IF "Cocoon"

The IF prompt this week is "cocoon".  I thought of an illustration I had completed back in 2002 and thought it would be appropriate for this week's challenge.  "She spreads her wings for the first time as she sheds her chrysallis...emerging as a vibrant and beautiful butterfly."  This illustration was created with watercolor and colored pencil.

IF "Ahead"

This is my latest illustration for Illustration Friday.  This week's word prompt is "ahead".  I was lying in bed trying to come up with an idea for this word and I was inspired by a beautiful photograph of my daughter.  In the photograph, she is standing on a rock in a river with her face painted for fun, her arms outstretched toward the sky.  I began toying with the idea along the lines of, in order to move forward in life, one must be strongly rooted in who she is today.  And then it hit me.  A saying...a quote by someone unknown to me...that says:
"What lies behind us
And what lies ahead of us
Are small matters
Compared to what lies within us."
I interpreted the photograph and this quote in this illustration of my oldest daughter Avery. 
This illustration was painted using acrylic paints.  It is 14"x17". 
I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed painting it!

It has been ages since I've been here and a lot of changes have taken place in this last year for me! I am alive and well in San Antonio, Texas...my hometown. I am a newlywed as of January 2, 2010 and loving my wonderful husband and soul mate, Duff Starrett. Life is beautiful!

I haven't illustrated...except for the little doodles I create at work on any piece of paper I can get my hands on...in almost a year. I've told myself, "you will paint again when it's the right season". Now, let's see...I am 46 years old and I have been telling myself for years now that I will eventually get to a place in my life where I won't be doing a million different things at once. Where I will be able to disappear into my studio and get lost for hours on end, while I create my next "masterpiece". Ha ha...that just has not happened, curiously enough. What if it never does?

I read a quote by the great comedic columnist, Erma Bombeck, who said: "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.' How precious is that?!

The long and the short of all of this is to say that I want my "creative season" to be now. I want to be able to stand before God someday and tell him that I used His gifts to bless others and to allow Him to work through me. Maybe I'll just post a little doodle here and there...maybe I will be inspired to illustrate something wonderfully whimsical.

So here I am again...with my little illustrations. I hope they bring a smile to your heart.