Last week I partook in one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I attended the one week workshop in Amherst, MA called the Illustration Master Class (or IMC for short). It's a workshop started by Rebecca Guay and features some of the best artists in the genre of Imaginative Realism.

It includes artistic giants such as James Gurney, Greg Manchess, Donato Giancola, Greg Ruth, Scott Fischer, Dan Dos Santos, Boris Vallejo, and Julie Bell. Plus the addition of select creative directors including Irene Gallo from Tor, Lauren Panepinto from Orbit Books, and Jeremy Jarvis from Magic the Gathering.

It has a relatively free format, where for one week students can work on whatever they'd like, and the faculty will walk around giving feedback to those who need it. Throughout the day the faculty will do lectures and demos that you're welcome to view, or you can just keep working. I've known about the IMC for about 10 years, but it was always a matter or finding the time or the money to fit it in. Finally this year, I pushed aside all excuses and made it happen. And it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Last year I illustrated a short educational book for LifeWay Kids. It follows the ups and downs in the life of a two year old boy. It's a sweet story that let me explore the different emotions of such a wild and endearing age.

The main character of this story is based off the child of one of my dear friends. I've had the pleasure of watching him grow and seen all he different moods, from good to bad over the years. Using him as my model proved to be it's own challenge. But with the right motivation we were able to get him to pose for all the different scenes. (A little bribery goes a long way when getting children to cooperate). But now whenever he see's me, he's ready to pose for some more pictures!

Springtime means it's time for another postcard mailing by my agents at The Cat Agency!  After a visit with several publishing houses last year, Christy Tugeau Ewers came back inspired to having a postcard mailing themed "Time Period."  This would give her artists a way to explore different story lines from the the past.

I was very exited for this mailing from the moment she told us about it. As a realistic artist, time period art is right down my alley. My earliest venture with this genre was with the American Girl books I illustrated of the dolls Marie-Grace and Cecile in the 1850's New Orleans. But it's been a while since I've played with period pieces.

At first, I was overwhelmed with ideas. I thought about exploring some famous strong women in history, such as Joan of Arc, or maybe some ancient Greek paintings inspired by one of my favorite artists, Sir Alma Tadema. But then, my winter was taken over by an educational project that involved illustrating dinosaurs. After spending two months having a blast painting dinosaurs, when I finally sat down to work on this postcard piece, I couldn't concentrate on any of my previous ideas. All I wanted to do was paint more dinosaurs! So I decided to embrace the inspiration and paint more dinosaurs.