A full pot of tea and an empty page.

  

But not for long! I am so pleased to be back at my old work table doing what I love most.

The illustrations for my new book should have been completed long ago, but a busy year of promoting my art kept me away from my beloved old oak  table.  Now, I can finish what I started WAY back last January!

  

We have all seen the movies where the "writer" sneaks away to a secluded place, a cabin in the woods, a cottage bungalow tucked away in a little village or a houseboat on the bayou. Off, to be spirited away in imagination, free of interruptions from the outside world.

  That is how I feel in my little studio at the top of the stairs. Here, I have all I need. All my supplies are at the ready. For now, I need only pencils, oodles of erasers and large sheets of  heavy watercolor paper. My story sits inside the green leather notebook, my teapot is freshened, and my heater is on.  I often pop in Period Movies as I work. The costumes, atmosphere and speech in any Charles Dickens, Jane Austin or Elizabeth Gaskell story inspire me. My characters live in an Old World setting and dress  accordingly.

I close my door on the world and begin to draw,

  until a noisy kerfuffle outside my window causes me to jump out of my chair...( the roosters are fighting again!)

 or a cat stands meowing outside my door in jilted protestation, ( up, out of my chair, open door as precious heat escapes room and place cat upon lap.)...

 or the UPS. man rings on the 1859 doorbell that could awaken the dead... ( hey, that might just be those books I ordered!)...

  or the yummy scents of my husbands pot of chili and cornbread tempt me from my reclusive hideaway, ( tummy growls).

So much for my secluded little houseboat on the Bayou.

  Oh Dear! How on earth am I too finish my work??!!!

Sometimes it is difficult to stay focused.

PERSISTENCE!

I'm working on drawings right now, when all 36 pages are penciled in, I will go back to each drawing and paint  with watercolor. So far, I'm about half way through the drawings.

  When these are painted, they will come alive!
If you would like to follow along as I finish my book, please visit my website here:   
http://www.jerilanders.com/new_page_23.htm

 Now, where are my earphones??!!