Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of you 

and may God's blessings be numerous in the new year!

Merry Snowman

Here is a merry snowman for the holidays!

I had illustrated him for a art print and greeting card in a rectangle format for Fine Art America.

You can check him out by clicking on the following link:

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/merry-snowman-valerie-drake-lesiak.html

Getting in the Mood for Christmas

It must be the Christmas music!

Hope all of you are finding the spirit and blessings of the season!

Looking for Sunshine

I can hear the wind blowing outside my window in the wee hours of this morning. The lights have been flickering on and off with cracking and booming sounds of tree branches hitting the roof. I am praying that sunshine will arrive and chase this windy dreary autumn storm away!

Halloween Fun

I have my eyes on you!

Halloween is getting frighteningly close!

Grandchild!!!

A New Grandchild!

I have not been good about posting art lately, but life has been really really busy. Oliver my new grandchild has made the scene and oh has he touched my heart. 

So here is my ode to Oliver with lots of hugs & kisses!

Love you Sweetie Pie!

"I've got to Crow!"

It has been awhile.

I have been busy with no ideas. So I thought to do a rooster for my 

great-grandmother. According to my grandmother, her mother was very fond of roosters and saved the life of her favorite while growing up on a farm in Michigan. It was one of many stories that my grandmother told of her mother. 

I think she sort of haunts my mother and I in a good way. Maybe this explains the roosters my my mother made  and painted. I even have a rooster doll my mother made. 

 

Alphabet Soup

Hmmmmm....Let me explain...

In my professional day job, I am Val Lesiak, greeting card designer.  I go by the name of Valerie Drake running my portrait business with my husband Norman Drake. 

I thought to see what my illustrated letters would look like in a book so I used blurb.com to make one. It felt kind of impressive. Here is my cover illustration. I am thinking of looking for a publisher and have yet to decide on Lesiak or Drake, although my grandfather wrote mystery stories under the pen name of Drexel Drake.  Maybe the Drake name would bring it luck. Who knows? 

To preview the book click on this link: 

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/2469387/0702bbe39ba7db321c3e7bff2c375aafcd6788f1
 Be patient it takes time to load.

The Letter A

A is for Airedale

A is for Airedale and the most famous one at that. This handsome animal sports an ascot.

Does anyone remember ASTA?

This is the last and the first of my letter series. The letter A seemed to be the hardest one to come up with. I didn't start with the idea of connecting the letter to a word. That evolved latter. It has been rather fun and who knows I may start another series, but I think I will take a break for now. Twenty six seemed to be quite a lot of designs to do in one group. I hope that you have enjoyed them.

The Letter B

The Bamboo B

B is for bamboo and the pretty little bamboo umbrellas that float in iced summer drinks.

I have to say these letters have been getting very challenging over time. 

I thought of baseballs and bats, but was not very inspired. I guess I wanted something a little more feminine. Something I might hang on my wall. 

Okay, deep breath, one more to do with no ideas as of yet.

The Letter C

Claude the Caterpillar makes a letter C

I did a caterpillar character awhile ago and it seemed he would make a nice letter C. He seemed like a natural.  I will make him available on my Etsy page with lettering and without lettering as an option.

The Letter D

D if for Dexter the dalmatian who is quite a delightful dog. He discovered he had an exceptional long dynamic tail.

And as you know every dog has his day!