The Spider's Song...completed

Between working full-time, being a mom, freelancing, and writing my novel, I haven't been able to blog much for years. On Mother's Day/my birthday this year, I typed the most beautiful words to a writer--THE END. It was a gift. With the help of critiques and beta-readers, I wrapped up THE SPIDER'S SONG feeling the highs and lows of the journey. I fell in love with my characters and enjoyed their world while the pandemic swirled outside our windows.

My 85,000-word young adult novel has been cathartic to write. The beauty of being the director of a story that has some personal truth to it is I get to change the ending. I get to craft what I would have loved to happen in my life and relationships and in a way it's healing.

Here is the pitch I've been working on that I plan to use in my query letters for my first round of agent submissions.

Most people would rather die than give a speech, but they get by and do it anyway. If you’ve got glossophobia though, speaking in front of others is like Death whispering in your ear, causing you to freeze, or throw up, or faint. Charlotte Reed, a freshman in high school, has glossophobia. It’s not only caused her to feel abnormal; it’s shattered her dream of singing on Broadway. It was going to happen; everyone told her so, everyone but her mom, who, for some reason, hates when she sings. Four years and three psychiatrists after being diagnosed, Charlotte can’t even stand up in class to introduce herself without severe consequences. She’s completely given up on singing outside the shower until her Aunt Jess, straight out of prison, moves in with them and tosses the stable, quiet Reed home upside down. The last thing Charlotte expects is for her mysterious, tatted aunt to be the one that offers to help her sing again.

Image by Benjamin Balazs from Pixabay 

Back to Painting Endangered Animals

San Joaquin Kit Fox

I'm four illustrations away from completing the draft of my next endangered species book focused on 15 endangered species residing in deserts all around the world.

I've taken a break from painting for the last few years to focus on returning to the professional work world. I combined my love for graphic design and teaching and went back to school to receive a graduate certificate from UC Irvine in eLearning Instructional Design. I focus on creating engaging adult learning experiences.

I'm excited to update this blog with my illustration progression. I'd love to be able to announce a title release date here too!

Now more than ever we need educational materials out there to stress the importance of biodiversity, species survival, and habitat restoration. I'm fully invested. 

What Moms Returning to the Workplace Have to Offer

I know many moms that choose to stay home during the early stages of their children’s lives. Many of them were professional women first, and moms second. I made that decision when my children were starting elementary school. I wanted to be there when my kids were learning how to feel secure in multiple environments; home, school, camps, sporting endeavors, friend’s houses, etc. I will never regret the choice I made to be home with my most precious assets. 

Now that my children are in middle school and high school I’ve returned to the workforce. It has been an eye opening experience. There is a six year block of time that my professional development came to a screeching halt and employers recognize this. I’m now competing with younger, more flexible and focused people for jobs.

I was making a high salary, and moving up in the company I was in when I decided to scale down and be at home, again a decision I don’t regret. I had 14 years of professional experience in Marketing, PR, and Graphic Design under my belt. And the longer I was in a position the more diverse my skills became. 

Fast forward ten years, the changes in technology and marketing are great. Although I freelanced to keep at least my Graphic Design skills fresh and I was active with social media, I now compete with 20-something candidates that will accept a lower wage and have few commitments outside of their own lives. The fact of the matter is, the skills I do have are valuable, and being a mother has added to that value.

Mothers learn the following to be successful:

• Multi-tasking
• Time Management
• Negotiation
• Communication
• Event Planning
• Psychology
• Teaching
• Coaching
• First Aid
• Networking
• Social Media
• Sleep Deprivation
• Tolerance
• Short-order Cooking
• Team work
• Budgeting
• Flexibility
• And so much more...

So when asked, why I am qualified to take on a Marketing, Graphic Design, and Public Relations position, I shouldn’t hand them my old resume from my time in a corporate environment, I should hand them my mom resume which would certainly say, I can do just about anything handed to me.

Is Being Creative a Dying Art?

When a primary or secondary school budget needs cutting what is one of the first subjects to go? Art. I believe cutting programs like art and music from our children’s curriculum will hurt their ability to think outside the box. It seems that people are recognizing the importance of creative thinking in education and why we desperately need to recognize it not as an extra-curricular but rather a necessary-curricular activity.

E-learning needs to use the element of creativity for the development of content-rich training and gives learners a whole experience versus one driven to the left brain.

Extracurriculars Are Central to Learning

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/04/28/music-art-and-language-programs-in-schools-have-long-lasting-benefits

Learning to Think Outside the Box

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/education/edlife/creativity-becomes-an-academic-discipline.html?_r=0

Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

https://www.ted.com/playlists/24/re_imagining_school

The Consumer Experience Online - How to Make it Successful

I’m about to purchase what I think is a perfect pair of sunglasses online. I hesitate, unsure if I can trust they’ll look good on me, or if they don’t, that I’ll easily be able to return them. 

We’ve all been there, ordering merchandise online wondering if we’re making the right purchase. But what makes the experience five-star or one-star worthy? Can I, as a consumer, trust a company to take my money and deliver the product that I’ll be satisfied with, without actually touching it or speaking to a human? That is the eternal online shopping question. Even when I’m able to choose the product easily and add it to my shopping cart without fail, there is so much more to having a positive experience. 

Where is good help when you need it? If I have an issue or a question about what I want to buy, somehow it needs to be answered. Whether it be a thorough FAQ page, a live person available to text chat, videos, or a forum, the answer should be there. 

Back to my sunglasses. So, what would help me feel confident that I’m making the right decision about the sunglasses I want to purchase? A few things. If the technology allows, I’d love to virtually see what I look like with the sunglasses on, make sure they fit the shape of my face. Beyond that, it’d be nice if there were comments or photos from others that made the same purchase and had either a good or bad experience themselves. Because, let’s face it, word of mouth is one of the most powerful methods to drive the success or failure of a business. 

I close my eyes and with a press of a button, I jump. I ordered my sunglasses. The checkout experience was easy, no one tried to upsell me a Ferrari to go with my glasses, my credit card processed quickly, and I was able to do it all as a guest. What will put me in a happy place is if the company holds my hand until delivery: send me an email to say they’ve received my order; tell me when it ships with a tracking number; and when that wonderful box arrives, thank me for my order because I could have gone to a number of other vendors for the same pair. 

Now, heaven forbid something is wrong with my order, the consumer experience still needs to be sprinkled with warm fuzzies. I want it to be easy to return my unwanted merchandise for free, and receive a full refund. Perhaps an email or text asking how things could go better next time will continue me on a positive path.  After all, if the merchandise return goes as well as my ordering experience, then I’ll come back again, and tell my family and friends to do the same.

Eight Fundamentals I've Learned in Taekwondo

Upcoming Speaking Engagement

This coming weekend, I'll be a featured artist and presenter at the California Art Educators Conference in Sacramento. My one hour presentation for the art teachers will be about how words inspire my artwork. Illustrations tell stories, but often times the images are a reflection of the story told.

Please visit my Web site for print outs useful to teachers.

Included is a handout that I'm giving to the teachers: a formula to the type of poetry I write in my books.

Changes Alter Camps

Hi Everyone,

I am sorry to say that I have to cancel my three summer art camp sessions this year. I just got offered a full-time job and will be starting in May. It caught me off-guard, but I have to take this opportunity and run with it. It was a really tough decision to make. I'm going to miss doing camps for all of your amazing young artists. I know a few have been waiting a long time just to be old enough to participate. I'll be sure to do a few art workshops after October, because I really enjoy doing them!

Thanks for your understanding and patience. It has been a wonderful adventure teaching young people art.

Please come to my Fine Art Sale and my house on May 23 & 24 from 9am-Noon. I'll have a table set up for kids to do art and would love to chat.

I appreciate that you gave me the opportunity to work with your children!

Rachel

Take a Deep Breath - It's Art

So many adults tell me that they wish they had talent in art. My response? Art isn't about talent, it's about enjoying the process of creating something that isn't right or wrong. We spend so much time judging ourselves. Are we a good parent? Are we doing our job well enough? Do we eat healthy, or look nice? Doing art for ourselves is about stopping everything, if for just a few minutes, and create something that resonates with us. It is individual and no two pieces of art are alike. As every person is different so is every piece of art.

Here is my challenge for anyone looking for a piece of art to do. Grab a blank piece of paper, a pencil, markers or crayons. Now scribble. Let your hand move and don't think. Then randomly start filling in the small sections with color. And as my friend so eloquently put, "I can find beauty in the mess."

A Poem inspired by a Kindergartener

Don't Eat the Crayons!

By: Rachel Dillon

I love to teach art,
art class is so fun,
Except when art parts
became food for one.

“Don’t eat the crayons!”
I told Zack, on Monday.
With crayon in his teeth he told me, “OK.”

“Don’t eat your eraser,”
I told Zack on Tuesday.
He swallowed real hard and then asked to go play.

“Don’t lick the blue paint,”
I screeched on Wednesday.
Paint dripped down his chin which he then wiped away.

“Don’t taste the pastels,”
I begged Zack on Thursday.
He spat out three pieces much to my dismay.

Friday came along
and I was scared to teach art
I walked into class
slowly pushing my cart

And there at a table
sat Zack with a smile.
He gave me a paper
he pulled from a file.

It said, “To my favorite art teacher,
Art stuff tastes like gruel.
I’d rather make art,
cuz art is so cool.”

 

Watercolor Resistance Art Lesson

Greetings!
It has been a while since I entered content on my blog. Crazy busy has sucked my time away. Here is a fun project that I found on Pinterest, of course, and have recreated several times with a variety of elementary school students.

I've attached a power point of the creation of this art lesson that lists Art Fundamentals covered and explained, like:

·    Perspective – What we can see and what we don’t

·    Resistance Watercolor Piece – How water rolls off substances like wax from a crayon.

·    Rule of Three – using three to create a visual balance

·    Variation of Shape and Horizon Line

Cherry Blossom Painting

The student results from 

my last art workshop.

Acrylic Paintings from 2nd-6th

Crocker Art Museum Workshop

Thirsty Faith

By:  Rachel Allen Dillon

Finding light.
     The horses put all of their faith in their leader
                                    as she guides them to water in the desert.
          Warm ocher.
Thirsty blue.
           The shadows of the canyon wall are like looming
                                       and
                                             imprisoning traps.
            Thirsty.
                        Light.



- I wrote this yesterday when I was at a writer/art workshop at the Crocker Art Museum. It was inspired by the painting I saw in one of the exhibits.

Fifth Session of Summer Art Camp

Here are some student samples of some of the projects done over this week of camp.

4th Grader - Oil Pastels 

3rd Grader - Acrylic

4th Grader - Acrylic

1st Grader - Pencil

4th Grader - Crayon &
Watercolor

Kindergartner - Oil Pastel

3rd Grader - Collage

5th Grader -Watercolor

3rd Grader - Collage

Fourth Session of Art Camp

Here is a sample of camper's work for the fourth session.

1st Grader -
Watercolor Pencils

Kindergartner -
Watercolor Pencils

Fourth Grader - Acrylic Paint
& Watercolor

Fourth Grader - Watercolor

Sixth Grader - Acrylic

Fifth Grader -
Watercolors/Collage 

Third Grader -
Watercolor & Acrylics 

Sixth Grader -
Watercolor & Photo Paper

Third Session Camp Artwork

Here is a sample of the Third Session Camp Artwork:)

5th Grader Watercolor & Acrylic

5th Grader Acrylic

5th Grader Oil Pastel

4th Grader Watercolor & Crayon

5th Grader Oil Pastel

Watercolor and Acrylic

1st Grader Markers

Second Session Art Work

My Second Session of art camp was a big group with a variety of ages; grades 2nd - 7th. On the last day of camp we set up for the art show. It was the first time my students dove in to help me hang all of their art. As I ripped tape into small pieces for the students I paired up the younger students with the older students. The room buzzed with activity and chatter and team work. The show went up and the students stepped back to admire their work and the other student's pieces. I was moved by the moment to feel their enthusiasm and pride in what they accomplished. 

First Art Camp Session

Acrylic Painting

Here are some examples of art projects from the first kid's art camp last week. We utilized so many mediums from acrylic to oil pastels. We worked on layering and perspective. Each child had the opportunity explore their creative side and expand on ideas and concepts presented to them.

We also had fun on breaks getting to know my two desert tortoise babies. 

Acrylic Painting

Oil Pastels

Paper Collage

Oil Pastels and Watercolor

Colored Pencils

Acrylic Painting

Crayon and Watercolors

Paper Collage

Oil Pastels and Watercolors

Water colors, acrylic paint and permanent marker