Collaboration

If you have a young person handy and you like to draw, collaborating is sooooo much fun! Here are two sketchbooks that Tessa and I have already done. And a favorite page from one of the books:

I was frustrated earlier this week because I'd been doing a lot of updating my website, Pinterest, and things like that and not creating art. So as a way to jump back into art, I had my daughter draw a picture in my sketchbook.

As you can see she's really into drawing circles right now. They looked like tires to me- but what is that big one up high? A boulder?

So I made this drawing. I never would have come up with this without her circles on the page. Having someone else start a drawing is a way to let your problem-solving skills take you somewhere a little different.

And here it is painted. Now I feel fired up and ready to dive into the next project that's on my list! Making pictures is so much fun!

Here are a couple of other artist teams doing wonderful work:

Ruth Oosterman and Eve

Mica Angela Hendricks and her daughter

Woodland Animals are Done!

This has been a really fun project. Originally my friend asked if I'd make a set of animals for her new baby's room. I admit, she had a little input in the beginning, but I quickly took over completely because I was having such a good time!

They also look nice without color. I challenged myself to have a good mix of black and white with lots of texture and pattern. At the same time, I wanted to keep the images simple since they were for a baby. I sure hope baby Skylar likes his new artwork!

Introducing Myself

I listen to a lot of podcasts while I'm doing artwork. There's a pretty new one called Stories Unbound about creating children's picture books and it has some great interviews. The most recent one is an interview with the fantastic Jake Parker and I definitely recommend it. 

One of the things Jake suggested is that you can reintroduce yourself online- share your goals and dreams and your background. I really liked that idea! With social media we all see each other more often including the projects we are working on daily, but we don't often see the big picture or direction of someone's life. So here's my attempt at introducing myself. :)

Hi there! I'm Jill Bergman. I'd like to share a few of my favorite things so you have an idea my inspirations.

I love mountains, flowers, sunshine, stars, trees, rivers, and going on walks.

I love my family, my friends, and my house. 

I love art, printmaking, books, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, and the Steamboat Springs library. 

I love the art of:

Beth Krommes   Angie Lewin   Carson Ellis

Eliza Wheeler  Carry Akroyd   Pamela Zagarenski

Geninne Zlatkis   Rafael Lopez   Jane Ray

Mark Hearld   Julie Paschkis   Dinara Mirtalipova

I'm a printmaker and artist who especially loves writing, books, and type. I'm always finding ways to combine these forms of expression. You can read some posts I wrote about my path to becoming an artist in the My Creative Life links to the left or here: music, art, books, and motherhood. 

My usual way of working is by carving a single color linocut and then painting it with watercolor. A few months ago I finished a daily sketchbook project called 100 Trees. One of my goals for that project was to combine printmaking with other media and develop my own mixed media style. You can see the cards I made that grew out of that work here.

For many years I've wanted to illustrate children's picture books. I've created many picture book dummies and learned an incredible amount about illustrating, writing, children, and the publishing world. I'm part way through redrawing one of those dummies, Our Home. I got stalled out working on it because lots of commissions and opportunities came my way all at once. But I'll be back to finishing it very soon!

These are my goals:

To become a published picture book author and illustrator.

To have a greeting card line in stores nationally.

Beyond that, I would also love to do more:

Commissions, posters, t-shirts, and teaching.

These days I'm feeling pretty confident. Because I'm a self-taught artist and didn't start until my 20's, I think I had to put in some years working on my skills just like someone else would have done in school. For a long time my ideas and creativity outpaced my drawing skills and that was frustrating. I'm very good at carving linocut blocks, but a final print is only as good as the basic drawing. Now I think all of the different parts that make good art are coming together in me at the same time: ideas, design sense, drawing, technical skill, texture, pattern, color, storytelling, and fun! Because for me the most important ingredient is fun.

Thanks for reading about me! If you decide to "reintroduce" yourself please share the link to your story or just share your goals in the comments below!