Seven days to go!

I've got one week before Aaron and I go to Europe! am I excited? OH YEAH!!!, I have this feeling that we both need to get away for a bit, it's been a crazy 2 years of lots and lots of work and it's exciting to just go and relax and hike and just open our eyes to the world, very much needed.
I also decided I want to have a little art journal to take with me, I don't want to be carrying loads of art supplies(mainly cause I want to buy them all haha). My goal is to paint while I'm on vacation as well as for the future, just painting whenever I'm out, document whats around me...in a way just teaching me to slow down and look at whats around me, take in the beauty of the world...especially now since we are all so consumed with are cell phones and computers.
Here's what I'm bringing!

Not a lot, but that's how I'd like to keep it, I can only imagine what art supplies I can get there...even though I can get them here it's just nice to know that I got these paints in Austria or Italy...you get the picture:).
So here is what I have, a sea sponge...for cleaning brushes and adding effects to my work(yeah double duty!)
I got a travel Cotman case...no need for the professional paints here...and just in case I'm in the airport and they want to throw this away...you never know these days:). My micron pen, a mechanical pencil and eraser and a water brush. A super tiny bag and journal...not a watercolour journal but it does the trick:).

Now since I was talking about sketchbooks I just received a new one recently:) Made by Dragons Den, they are now making leather works with my artwork on them! I will have more designs coming out in the New year and they will have a website coming out soon!!!

Based off my painting "Dragons Hoard" I love it! can't wait to fill it up with some new sketches as well:).

Here's a sketch I've been working on recently.

I'll probably start painting here when I get back from my trip as well as some other sketches!.
Alright I'm off to pack:)

Royal Medieval Faire

My last outdoor show of the year!!!! come and join me:)
http://www.royalmedievalfaire.org/
It's going to be sunny and cool, Fall is in the air!:)

The Lost Machine

I just finished a new book which I got from my friend Richard A. Kirk who is also an amazing artist.
I thought I should mention it here on my little blog, because I LOVED it! and just had to share!.

The Lost Machine is a novella written and illustrated by Richard a.Kirk
Here's a little about the book taken from the site, because no matter how hard I try the description is way better from the site then anything I could ever write...basically all I can say is that I absolutely adore this book! it's one of those novels that is so descriptive, it's so easy to see it in your mind and you just can't put it down.
From the Lost Machine page:


In a wasteland ravaged by plague, Lumsden Moss steps out of a decaying prison. Armed with a satchel of yellowed notebooks containing the fragile memories of five murdered children, he is determined to track down and confront their killer. Lumsden accompanied by a stranger, begins a long journey to the vast City of Steps where he is forced to confront the horrors of the past and present.

“A crow, chased by smaller birds, rose from a wind sculpted tree. Twisted strands of grass emerged from the snow and rattled against the crust, but it was a person standing in the yard that caught his attention and set his heart racing. Moss looked over his shoulder. Going back inside was unthinkable. Seeing that the gates were loose, the locking mechanism brutalized, he shoved them outward. The dry hinges juddered, showering the bricks with rust that looked like flakes of dried blood.”

What Richard has succeeded in doing here is to draw a dark,strangely beautiful world—a world uniquely his own (which I would love to see more of by the way)... He has made his places real and his people breath.

Mike Mignola, award-winning creator/writer/artist of Hellboy

I can't wait till Richards new book comes out, So if your looking for a new book to check out, have a look at The Lost Machine:)

You can purchase the book here:Purchase The Lost Machine

Richard A. Kirk website(his amazing artworks!): http://www.richardakirk.com