stressful nightmare. Sometimes all the shopping, spending and aspirations of perfection get the better of us. And then there's the relatives.

But my Christmas nightmare was an illustration project. And it wasn't that it was so terrible, it's just my theme. My sketchbook project. For more info on that you can click on the sketchbook project icon I recently added. I've also added an imagekind link recently. You can literally buy some paws since all the art I've posted so far are dogs and cats!

Today's illustration is the cover art for my little sketchbook. I'm still working on the art for the book. But one word describes the nightmare art...Gorillas. They put the scary in my bedtime...bigtime. And then there are those scary apple memories. Ha! An apple a day keeps the nightmares away!

P.S. Be sure to check back next week for my 2 year blogiversary giveaway.

Have a merry monkey Christmas!

I had a little fun again this year with our Christmas card photo. Can you tell which monkey doesn't belong? Well, it's the one that is not wearing a helmet and looks the most like a monkey. (I hope!)

This photo was taken last February at Hacienda Baru in Costa Rica. We were attempting a 120 foot tree climb. We made it around 50 feet before calling it quits. I'm no monkey that's for sure. But it was a lot of jungle fun.

And for those of you that missed last year's card. I photoshopped a squirrel in another Costa Rica photo. It was supposed to be a funny take on the popular crasher squirrel photo. This photo was taken in front of the Arenal Volcano. Unfortunately the cone shaped Volcano was enshrouded in clouds during this visit. But it was still active and spewing lava rocks down the side. You can actually hear and see them without binoculars. Hmmmm. I wonder if that means we were too close?

Merry Christmas blogging friends!

A calendar year of photos

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Every year I make 2 calenders for my husband and me. It's always a year in review from our travels. These beautiful photos were from 2009 in Costa Rica. And this Christmas will cover 2010's trip. The only surprise is the choice of photos for each page. And as far as 2011? It's an empty page just waiting to be filled! I can't wait...

There's a mouse in my liquor cabinet.

I thought I would highlight my drunk mouse in this post. You'd think he'd prefer wine since it goes so well with cheese. But see how he's smiling? He's a rum man.

I bought this little guy as a stand in for a mini rum bottle. I needed a model for my illustration. And painting the liquid was very difficult in gouache I might add. Now what do I do with it? Honey liqueur... Hmmmm. What kind of drink would Honey liqueur taste good in. Any ideas?

And since we're talk'in

rum. We bought this Flor de Cana in Costa Rica this year. It's actually from Nicaragua. And it is very, very good. (see empty upside down photo for verification) But we have yet to try # 7. We're saving it for a special occasion. Is tonight special enough I wonder? The full illustration and links are right below...

Egg-citing news!

My illustrated recipe Spiked Crepes with Cinnamon Apples turned up last Thursday on the fun blog http://www.theydrawandcook.blogspot.com/ Or for a direct link try www.theydrawandcook.com/2010/12/spiked-crepes-with-cinnamon-apples-by.html#comments There's a holiday contest going on. So it's definitely a fun time to visit. 250 artists sent in illustrated recipes that will be posted through the month of December. And there are prizes at the end of the month. I really had a lot of fun illustrating this piece. Everyone seems to have a favorite mouse. Mine is the one wielding the peeler. The tough part of the illustration was condensing the crepe recipe so that I could fit it on the two cards. Nate, the blog author said he's already made the recipe twice. I made it Thanksgiving morning. And do you know what I did? I forgot the brown sugar. So I scooped the apples back out of the crepes and back in the pan they went. Eventually breakfast tasted much sweeter. Yum!

Do you know where your eggs come from?

"BAAAAAAH! The best eggs come from my farm. BAAAAAH HUMBUG. Oops... wrong BAAAAH."

"Here's my kind of cool red barn. I wish I could look out the windows, Really BAAAAAD."

"Here's the chickens. They're not really my friends." The sheep admitted this fact rather sheepishly.

"This dude collects the eggs. Then I have no dog be gone idea where they go." Blog Editor's note: Father in law (not the sheep's)

Now a desperate blogger housewife has farm fresh eggs in her fridge. Sheep not included. P.S. Please check out http://www.theydrawandcook.blogspot.com/ for my illustrated recipe.(using eggs!) More on that next week...

News Flash... Deer starve as acorn ornament craze hits heartland.

We picked up a (small) stash of acorns on a hike last fall. Sorry Rudolf. The goal was to turn nature's bounty into Christmas crafts.

I painted the seed part a Tiffany blue. Then glued on the crown and a piece of string.

Viola! My cat proof, substitute, small, second class and artificial Christmas tree gets adorned. Let the Christmas season begin!

Birds of a feather don't necessarily roast together.

I actually wasn't sure what to post this week. But turkeys popped into my head for some strange reason. And since eating local is so popular these days, all of these photos were taken in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The only 2 states I've ever called home.

Happy Thanksgiving!

My new business cards have arrived. And at least the front sports a bird to fit today's theme. Although the squirrel cuckoo probably can not be found locally. Both illustrations are from my fiction project journal http://arthousecoop.com/users/sharonrwagner which can now be found at the Brooklyn Art Library.

To Dominical With Love

I couldn't think of a better way to end my fiction project http://arthousecoop.com/users/sharonrwagner than with a story and illustration about Dominical, Costa Rica. All of my stories are short and sort of like poems. I wrote this particular story at about 4 am. I woke up in our cabina and turned off the fan to listen to the howler monkeys in the distance. And since I was awake, I turned on the light and picked up my pen and paper. I had a job to do after all. I wanted to complete at least 7 stories while on vacation! Dominical...I love you.


You can enlarge the illustration to read my words.

This is one of the many absolutely awesome beaches in the area. Whale's tail to be exact. At low tide the sand forms a Whale's tail out into the ocean. But be careful to leave before the tail is completely enveloped as the tide comes in. I thought I would include this view looking up into the same hills as in the first photo. So that does it. I've posted all 7 of my fiction project entries. If you are new to my blog you can check out the enclosed link above to get the rest of the story.

If you don't watch out I'll cut you with my tree.

This is the 6th (of 7) illustrated story from my fiction project journal. You may recognize it from my side bar. To learn more about the fiction project visit http://arthousecoop.com/users/sharonrwagner You can enlarge my art to s...l...o...w...l...y read it. Poor sloths. I do have photos of some sloths we encountered during our Costa Rica travels. But I thought I would highlight some of the more unusual trees we encountered instead.

At Hacienda Baru http://www.haciendabaru.com/ we encountered the Pochote tree. Does it look sharp or what? Hacienda Baru is a wonderful wildlife refuge. It's jungle habitat inspired many of the stories in my journal.

This tree has been strangled.

This is a view from the hollow bottom looking all the way up to the top. The strangler fig is all that remains.

I don't know what this tree is. But I dare you to lean against it. We photographed it on our 1st Costa Rica trip inside the park called Manuel Antonio. Have you hugged a tree today?