Featured on... Balance My Life

I have some very exciting news!!! I have been featured  in a great online women's magazine called Balance My Life. This magazine focuses on how to "balance your life" with all that today's multitasking  moms  face in their hectic lives. I know I have fallen into the conundrum of putting everyone and everything before myself. I think as moms we often selflessly put ourselves on the bottom of the priority list. This magazine reminds us that we are also women who deserve to give ourselves some ME time and have fun, and strive to reach important goals for our own personal growth and fulfillment.  It features great advice, inspirational articles, entrepreneurial tips and fun girly events to encourage us to include ourselves in the equation and reclaim our spot in that family balance. After all, a well balanced, happy mommy makes for a better mommy, wife and family unit.

I wrote an article about my journey of self discovery during my years as a stay at home mom and the decision to change careers and go into Children's Book Illustration. It is featured in the WORK section entitled Go For It- Second Career.

I want to send a big "Thank You" to Kenda Blum, the founder of Balance My Life , for the opportunity to write this article for her magazine. She is a creative dynamo to be admired as she also runs the web design and print company Kiwibcreative, and is a busy mom.....wow, now that is multitasking at its finest. :-)

So.... if any of you mommies out there are nodding in agreement as you read this post, and want to get some great ideas about how to achieve more "balance"(don't we all??)....DO pop over to their site and check it out....you'll love it! :)

I've joined a Critique Group!!

Hi everyone, I am soooo excited to announce that I have been invited to join the Creative Cup Illustrators Critique Group. I want to express my thanks to Stacia of Espial Design, the blog's moderator, for the invitation. I have just posted my first post to introduce myself, so if you get a chance please do check it out. I have been a fan of the blog for a while and have aways wanted to join a critique group, so when they posted about wanting to add some new members, I  jumped at the opportunity. I am very honoured to join, as there are some fabulous illustrators in this group and it will be so great to bounce around ideas and get valuable feedback. I can't wait to get involved and get to know the other great artists of the group!

Up to the cottage we go.....

Well, the day is finally here....after hours of packing and organizing, and ticking of my big list, we are finally heading north to the cottage. The above photo is 3 out of my 4 kiddos on the dock last summer. They are so excited that they have been busy packing their "treasures" in their little backpacks since the beginning of the week. So cute. Lets hope the rain in the forcast is only a sprinkle, and they can get out to enjoy. I packed full rain-gear just in case.

I can't even bring any of my plasticine illo.s to work on. I don't want to risk a big smoosh accident during transit. Just have to bring my sketch book I guess.

Wishing my fellow Canucks a Happy Victoria Day Long Weekend!

Now to tackle the dreaded drive north in rush hour traffic.....oh my...car toys -check, snacks -check, extra-strength advil -check, patience -double check. ;)

Long weekend is almost here!!

I don't know about you but if you are "cottagers" like our family, you have a count-down going until the first trip to the cottage each year. Well, it looks like we will be going up for the first time this coming long weekend and I'm sooo excited!! My kids have the cottage life "in their blood" too, and have been squealing with delight knowing that we are going very very soon. They have even started packing and keep asking "how many more sleeps 'til we are at the cottage?" They crack me up!!
To honour this first exciting trip of the season I have posted a favorite cottage portrait of mine that I did for my cousin. This illustration was a memorial piece I did for him as his father had just recently passed away from a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. The Muskoka chairs in the illustration symbolize the good times and quite moments they shared hanging out on the deck together at the cottage. I chose to put a favorite personal item on each chair too, knowing my cousin would really appreciate the reference.  My uncle loved his well-worn Tilley hat, so I put that special hat resting on one chair, and resting against the other, I placed my cousins favorite baritone Saxophone. He was really touched by the piece and I'm glad to know that it brings back a flood of warm memories whenever he looks at it. :)

New Blog Header Illustration!

As part of my Mother's Day gift my wonderful hubby took all 4 kiddies to my inlaws for the afternoon and evening to let me have some quiet time to work on my art....I know, I know, I am SOOOO lucky to have such a supportive and fabulous hubby. He is the best!
 So I managed to finish up the "Little Mice" plasticine illo that I thought I'd use as a header for a while. Well, in my haste to get this cute new header illustration finally completed, I completely forgot to take a few photos during the process. Opps, my bad. So I'll have to do another plasticine tutorial showing my final steps on another illustration.
By the way, if anyone out there can tell me how to center a custom header within it's border I'd love it if you could share this info with me! That slight misalignment is bugging me, so I will continue to try to sort that out. I think it will be fun to "change it up" from time to time to keep things fresh! I'd love to hear what everyone thinks, so please do leave me a comment if you can :)

Happy Mother's Day!!!

In honour of all of those fabulous mommies out there who strive to follow their artistic passion; be a supportive wife/partner; and most importantly, be the BEST mommy they can be, this " virtual bouquet" of sunflowers is for YOU!

I painted this, oh my, about errrr... 13 years ago, when I was experimenting with Impressionism with my acrylics. But I thought it was fitting for today. I just love the old masters of Impressionism. There is something so liberating about laying on think splotches of paint, and using a vibrant colour palette. Such freedom! I really admire this style, as it is a very challenging one, I think. I guess that's because I am naturally the type of person who love to include tiny details in my work, it invites the viewer to look more closely.  That's one of the reasons why I love the medium of plasticine. I get the best of both worlds. I can do tiny details and textures when I'm doing foreground subjects, and I can be more loose and mix my colours with gusto to achieve a more impressionistic style too, like with my water reflections.  Such fun :)

So I want to wish a "Happy Mother's day" to all of the great Mothers and Grandmothers out there. I hope your special day is filled with sloppy kiddie smooches and cuddles!!! And I hope your enjoy your bouquet!

In full "Teacher Appreciation Gift" mode

                                          Mrs.B's class of '09
                                          Originally uploaded by sdelrizzo

It is that time of year again. Time to get crackin' on my kiddies teacher appreciation gifts. I am working on 3 this year, and since I don't want to give anything away at this point, I thought I'd show you another from last year.
This one was for my eldest son's amazing grade 2 teacher. She was so fabulous, and always went above and beyond. I had great fun with this one, as I tried to capture the kids' personalities in the illustration.
My oldest son is depicted in the foreground...yes that 's him, the goofy one with the present balanced precariously on his head.
I was lucky to have a fellow teacher/friend sneak into her classroom and snap a bunch of photos to use a reference. Luv the rug!
Now enough procrastinating for me...let get back to work :)

Yoda Cake!

I finished my Yoda Star Wars cake last night for my son's best friend's party today. What do you think?
I had a bit of trouble with the arms as they were wanting to sag and fall off, so I added a walking stick to prop one arm up and hid some support under his cloak for the other arm. If I didn't tell ya would you have noticed? I sure hope not :)
The weather forecast is for thundershowers this afternoon-yikes, fondant will melt if exposed to rain...I sure hope  the rain holds off until I delivery the cake.
I can't wait to see the look on the birthday boy's face when he sees his special cake, it will be sooooo worth it!