I was excited to have just finished this new piece for my Blackmore storybook. I posted it on instagram but I had to crop it funny so I put the whole thing here.

Sketchbook Crawl

October 1, 2016Pen & PaperVeronica CassonComment

I just finished two sketchbooks, so I thought I would do a quick video tour of one I had started early this year. Enjoy.

Big Bend Sketchbook

August 23, 2016Pen & Paper, Adventures & ParentingVeronica CassonComment

It is summer tradition in our family to head up north and spend a few days to a week in a small cluster of cabin located within walking distance to a bend in the Eel river. It It has been a tradition in our family since it started, and in my wife's family since her father was young.

Last night we returned from our yearly sojurn. Still feeling relaxed and a bit dreamy from afternoons on the river, and sharing evening drinks around the campfire I am going to honor the trip by posting a few illustrations and photos each day for the rest of the week. Enjoy.

I needed to start with this piece. I drew it sitting on the small sand beach bordering the river. It is of Julie. It is the day we went from BFF to TLF. While drawing this I had no idea that hours away our lives would start to twist together and remain that way from then on. Though looking at this art, I can tell I was sweet on her - even if I didn't know it yet.

I did this painting over the weekend sitting in pretty much the same spot, but if I had turned completely around to face the main swimming hole. Of course to show the passing of time quite directly- that's my son as well as my mother-in-law wading in to the river trying to net passing fish.

I had the "great" idea to bring my sketchbook into the water with me and do some sketching while floating on an inner tube. It only sort of worked as splashes kept making the ink bleed (like Luke's eye and the splotch on Julie's hair). Still, I like the unfussy way the line work turned out.

Some river photos from this weekend.

Julie & Byron walking towards the river.

Proud due about to do his first early morning fishing trip with granpa

Let's Get Outta This County - Illustration Process

August 17, 2016illustration, Work in ProgressVeronica CassonComment

If you are coming here from Rusty's Electric Dream, you will recognize the above pieace from the one that was sent out in the newsletter. If not you will see the entire artwork at the end of the post. First I though it would be fun to talk about about the process I did on creating this image, which was just finished two days ago.

I originally created this image for a page of the book I am working on about two years ago. It looked like this:

I am now at the phase of the book creation that I am going back and fixing things that don't work as well as I would like.

I had three issues with this piece.

• Claudette is much too large compared to the tower proportionally.

• The ravens don't really look like ravens.

• The dirigibles no longer appear in the story.

• The following illos (not shown here) take place during sunrise and this one seemed much to dark to believe the sun was just about to break the horizon.

I decided to make a new illustration that remedied all of there problems. So I drew this (don't mind this missing corner):

I had to stop mid-drawing as I still did not like the way the ravens were coming out and I liked Claudette better in the previous image. I decided to do the rest of it piecemeal to make sure it all worked out.

I draw the town next.

Then I draw the ravens on two separate pages (I threw many away before I came to the few I liked). Making a bird look like a specific birds is more challenging than I would have thought before going into this project.

Then I put them all together in photoshop, including trimming Claudette out of the original image but re-sizing her.

The finished image: Let's Get Outta' This County

California Zephyr Sketchbook & Journal

June 17, 2016Adventures & Parenting, Pen & PaperVeronica Casson1 Comment

Last week we took the full three-day ride, from California to Chicago on the famous California Zephyr. And for you, dear reader, I documented the heck out of it.

Day One

Train arriving in SF/Emeryville early Friday Morning

The train was 30 minutes late and we were very eager to get on board when it arrived. After checking our bag, we raced down the corridor to our cabin.

The cabins were way smaller then we expected. Still, I liked them and was impressed with their economic use of space.

Room features:

The rooms temp control, which only kind of sort of worked. And the cabin's only outlet which red "120 volts- Razors Only." We went ahead and charged our phones anyhow.

We were very excited to see the view out the lounge so we quickly deposited are bags then headed to the "Sight Seer lounge" car.

The sightseer lounge, Julie on the right.

Well the train moved along California and sketching the scenery. I have never had to draw so fast and it was an interesting unique challenge that I came to really enjoy.

Colfax, Donnor Summit, Trucker and Lovelock

After watching the view for awhile it was time to head to the dining car to get lunch.

An odd thing about eating on the train is the communal tables. Each one is a four-top and they fill every seat in order of arrival. Every meal we were placed with two strangers. Often, but not always, another couple.

The first time we got Lucky

The staff was generally super awesome. Most hailed from Chicago. This is Al who was our attendant.

Then back to the dining car for dinner.

That was followed by cards in the lounge and then we went back to the room. To try and sleep. It did not go well.

I slept on the top bunk. It was very cramped, and the bed was above the window so there was no view (except of the ceiling). Large straps came down from the top and latched on the bottom to keep you from falling out. The bed was sturdy but as hard as a floor. I slept not at all.

DAY TWO

Tired of trying to sleep I got up at 5:30 AM. I climbed out of bed and walked down the hall to the coffee machine (which was also usually stocked with orange juice and bottled water) .

The always on coffee maker at the end of the hall.

Breakfast is served early so we headed to the dining car around 6;30. We were not so lucky with table mates this morning....

The first man was polite enough, though not interested in talking. The second we had seen the night before passed out on the table in the lounge. He had a gray hood covering his face and never looked up. He would alternately be shaking and start falling asleep- leaning against me. He smelled very sour.

I shoveled my food in as fast as I could and gave Julie the sign to hurry out into the lounge.

More painting as the world brushed by. Having all of the sketching time throughout would be my favorite part of the train trip.

A quick moment of fresh air as the train had a brief stop.

Then it was back to the room where we tried to nap.

I wasn't quite able too, but Julie was. Instead I did some more window sketching.

It was about this time that the landscape started to settle into a similar pattern for the rest of the trip. Cornfields mostly.

Then our last dinner in the dining car.

This night, knowing it was going to be a long one we set up our laptop and watched Darjeeling Limited in our cabin (we wanted to watch a "train movie while onboard."

DAY 3

It is possible for me to fake being social for a bit, but after a while my introvert tendencies take over and I crave solitude.

That, coupled with the uncomfortable breakfast the day before, we decided to eat breakfast in our room the last day.

The train had been running late since the beginning of the trip. At every stop it seemed to get a little further behind. One of the consequences of this was at big stops we were not allowed to walk around the town for 30 or so minutes, like we had been told.

instead, we were allowed to stand out on the platform near the train for two or three minutes to get a breath of "fresh air"."

Julie on one of the many station platforms we hoped out at.

During consecutive stops I did this drawing of the coupler/passageway between each car.

Later I drew the same area from the inside.

At this point of the journey it was extremely rocky for the rest of the third day. Which ended up making reading tricky and my sketches to get even more jittery than normal.

That was the last sketch I drew, at one of the stations before our final destination in Chicago.

There were still a few hours left to go, but the train was rocking at such a capacity that we were no longer able to do anything except watch out the windows. All of the delays added up to the train arriving at our final stop in Chicago five hours late. We pulled in at 8:00 instead of 2:00 a very big difference when you have been on a train for three days.

The tragic part of that is the extra time really soured us on the trip towards the end. A pity, the first two days felt like such a fun grand adventure. I would still recommend anyone interested to go ahead and book passage– But maybe only for two days/one night, not three.