Last week’s Illustration Friday prompt was paisley. I haven’t done an IF post in forever, so I thought I’d do this one. I did draw paisley but the scan in was so small, the paisley is kind of hard to see. I had fun in any case, so it was a successful doodle session.

Visit IF to see what other artists around the world are doing. The new prompt is satellite.

Last week was chock full. On Saturday my grandson had his 12th birthday. I can’t believe he is nearly a teenager. His mom was telling anyone who asked how old he was he was turning 4. Guess she just doesn’t want her babies to grow up yet. 😀

Sunday I traveled out to Salem, MO were a week-long event was happening. I was one of several guest authors/speakers and lucky for me, they had us set up in an air-conditioned cabin. And we needed it. It was hot with a capital H. Temps averaged low 90s with highs around 98° and lows not dropping below the high 70s.  I would head out to my scheduled events, do them and then head back to the AC cabin to collapse and cool down before it was time to go back out again. I don’t do heat. Really. The event was wonderful in spite of the temperatures. I signed over a dozen books and made many new friends and was able to connect with old friends I had been missing and hadn’t seen in a while.

The event was scheduled until the 27th but I skedaddled out on Thursday because the youngest son got married on Friday and there was no way I was going to miss the wedding. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was held at our favorite local fine eatery. They closed the place down for us and served their wonderful specialties buffet style. After dinner was dancing. It was quite humorous to see the less than 5 foot daughter dancing with the over 6 foot son. The bride stood next to me watching and asked if her husband was looking that awkward on purpose. I told her I didn’t think so.

There were some truly awesome musicians at the event in Salem. Of them all, I think Shibaten is my new favorite! He is SO talented. I watched him perform and I still can’t believe one man can play all those instruments in one song. He sounds like a full ensemble. He told us the story of how he learned to play the didgeridoo, one of the instruments he uses. He said he bought himself one, and flew to New Zealand with only $400 in his pocket. His plan was to learn to play it well enough to earn enough money busking to get himself back home to Japan. I hope I have the chance to see him perform again. Amazing.

There are lots of other good things happening on the writing front. None I am at liberty to write about here yet. But I will be hiding away in the studio the next couple of months to work on some of the projects and hopefully be able to share information about them with you soon.

I have also decided not to continue with my illustrator interview series. Tracking down willing illustrators and nagging them to get the answers and images to me so I can post the interviews has just become too much of a time suck that I would rather be using in creating new artwork. I hope you have enjoyed the illustrators who have shared their process and art here. Maybe I will start the interviews up again when my to-do list is not quite as thick as the NYC phone book. You never know.