I like to have a few projects on the side to grow in ways I would not be otherwise. Mostly, I like to keep that artsy/technical balance as healthy as possible. Lately that's been diving deep into the world of dog training, and one of my favorites was illustrating some silly books for my youngest set of cousins.

Photography

Thanks to the computers in our pockets, these days everyone is a photographer. I think that's is pretty fantastic, that pictures are one of the best ways to seek to see the world through someone else's eyes. I'm a bit of an introvert, so I'm not the every-meal-I-eat-for-the-world-to-enjoy-with-me type, but I'm happy to share some of my favorite pictures from a few of the places I've lived - cities and nature fascinate me equally. Also, All the banner photos on this site are one’s I’ve taken.

Princess Kunigunde

When I was 7 years old one of my uncles wrote me a story about a princess, illustrated it with crayons, and bound it with red construction paper and black yarn. When his daughter turned 7, I colored and digitized it and had it printed for her birthday. It was both a really fun stretch project for me, and a great way to use my more random skills to bring my family joy.

Here are some scans of my uncle's original (crayon) drawings and the finished colored ones

Three Not So Wise Men

I had so much fun with that one, and I knew my uncle had also written my brothers and I a christmas story once that was equal parts silly and delightful. So, leading up to his son's birthday, I took his even rougher (but oh-so-charming!) stick figures and fleshed them out a bit. I loved giving his goofy ballpoint-pen drawings their own personalities and styles.

Here are a few of those: