I've been juggling a variety of projects the last few weeks, including a commissioned illustration for my friend Saara. They will be moving into a new home a few months from now and she wanted to have a family portrait to frame and hang in their entry way. Long before photography and long before children, I had thought to dabble in illustration and had a collection of prints that I would sell at Craft Shows, a few which she had purchased and inspired her idea to have a family portrait done in the same style. My illustration process includes piles of sketches that I often have to trace and retrace and retrace, so a light table is really a godsend. Kevin made me a light table a hundred million years ago which neither of us have any idea on its whereabouts, so he put a quick one together for me the other day.

Clean, lightweight, and portable with a long long cord and a fantastically sleek LED bulb in place of a regular incandescent bulb which would always heat, melt and warp the plastic over time. Out of pocket, it cost $7 (Home Depot) for the bulb with everything else being scraps we had laying around the mudroom. If I wanted to, I would "request" to have these painted in bubblegum pink… or black… or white. And that gold ring (fixture loop) that the cord runs through I would change that to a flat black or something and obvs that brown cord would have to go… but this was for HURRY UP I NEED TO GET THIS JOB DONE! so i'm all smiles.

Here is a Before and After or rather a With and Without the light table. I mean, really, I could make out the image enough to trace it but this speeds up the process so much more. I actually have used my iMac screen as a light table a handful of times, but it's absolutely awkward and uncomfortable.

And another example...

Hoping to have this illustration complete by mid-week… fingers crossed!