Fall - The story of Za

This is the story of Za - a leaf collector in the Kingdom of Zoop. All through the year Za eagerly awaits fall. This is the time when her job really begins. She wakes up early in the morning and collects uncrushed leaves fell overnight, carefully examining each one and picking up only most brightly hued, unblemished and perfectly formed.

Why leaves? Well, the Kingdom of Zoop needs leaves to make dwellings for its people. During fall, citizens of Zoop come together few hours a day and use leaves Za collected to reinforce their homes in preparation for the upcoming winters. Someone predicted winters would be particularly strong this year.

Fall, available for purchase here.

Romeo in love

Hello friends! How's it going? I have been good, a little distracted but good :)

Today I want to share the story behind this 'Romeo in love' illustration. A few weeks ago,  I saw a bunch of little plastic animals at Target - Elephant, Giraffe, Lion, Tiger, Penguin etc. I picked them up hoping to turn a few of them into painted animal glass jars (tutorial here) and the rest into party animals (tutorial here). 

Once home I placed them on the corner of my desk, hoping to get around to painting them in a day or two. A few weeks passed... The more I saw them, the more I fell in love with the little fellows. The amazing detailing on each of their bodies was too beautiful to paint over! I could not get myself to cover their gorgeous markings with solid color. 

Instead I cut out a little heart shaped eye patch for my giraffe and turned him into a Romeo. It didn't quite stay the way I wanted but, the illustration shows how it would look if I had Martha Stewart skills. 

Romeo in love, available for purchase here.

Let it snow

Too early to be thinking about snow? I know! For the past few days I have been working on some holiday themed illustrations and thus the festive mood! It all stared with the Santa Claus illustration (I talked about it here) and now I have ornaments, cardinals, sledges and snowmen occupying my mind. 

Believe it or not, Christmas is lurking round the corner :)

Let it snow, available for purchase here.

Apples

Whoo-hoo! It's apple picking season! At the beginning of fall, Tarun and I like to pack a picnic lunch and head out for some apple-picking mayhem at our favorite Orchard. While we wait for the hay ride to arrive we browse through the shops, sample their fall deserts and drink lots of apple cider (what can I say, Linvilla has the best Cider around!). Once into the orchard we savor the fall sunshine, smell the wildflowers and fill our buckets with perfectly ripened apples. There is something heavenly about biting into a ripe apple plucked straight from the tree!

Once home we look forward to drinking lots of fresh pressed Apple Ginger Juice. Here is my favorite recipe.

Do you love apple picking? What do you do with all your apple loot?  

Apples, available for purchase here. 

The Debonair Lion

Hello everyone! I'm so excited to share today's illustration with you all!! It's a very handsome Lion - all dressed up and ready for a night out. 

It all started a few days ago at the mall. While walking out of the food court I crossed paths with a gentleman with the most gorgeous beard and moustache! He was a cross between Santa (because of his snow white beard and moustache)  and Lion ( because of his piercing eyes and walk). We walked away in different directions but his face stayed with me, metamorphosing from a human to a human like lion to a serious Santa Claus. Needless to say I couldn't focus on anything else that day. 

I started working on both the Lion and Santa versions that evening. I finished the lion first and the serious Santa should be done in a day or so too!

What do you think?

The Debonair Lion, available for purchase here.