Well I had a heck of a weekend. I do believe I experienced Geek Nirvana. A former student, and all around great guy, Ira Owens, took me and my best friend Melissa on a tour of his work- at Skywalker Ranch. Words cannot describe how cool it was, from the incredible scenery of the actual Marin ranch, to the organic vegetable garden which they harvest and feed to their employees in the dining room. And that's not to speak of the actual working animation studio, with a collection of the world's most talented (and nice) artists who work (somehow) in this serene environment. Very very inspiring... The only downside I can see is that you would never be able to work anywhere else!

I have been mostly posting sketchbook pages, and that will continue this time as I have been working on my graphic novel, which I'm not ready to post yet. These sketches were from the Denver airport last week, when I went to pick up my new Springer Spaniel puppy Sally. Watch for sketches of her, coming soon! These sketches, along with many others artists', will be put together into a megasketchbook at Cal State Fullerton by Dana Lamb, for their Animation Department's 10th Anniversary film festival, and in support of their Pencil Mileage Club's founding member Mike Williams, who is struggling with Machado-Josephs disease. Check out this link: http://10thpmcanniversaryfilmfestival.blogspot.com/

I've been multitasking lately, which means I've been really busy and not quite done with anything. That's not a bad place to be- there's a lot of possibility in potential energy, right? I've been writing and drawing on the graphic novel, working on a new Domestic Life of Bugs piece, and then there's Eejm. I finished the illustration, but haven't finished the flag. I am den mom of a Bear Cub den, and I am very interested in getting my boys out hiking. We hiked (and summited!) the highest "peak" in Long Beach: Signal Hill. I got to thinking that no explorer went out into the wilderness without a proper identifying flag, so I did an Illustrator version of the coffee-can totem pole my Bears created. They named him Eejm, which is Ethan, Eli, Justin and Micha. I will now print this onto iron-on transfer paper, iron it onto white fabric, trim it with navy blue, punch in the grommets, and tie it to the stick. We'll be ready to conquer the next peak!