ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: PREPARE



The pangolin spent much of her time putting up ant and termite preserves to prepare for the rainy season.

 This is the first work I've done with the liquid watercolors Lexi sent me for my birthday. Thanks Lexi!!
Pangolins are very cool. They're kind of like an armoured anteater. Unfortunately, they're going extinct because of their snob appeal as a food and a belief in Asia that they can serve as an exotic form of Viagra. So sad! Pop pills - NOT pangolins! Click here to learn more about pangolins and support their conservation.
If kids are more your speed than pangolins, click here to help my underprivileged elementary art students!

Say Cheese

Sent from my Etch-a-Sketch

The Cheese Party

Sent from my Etch-a-Sketch

GROUNDED: Illustration Friday

The little stump house with its gnarled roots clutching at the earth, was well grounded indeed.

Jeff's Dog Mittens

I've been busy over Christmas break, mostly working with all of the wool I managed to collect while hiking during the summer. I made felt in the washing machine and from that I've been making mittens. The two little piles at the top are mountain goat wool, Gohan the dog wool is at the bottom left and the pile at the bottom right is buffalo wool. Lots of fun!

German Feather Christmas Tree

I made a feather Christmas tree for us this year. It takes awhile, but I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I used brown paper wrapped floral "stems," white turkey marabou, a large dowel and a high temp glue gun. For the base. I used a flower pot and made a little patch of "grass" from green felt. I frosted the grass with some vintage mica glitter found at a yard sale.

Mountain Goat & Buffalo Wool Mittens

Buffalo wool - silky and SO warm!

"Heart of the Rockies" mittens - in progress

Mountain Goat wool - the guard hairs add
an interesting texture.

Sent from my Etch-a-Sketch

A Yarn Graffiti Tree

.

We found this awesome yarn graffitti
tree outside the Artist's Collective
in Bishop Arts District, southwest of Dallas

Sent from my Etch-a-Sketch

I Wrote and Illustrated a Book!!

After two years of working and dreaming, I’m excited to announce the release of my first children’s book, Imagination Vacation Yellowstone.

It is available now on Amazon and you can find it by clicking here or by entering my name, Anastasia Kierst, in the search window at amazon.com

I’m really hoping that people I know will support me as an author by considering my book when choosing gifts for the young people on their lists and by telling others about my book. Sales now will help boost my Amazon rank and hopefully draw more sales during the big holiday rush.

You can also help raise my rank just by signing into Amazon and then clicking the “Like” button with the thumbs up symbol under the title listing. Reviewing my book also helps my Amazon rank.

Below you'll find a short blurb on the book and a few images to give you a sneak preview.

Imagination Vacation Yellowstone

Are hot springs rainbows, curled up to nap? Or are they pools of water, heated deep within the earth? Yellowstone is an amazing and mysterious place. Emmaline has some imaginative ideas about the origins of the park’s wonders. Her scientist father has some pretty wild theories of his own. Follow their magical adventure through America’s first national park.

Written and illustrated by an elementary art teacher and her own geologist father, this book is a playful lesson in earth science.

Happy Holidays and Thanks in Advance,
Anastasia (Andi) Kierst

Halloween Fun

We had fun roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and carving pumpkins. I carved a witch mouse next to a mushroom. Sent from my Etch-a-Sketch