Another Snow Day

It seems like one snow day blends into another lately, and cabin fever has set in. I couldn't remember whether today was Monday or Tuesday.  There was about a foot-high snow drift in front of my garage door this morning. Not a big deal for me, hailing from upstate New York--but it did require some shoveling to clear the area and keep the door from bouncing back up every time it hit a chunk of ice. I got to use my 4 wheel drive setting for the 3rd time this winter, though it took me a few minutes to figure out how to engage it, then disengage it. That's what happens when you don't use something very often. Unfortunately, after all that effort, I got to my destination only to find no one was there! So as not to make it a completely wasted trip, I made a quick run to the grocery store, then spent the rest of the day in the studio (yay!) doing busywork. Yes, I should have been creating but I am still researching marketing strategies and getting sidetracked by other things like learning to put a watermark on my photos and artwork. Watermarks can be added automatically through some programs like Photoshop, Picassa and Flickr. The latter two do it automatically when you upload to your web albums, but Photoshop--at least for me--is a lot more tedious. I suppose it would help if I dragged out the instruction book, but, being one who wants instant gratification, I opted for the "add text" solution in Picassa. Instant watermark--well, sort of. 

I admit watermarking hasn't been a priority with me until recently. But a friend asked me about it the other day and I got to thinking that it probably isn't a bad idea, even if some of the images I'm "marking" can still be downloaded by anyone who wants them badly enough. At least I feel now like I've done what I could to protect my work.

So here are two of the sketches I did for the Shelby County No Kill Mission Cookbook, which will be sent to the printer this week, I believe. When it's available for sale I'll post a link where you can get a copy. I understand there are over 200 recipes in it (not to mention one or two sketches by yours truly...)  I enjoyed doing these little drawings. It's nice to get away from the larger pieces and do something that's fairly quick and fun.  I love keepin' it simple!