on my desk monday

Even though I really don't have time, I'm painting another egg:

Like I said, I should be doing other thing but I couldn't say no. It's just been such a fun tradition for me and anyway, it's a good warm-up for the Ling and Ting paintings, right? Oh yeah, a good cause too. 

I wanted to go  in and do some more detailing but I just ran out of time (even though they sent me the egg about 6 months ago!). I still think it's okay, though. I'm calling it "Eggshell China."  Fine Chinese porcelain is often referred to as eggshell china, so I though I'd paint my interpretation of the traditional longevity pattern found on plates and teapots on an actual eggshell. Get it? Eggshell China?

Okay, I admit I am a little sleep-deprived.

Anyway,  here are some better shots of it:

I hope it makes lots of money for Open Fields!

on my desk monday

I painted another egg for the Open Fields egg auction!

I had to squeeze in the time to do it and I'm sending it in late, but hopefully it will still be in time for their auction. I had to, of course, paint a Rain Dragon on a red egg (red eggs are special for babies)! This year, I didn't break the 2nd egg they sent me, so I am selfishly keeping it for myself so that I can paint another red egg especially for Baby Rain Dragon when she arrives.

on my desk monday

Appropriately, I spent my Easter weekend painting an egg for the Open Fields Auction. Just like last time, despite my best efforts, I broke one of the eggs they sent. That is why they always send two!

But I was able to get the second one finished without any disasters. My Hong Kong birdcage (with the only kind of birds I don't feel guilty having in a cage!) served as inspiration for my egg, titled aviary:



Hope you like it!

egg auction

So on Saturday, I drove 2 hours (I kind of didn't realize how long of a drive it was going to be) to go to the Open Fields Egg Auction where, if you remember, I contributed an egg to be auctioned off. And I'm really glad that I did. Like the snowflakes, nothing compares to seeing the original art in person. They were so lovely, I was quickly circling my list to for possible bidding. Did I want Marla Frazee's? Ashley Bryan's?

Or should I bid on my own? But, unlike Robert's Snow, the auction for the eggs is done live, not anonymously online. So, if I tried to up my own egg price, it would be quite obvious that I was a big loser. Darn!

Luckily, I didn't need to--it went for a very respectable price. It did make me wonder what that broken egg might have gone for.

And I got to get in on the action as well. In a heated competition with a grandfather who seemed to be buying up all the eggs (he must have thought of them as investment property) I finally won the egg I had my eye on...

It's called Twilight, by Mary Peterson. She's not a children's book illustrator but she's a beautiful egg painter, don't you think?

no use crying over broken eggs

This year I set aside some time to paint an egg for the Open Field Egg auction. It's similiar to Robert's Snow with different artists creating works of art to be auctioned off for charity, except it's an egg (not a snowflake) and the money goes to a school (not cancer research).

I'm trying to make it a point to do an egg every time I am asked, and to do a good job with it--at least attempting to make it an art piece of value. The egg auction is in honor of beloved children's illustrator Trina Schart Hyman (she founded the event). Trina participated in the first Robert's Snow, shortly before her death--ironically from cancer. Her snowflake was probably one of the last pieces of art she created. The least I could do was to at least try to paint an egg of quality for her namesake auction.

So with my recent trip to China as inspiration, I decided to paint a lantern scene--glowing red lanterns floating in the dark sky with crowds of people walking and gazing below--it was going to be detailed, intricate, beautiful...

until I broke the egg.

Luckily, the smart people of the Open Fields sent two eggs just for these type of calamities. But now I was running out of time. I had spent too long with the broken egg, now there was no way I could do the in depth lantern scene in the time I had. So, I had to quickly come up with a simpler design:


Which is an illustration of part of a poem by the Chinese poet Li Po:

The birds have vanished down the sky.
Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain and me
until only the mountain remains.

It is one of my favorite poems, so for the time I had left, I was satisfied with the egg. But I think the lantern one would've been better. Oh well, maybe next time.