New Season, New Banner

Thanks to the many nice, encouraging words about the bear and chicken on my last blog banner update, I've been playing around with story ideas for them. Since the weather is so nice now, its time for a Spring look.
Bye bye, Winter! (and the old banner.)

And a thank you to Julissa for giving me the Sunshine Award! Check out her beautiful children's illustrations over at her blog.

P.S.-Happy Easter!

Blogs and their influences

I recently received this lovely award from Deborah Mori of Life without Novacaine. Deborah was one of those blog friends I got to meet in person a while back. She shares her work and personal life there- I know she's been going through a rough year and am amazed at her strength; with each post she writes what she is grateful for that day. So, Deborah- I have to give this award right back to you-your blog definitely inspires me too.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all the readers and friends I've made through blogs. Its been about 2 months now living in my new town (for those who don't know, I just moved from New York to Ann Arbor, MI). I've been meaning to write a post about how things are going, but honestly, its all still too fresh- I have a different feeling each day. No, it has not been easy. But I do like this town alot, and I've surrendered that it may take me a while to really "settle in." I want to write more about my experiences as I can gather my thoughts better. But the friendships I've made through blogs helped with my transition alot. It keeps me going and inspires me every single day. So thank you :-)

The rules upon accepting this award:

1.) Only one rule. Pass this award along to someone who motivated you, inspired you or enriched your artistic life with their creative gift. If you feel so inclined, you can create a short list of the things you love, your favorite muse, or your favorite childhood memories. The most important thing though is to award someone who has made your life better.

Thank you

Thank you to the super sweet Diana Evans for this one sweet blog award. She is always drawing something food-related and you know I LOVE food artwork!!! And speaking of which, my new fascination is red velvet cupcakes from Crumbs. They seem to be opening up more bakeries in NY, I just saw one that will open up near union square. So good!

I'll give this award to so many of you who supported my book, The Haunted Ghoul Bus. I've been hearing from so many people who went to look for it at Barnes & Nobles, bought it, told me where exactly it was positioned, strategically RE-placing it for me (lol), or sending their congratulations. It really means alot to me. Thank you, I am humbled.

And a special thank you over to Splendid Sustenance who gave the book a 5 star review over on Amazon. My first review there ever! Exciting!!!

Whats Up in the Coop

Its been too hot to blog! I've been:

READING:
-Giant Robot magazine with cover art and interview with James Jean. Good stuff.

-Computer Arts magazine: I splurged (import from the UK, comes with a disk. I spend $17, ouch!) mainly for the article/tutorial about creating textures with vectors. Haven't gone through the tutorial yet, I'll let you all know how that goes.

MAKING:
-Some cards for a friend who just graduated, and wanted to have custom cards to send to her professors.

THANKING:
Lisa, Tracy, Jenn and Mike for awarding me! I feel like the most popular chicken shack in town! ;-)

The rules for accepting the award are as follows:

1. Add the logo of the award to my site

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4. Add links to those blogs on your site

5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

AWARDING:
Linda, Crystal, Sherry, Zime, Pati, Roz, Ellen

Stay cool, everyone!

Tagged

Thanks to Liz Goulet Dubois over at Chat Rabbit who tagged me-here’s what I was supposed to do:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.*
3. Find the fifth sentence.**
4. Post the next three sentences, so if my math is correct that’d be sentences six, seven and eight.
5. Tag five people and post a comment to the blogger who tagged you.

The alternate PB version is to go to page 23 and just put down the text. With my shameless self promotion, I used my own book, The Mixed-Up Alphabet by Steve Metzger, illustrated by me!
*******
And thanks to Roz Fulcher at Rozzie Land who gave me the Pico Award!
Rules:
1) Pick 5 blogs that you feel are deserving of this award based on their creativity, design, interesting material and their contribution to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2) For each award giver, include the name and the link to the blogger so they can be visited.
3) Include the names of the recipients and a link to their blogs so they can be visited.
4) For both giver and receiver, show the link http://studiololo.blogspot.com/ (Studio Lolo)
5) Publish these rules

I'm going to tag all of you who's been participating in the 21 Day Creative exercise with me! Its been so much fun and your comments are a BIG motivating factor. Thanks!

Sending some love....

Did I mention how much I love blog friends and the blog world?
Crystal Driedger sent me a wonderful package last week. She held a giveaway on her blog and I loved everything. Thank you, Crystal! The calendar is up on my bulletin board so I see your lovely artwork everyday.

Also sending some love to more awesome folks who gave me a mention, I appreciate it so much, it keeps me going (and going with my evil plan to take over the world with chickens!!!):
Jeff • Marci • Zime • Zari • Rachelle
Thank you, xoxo...cluck cluck!