A Liebster Award: Bloggers Sharing the Love


Last week brought good news in twos. First, I found out that my lionfish painting will be shown at the New Waves 2012 show at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art. Second, I was awarded the Liebster Award by bloggers Lisa Thompson, Kavita Ramchandran, and Dana Carey (wow... thank you so much for this honor).



Liebster is a German word meaning dearest and beloved, or favorite. The award is given to bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers to create new connections and generate attention. Should you choose to accept the award, you are asked to:
  • Thank the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them;
  • Copy and paste the award to your blog; 
  • Pick five other bloggers deserving the award; and 
  • Leave a comment on their blogs to let them know they have won the award.


Five Fun Facts

Some versions of the award also ask you to tell 5 things about yourself. Here are my five facts:
  • I am learning how to surf. I'm terrible at it because I don't go out enough, but I love it. I even enjoy tumbling in the waves, which makes up a large part of my surfing experience. I'm also happy just to sit on the board chatting with my friends.
  • My favorite TV show of all time is the short-lived Firefly. Any other Browncoats out there?
  • I much prefer warm weather to cold weather.  
  • The most recent book I read was Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. This true story of a World War II bombardier who survives the most harrowing events imaginable (30+ days on a lifeboat in the shark-infested Pacific Ocean after his plane crashes and years being tortured in Japanese POW camps) is a testament to the human spirit and a book that I couldn't put down. My current read is 1Q84, by one of my favorite authors, Haruki Murakami, known for his surreal, philosophical, and pop culture mashup novels. I'm intrigued by it, but this almost 1000 page book is not one to start with if you haven't read Murakami before.


Five Excellent Blogs

Here are five blogs by illustrators and artists whose work I admire. I can't tell if they have less than 200 followers, but they are all worthy of attention, fame, wealthy patrons, and more:

1. Cindy Dauer's The Slumbering Herd: Cindy is an artist who uses Copic markers to draw intricate, colorful, and creative Steampunk and other delightful creatures. She often writes process posts which explain how she does her drawings, which I always appreciate.


2. Leah Palmer Preiss's Oddments & Curiosities: Leah is an illustrator and calligrapher whose odd and curious creatures tickle my fancy. Leah is posting intriguing creatures as part of the Alphabeasts challenge.


3. Taaneya Balaji's Wanderdust: Taaneya is an artist, designer, and illustrator whose colorful illustrations and photos of her life in India transport me to a different culture and place.


4. Art and Adventure: Ben Hatke's Blog: Ben posts some cool robot comics on this blog. Cute, darkly funny, with an existential twist.


5. Pixel Shavings: This is bit of a cheat because this group blog is comprised of such a talented list of children's illustrators that each probably have hundreds of followers: Hazel Mitchell, Russ Cox, Fred Koehler, Debbie Ohi, John Deininger, and Sheralyn Barnes. But the blog is worth checking out, with each illustrator taking turns describing his or her illustration process.