New Work!

(Click on to enlarge) It's been a while since I posted some art, so here's what I'm up to. Doing a small collections of watercolor/drawings of period costume. Part of it is my own interest and the other the Oscar's coming makes me think about Best Costume. I'll have a show with these and hopefully find an equally enthusiastic patron to buy them! This one's called The Cowboy circa 1890.

New 28 gallon Vivarium finished!

Well, I finished my poison dart frog 28 gallon vivarium. There's 17 live plants and a waterfall going. Hope you like looking at it! I sure do :) Going to let it grow and settle in for a month, then we'll be looking to move in frogs.

Tired now, going to turn in. I promise some artwork will get posted here soon.

Regan
(click on the image to enlarge it!)

G'day, mates

Our frog theme continues with our new White's Tree Frog here, Uluru. We've named her after the original name for Ayers Rock since she's Australian. She will be joining our Tokay gecko in the redone vivarium (with a natural looking divider to keep the Tokay from the traditional Tokay greeting ie. biting her face off). She's a very pretty greenish blue color when she wants to be green. Though, she can change color completely and go brown and it doesn't mean she's cold or upset... just wants to be brown.

Merry Christmas

Well, in keeping with the Manger theme, I wanted to share our love of pets with our Christmas E-card this year!

Hope everyone has had a good year and best wishes for a great year in 2008!

Regan and Co.

My Hobby

Sorry I haven't posted (again) in a while, but the holidays are demanding. To relieve some stress and save some sanity, I've delved into an interest I've been nurturing for the last year which is terrarium building. (Since they'll be live animals living in them, you could call them vivariums)

Here are some photos of the first one I finished, a 10 gallon tank I turned on it's side and fitted with 5 living plants and a striated substrate system for drainage.

The top photo's our new little addition, Caprese (Kha-PREE-zee), and he's a Tomato Frog from Madagascar (though bred here in Texas). Right now he's the size of a very small cherry tomato, and he's bunking with the gold dust day gecko Klondike, who is also from Madagascar. They're both getting used to the their new home and doing OK so far. An interesting thing about Tomato Frogs is that they are beginning to disappear in the wild (no, not due to pet stores). Frogs are good barometers of an ecosystem, ie. if there are frogs things are ok, and if not there may be some ecological problems afoot. The species in serious jeopardy is a subspecies or cousin to the kind I have, and it could mean someday that the species may exist solely in captivity, which would be sad, but then they still discover species every day on that island, so I guess some disappear at the same rate without ever being found.

Well, that's part of the reason I've been neglectful in my blogging duties. I will be doing a year in recap around Christmas, so tune back in!

New LBKF Cover!

See the difference? Bunny's hopping instead of standing on guard! So this could be the new cover for the next few thousand book :)

Something to be Thankful For

Wow! Thanksgiving is upon us, and I'm happy to report some great news to be thankful for!

Little Bunny Kung Fu's been discovered by Borders Bookstore and they have chosen me for their "Original Voice" Award.

Here's a blurb about the award:

The Award --- consisting of a $5,000 cash prize --- recognizes "innovative and ambitious" new books and music from emerging artists, and will be presented in January to one winner in each of five categories.

Children's books is a category, and I'll be the Feb pick, so I guess Jan 09 I may win (fingers crossed).

I'm just thrilled to be going into my second major printing. I'll be tweaking the cover a little to make it a little less serious (a chance for me to include some things I've wanted to have in the first cover). They've got an order for 4500 so far! Hopefully the other big bookstores will want in on some LBKF, too, now.

I'll report when I find out more. I'm just so blown away. My own personal belief is that God is love, so when that book buyer fell in love with my book, I've got God to thank for that. Man, Life's a hoot!

Ebony and Tawny

(can be sung to the tune of Ebony and Ivory)

Ebony and Taw-ny
Live together in not quite
Harmony

Side by side
on our sofa, with Mike, Oh no,
Where is Rhi?!

*muzak to follow*


Mike with Latka, the pomeranian we're petsitting... been a little bumpy, but tonight, a reprieve.

My Birthday Wish

Yes, another year rolled by on the odometer this week, and my wish?

That People Stop Talking Through Movies in Theaters!!!

Now, that makes me sound petty, but I'm serious, it's pandemic here in Austin. And it's not like the talking in movies that I occasionally came across growing up. I don't know if Netflix or home movie watching is changing the etiquette of how people watch movies in public, but I'm paying money I worked hard for in one of my 3 jobs, and I didn't pay for the Dumbass Commentary to be playing in the seats behind me, thankyouverymuch.

What's it come to? Am I supposed to field the occupants of the seats behind us: "Hi, yes, we don't know each other, but would you say you like to run your mouth through films?" Or, Mike suggests, we make our own signs that golf officials use in tournaments "Quiet please" and then don't put them down to they do what it says (has potential).

As it is, we've already given the mindless masses the weekends and early shows, knowing that either infants or chair climbing toddlers are going to ruin it for us. So we go to the art house theaters, or a late show and crawl into bed after midnight, all because we just want to watch a movie on the big screen without someone's verbal flatulence wafting our way.

There. Is the birthday fairy listening?! Yeesh.

ps Gone Baby Gone is a great movie, just de-select the Clueless Old Ladies Commentary when you go see it.

Sorry, Mom!

Scroll down quick, Mom! Don't look!

Yes, apparently Mike and I going to a reptile Expo is a bit like an alcoholic going to Mardi Gras, though in our defense, we did leave more than we took home with us! *drum kick*

Ok, ok, there's a backstory about the hognose snake: We've been in the market for nearly 5 years. What stood in our way was that the southern and eastern hognose species were picky eaters and preferred lizards and frogs over the much easier to find frozen mice. So we had passed on the cute hognose, but then we talked to some reptile breeders who said while the other species of hognoses were finicky, the western variety is hardier and will eat mice, especially if it's only had mice. So we named our hognose Dexter, after the Showtime show by the same name that we love.

Fun facts about Hognoses (c'mon, Mom, you might like these!)

• Part of the Heterodon family of snakes, they're also called "Blow Snakes" or "Puff Adders" because when confronted, the snake flattens out his neck into a hood and hisses loudly like a cobra.
• If this doesn't work, some try to feint a strike, but since they're rear fanged, they don't actually bite (their fangs are designed to deflate frogs), so it's a bluff.
• And, best of all, if that doesn't work, they play dead. And they go all out, on their backs, belly up, mouth open and tongue out in the "Q" sign! If you turn them back over, they'll just roll back over and play dead some more. Pretty funny, huh? Dexter hasn't done any of these because he's been handled so much, but I imagine one day we'll catch him off guard.
  

Another TX Book Festival!

I'm having one of those "It's been a year already?!" days, where I realize how fast time flies. Seems like yesterday I was going to my first TX book festival and seeing Little Bunny Kung Fu early that Saturday morning for the first time, and trying not to lose it in front of the publisher, when inside I was caught between crying and shrieking.

Today was my third festival, and people came up to me while I was signing to tell me how they'd bought my book the year before and that it'd been a big hit (always fun to hear). We also heard that some signed books bought the year before brought in some big money for silent auctions they were featured in, which is great! And I'd say about a quarter of my sales today were repeat customers, one lady who almost kept the first book I'd signed for her last year, but I'd signed it to "Monica" so this year the book was for her! Those were fun folks to talk to, and they are all excited to see my next book(s) next year.

I will say, not be negative, but the TX book festival didn't get the advertising/buzz it had in years past. Jenna Bush and Kristin Gore were the headliners, but Jenna had a book signing in town just a few weeks ago. I think attendance was down today, too, but then it would when it wasn't advertised like before. I hope it's not a downward trend, because it is fun, and people really do want the festival. People from Corpus Cristi drive all the way in for it.

Well, now if feels like the holidays are upon us with the festival behind me. Whew! That year went FAST!

Happy Halloweiner!

Check out my Comic!

Yeah! I finally got the comic I worked on last weekend (19 hours straight, sorry, still sorta raw), and it's on my first official webcomic site:

http://www.webcomicsnation.com/regan/

It takes a little poking around to figure out how to navigate. Look for the "You are Here" box under the comments box (feel free to comment!). Once you see the You are Here field you can go from whatever my last page was and got to the beginning (Chapter 1). After you read the previous pages, the idea is that you'd bookmark the site (please do!), and when you check back in the newest page will be waiting for you.

After you activate the page you on by hitting "Go" or scrolling up to whatever page you want, there are some traditional buttons like forward, back, first, and last you can also use to move around. You'll get the hang of it (I mean, if I could anyone can!)

Hope you like it! :) I"ll be adding more on Monday's and we'll see where it goes.

Cover for Comic

(click on to enlarge) So here's the cover at least. Daz and Phyl are the main characters, and the rest are co-stars. Lea Hernandez, (a real life working comic), complimented my artwork at one point. She was doing a cool clay-mation project that looked really intricate. Hope I get to see it sometime. I'm playing with color, but it sort of loses something, so I may keep it black and white. Dunno yet...

Whew! The Recap!

The "Black-out" period is over, and I made it to my day job today. Man! That Sunday, I slept 10 hours, and those are day hours. Then Monday my allergies rose up against me and I got the pendulum swing from feeling on top of the world to feeling like crapolla. I've more or less evened out now, but it's a lesson that I shouldn't push myself that far unless it's for a good and/or crazy cause like 24 hour comic day.

The sad part: I didn't finish it within the official 24 period. I went 19 straight hours and my body began to fall apart. My drawing hand's nerves short circuited and I still have a tingly thumb that's not quite right yet. My eyes started seeing double from staring at my laptop monitor. And finally, while I didn't get sleepy, my brain did begin to act like a really slow processor with several virus's.

The upside: I WILL finish and post the comic here and at the webcomics.net account I've opened but haven't officially started yet. I really did like the story and it's open to continue as a weekly comic. I feel a webcomic will do me good, keep me honest and creating.

The other cool thing was somewhere in those 19 hours I gave an interview to Sean at Prism Comics. I'm a featured "Lovely Lady of 24 Hour Comics Day." Prism Comics is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the work of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) creators in the comics industry, as well as LGBT themes in comics in general. The comic I came up with has a same-sex pair of frogs living in the terrarium with all the other frogs, and that's part of why Prism interviewed me. Here's a link: http://www.prismcomics.org/display.php?id=1493

The underlying theme of "Darting Around" my dart frog comic, is that we all have to learn to share the world and get along and that no one group should think they're superior to the rest.

Now, I just have to finish the darn thing!

6 hours to go...

I don't think I'll finish in the timeline. That's not a real big deal, and there are lots of others in the same boat. The deal is I don't want to sacrifice the quality just to get it done. I'll be plenty impressed with myself if I just work for 24 hours.

I'm on page 14 artwork wise, but Photoshop started crapping out on text and may need to be re-installed, so getting the type/dialog done is iffy.

My brain's just turning to mush. Been listening to some comedians, Stephen Colbert's new book has made me laugh out loud, but it's so late that no one thinks much of it.

I'm not sleepy, which is weird at 6:16 am in the morning, having worked nonstop for 16 hours. Yeesh! I'm nuts.

Ok, on I go...

Half time

Well, half way there. And, wow... my body's not quite obeying my brain. Sorta approximating what it was told to do, but not to the letter.

My computer programs are also trying to wuss out. I'm going to push on and hope they straighten themselves out.

Gave an interview to a reporter... Can't wait to read what I said, 'cuss I have NO idea what I rambled on about!

However, I'm pretty darn proud of my little froggies. Wish they were here in person to take care of the occasional mosquito that buzzes me.

Back to work...

7 hours in

Huff, huff, huff... Ok, we have lift-off. Working on finish pages. Thinking I'm not getting to color during the challenge, but I'll come back and do it. Funny how time slips away working on logistical matters, like page size, margins, ruler guides.

I'm not sure uploading images will work from here, so sorry it's boring. I'll get a kick out of what I write later.

*insert Eye of the Tiger music*

22 hours left

still thumbnailing, but the story's coming together. The trick is knowing the end point before you run out of pages. And Eric points out if you have an extra page, it's a great opportunity for a Hostess Cupcake ad.

:)

24 hour day

well, it's started! I'm thumbnailing the comic now, and hopefully will start real pages in the next hour. The place is pretty full, and we're quietly working.

So far so goood!