Happy August to you all!! Coming into your inbox right on time this month! As you recall I poked my head in late for July due to some incredibly unforeseen circumstances....a Hurricane!

The hurricane truly was not on my radar until I found out it was heading towards Cancun where a friend of mine was vacationing. I checked in on her while she was there to see her game plan, and once she told me they were going to leave a day early to miss it, I relaxed and put the hurricane back out of my mind. Then suddenly news alerts popped up that the hurricane had taken a turn and would hit Houston. I did a spit take, a "say what!", and a gasp simultaneously. So a relaxing weekend that Ricky and I planned turned into a frantic hurricane prep escapade. We cleaned up the backyard, tucking things into the garage, grabbed some non-perishables from the grocery store, and nabbed some gas for the generator if it came to it. Feeling prepared and ready, we watched the news. Throughout the day, the hurricane was slowing from a Category 2 down to a Category 1, so we felt a bit more relaxed and confident that it would be manageable once it made landfall.
The hurricane hit overnight Sunday into Monday morning. Ricky, Leonora, Frankie, and I sat and watched the rain and wind whipping through the neighborhood. The wind gusts topped out at 90 mph, and the eye of the storm was only 20 miles west of our house (Holy Bananas, I know!). We oddly didn't lose power until after the storm passed. Our house was fine, just some minor fence damage and a ton of tree debris. Everyone in our neighborhood went into clean-up mode outside once the storm passed, and we saw many trees having fallen on homes (we count ourselves lucky!). We got our generator up and running to protect Leonora's breast milk in the freezer and power our devices while we waited for the electricity to come back on.

We figured it would take a minute to regain power, but we didn't expect it to take 3.5 days. And as the days went on, the temperatures started rising. We were sweaty messes, to say the least, and found ourselves seeking refuge in any place with A/C that allowed dogs inside (Hello True Anomaly). I painted to meet a few deadlines as much as I could handle in the morning. And then we left the house once the heat became too unbearable. We eventually lost internet, making phone calls and most texts impossible. There are still texts from folks that I never received. We embraced the waiting game until our power came back on (what else can you do?), but it was a sweaty wait, to say the least.
It's been a few weeks now, and everyone has power back (it was over a week for many homes), but our streets are still piled high with tree debris. While the situation was a lot, I found it best to just accept it for what it was; otherwise, it would have made my sweating feel that much worse. We grilled out for dinner, read books, and restaurant/coffee shop-hopped to anywhere that had power. We embraced the rain, if you will. Shortly after we got power back, I started painting this cute little rain number for a personal project that I will be sharing soon.

I recorded this coming together and compiled it into a little video for you to watch at your leisure below with some relaxing rainy vibes. I know most people don't like the rain, but I find it to be both relaxing and cozy (yes, even in a hurricane haha). I included more moments of pause in the video than normal...more moments where I'm switching colors or thinking through what direction I want to head next or thinking of how best to fix a mark I didn't like. I loved painting this, but often with every painting I question if I need to start over or re-do a section. Sometimes I allow myself that luxury, but usually, I just push through and embrace the marks and paint strokes that were made and see where it takes me. Much like the hurricane, I accepted the painting wasn't perfect but that it would all work out in the end. (see what I did there....real full circle moment).
I will see you all in September.
Enjoy your August and the last bits of summer as we slowly start to slip into my favorite time of year (ahem...Autumn)
xoxo
Rachel

(sneak peek from one of the pages of my book)
Well, June has just zipped by in a panic wouldn't you say? Mine was filled with happy festivities, indulgent treats, and progress on a book that has been sitting on hold, yet again, for the past year. You may recall that I wrote a book about 7 years ago and became utterly immobilized when it came time to illustrate it (you can find that post here). To be honest, I put so much pressure on myself to not mess up, that I ultimately set it aside in a mental lockbox for another day. Every year I would revisit the story, opening the box, dusting it off, reading it, and then without fail putting it straight back into the lockbox. Last year, however, was a little different...when I pulled the story out, a few ideas popped in my head, and I started sketching out thumbnails and pictures. I felt like it was going to finally be the year that I had the courage to finish it. I sketched out each page, tweaked the wording, and even started playing around with painting styles. Well a funny thing happened.....not so funny I guess...I just plum didn't have the time to work on it any further with other client projects and having a baby. So, back in the lockbox she went for another year.

(thumbnail sketches of the book)
When February and March came around and I was back to work full time I started peaking into the lockbox once more....but this time felt a little different. I was seeing it in a new light...I was inspired to change the sketches and reformat things. I would spend an hour each day doodling on my iPad, percolating different angles and styles so that my little book could come to light. Then for a month straight I worked and re-worked different illustration and color styles, questioning myself, researching, and ultimately landing on the look that I wanted. One day, I stepped back and realized I had fully illustrated an entire page. And then a week later, I hated it, and started over. Another week later, I stepped back and felt excited that this time I was where I wanted to be.

(sketches of two page layouts)
So, friends, I write to you in the beginning of July, and I officially have 18 pages illustrated. Some weeks I illustrated in a frenzy, and others I didn't pick it up at all. I've constantly felt behind on the schedule I set for myself in the Spring, but I'm persisting...and isn't that the point? I included some pics for you, behind-the-scenes, sneak peeks, or whatever you want to call them of this book in color. I'm really excited about it, but primarily I'm finding myself in a state of flow enjoying the process. When I finish I want to be able to say I had fun making this, and that's what is guiding me every time I set aside an hour to work on it.

(Originally I had planned to paint the pages - these were test pages, but it just didn't feel right with what I envisioned in my head)
The words will get another re-write I'm sure, and the trepidation is definitely not over, but for now I'm excited and anxious to share it with you, my little pet project, when it is all finished...eventually. I remember in college a professor said a painting is never done, you just decide to stop working on it. Woof, do I feel that!!!!
Below are some screenshots of a few pages....what is this story about? It's about a silly adventure filled with quirky and silly imaginative vibes...oh and it rhymes (I love a good rhyming book! I felt this way before having a baby, but I love rhyming stories even more after reading countless books to Leonora)

I decided on a very Pencil sketched out style using my IPad. Above is my main character with a few friends she meets along the way.

I wanted a warm color palette and a looser style of pencil. The ipad allowed me to play with this look more than paper.

Another sneak peek of a current illustration. Having so much fun being silly with these
I truly am so excited to share these sneaky photos. I know I will re-work all of these some more at the end, and I also know it is so possible that the book will be put on pause once more. But fingers crossed, if that happens, it will only be temporary.
Until next month,
Rachel

Hello my Beautiful Butterflies and Happy June to you all.
It has been kind of a wild May, to say the least - and I say wild in a very loose sense. We've been battling being sick on and off all month long. Leonora caught her first bug from daycare and it took us all down for two weeks. All of our friends told us we would get sick once she went into daycare but we just have to stick it out. And honestly, I consider it lucky that it took 2 months for the sickness madness to begin.
We also had a lovely little cabin getaway in Austin for Mother's Day weekend (whilst battling being sick), then lost power for 48 hours in Houston the following weekend from a crazy storm. We rounded out the month with a birthday weekend for Ricky with activities, treats, and shopping. It was a pretty crazy month of life but fun and relaxing all at the same time. There's something so nice about not having a gazillion options on the table. When you're sick you just sit still and be sick. When you don't have power you pivot and figure out what to do and embrace the simpleness of it all. It of course has its negatives....it's no fun being sick, but looking on the positive side it can be nice to sit still and make the most of the bad situation.
While nursing our illnesses and hanging out without power, we spent an immense amount of time admiring Leonora's growth. She started crawling which has been mesmerizing to watch, but it's also been so fun to see her interact with our dog Frankie. He loves giving her kisses and lying with her on the ground, but she loves to stare at him and laugh. This growing bond between them made me think of this painting I made last fall. I was very pregnant....think 8 months-ish. My bump was popping and I was working on a few different commissioned pieces before my due date was fast approaching. A client reached out to have me create an illustration of her daughter with her pup taking a stroll in the city. The pics she sent of her little one with her pup were sooooo adorable and of course, had me imagining what my Frankie and baby girl would be like together as she got older. It's so bananas to think back at that time now.
I loved how cute this little painting turned out and so I decided to share it with all of you for this month's post. Back in the fall, I compiled a relaxing timelapse video of the painting with the intent to share it on social media, and I never got around to it before Leonora was born. But better late than never here it is. You can watch the video below OR for my non-video peeps I compiled some photos and words below if that's more your jam.
I hope you enjoy it!
After transferring the image to watercolor paper, I started painting in the background cityscape. Because I was in the fall mindset I kept the colors very muted and in that palette.
I gradually added in the windows and awnings of all of the cute and wonky buildings.

I think my favorite part was adding in all of the shades on the windows, and imagining what people lived there and what they were up to.

After finishing up the city background details I moved on to our main character and pup. I painted both in a likeness of the pics my client sent along and added some fall leaves on the ground. (clearly, Fall was on the brain!)

I was so tickled by how cute this painting turned out. I just wanted to jump into the illustration and take a walk with them.

I can't believe looking at this painting now before my baby was here, imagining what she would look like and how she and Frankie would get along. And now seeing them interact is such a joy.
I hope you enjoyed this post and that your June is free of sickness but full of simple moments to take it slow and appreciate what's around you.
Cheers, and Happy Summer!! Rachel