Snowy Forests and a Dreamy Baby

I have been very hesitant to show these art pieces I worked on this winter for fear or either 1) unwanted criticism or 2) people telling me to do something with them, such as start working on something more serious (aka children's book illustrations). After being kindly yelled at by my good friend Dan, who is an incredible concept artist, I broke down and showed these to the ladies in my Moms group today. Who all pretty much overwhelmingly let me know that these are actually good. And I might actually have some sort of a future with this kind of idea.

Ever since I began my art making en devours years ago, it has been a dream of mine to illustrate a Children's book. Now, I realize that there are a LOT of very poorly done books for children out there, so it's not actually a matter of me not being able to. I simply want my book to be really good. One of the beautiful ones that even adults want to look at again and again. The only problem with this, is that pictures need a good story. And that is where I am stuck. I need a story.

But for now, here are some of the pieces I worked on early this winter, thinking about Lexi and snowy forests, and whimsical dreams. I do ask that you do not copy or reproduce these images in any way as they are artwork, but please enjoy them here on my blog for now. And I apologize for the images being so small...the blog can't handle much more.

As far as the process (so you know what you are looking at), I created each piece individually with India ink and watercolor on watercolor paper, and set the scene in a three-dimensional theater space, where I could create the illusion of a snowy forest. I lit the scene carefully, made it snow, and then took a picture of each scene.

Please let me know what you think in the comments.