Happy Hanukkah

For my friends who celebrate- Happy Hanukkah!

(older piece I did for The Land of Nod)

You Can Count on ME.

                                 

No matter how you get there-Happy Christmas!

Sending YOU an abundance of warm wishes.

In the hood...

Season's Greeting from my house to yours!

That was my theme for this year's holiday card.

I wanted something personal so I featured our house with my little studio on the 3rd floor.  

(Along with a few other houses on our block.)

We designed our house with some help from Studio Build over two years ago

& it's a truly beautiful place to call home!

Soft Ornaments

When my son was younger he was just like his mom & gravitated towards the

shiny, glass ornaments.  My solution was soft ornaments the first 4 years.  I wanted something festive & fun but also kid proof. (no shards of broken glass)

  I came up with these.  Years later we still have fun hanging them on the tree.

Deck the Halls...

With a sweet little birdie!

My friend Gina's bird.  I love this sweet guy!

Fa, la, la, LA, la

Fri, fri-DAY!

*Sing, it's good for your soul.

Merry & Bright

Deck the halls with a rainbow evergreen garland.

(why not right, made this one a few years ago for Land of Nod)

Warm & Cozy Wishes...

All  season  l  o  n  g!

(I'm on a holiday art kick.)

Brrrrr...

Time for warm winter drinks!

Holiday Hugs...

For EVERYONE!

This personalized ornament & many more I designed for Oopsy Daisy

are available at here

The back is cute too!

xoxo

Hello, Holiday Season

27 days until Christmas but, who's counting?

This time of the year makes me a little crazy!

I am Thankful...

Particularly, for my right hand!

Fall Medley

Eye candy patchwork of everything fall!

Modern Thrive Interview

The team at Makers Mentors has my interview up & ready to read.  Check it out!

Myself, the talented Katie Vernon & Sophie Dufresne will be giving some behind the scenes info at our upcoming workshop, Growing Your Freelance Illustration Business.
December 7-9 2016. (I'm up December 9th) 

Join use if you can!  

*In the meantime... Keep on MAKING! (not a bad mantra, right?)

Acrylics

Switching it up & painting at night instead of playing around in my sketch book.

Having fun with it but, I can see the canvases stacking up.

Looks like it's quirky paintings for all this Christmas!

Come Fly With Me!

Fall Back...

today

Do it...

If it's worth doing... Do it well!

Bird With Borders

Use what talents you possess;  the woods would be very

silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.

-Henry Van Dyke

Happy Halloween!

Wishing you a positively ghastly Halloween & a ghoulishly good night!

Until next year...

Pattern Play

I love to paint patterns!  I've been playing around mixing & matching in cool & warm palettes. Thinking they wold make great rugs or upholstery for a an oversized chair.

Lots of possibilities!

Something New

Felt like I was channeling my inner "grandma" when I was painting this.  Definitely not my usual color palette.  Trying to push myself out of my norm & into some NEW.

The challenge continues ...

Modern Thrive Workshop

Come on a voyage with me, be part of the Modern Thrive 3-day online workshop, 

"Growing Your Freelance Illustration Business." 

Myself,  the talented Katie Vernon & Sophie Dufresne will be giving you an inside look at how we've gone about building our illustration business.  

If you sign up before 11/1 you get a special price with discount code: JillMcdonald

*Looking forward to sharing a few of the tips I've learned along the way!

Crimson Floral

Totally feeling fall today!

Happiness!

Holding fall colors in my hand.

I love to wander around the yard gathering leaves & flowers.

(my happy place)

Caffeine...

Does the trick every time!

Dinosaurs

Working on writing & illustrating the 5th book in the Hello, World! series for Random House Kids.  

This has been such an exciting & personally rewarding experience for me. (#grateful)

Can you guess what this next book will be about?

Hint.... "ROAR"

Meet Birdie

This is Birdie, my good friend Gina's pet parakeet.

He's a pretty boy & oh so photogenic!

Gina takes lots of photo of Birdie with interesting props.

(& lots of fun photos in general)

You can take a look here.

We decided to try a series with my illustrations as a backdrop for 

Birdie.  Stay tuned for more. 

We'd LOVE to make a book out if it.  

(dreaming BIG but, isn't that the only way to dream?!?)

Rambunctious Garden

Cut paper garden... No green thumb, no problem!

Sundown Color Study

Have you noticed it's getting dark earlier?

Trying to appreciate the colors of the setting sun to ease my way into

what I know is ahead.  (brrrrrrr)

Hola, October!

fashionably late...

A little note...

You are the cat's MEOW! (it's true)

Cut Paper

Playing with some cut paper on a beautiful Friday afternoon.

I've been hearing some other artist saying they don't really use or like purple lately.

Um, What?  I love a deep, rich purple, endless possibilities!  So deep & inviting makes me want to jump in! (like blue water)

Gratitude

The root of joy is GRATITUDE. 

I'm feeling it!

My Thoughts on Cupcakes...

Is this thing real?

She's pretty sure she's made a new friend!

We walk by this mosaic bear daily & she always stops to greet, sniff & study.

Blues...

for Monday.  

(watercolor, ink & the bottom right is a monoprint)

A Peek Inside My Mind

I made a NEW blurb book to send to a client I've dreamed about working with.

It arrived earlier today but it's already been packaged

back up & is headed to California. (lucky book)

This is the first time I've had some of my newer work bound together in one spot. I'm really visual so it was fun to see & I felt a certain power holding it in my hands.

So grateful I get to draw, design, paint & make each day.  

I can't imagine any other way I'd like to spend my time!

Book Recommendation

The super talented Jennifer Orkin Lewis has a NEW book out with Abrams Press.
Draw Everyday Draw Every Way is a creative journal with written prompts & suggested mediums broken down in monthly increments.  The book is a journey through a year of exploring your own creativity.
FUN!

This is a spread I recently worked on in the white & gold pen section.
The prompts Jennifer provides are great.  Particularly, after a long day.  You can just sit down without thinking too much & play.

Shine...

Visited Grinter's sunflower field in Kansas yesterday.  Such a magical place!

Wore my sparkles to see the sunflowers!

Brusha, Brusha, Brusha!

She is a funny little animal.  I've been brushing her teeth more often.  (They crack me up I call them her baby corns, they look just like them!)  I'm a sucker for an underbite!

*photo by my friend Gigi 

Late August-

sketchbook painting.

This is the time of year my son was born. 

On the cusp of the fall season.

Feels like new beginnings to me.

MWAH,

I love FRIDAY!

Here's to a great one!

No Strangers-Just Friends

I love this quote from William Butler Yeats.

(pen, and a little watercolor-voila!)

Farewell, Summer.

And just like that, it was time to head back to school.

Carpe Diem

Particularly, SATURDAY!

Cut paper fun.