About Me

The original “About Me” was written May 15, 2011. It’s at the bottom of this post, which keeps the most recent updates on top.

Update: February 14, 2023

Another five years gone. It’s a little terrifying how fast time passes. In January I started a series of paintings of Imaginary Friends Having Feelings. A couple are done but most are in progress:

Acrylics. 11″x14″, 12″x12″ and 16″x20″. Imaginary Friends, most in progress Feb 14, 2023.

These three dogs were started a year ago for my cousin. Maybe finished soon?

18″ x 24″ acrylics in progress

Dexter and Toki are about 8 years old. Here they are in full winter floof:

Dexter and Toki in full floof, December 2022

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Update: January 1, 2018

Holy cow it’s been three and a half years since my last update. And this is the fourth January I am trying (AGAIN OMG) to have a year of painting acrylics. I have done a little in the past years. A couple favorites:

So here we are again. Art blog! Acrylics! Happy January!

ALSO: Dexter at left, Shi-Tzu, found wandering the streets of Chicago (history unknown!), adopted March 2017. Toki Wartooth, at right, Havanese, who spent his first three years at a puppy mill. Adopted October 2016. Grumpy and Fluffy. :)


Update: July 16, 2014

I just put up my poster shop this weekend. It was a project that took quite a lot of putting together. Procrastination was involved at every stage. It started with the Art Card Dogs project, which you can read about here.

I am still at a full time job but also making art as much as I can. In fact, I was recently reflecting on my lack of reading and watching movies. And computer games. Three things that used to be my favorite things, but now they are tier two: second favorite things. I gotta do the art if I’m gonna get better at it!

Since my last update I have run two Very Fancy swaps over at illustratedatcs.com. The first was women in fancy (particularly old-fashioned) clothes, and the second was animals in fancy clothes. All kinds of fancy. Here are my favorites:

Cecille in the Portrait Room, Leah at the Abbey, & Red Gwendolyn
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

The first two were created during the swap, which ran Nov 2013 – Feb 2014, and Red Gwendolyn was made in July 2014 just a couple days before this update. I tend to repeat themes that strike my fancy!

Pierre Gruyere, Tee Wumpus, Svetlana & El Burro Fumo
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

The Fancy Animals may be exactly up my alley, and to date I have made twenty-five. They are, most of them, members of the Aesop’s Stables Theatre Company. One of their promotional posters can be purchased in my shop!

Update: November 10, 2013

What I neglected to mention in my last update is that I joined an art card site, illustratedatcs.com, in July of 2012. Here is a link to my gallery there. It’s a juried site, which means you have to be voted in. It is specifically for “professional artists and hobbyists” and in general the level of work there is very experienced. It was an honor to be accepted.

One result of being around so much consistently great art is that it makes one strive to be better. At least for me. And I have been making 2.5″ x 3.5″ art cards in pen and ink with Copic markers, like a mad fiend! There’s something very satisfying about completing a small project and getting on with the next one. I have made literally hundreds of these cards. Some terrible ones! But some pretty cool stuff, too.

My 100 Maidens project is finished. And I’ve got two new ones! 100 Tiny Cityscapes is up to 25, and 100 Tiny Houses is up to 30. Some favorites:

Five Cityscapes
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″, Copic markers, fine liners, white gel pen

Daydreaming City, Toad Hamlet, Penny Farthington, Her City Hair and Eyeline

Four Tiny Houses
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″, Copic markers, fine liners, white gel pen

The Clever Inventor’s Shed, Candy Corn Cottage, The Cat Hag’s Shack, and The Pitch Inn

And here’s some favorite cards made over the past few months for individual trades or themed swaps:

Five ATCs, Swaps and Trades
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″, Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Darla Two: Her story and progress pics can be found in this blog post.

Also above: Scarlet Order Seer, Warren Wombat’s First Snow, Cecille in the Portrait Room and Ainsley Rabbit.

Thanks so much to everyone who stops by. Especially if they leave comments – but even if they don’t! Questions, suggestions, comments and observations are always most welcome.

Update:  February 9, 2013

Holy cow, it’s been way too long since my last update. I am happy to report my art is still improving! It makes me think I should wait a bit longer to write a book or illustrate a book, but I also know I’m not getting any younger, and there won’t be any book if I don’t start one!  On the other hand, I have started a couple projects:

100 Maidens Project – I avoided drawing people/faces for a long time because I did not go to school for art, or have enough life drawing classes – and a host of other excuses to boot! But then I started, and it wasn’t so bad! So I decided I would make an open-ended project where I complete 100 maidens. As of today I have 66 complete! Some of my favorites:

Four Maiden ATCs
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic Markers, fine liners, gel pen

The other project is the Art Card Dogs project, which will likely lead to a poster, and maybe a book. Or maybe a book of short stories, or maybe a book about a world with only dogs. Or some kind of dog app for hand-held devices. It started with all these tons of dog ATCs I’ve been doing. Some of my favorites:

Five ATC Dogs with Accessories, each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers.
Pierce with Pipe, Flower, Professor Sebastian, Beatnik Bruce, Walter the Scrivener

Update: May 28, 2012

My blogaversary came and went with little fanfare (mainly because I forgot about it.) I am currently at 90 posts and 1,581 comments (though many of those are my own replies!) I have to say I feel like my art has improved dramatically in one year. In many ways I can’t wait to see where I’m at next year! On the other hand, I am feeling more keenly the regret of not drawing for so many years. But mainly the feelings are happy ones. I have been doing pretty well at two posts a week, which means two new drawings/pieces per week, and is really my limit with a full-time job. And playing some Diablo III, though not nearly as much as I once might have!

Illustration Friday in particular has been an amazing source of inspiration and I have found many of my current favorite art blogs there. (Check out the Neat People Art Blog links on the right side of the page!)

My favorite recent pieces:

Shrew Hare Urn, 9″ x 6″ Copic Markers with digital background/text
Llama Genie Air Advertisement, 8 x 10 Copics with digital background/text

Update: Oct0ber 30, 2011

I am a somewhat hermit-ish creature of 40 something-or-other years, working as an office manager in the construction industry (wooo! blue jeans) a bit north of Chicago. Though I’d mostly abandoned art for 20-odd years, I dusted off the drawing table in March 2011 and it has been constantly in use since then. This blog started a little bit later, along with a new Etsy shop. [More recently I joined Tumblr and Pinterest – both kinda neat but not terribly useful, I’d wager.] I still do not like Facebook and I have no interest in Twitter (and no, I do not have a particularly pronounced forehead, thank you).

My favorite pieces recently:

Steampunk Horse with Copic Markers

My progress post on this fellow was used as the basis for my guest tutorial at copicmarker.com, which was very cool!

Steampunk Llama Charlotte

Charlotte was the first in my recent run of farmyard beasts in steampunk gear.  The llama part was inspired by the recent discovery that more people find my shop through searches with the word “llama” than any other word. Which I did a post about.  Incidentally, as of this writing, the total searches finding my shop with “llama” is 32. The second runner up, at an anemic 13, is ACEO.

/end of update. Thank you for reading this ramble!


Original “About Me” – May 15, 2011

Let’s just make something very clear from the get-go.  I have no idea what I am doing.  I believe I have made pages that should have been posts and possibly posts that should have been pages.

In any case, today is Sunday, May 15, 2011 and I am currently awaiting my first small batch of prints in order to put some stuff up in my new Etsy shop which, like this site, I don’t expect many people to find.  But that’s ok.

Jessamyn West said in an interview once that she thought everyone was interesting and everyone should have a blog and write about what interests them.  I agreed at the time I read it.  People are interesting.  At least, other people.

Anyway, here it is.  It’s a thing that isn’t very interesting now but has potential simply because everything has potential.  There’s talking and there’s doing, and I’m cautiously optimistic about getting on with more doing.

Feel free to email:  [email protected].

-Cindy

p.s.  To many, I use too many commas and too many adverbs.  It is not likely to change.

10-30-2011: As an addendum to this, my first “About Me”, I want to include my favorite pieces at that time, which I am going to try to include with every update:

Sneeble and the Haughty Dog
Kico Pico, a Regal Beast

26 thoughts on “About Me

  1. Kris Keese

    Hello Cindy, I love your art. It does make me smile. I have enjoyed reading your blog (haven’t finished yet). I like to use parenthesis for the parts of speech that I don’t know what to do with:). Thanks for the questions about Tumblr. The answers helped me too. Anyway I will be checking back so that I can smile some more! Kris

    Reply
    1. The Beast Tender Post author

      Thank you so much for visiting, and I am so glad to hear it. I suppose we’ll both be experts at Tumblr one of these days, but it will probably take some time. ;)
      Cindy

      Reply
  2. Patti Moore

    Hi Cindy! :)

    Thanks so much for your kind comment on my blog! We are ALL doing better (tho I must admit, I’ve knit many miles of scarves this past summer!). I am glad that my husband & I have been available to help our family along the way.

    I absolutely LOVE your colorful artwork!… and I noticed you also enjoy using Copics! They’re a brand new medium for me… and I “see” a growing collection of them in my future! ;)

    Wishing you all the BEST!… Happy Creating!!
    ~ Patti Moore

    ps ~ Notice my “Dot-Dot-Dots”… They seem to appear everywhere when I write! ;)

    http://www.etsy.com/shop/pholkartblessings
    http://simpleblessings.blogspot.com/

    Reply
    1. The Beast Tender Post author

      Hi Patti, thanks so much for stopping by! I have been using Copics for about 4 months and totally love them. I just can’t believe the bright colors. Be careful though, there are SO many colors and they are a bit pricey!

      Reply
  3. alecia goodman

    You have a very unique style and wonderful usage of color… Technology evolves so much its a wonder any of us have a clue. I am thrilled you had the courage to blog and share your beautiful work. Thank you.

    Reply
  4. Ruth

    Just wanted to say Hi as you always comment so nicely on my posts for Illustration Friday. Looking at your work I can’t believe you’re in the construction industry and not a full-time illustrator. Your style is so unique and the themes are always well thought out. Keep it up and see you soon in cyberspace :D

    Reply
    1. The Beast Tender Post author

      Thank you, Ruth! So kind of you to say, particularly because yours is one of my favorite art blogs! Work is about to get busy but I’ll keep making beasts. :)

      Reply
  5. Kyle Finnerty

    Hi cindy, cheers for the nice comments, always a pleasure to bring some cheerfulness via my artwork lol

    just wondering are you a full time/part time illustrator??

    Reply
    1. The Beast Tender Post author

      Hi Kyle and thanks for dropping by! Nope, not a fulltime illustrator by any stretch of the imagination. I am still an office manager by day, working a regular work week, and doing art in the evenings and weekends. I don’t have any kids so that probably gives me much more time than lots of other folks.

      Like many people I would love to quit my day job and do art full time, but I’ve only just gotten back into it for the last year or so. So, maybe one day down the road, but no livable wage from my art quite yet. :)

      Reply
  6. S Mouse

    Hi Cindy,
    Your amazing art has inspired my grade 9 art class, all the way to Canada! We love your work! We had a BIG discussion on copyright – your work is safe! I appreciate how you show your process and that we can view a slide show of the steps. One of my students actually has the Copic pens you use. Let us know when you publish your book. We want one! (Have you thought of adding a ClustrMap to your site? Free!) We will continue to follow your journey. All the best!

    Reply
    1. The Beast Tender Post author

      My goodness, thank you so much for the glowing review! I am always glad to hear my art has inspired or brought smiles! The book may be a ways out yet, but I’m slowly working up to it. (If you have a blog address, leave it next time and I’ll come visit!)

      Reply
  7. Nancy Vo

    Happy blogaversary! I have been peeking at your work through IF and admire what you do. Great stamina to be putting out something twice a week with a full-time job. Go, Cindy!

    Reply
  8. Amber

    Hello! I think your artwork is beautiful! I am a teacher and I will be teaching the students about the elements of art and design and I am using a contemporary artist to show them. I hope you don’t mind but you are my artist of inspiration for a group of second graders! They all love your artwork!!

    Reply
    1. The Beast Tender Post author

      Why thank you very much! I am happy to hear that all ages like my goofy, colorful animals. I am also very happy to finally be returning to painting and to the blog after ages away. Where does the time go! If you happen to see my reply and the kids have any questions, feel free to drop a line. ;)

      Reply
  9. Aviva

    Hi Cindy, I’m getting married on June 16, and we would love to label our tables with different dog illustrations. I found yours when I was browsing online, and my fiance and I absolutely love them. I was wondering what it would cost to either 1. Buy about 10 individual posters of dog illustrations, about 8.5x 11″ , laminated and mounted if possible, 2. Buy one large (18 x 24 ish”) poster with each of the dog illustrations and a place to write guests’ names..
    Please let me know if this makes sense! We could also buy the digital images from you and print them ourselves if you are comfortable with that option.

    Reply
  10. Angel

    Thanks for your comment! That’s correct, but the blog was shuttered pretty much from the minute it opened. All I did was post all the recipes from the book we wrote. We wrote the book for the experience of having written the book. You’re not missing anything by not getting the book because all the content is on the blog. I basically posted it there for someone like you to come along and enjoy.

    My big takeaway is that you can add chocolate anywhere that calls for something bitter. So, anything that would be improved by adding greens, for example, would also be improved by adding cocoa.

    Reply
  11. LeAnn

    I found your blog while looking for a texture art lesson for my art classes. Can you share a little about the process, and the artistic mediums that you use? Thank you,

    Reply
    1. Cindy D Post author

      Hi there! I don’t know if this extremely late message will reach you. Sorry for the delay! Most recently I am painting with acrylics. I’d say the last 8+ years, very sporadically. Mainly acrylics on wrapped canvas or canvas boards. I also do a lot of drawing, also sporadically, with mainly a 2H pencil, sometimes a mechanical pencil, on smooth Bristol board. I don’t really have a process or formula, mainly stumbling through the business of trying to make art consistently. :-)

      Reply

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