Moose in Boots- Page Two

Page two is ready to show you, but I have to say that this is about all I did today. However, it is one of the more complex illustrations.

Do you want to see some of the process? I only took one picture of that, and it was early on- really I was just doing background washes and the balsam branches.

This might be fun. This is my test page where I was trying out things to get the look I wanted on the final copy or getting rid of excess paint.

I may get away with only having to do this one once. I'm fairly happy with it. (I may redo the first one- we'll see.)

I did pick up my car from being fixed, washed the dishes, and did tiny amounts of other things. But this project takes serious concentration. Layers have to dry completely, or sometimes just a bit before you do the next step. There's not much time between chunks of working on a page.

Maybe I'll also share the concept pages. I did spend some time looking for the original computer files. Can't find them. That was so many computers ago, they may be lost. I have 2 printouts, so they aren't totally lost. And I'm sure I have the original sketches, but I didn't even try to find those today.

And now I have a computer issue too. I'm posting this from my old computer. Sigh.

See Moose in Boots- Page One

Moose in Boots- Page One

I worked really hard to get this done today. It's much better than the concept page, but I'm not sure it's quite good enough yet. I'll let it go for now and go on to page 2. I can still do a few tweaks later.

Maybe I should say that this book was inspired by a warning we received from staff at Gunflint Lodge. It was May when we were hiking there, and they told us that mother moose do exactly what the text on this page says. They chase the teenagers away when the new babies are born and the youngsters are stupid and crazy. She said we needed to really watch out for them on the road.

I also wrote 203 words in Vacation from Dead Mule Swamp, did a row on the prayer shawl, dropped my car off to have a repair done, took a walk at Cartier Park and went to bell choir practice. Next stop- bed and book.

Miles walked in 2026: 29.3

Cartier Park, Ludington, MI, Loop and both spurs, 1.8 miles.

See Improvements and Additions

Improvements and Additions

Can you tell what's different about this?

Hopefully, it looks better than the version I showed you the other day. They are the same painting. But I added reflections of the rocks and trees, and some marsh marigolds along the water's edge.



What about the additions? OK, here's where the rubber meets the road. These two elements have to be added. My (long) past attempt wasn't so great. Mama moose looked like a donkey. I hope to do them better. I am not striving for total realism. Let's call it semi-realistic.

So, I started with just trying to correct the donkey look on some plain old computer paper, painting that, and cutting out the figures to place them on the background.

Why is only half of mama there? Because the finished picture needs to be square. If I cover up part of the background it's closer to what I need. But the background needs to be reconfigured a little bit for better composition.

So I guess it's time to 'fess up as to what I'm doing. Sixteen years ago I got one of my creative jags and wrote a children's book in my head on the 2009 hike in Minnesota's Arrowhead. The title is Moose in Boots. Later that summer, I went manic again, and drew concept pages for the whole thing in a month. Have I done anything since then? A little bit of tweaking of the text. Showed it to a few people. Mostly zilch.

People always ask me if I write books in my head while I hike. This was the one-and-only instance. When these things hit me, I just can't help it. Most of the time I have to just beat out the words like everyone else.

I'd REALLY like to finish this book. But here's the deal. There are 29 paintings I'll need to do. You can see how long it has taken me to even get set up for the first one. I started on what I hope will be the final version of illustration one. Of 29.

Stay tuned to see if I can stay with it. P.S. The dining room table is now converted to my art studio.

I did errands, edited, and read a short non-fiction book that I couldn't put down.

See Spring Aspen Achieved

A Heat Wave

It was 22° today which felt really warm. Cathy and I went for a hike. It turned out to be a fairly tough hike.

I knew this section of the trail had been walked, and we chose to go in boots. Should have taken the snowshoes.

We started at 5-Mile Road and went south. Not only was it in the 20s, but the sun was shining!

We went just a little past the Big Sable River.

The Vince Smith Bridge was sporting a big load of snow. Kind of interesting that it hadn't been knocked off.

There were interesting little snow worms crawling along the rails.

I have a bit of a sore knee, and this was tough going, but we were glad to be outside. And I really overdressed. Guess I'd gotten used to the cold, so I was really warm!

The trail is broken for some distance beyond the bridge, but snowshoes are recommended. Even compacted it's still deep. We kept breaking through. (If you park on Mac Road, please park on the west side. The property owner on the east side is not friendly and will have your car towed.)

I didn't accomplish a whole lot else today. Well, a couple of little things that are parts of other things. But they feel like "nothing."

Miles walked in 2026: 27.5
Hike 100 Challenge 2026: 9 miles.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI. Mac Road to south of the Vince Smith bridge and back 2.3 miles

See To McCarthy Lake

Spring Aspen Achieved

I spent most of the day painting.

My new pens with a great variety of point thicknesses arrived.

I found a picture of aspens that had the effect I wanted, and drew from that. Things that could be improved: 1. that dark splotch on the left was in the picture, but I should have left that out. 2. If I'd made the background greens darker it would have made the aspen trunks "pop" more.

But I'm fairly satisfied with this. It's mixed media- pen, watercolor, acrylic

Then I started putting the things I've worked on together. This isn't a good composition. That's beside the point because there is something else that has to go into this scene in the foreground. But I'm not quite ready to add that yet.

Also mixed media- pen, watercolor, acrylic

Other than these, I did some errands, crocheted a bit, started a new puzzle and edited a tiny bit.

See Balsam and Aspen