Parasail/Zipline Website Template | Free Website Template

I did some designing over the Christmas and New Year's holiday. I've created several free website templates for my website StorehouseBuilder.com. This is one of my latest.

Guess the number of tiny little squares I had to make for the background texture and you win a prize! :-) (Not really.)

If you like it, you can download it here:
Parasail/Zipline Website Template

White Boxer Dog | Sketchbook

I tried a new product today and loved it - Art Graf Black Carbon.

I did a little sketching to start, and then dove in. The black carbon can be used wet or dry. The very bold darks that I achieved came though dipping the carbon in water.

Cheshire Cat | Pastel

Here's my latest - Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. He's such a kooky cat. I hope you enjoy it!

Prints and iPhone cases at Pixals.com:

Pizza Chef (Pen) | Sketchbook

Here's a ball point pen doodle from my trip to a super delicious pizza place. Yum!

Birdhouse | Sketchbook

Here's a doodle of a birdhouse. It was a quick little sketch with a ball point pen on notebook paper.

Grapes | Watercolor and Charcoal

Here's a watercolor I created at my art lesson today. Painting in a loose watercolor style is so much fun!

Wine, Grapes and Cheese | Watercolor

Last week my wife and I visited family on California. We spent some time on my wife's dad's boat at the end of the week. I wanted to do some painting, so I took a look around the cabin. Right next to the table was a pile of bottles. I don't drink, but I figured they would make as good a subject as anything. After a little bit of doodling and painting I had a picture.

A Pirate I Am | Free eBook

My wife suggested that I write a pirate song for my music education resource site MakingMusicFun.net. I had such a great time creating the song that I took it one step further, and illustrated the story. The book includes piano sheet music at the end so you can sing the whole book while your kids look at the pictures!

Lyrics (First Verse or Three)
Verse 1
I'll pillage a village to grab all the loot,
I'll hijack a ship and I won't give a hoot.
I'll kidnap fair maidens, the fairest I meet,
Then give them a smile and tickle their feet.

Chorus
A pirate I am,
I'll sail my tall ship upon the sea,
A bad egg I'll stay,
So long as my mummy loves me.

You can download the whole book for free if you're interested:
A Pirate I Am | Free Sing-Along eBook on MakingMusicFun.net

I gave the artwork for the book a paper art look. It was all created digitally, but I tried to maintain that cut paper, layered look in every image. Sometimes that meant limiting the details (because the paper would be to small to manage), and keeping things loose, because when you're gluing pieces down they don't always line up perfectly. Hope you like it!

A Pirate I Am | Illustration and Free Piano Sheet Music

This weeks Illustration Friday word is "Crooked".  I designed this character, and even wrote a pirate song this weekend.

Here's the first verse and chorus:

I'll pillage a village to grab all the loot,
I'll hijack a ship and I won't give a hoot.
I'll kidnap fair maidens, the fairest I meet,
Then give them a smile and tickle their feet.

A pirate I am,
I'll sail my tall ship upon the sea,
A bad egg I'll be,
So long as my mummy loves me.

Here's the free sheet music for piano if you're interested:
A Pirate I Am for Easy Piano | Free Sheet Music


One more... I wanted to design a shipmate for him, so I came up with this one too.

In the Hall of the Mountain King | Listening Map Worksheet

I created this character and additional graphics for a music listening map for my website, MakingMusicFun.net. The final worksheet, seen below, helps kids to visually understand elements within a piece of music. This one focuses on musical form, pitch, and note length.

If you're interested, you can download the worksheet here:

In the Hall of the Mountain King | Listening Map Worksheet