Yesterday as I left work, a chorus of hundreds of voices greeted me. No, I’m not going crazy; it was the toads! They were calling loud and clear in the swamp across the street. The males call out to the ladies in spring. It’s a meat market over there! Fascinated by all things toad, their mating is one of the more interesting and intense things about them. The males mob the females, vying for a chance at fertilizing her eggs. The sound makes me a little twitchy; ready to grab my camera and catch a glimpse of their fascinating behavior. Maybe I am crazy!

Anyway, I clearly am still enamored with bufo americanus, even if I haven’t been drawing all that much lately. I did finish a small piece just to get it out of my head. “Little Black Dress” is a toad in a little black dress. When people talk about that iconic piece of wardrobe that every woman NEEDS in their closet, I envision myself looking like this gal. They don’t make a little black dress for me, if you know what I mean! 🙂 So here is my toad in her LBD, looking less than thrilled about it.  You can buy prints of her in my Etsy shop.

This is my first drawing done 100% with Caran d’Ache Luminance pencils. These pencils are expensive but proven lightfast and do not have the breakage problems of Prismacolor pencils. They are worth the extra cost for that reason alone; I have never had one sharpen poorly or lead snap at all. I get down and dirty with my pencils and press hard, so a lead that can withstand the pressure is great.

My other good news that isn’t that the toads are back is that my piece “The Wrong One” was selected to be in the Colored Pencil Society of America’s 20th International Expo! It is in Covington, Kentucky which is in the greater Cincinnati area. We are planning on visiting the Artist’s Reception in August. I can’t wait to see all of the colored pencil works up close and examine the techniques and finishes used by the best colored pencil artists in the world.  They look so smooth on the internet; it is tough to get a read on what the finish of a colored pencil piece looks like.

It is a great honor to have been juried in to this show. It consistently has amazing work. I’m so excited I could sing!