I am surprised I am still standing! I woke up this morning and started my art project for the day; dropped it, brought my daughter to pottery class, held my son up while roller skating for 3 hours, dropped off son, turned around and went beach glass hunting with daughter and then finally came back home to finish what I started at 7 am!
Whew. I will sleep well tonight let me tell you!
You are looking at the first concept drawings for my friend Jeanine’s family hiking guide. She is writing this wonderful book for all of us Rhode Islanders to be able to take our kids on hikes throughout the state. OK. I’m sure visitors to Rhode Island can read it too ;)
Before I start drawing all different images for this book, I told Jeanine to 1: make sure my artwork and style fit her expectations and 2: let’s get a better idea of what it is you want, if you do indeed choose me as your illustrator.
Jeanine had a vision of a backpack that she wrote about, filled with all the necessities for hiking. I thought that would be a great place to start.
So first I did a pencil sketch of a full back pack, that is the one in blue. Next I illustrated a very simple almost cartoon version. This is the red back pack.
The final back pack , the tan backpack, is the most classic. It’s a traditional watercolor with a bit more detail.
I have no idea what Jeanine is expecting, but we have to start somewhere.
I’ll let you know what she decides!
Be Creative Mary 
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