Christmas Cards in my Etsy Shop + 15% Off

Happy Christmas season! Oh how I love this time of year... It often happens that by the time I think about Christmas cards the season is half over. This year I actually got my card designs made early (back in September!) and they are all for sale as both boxed sets and individual cards in my Etsy shop: www.pamelagoodmanart.etsy.com

Get 15% off your order with code: PAINTEDJOY15

Moonbeam Children's Book Award Winner!

"Watch Me Grow" just won a Moonbeam Children's Book Award!! Hooray! We placed 3rd in the category of "Books with Merchandise."The book comes with a foot measuring device and a cute set of stickers for marking your child's height. Working on this book was so much fun, thanks to a great team at Footer Family Foot Measure the publisher and creator, and TLC Graphics who did the book design. Congrats team!

Watch Me Grow- A Coloring & Activity Book

This past spring I got to illustrate a coloring and activity book Watch Me Grow, for Family Foot Measure. Kids can measure their feet and height every few months, and track how much they've grown. It was so much fun to illustrate, and even more fun to see kids coloring my pictures! You can purchase it on their website footmeasure.com or on Amazon here.

one of my earlier sketches for the treasure hunt page

under the sea sketch

Flash Giveaway! Enter Now to Win!

For the next 24 hours we will be giving away a FREE coloring page of Rosie and her friends from A Fish In Foreign Waters, AND one lucky winner will receive a copy of the book signed by the author. Enter now, below!

Giveaway begins on Aug 11, 2015 at 12:00am EST, and ends on Aug 12, 2015 12:00am EST. 

Winners will be contacted by email within 48 hours to receive prizes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Fish In Foreign Waters is out!

Hooray! A picture book I illustrated "A Fish In Foreign Waters" by Laura Caputo-Wickham was just released from Long Bridge Publishing. Its a sweet story about a spotted ray fish named Rosie who moves to a new place, learns a new language and discovers that being bilingual is more fun than she thought. Pick up a copy of A Fish In Foreign Waters on Amazon. Here's a little sneak peek at the artwork.

MATS Bootcamp: Journal Design

I just finished my assignment for the Lilla Rogers Make Art That Sells Bootcamp, which was to create a journal cover with the theme of Edwardian brooches. I did a few pages of sketches to get some ideas flowing, then painted some of the designs in watercolor. It was a fun challenge, and I'm excited for next month's assignment! By June I'll have 5 new pieces of artwork to add to my portfolio.

Liberty Bottleworks: Kids Bottle Design

I'm excited to share a kids water bottle I designed for Liberty Bottleworks, a company in my home state of Washington. These bottles are awesome! They're 100% made in the USA, from recycled aluminum and printed with great designs from artists. You can find them at places like REI, Wholefoods, Ace Hardware or online on their website. My idea for the design came from all the things you might see on a nature hike.

Happy 2015!

Happy New Year! I'm so excited for this new year, and have so many cool things to share in the next few months, one being a picture book I'm illustrating for Long Bridge Publishing! After the excitement of the holidays are over I always get a little bit of a lull, (sometimes a rut) but this year I can feel the momentum from the fall pushing me forward. I like taking time to sit and journal (I like to start a brand new pretty journal & sketchbook every year), and on the first page I write down my personal affirmations for the year. Here is one that is close to my heart:

... I am good enough, talented enough, and BRAVE enough ...

I'm working on being braver, and pushing myself to take risks. I often get overly critical of my work, and of myself, and struggle with it being "good enough." But I'm realizing as long as I'm having fun doing it, nothing else matters really...

One of my goals for this year is to take my work to the next level, creating more assignments for myself to branch out to not only children's books, but children's pattern design and art licensing. I signed up for Lilla Roger's course Make Art That Sells, and it starts today! Every month for the next 6 months I'll have a new assignment aimed at different markets, to expand my portfolio. So here we go, I'm anticipating much goodness and creativity this year!