My Children's Book - A Preview

There's a Shark in the Toilet! by Tammy Hext | BOOK INFO

My children's book is finally ready and here is a sneak preview. I just received a copy in the mail yesterday and I am really pleased with the quality. The story is based on a dream my son was having when he was toilet training. I turned his fear into a fun little story where he saves the day in the end. He is really proud of the book and has been busy showing it to all his friends and our neighbours. If you wish to purchase a copy, just follow the link to the blurb store.

Coffee Break

This is a portrait of Al and his coffee. I had a challenging perspective for this portrait and struggled to get the proportions just right.

Sunset

Here is another sunset. Getting things to recede in a square format is a little trickier than when you use a rectangle. I like the square because it seems less traditional a format. Anyone else have thoughts on their favourite format?

Whizzing By

This is a small study for a larger painting. I am trying to work out what black I will use - a more brown one or blue one. I used a more brown based one here and I think it works well with the orange and reds of a sunset.

Palette Knife Portraits - Slideshow

Here is a slideshow of some of my recent palette knife portraits. The first and last portrait shown is of a friend - Haydain Neale of Jacksoul who passed away late last year. The music is by Jacksoul.

In a Hat

The portrait group I joined met again last night and I struggled with this one. I think if I had stopped at the two hour mark I might have been happier. Parts I am very pleased with, and some areas I wish I had pushed further - sometimes three hours is too much time and sometimes just not enough.

Children's book project - update

Here is another of the paintings for the book project I am working on. I am using a company called Blurb to self publish the book. They provide you with the software, you do all the work and they send you a finished book when you are done. They have an on-line store where your book can also be purchased. Once I have one and see that it printed well I will post a link so you can have a sneak peak at the contents.

Children's book project

For the last few days I have been working on a children's book that was inspired by a dream my son was having when we were toilet training him. In his dream there was a shark living in our toilet. I have been mulling this idea around for a year and started the pictures in pencil and watercolour. I was never quite satisfied with them and a fellow Toronto artist and teacher - Ed Shawcross had a look at them and suggested that I am an oil painter and should paint these images in oil. Well Ed - I could kiss you because this little idea I have been tossing around has now turned into 20 rocking little paintings. (Ed is currently working on a website and just wowed me when we met for coffee a while back. He can draw the human figure from his head with outstanding accuracy - I was in awe watching him work out my drawings and show me where I could improve them.) Thanks Ed!

I will post more on this book once I am finished. I am pleased with how it is panning out and my son is so excited now that he can see the pictures.