Little Dead Riding Hood Cover Reveal

So, technically I should have posted it earlier today when the author did. Sadly, the deadline I've had on this book has driven me quite crazy. The last book I did, I had about 40 illustrations and the cover to do in 6 months. This time I have over 80 illustrations (literally twice the work) to do in less than 2 months. Last week I had an ulcer, and a migraine, this week I've had a migraine and nausea due to the stress. So, forgive me for not rising early and posting this at 6 am. I was up until 4 getting illustrations finished. 

 If I sound cranky, it's because I am. 

I'm honored to be illustrating the series.. don't get me wrong. 

I am super proud of the work I've done on this book so far. 

The cover was done a little while ago and I had a lot of fun with it. The trees in the background were painted separately, and Scarlet was done on her own board as well, so it was a total of three paintings both front and back. The spine of the book will be a giant tree. The text was added in with Photoshop later. It was tricky getting the trees in the back ground to stay a warm color like Scarlet's hood, rather than just turning pink. All in all, I love it. The character Scarlet is just a doll. She becomes friends with Cindy from the last book. It's a pretty cute story. 

I wish I could share the illustrations with you guys, but you will just have to wait and see. This book will have over 80 illustrations, all done by me. It's quite literally killing me to get all these out with the deadline I have. I am not meaning to complain and sound cranky.. but illustrating is hard work... and on such a tight schedule, all work and no play has made Rachael TreeTalker a vampire herself.

Little Dead Riding Hood is on GoodReads already. I'll post a link once it's available on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com. I will also probably be offering 15 signed copies in the shop again like last year.
Okay.. back to illustrating.

The sooner I finish, the more paintings I can do for the shop, myself and others!


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One. My Word

It's been awfully quiet here on the blog. 
I've made some resolutions this year, like everyone else.
And that's one of them. 


I was thinking about the resolutions I wanted for this year. 
So many many things flooded my mind. 
Yoga daily, wake up by 9, blog every day, meditate, every day, do art every day. 

But, I'm NOT a strict person. I have lots of self discipline, but I know, that if I don't wake up at 9, i won't do yoga, then I won't blog, I probably won't get anything done on the list of 5 if I don't do one. So, I scrapped it. I scrapped just about everything on my resolutions list. 

And my word for the new year? 

One. 


Yes. One. Very simple. But, it means so much to ME.

One means me. Looking out for me. Relaxing, not being stressed, figuring myself out again. Because apparently that's something you need to do often. And, instead of focusing on doing 5 things a day, my big goal, is to do One. That one thing that I will do daily? Art. That's the only thing I'm requiring myself to do. 

This means I might not blog as much. But that also means the blog will be meaningful. There were too many times last year that I did a blog, just because I was trying to reach my quota. Not a lot of heart was put into it..
I will wake up when I feel like it. If I wake up at 9, great. If I wake up at noon, great. Because I'm going to listen to my body, and put myself first, be number One, and do what I want to do, when I want to do it. I will meditate when I feel I need to. I will do yoga when I feel like I need to. 

All these strict requirements I've placed on myself are gone. And it feels great. Because I haven't felt any Oneness in a while. I've felt disappointed, stressed, frantic and cloudy. Dropping all of this has been like a rebirth. 

For the past few days, I've woken up when I wanted to, even gone back to bed. I woke up and painted or worked on art. Since the new year I've even finished one piece. The one above this. I have yet to name it, but it will be in the shop soon. I will also have limited edition prints. 

I also worked on a self portrait over the holidays. It was a lot of fun to bring out my charcoals. It's been a very long time. Since college I think. When I was told "Real artists don't draw. They paint." I'll be doing a lot more drawing this year I think. 

 As well as painting of course. Because if it weren't for that art class, I wouldn't have learned to paint. 

And today I'm working on the cover design for Cinderskella's sequel. 

I have big plans for this new year. Other than my One resolution, I do have lots of goals. I'm hoping to make 2014 the biggest bestest year. With lots of art stuff going on. 


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Shifting Focus

I'm late on posting this today..
I got word that the house I'm renting sold, and I have a new landlord.
The new rental agency says they will be increasing our rent which is pretty absurd since I just signed a contract 2 months ago, and they shouldn't change the rent for that year. They are also saying my rent is due on a different day, when my original contract states otherwise. My new contract also needs to be signed by the first, when my new rent is due. Also,  I won't be getting my new contract until the first. Will I have time to look over the new contract? Think about it? Looks like I won't. I'm pretty upset, and everything inside of me is screaming red flags. So, I called up the bankers and brokers to see if they knew anything about that.
The lady I talked to was totally on my side, and said they legally couldn't raise the rent. She got the necessary phone numbers and emails and said she would get to the bottom of it for me.
I'm feeling a little bit better.
My instincts aren't telling me it's time to move right away... They are telling me to be careful.
Though, I'm still looking just in case.

I don't want to move! I want to stay in this house for now...
I don't want to sign any contracts, Mercury is in Retrograde, and signing contracts usually is a bad thing during this time...

So, I'm changing my focus to staying. For at least another year. Leaving on my terms.

I don't want any panicked rushing to find a new place, rushing to borrow a truck.. I'd like stability for a little while... So, that's what I'm going to focus on.

We are told we create our reality, so I'm going to create the reality that I stay in this house for another year, without paying more in rent. Let's all put our happy thoughts towards that? Deal.

My intention for this blog post was to share my new work with you..

Lots of new trees to be added to the shop over the weekend.
And it's really going to happen this time. I'm saying I'll list something,
and I really really will. Promise.


Oh and this!

The book comes out tomorrow.. and I still have a few copies waiting to be sold! 

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So Much Going On

Yesterday was a big day. I buckled down and finished all orders, edited all photos, listings AND listed a bunch of stuff. I worked maybe 14 hours yesterday.. I wouldn't have eaten or gone to bed if it weren't for Sterling.. It was hard to tear me away from the computer! But, I knew that if I got all of that work done, I would have time to actually create.. You know, the fun side of running a business.

Here's what happened yesterday for today:

I have listed Cinderskella in my shop! Don't worry, I got permission from Etsy, and Jolly Fish Press to do this. I have a limited amount of books to sell, so get them quick! I already had FIVE sell yesterday, leaving only 10 left! If you buy them through Etsy, I will sign them and ship them to you myself. The price is the exact same as what you could get at the book store. The book still hasn't been released yet, and once I have my batch of books, I'll send it out!

Inside the book, other than a pretty adorable story, are 26 full illustrations by me, as well as 28 chapter heading illustrations. The cover was also designed and painted by me! And it's only 13.00! 

Not a bad deal. Buy it here!

Just added to the shop... 

These pretty much speak for themselves.. 

Send a note of appreciation and love with one of my designs on the over! 

I now have a "Paper Goods" section in my shop. Check it out here.

And one of the prettiest sections in the shop... 

Now selling Framed Art! 

These frames are from local antique stores, and they are seriously so so beautiful.

I love pairing up spooky art with lovely frames. 

Check out the Framed Art Section.

And I'm not done! One more thing! 

Don't forget to enter this giveaway! 

Annnnd oh my gosh! I'm done? I can read now?

I can paint? And draw? And play with my puppies?

Sigh of relief.. the hard stuff is done! 

For now... 

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All Over The Place

 Guys. Today was off to a bit of a rough start... just computer problems and a backache.. stuff like that. But, I've got lots of little announcements to make! Like lots.. this is a pretty big update post.. Be prepared... this post is all over the place!

First of all, Talk2thetrees hat shop will be closing on January 7th 2014. This is to give me time to work on illustrations more. I'll be illustrating another book here pretty soon, and will need some time!  So, if you've got your eye on a hat, get it now while it's open!

My sale section of the art shop will also be closing on January 7th. This means that any and all art in that section will be taken down from the shop. A lot of these paintings are already at 50% off. So, now is the time to get them before they are gone for good!

Cinderskella comes out in TEN days! Yikes!!!! It's now on preorder at Amazon too! I will be selling signed copies here on the blog. But, I will only have 15 copies available. I know some of you have already preordered the book. If you want it signed, send it to me, I'll write you a sweet note and send it back! OR I can send you a signed book plate that you can attach to your book. Or, you don't even have to get it signed. But, still get it cause I worked real hard on the illustrations, and I know the authors worked real hard on the words. It's a pretty cute story, and totally worth the 12 bucks.

This is the screenshot I sent my family at like 1am last night...

Super excited that Illustrator is behind MY name. 

And look! On the front cover...!!! My name is on there! I totally didn't think it would be on the cover.

The publisher asked me how I wanted my name on the book.

If I wanted Rachael Caringella, or Rachael Tree Talker.

Let me tell you... this was a really hard decision to make. 

I decided to go with my REAL last name, and in my bio I put Tree Talker. 

Speaking of Amazon.. Well, kind of speaking of Amazon.. AllMyWalls picked up my art! Their stuff is sold at Amazon, and even Target. They have taken my paintings, and turned them into metal work! Okay, this whole ordeal has been under construction for like 2 years. I haven't got to say anything at all! They first asked me about it like 2 springs ago, and I was super excited, but didn't see anything come from it, and kind of forgot.... but then today the Art Director emailed me and told me my stuff was getting added today!

See? It's my painting, but redone on metal panels. This website gives full credit to the artist as well! I know some companies who do this take the artist's logo or signature off, but they prompted me to keep mine on. Plus, their website is searchable by the artist.

As for more shop announcements... I will soon be adding some new framed prints to the shop. 

10 of them to be exact.. though there are only 9 in the picture... the 10th was on the shelf.

(I KNOW one of you would count...) 

And some stationary will be added to the shop! 

These ones here are actually really very old. 

I've had these locked away in a drawer for like 4 years, so there are only 2. 

But, I'll be making more and selling those! 

I'll keep ya updated on that.

Also,

I've decided to try to do an illustration a day. 

What a task huh? 

I decided to do either dreams of mine, or quotes that I like.

And once a week I'll upload them to the blog and shop. 

I will probably just be selling the originals.

No prints. 

This guy was from a dream of mine.

His octopus face was made out of the same skin as a dog's nose.. and he could smell very well.

He found a suitcase of someone's stuff, smelled the guys shoe, and decided to kill him that night. 

I was a cat and he picked me up to eat me! But I scratched him and ran away. 

I couldn't shake that dream until I drew him! 

And speaking of dog's and their noses...

I'm keeping him! (And his nose)

I went and got him a little tag yesterday.

I decided to spell his name Meko, instead of Miko.

Since it's pronounced Meeeeeeko. 

Wicket actually loves him. 

So does the kitty.

I've had him for a week and a half now.. and I've gotten to know his personality.

He's such a silly little guy. He's sleeping next to me. 

He kicks violently  when he rolls over, it's so funny.

(Unless it's in the middle of the night and he kicks you in the butt.)

And soon, he might grow into his head! 

It's quite large for his little body..

Which usually ends up with him stumbling and falling. 

Thanks for hanging in there on this random post.

I've got some exciting things coming up in my life.

Lots and lots of work to do.

But, I wouldn't have it any other way! 

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