Caricatures, Silhouettes and Illustrations by Leona Hosack

I tried to get this blog post out yesterday but my computer was down . It's back up now, so I'm sharing some more mandalas today! I've been keeping a mandala sketchbook for a couple of years now. I find it almost as effective  as meditating and is a  calming and reflective activity that helps me center myself, and gives me what I need to move on positively in my day. I enjoy adding quotes from my favorite authors! Here are some samples from my sketchbook, which is a small beautiful leather sketchbook, which was given to me by a friend a couple of years ago. "If anxiety tells you to seek greener pastures, remember that desire is your navigator, while anxiety is a witless liar" A great quote from Martha Beck! Just a soothing design! "Ye are the stars in the heaven of understanding..." From The Baha'i Writings. My little leather sketchbook. Happy Drawing!

I love doodling! And doodling in the form of Mandalas is something I've been doing a lot lately- just for fun! It's very relaxing and meditative to me. And sometimes I work in a quote that I like! So I am devoting every Monday's blog post to sharing some of my mandalas! The quote below is from the Baha'i Writings. And this quote is also from the Baha'i Writings! The marks at the left are a record of the type of lines I used in this Mandala. Happy Drawing!

The cover art for Jamilla Does Not Want A Bat In Her House soon to be available from www.bahaibookstore.com So excited that soon (hopefully in time for the Baha'i winter holiday called Ayyam-i-ha, in February) the picture book Jamilla Does Not Want A Bat In Her House, written by Phyllis Ring and illustrated by me, will be released by Bellwood Press! This is the first sketch I came up with for page 3 of the book. I ended up changing the format when I learned more of what the editors wanted in terms of size and shape. Jamila watching her parents trying to catch the bat! In the text it mentions Jamila getting dizzy watching the bat fly, so I decided to add some lines and stars to show the dizziness! The color version of page 3! And h ow do you go about developing a character for a children's book anyway?  Below is a great video by my favorite illustration teacher Will Terry on how to do just that!   Happy Drawing!

Well, It's the start of a new year again, right? Time to take stock of what you accomplished in the last year and make new goals for this new one? Right? Oil Painting of a girl in yellow dress by me. I've looked at quite a few videos concerning goal making, especially for artists and freelancers, and the one thing I'd like to say about goal setting is: that if it makes you feel happy and excited I would go ahead with it, but if trying any goal setting method makes you miserable or makes you feel like it's a hopeless cause, why bother?  Anyway I like this video and found it especially helpful. Hope you will too!