ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ SAVOUR

©Ginger Nielson

This is an older illustration, but one that helps us remember to savour the memories of summer days.

It is almost time....

Soon enough the bears will return to their warm cozy forest places for a long winter's sleep...and we can once again put up the bird feeders.

When Disaster Strikes.... and why you always need a back up

Because my husband is a computer geek, guru, professional and more, I always have an able pro at my side when I have a disaster such as the one I had yesterday.

First of all he had convinced me to get a new extra external drive for back ups with loads of GBs.  I am glad he insisted.  Most of the time I remember to back up what I need as I work on a book or project.  I don't use automatic back up because I create so much in a day it would overload the external too quickly. I kinda like to pick and choose and try not to duplicate too much.

Yesterday was a lesson in being too lazy to do the normal back up.  Here's a clue...back up everything you think you will need before you do any UPDATES that your computer insists you need.

I was in the UPDATE mode when the computer told me to restart.  When I did, however, the computer would not start up. I did all the fixes that the Mac manual and professionals suggested and still ... nada.

When my husband started hearing the constant "chimes" from my mac as I tried all the book solutions and called my mac computer people... he came into the studio and began his magic.  He also asked why I didn't call on him first.  (Well that one was easy...he was repainting our guest bathroom.)

He was able to restart everything but he had to reinstall the operating system from scratch.  Here is the main reason for a substantial back up.... sometimes when you have to re install the OS on a mac you might lose all the data on your hard drive.  In this case my accomplished "geek in residence" was able to restore the OS without losing a bit of my work.  Had the work disappeared I would have lost the final images, the PDF and all the CMYK conversions I had just finished for a new book.

What did I learn.  Two things.
 1.) Back up is essential.  AND....
 2.) If you have an expert in the house, don't be afraid to ask for his help first.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ SNEAKY

Just when Henry found the best cushion in the house, along comes trouble!

Snow could be on the way soon....

These party animals must be having their last fling before finding a warm place to spend the winter.

Another review for the Poodles who Could!

I am always happy to see great reviews for books and when they happen to be for authors for whom I have illustrated, I am even happier.  Here is a great review for Flying Poodles, A Christmas Story.  Karen Morss is the talented Renaiassance Woman who created the story.

Karen's own personal story is just as exciting and entertaining.

I was able to include the northern lights in some of the illustrations.  My mother grew up north of the Arctic Circle in Norway. Her stories about the Aurora Borealis always intrigued me.  I did visit Alaska, but only in the summer, so I have never seen these first hand, but hopefully I will return to either Norway or Alaska and view them for myself.

Meet the models... Flying Poodles A Christmas Story

Just for fun, why not have a look at the page Karen Morss created to show off her models and the voices for the Flying Poodles.  I had such a good time creating characters for Mr. and Mrs. Claus and Miss Sally.

In case you didn't know it, our beloved author, Karen, is actually Miss Sally.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ AFTERWARDS

Oh my goodness...... where's the duck?

©Ginger Nielson