Guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr!

Today it is snowing, here in Minneapolis. So here is a little reminder of some of the wonderful ways to enjoy winter.

St. Paul is hosting another Winter Carnival. http://www.winter-carnival.com/. Come join us as we frolic in the snow and ice.

Oh yeah... "Guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr!" is how you say "Happy New Year" in German. This is a spot illustration I did in 2005, for the Germanic-American Institute in St. Paul as part of a series of "gift shop" items that are for sale on cafepress.com. http://shop.cafepress.com/alicia-schwab . All proceeds go to the GAI-MN, http://www.gai-mn.org/.

January/February SCBWI Bulletin

I am happy to announce that the latest SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators) Jan/Feb Bulletin has featured three of my illustrations. (see pg. 6, 13, & 36). It was a joy to come up with submissions for the publication, and I am honored that they were able to use three of them.

I drew this little baby boy while visiting a indoor toddler-play-area at a local mall. (In Minnesota we have to put parks inside to help abate the effects of "cabin fever" from being cooped up in our homes over the long, winter months). This little boy was so intent and fixated on the little truck. Just learning to crawl, he was using all of his might to inch over to the toy that was just out of reach. Sometimes he would roll over onto his back and rest a bit, before trying again. I admired his patience and perseverance.

Cat Fairy

Dribble... splatter... drip! This is part of a growth chart I painted on board. Metric measurements on the left and the equivalent in inches on the right. I piled on the paint, squirted it down with water, watched it ooze here run over there. I even strapped a bubblegum pink hair dryer (that I've had since the '80’s) to speed up the drying process. Oh, what fun it is!

Heart2Heart

This is how I play, I dabble with my paints and combine different media to see what the result might be.

Spot Illustration "Art Director"

Today, just for fun - I played around in Photoshop to make a duotone out of this line drawing. I added just enough pizazz to make it pop.

Spot Illustration - "Crush"

Spot Illustration - "May the Words Dance from Your Fingertips"