Leslie Ann Clark Images

Finally I think we have a name. Chicken Doodles may still be used for another purpose but the new name is "Hen Rietta and the Peeps".  My next job will be developing products. The chickens have been around for a long long time but their unveiling will be in NY!  They are so excited I can hear them squawking!

The colors are brighter in the Photoshop file.  When I converted it to a .gif it all became so dull.  I love this font.  I bought it on MYFonts.  What a cool website for fonts. you can drop in your text and it will show you how each font looks like with YOUR text.  I had a hard time deciding.

It's a new fabric for children. I like to imagine the little ones as they sit on their quilts made from this fabric.  I remember as a child, loving the fabric on my mother's couch.  There were scenes with people and it was almost like a story book. This image is just one of many in my new line, "Little Baby Sweet Peas".

The Chickens are happily squawking their way to Seattle.  I printed them out, packaged them up and UPS'd them.  They should arrive by Monday or Tuesday.  It was one of the most fun collections of work of work I have ever done.  The colors were vibrant and the design came easily.  My chickens always make me smile so it was a joy to work up the fabric designs. One of my most favorite things about this job were the happy surprises that happened along the way.  A new color combination, a squiggle here, a line there, flowers, shapes, etc! I never knew when a new idea would pop out.  I love it when I get in that kind of zone of creativity.  Photoshop is such an awesome tool for positioning art and coloring it.  When my friend Kevin gave me my first Photoshop program years and years ago, my art was changed forever!  I LOVE my job! It should always be this way, FUN!

The name or not the name, that is the question!  It seems that Chicken Doodles is in question.  Perhaps it was not the right name afterall?  I am taking all opionions into consideration since this is a big decision.  I need a name quickly.  A lot hindges on my chickens as the Licensing Show panel must be done for a May 16th mailing to my agent.I don't want to rush but I do at the same time.  Patience!  Keep your ears open Les.  The name is comng!  Chicken Doodles or not?  We shall see in the days ahead.

Chickin Doodles!  A new name for some old friends.

Goodbye Rosy Roost, hello Chickin Doodles. They were conceived on 9-11. It was one of the most awful days in the history of our country. I remember sitting in the livingroom with my daughter Lori. We needed a break from seeing all the bad news of the day.  We picked up our drawing pads, popped in a movie (The Mighty Ducks), and we started drawing.  Lori was drawing our dog Trooper and I was drawing two chickens having tea. 

The Chicken Doodles (formerly known as The Rosy Roost, have been waiting for years to be discovered.  They are making their debut this June at the Licensing Show in New York City.  Until today, I have been agonizing over a new name for them. It was a decision I came to after breaking off with my former agent. I just did not want to have any conflicts as to who thought of what when it came to my chickens so I have been thinking and thinking for years now, what would be a better name. This morning when I woke up, I  barely had my eyes open when the name came.  I was not even thinking of chicken names.  I was barely awake when I heard those words,  Chickin Doodles!  This Logo idea may not be quite there, but at least I have a good start now.

And so the count down begins. I have about 36 days until I mail off my Licensing Show panel to Alicia.  Lots to do!  The Surtex trip is in 37 days~!

But as for today!  It's time to call it a day!

Only one bit of art to share.  I thought I was done with my chicken fabric submission and along came one more idea to add to the mix.  Eggs!  Gotta have some eggs.  Egg fabric or even egg scrapbooking papers. 

What do you think?  it comes in many colors!

Goals,Goals, Set your Goals!  Everyone says it! The successful ones do it!  looked up the word "Goal" in the dictionary. This is what I  came up with:

1. target; purpose, object, objective, intent, intention. 2. finish.

I can see by this definition that I need to get more focused on my future plans.  No, I mean that I need to actually plan my future plans! It is time to stop letting life just "happen" to me.  I have for a long time lived my life by faith. I still believe that is the best way to live, but to have faith for "something" is how things get done! 

What are my targets for 2008?  First off, to be FREE.  My kids laugh at me for saying that all the time but freedom is crucial to my life, and really, to all of our lives.  FREEDOM is awesome.  It is life changing and life giving!  It is so full of HOPE and PROMISE. It can cut you from your past and turn you into a new person.  I like that thought!  I liked it enough to believe it will come to pass.

Imagine being unable to live your dreams because of some sort of roadblock in your life.  Suddenly, that roadblock is gone!  It has been knocked down. What will you do?  Do you launch out on your path or do you stand back, not believing you can move...maybe even finding another way to block that path so you don't have to move.

It is time to make plans!  Time to target the goal! Time to discover your purpose and then achieve it!  GeneralFull steam ahead!

Today was a slower day on the creative side.  Gary and I took a trip to Denver to see our folks.  All seemed well considering the challenges of being over 80 years old.  We do love our parents! I kept seeing things I would love to help them with but I do not want to be annoying or do things they do not want done. They are still very independent and we encourage them to do whatever they can do.  It is good for the mind and for the body!

Upon returning home I was able to work a bit on a logo for the men's group at our church. 

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Writing down goals has always been a nebulous task for me.  They float about in space.  I see them, and then they vanish and I wonder if there were really my goals in the first place.

I learned something this week.  When I was working on my art I was having soooo much fun that I realised that this was indeed a goal of mine. "To work at my art and have a blast at it!"

I find I must write this goal down now. It will be like capturing it somehow. I will be able to say, "I did it!, I acheived my goal.  I had a blast!".  Hooray!

I will have to go outside tonight, look up into the heavens and see what other goal will be floating about in the skies ready to be captured!

Where do your dreams take you?  Today I will go on a journey in my dreaming. It is a place I have been to many times in my dreams.  .... to Maine!  I see myself hiking down the rocky coast, taking in all the sea air and watching the birds and the clouds drift by. As I get to a town I sit on a bench partaking of a fresh lobster sandwich.  I have never had one so I try to imagine the taste. Gary is with me.  It is much more fun to travel with my sweetheart. We point to things as we see them and make comments like, I wish our girls were with us.  We should have taken this trip a long time ago.

When our walk is over we go to our bed and breakfast.  The Primrose seemed like a nice place.I can see myself sitting on this comfy bed lazily reading a good book before dinner. In the morning we get up early for a walk along the beach.  We see whales and fishing boats.  We come back from our walk for a hearty breakfast with HOT coffee on the veranda.  Oh how heavenly a visit this is!  Tomorrow we will drive up the coast to see more of this marvelous state!
Oh how fun it is to dream!

Hooray!  I finished up my Chick submission last night and today I sent it off to Clothworks.  I  could almost hear the delight in my chickens as they squawed all the way to the UPS Store!  Some might think it is weird to imagine this, but when you are a cartoonist, even people appear unreal and cartoon like at times.  The world becomes animated!  More than once I have sat in the pew at church during a quiet time of the service.  The pastor would then say something and a cartoon would come across my mind to where I almost laughed out loud!  My three girls are the same way.  We see life in pictures. Often times that is how we take notes too.  In fact, that is how I discovered I was an artist in the first place.  I sat in my 8th grade geometry class trying to understand the teacher all the while drawing a picture of him hanging from a tree.  (Don't you be surprised at that!  I did not hate my teacher. I hated geometry!)  To my surprise, the picture looked JUST like him!!!  I was shocked.  I had to destroy that picture before he found it!  hahahaha

Tonight will be a quiet night as I take a bit of a breather before changing gears and starting in on my Baby Sweet Peas fabric art.

Before I go any further in the design process I had to get my palette of colors. One of my favorite designers is Suzanne Sargent.  I simply love her colors.  My own home is slowly transforming into brighter colors.  Why not?  It makes for a cheerful existance! My only problem is that I want to paint the rooms every year!

Here is my palette for my chicken fabric.

Now I began assembling all the images I have been drawing, scanning and coloring over the past two weeks.  Each image was then refinded and added to a catalog page.  I will send to the fabric company tomorrow.

Here is a sample of one of my catalog pages. I have 10 pages to send off tomorrow.  Whew!  

General

Oh my!  
Twas a day of chicken delight.  Flowers, dots, leaves, backgrounds, color changes and chickens galore!  Here are some of my first tries.  It is good to have a base to begin with and then the ideas begin to connect and extend and blossom.