Poll- Most Romantic Rescue?

I've added a poll to the blog.  Look for it on the bottom right column under the facebook & twitter links.  You'll have two weeks to vote.  The most popular result will get a sketch, so cast your lot and wait for a treat!

This Polls theme is the Most Romantic Rescue.  I've only touched the tip of the iceberg for romantic scenarios, what's your favorite situation for a star crossed pair to find themselves in?

Since I'm personally not all the coordinated, mine has to be the "Clumsy Catch." 

Rosa from Sixty Acres and a Bride by Regina Jennings

Thank you so much everyone for your amazing response at the start of this new blog!  I'm so excited.  I plan to post weekly, but have yet to pic a specific day of the week.  Please check back often, and let me know if there's any characters you want to see me draw, or if you have fan art of your own to post!

That aside, as a part of my first post I had intended to include both of Mrs. Jennings' books, but my illustration of Rosa took a little extra time, so as she well deserves, Mrs. Rosa Garner gets her very own post.

Sixty Acres and a Bride...

http://www.amazon.com/Sixty-Acres-Bride-Regina-Jennings

How can you not pick up a book with such a captivating title and cover design?  I absolutely love that the heroine of this story is a spunky young woman from down south in Mexico!  If you haven’t gotten the chance to read this debut novel by Regina Jennings, I highly recommend it.  It won’t disappoint.

There’s a lot to be said about the story, but for now, I’ll just go into my favorite part which takes place in the heart of the story and centers on a traditional Mexican dance called la Mariposa.  When I read about Rosa dancing la Mariposa I was sure I’ve seen the dance preformed before.  Growing up in San Diego, CA I was exposed to many cultural gems and got to see the traditional dancers performing at my school, in Balboa Park, and Old Town through the years.  I always loved watching the ladies twirl with their bright and colorful skirts creating such beautiful arcs of movement!  So, of course when I went to draw Rosa, I had to pose her ready to dance!

Rosa is ready to dance!

 Rosa loves to embroider so I added some detail to her blouse, inspired from the images on this site:


http://www.themexicandress.com/traditional-mexican-dress-inspiration.shtml

Weston can't handle it

When I first sketched out the idea, I thought of including Weston, but I decided to just focus on Rosa this time around.  At this point, Weston isn't too pleased with "la Mariposa" although it sure has got his blood pumping, oh my!

That's all for now, thanks for stopping by!



For further reading, Mrs. Jennings has a fun short story on her blog, a journal entry by Rosa, which was a part of a project among several author's called the Hope Chronicles.  Check it out:

The Hope Chronicles Blog Posting:
http://www.reginajennings.com/blog/hope

 The Author's Website:
http://www.reginajennings.com/

Molly from Love in the Blance by Regina Jennings

I’ve had the idea for this blog in my mind for a while now, but didn’t take the time to get it started until now. I just finished reading “Love in the Balance” by Regina Jennings and have been itching to draw Regina’s characters since I read her first book, “Sixty Acres and a Bride,” so I figure now is the perfect time to get started. There’s an endless supply of material when you start looking to novel characters for illustration inspiration, so I hope that these sketches are the first of many more to come!

Love in the Balance...

 http://www.amazon.com/Love-Balance-Regina-Jennings

“Love in the Balance” has a lot of great scenes that would be fun to illustrate, but when I think of the main character Molly, I think of her as a friend who I just want to shop and play dress up with all day long.  I picture her having great fashion sense despite her humble settings, and really knowing how to do up her hair!  I love the book cover above, but I always pictured her hair up in curls instead.

Whenever I want to draw a character in period dress, half the fun is researching style references.  One of my favorite sites to frequent is: http://www.fashion-era.com The link will take you the their page on hair fashions from 1870-1900!

I did this sketch of Molly getting her hair done, but sort of lost it with her hand maid.  That's what I get for drawing only her hands first!  She came out looking kind of scary.. maybe a little too much like O'Brian from Downton Abbey...

Towards the end of the story, Molly does some serious book work & uses her hair ribbons to mark the pages.

How I picture Ms. Molly Lovelace, pretty & perfect!

Aside from sketching, I do also enjoy writing reviews, but thought that drawings would make a much more interesting blog than just another review site.  Still, if you haven’t read the book, check out what I, and others have to say about it: http://www.amazon.com/review/

 The Author, Regina Jenning's Website:
http://www.reginajennings.com/