Illustration Friday- INFLUENCE

So last week's topic was INFLUENCE.  It was such a timely word for me because I have definitely been under the influence of other writers and illustrators these days.  Just coming off of the SCBWI conference here in LA, I was overwhelmed by the talent, creativity and well just plain hard work it takes to make a great book.  That being said, I had a slight glimmer that I could do it.  I WANT to do it, I just need to do the dang work! The really cool thing is that some of the people that influence me  gave me actual encouragement.  I wrote to David Small, he wrote back....he stoked my fire.  Marla Frazee breathed air into my dreams, Denise Doyen looked me in the eye and told me I could get there. Today SCBWI  sent me a "certificate of merit" for my book What's Your Name Again.
So, I've taken everything and am pushing myself.  I signed up for Karl Gnass's figure drawing on Friday's, unplugged my computer during the day and got four solid hours of writing and drawing time.  (Thank you Antoinette Portis!)  I'm reading Stephen Frys The Ode Less Traveled.  Taking Ann Whitford Paul's rhythm and rhyming workshop and then....well this quote from Ogden Nash expresses my best of intentions moving forward. (have you noticed people saying that a lot lately?)

'For better or worse, I have followed the course, and the only course, that enabled me to set pencil to paper as a writer; that is, to proceed as if nothing you have to say has been said earlier and better is a paralyzing one, and the only thing to do is ignore it, and assume that you are living in the first day of the world." OGDEN NASH

Illustration Friday-HOMAGE, Sandra Jorgensen

Sandra Jorgensen was my art teacher at Elmhurst College. I only went there for one year, and she was a big influence on me. When I grew up and realized how much so, I wanted to get back in touch with her. She taught me that art could be what you wanted, she also had great knowledge about art history, and contemporary art and showed me stuff like the Chicago Imagists and taught with such enthusiasm and fun. I could even call her my friend as we both struggled together to make sense of German class, which she signed up for, for fun(?). She even helped bridge the gap between me and my Dad during those difficult early adult stages. She took the time to get to know me, and I think she genuinely liked and believed in me as a young person and an artist. Loooking for her, I found out she had died from pancreas cancer only a few months before....

Looking back I really wish I could of told her how much I appreciated her. Click on the title for a nice article about her and her art.