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!

I am so excited to learn that the book I finished illustrating earlier this year, Jamila Does Not Want A Bat In Her House, which was written by my wonderfully talented writer friend Phyllis Edgerly Ring, is about to be released in the next month or so by The US Baha'i Publishing Trust's subsidiary, Bellwood press!  Below is the artwork for the cover of Jamila..... minus the title text. If you would like to know more about the author of this book, please check out her inspiration blog here!https://phyllisedgerlyring.wordpress.com/

We have been attending several Fall fairs in the last few weeks starting with the Franklin County Fair in Western Mass. a couple of weekends ago! It is actually held in my home town of Greenfield, Mass. I was especially excited, not only because I was able to visit with family and old friends while I was there, some of whom I haven't seen in many years, but also because, with the help of my husband I was able to offer for the first time- my caricatures, silhouettes and portraits on tee-shirts! A realistic pencil drawing I did at the Franklin County Fair in Mass. A caricature of my grand nephew Jacob on a tee shirt- drawn at the Franklin County Fair. A sweet family who posed for me at the Fair in Mass. My sweet hubby Larry puts my drawings and silhouettes on tee-shirts if people request them, right on the spot at Fairs and also if ordered through my Etsy shop! https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/466749406/adult-custom-caricature-on-a-tee-shirt?ref=shop_home_ac...

Whenever I cut silhouettes at an event people are always asking me how I learned to cut a likeness of a person in under five minutes.  It's hard to answer that in the few minutes I have with the people I do silhouettes of.  So I usually just say that I've been drawing faces my whole life, and when I learned from watching a documentary in 2009, that the art of the silhouette was still sought after, I  just went online and looked up the few other silhouette artists still working, and taught myself by looking at their methods.  So with a very sharp pair of scissors( mine, which I got from Walmart and aren't fancy, but are very sharp) and black silhouette paper, (black on one side, white on the other) which I now order from an Etsy shop, I sit in a chair a little ways away from the subject, and cut their silhouette just by looking at their profile. No pre-drawing, no tracing a shadow, no lights.  My figure drawing class in art school was probably th...