Portfolio Critique, French Bulldog Sketches

April 25, 2008September 10, 2019 / still a dreamer / 12 Comments

At the end of my workday, I decided to tool around some web sites and be inspired by other artists’ and illustrators’ work. This coming Monday I’ll be attending my first Illustrators’ Conference ever. I am truly excited.

I’m looking forward to having my current portfolio reviewed, and receiving advice as to how to properly make it a children’s book illustration portfolio. Also, to hear what art directors and agents have to say about the current market, what they’re looking for, how to get there, etc.

So then, after looking at these fabulous web sites, I’m wondering why I don’t have more of my own latest work on my own web site and/or blog. OK – one reason? The shoemaker’s kids are always the last to get shoes. I do everyone else’s work most days and am really over by the end of the long days. Other days, I focus more on my writing. Additions to my blog are more often on the writing side of my talent. Time to present myself more as the artist I am! So ….

Below are 3 recent French Bulldog sketches, featuring the subject matter of much of my artwork … Frenchies. You can also buy a great assortment of French Bulldog cards and prints on my web site, with new items added periodically. Just click the link and look!

I particularly was looking to do images of the faces resting on the floor so you could see how those little jowls spread out and how sweet they looked.

Some of my French Bulldog sketches are in preparation for illustrating one or more of my current children’s book stories which feature Frenchies as characters.

Other times they are in preparation of my artwork which is featured quarterly in Just Frenchies magazine. Hope you enjoy these little munchkins.

Find French Bulldog cards and art here.

Please note: All illustrations, drawings and photographs on this site are © Jeanne Balsam and may not be reproduced in any format without written permission. Thank you!

Short Quote

April 23, 2008June 13, 2008 / still a dreamer

“Tread softly! all earth is holy ground.
It may be, could we look with seeing eyes,
This spot we stand on is a Paradise …”

– Christina Rossetti, Later Life: A Double Sonnet of Sonnets

Book Meme Tag

April 18, 2008April 18, 2008 / still a dreamer / 4 Comments

Ahhh – that Sheri – tagged me again! Problem is – I still don’t know anyone who has a blog!

But I’m going for it and I have an idea … here’s what Sheri’s site says –

To play blogger tag, here’s what you have to do.

Grab the nearest book.
Open to page 123.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the next three sentences.
Tag five people and post a comment to Sheri once you’ve posted your 3 sentences.

I’m in my office so chose something from a bookcase downstairs. It’s from a short story, “The Little Room”, written by Madelene Yale-Wynne in 1895. The story is from a favorite collection of mine called “Haunted Women.”

5th Sentence: “I know you will like Hiram, Roger; he is quite a character in his own way.”

Next 3: “Mamma said she remembered, or thought she remembered, having been sick once, and she had to lie quietly for some days on the lounge; then was the time she had become so familiar with everything in the room, and she had been allowed to have the shell to play with all the time. She had had her toast brought to her in there, with make-believe tea. It was one of her pleasant memories of childhood; it was the first time she had been of any importance to anybody, even herself.”

Now since I am not in the larger blogging community, what I can do is e-mail 5 people who write, (but have no blogs), and ask them to add to my site if inspired. And we’ll see what we see!

Good TV Music

April 9, 2008April 10, 2008 / still a dreamer / 3 Comments

Music has the phenomenal power to totally alter our moods, to make us laugh or cry, and to make us experience what a director in movies and TV want us to feel. Only because there is just one current show where I feel the music is truly memorable do I write this today. (But there were others in the past.)

That show is Boston Legal. Each time I watch it, I am always struck by the blues-y singing bringing us back from commercial or leading us in, the soulful guitar solos underpinning the points a cast member is making in court, or the yowzy upbeat notes when Gerry does a happy dance. For me, the music just underscores the juxtaposition of wackiness and dead serious attention to compelling issues that makes Boston Legal the show it is. I think it’s actually part of why I watch — the music is an extraordinary element of the show itself.

Perhaps no coincidence that the producer of Boston Legal – David E. Kelley – was also the producer of Ally McBeal, another show that was a favorite of mine, and again totally immersed in music. The unforgettable dancing baby that appeared in hallucinations to Ally to “I’ve Just Got A Feeling”, (or whatever the real name might have been), has made history, but her dancing to the song was every bit as memorable. Music was totally integrated into Ally McBeal and in part, why it was such a draw. Vonda Shepherd made a name for herself from Ally McBeal, but again, well-chosen music underscored the wackiness of the show and gave it tremendous appeal.

But perhaps the most memorable use of music in a TV show for me was in Twin Peaks; I can hear the opening music to this day, 18 years later. The music was all written by Angelo Badalamenti, and while dark and brooding, it set the tone for a mystery set in an eerie town with unusual, (to say the least), characters in bizarre situations. Twin Peaks was far ahead of its time as a television show, but again, the music created a mood that deeply enriched our experience of this series.

I keep listening, but I’m not hearing much nowadays on TV where the music is drawing me to a show the way these did, and how Boston Legal does currently. Then again, I don’t watch a lot of TV, so don’t bother with scores of cable stations. I’d like to think there’s more innovation and creativity out there in engaging our ears as well as our eyes.

Moods of the Delaware

March 9, 2008August 29, 2011 / still a dreamer / 4 Comments

It was a long, grey, stormy day in which torrents of rain fell hour after hour. Puddles swelled into small lakes in the streets. There was no point in getting the mail. Each momentary letting up was quickly followed by sheets of rain cascading from the sky. It had been predicted to end around 5 pm, and indeed small patches of brightness blew in and right on out, chased by more, though shorter, bursts of rain.

In one of those brief intermissions, I caught sight of the Delaware River at the end of my block. Lying between her banks, as there often is in damp weather, was a cloud. No fog brushed the earth, just a cloud exhaling on top of the waters. I ran down with my camera – it was nearly gone by the time I got there, but still visible.

And then came the wind. No sooner had the rain stopped and pushed in an obligatory patch or two of sun, than extraordinarily high speed winds whipped through the trees, dislodging anything not secured on the ground. Electrical failures began switching off lights all over the area. I was thankful – mine stayed on. Between the rain and the winds, the Delaware was predicted to reach flood stage at some points along its banks nearby.

Here, late Sunday afternoon, the sun was heading down in the blue western sky and the Delaware rushed madly by. Brown-ish blue, the water was very high and its speed dangerous. But in all its moods, whether languidly dreaming or racing to the sea, the river is a richness and a gift to be near.

Just in … my friend who had been up visiting last year had also taken a beautiful photo of the river. It was summer and the Delaware was in her glory.