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/