What a busy time we’ve been having in the studio!  There’s always a story brewing in the background, orchestrated by the Lord . . . and lately He’s given me the opportunity to be involved a very special children’s book.  I first learned about it three months ago, but it really started about five years ago.  I’ll tell you about it (very soon!), but until then, I’d like to show you a bit of what I’m using in the studio these days. . .

I keep my paints and brushes and palette to the right of my table easel.  Everything on the table is laid out to be easily reached for whenever they’re needed.  I’m currently loving the synthetic and real squirrel hair brushes.  For rough drawing, I tend to use cheap pencils like the plain wood one in the photo above.

While paints are kept right of the easel, the pencils are currently attempting to stay to the left.  Pencil shavings can end up in a bowl or a saucer, but whatever the case, always use a hand-held sharpener.  Wall mounts or electric pencil sharpeners can be time savers…until your lead breaks up and jams the system.  The small hand-held sharpeners are always the way to go.

For finer drawing pencils, I like Derwent the most, but there are a few other nice brands that do just as well.

Tea is also a staple.

We have a tradition of blaring Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” whenever we complete a big project.  Emily Rose snapped this as we savored the almost-last moments of wrapping up that book I’ll be telling you about.

This was a makeshift spread sheet to keep track of the illustrations as I worked on them.  I can’t wait to tell you more about the illustrations, and even more about the story and the author herself.  But that will come in time, very soon!

I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful
and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink
and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.
–Ecclesiastes 3:12-13–