I finally finished this picture. This one did take some time, as I can usually put out a pastel picture in a day. Watercolor is a little more time-consuming I am finding, but I do like the results. The colors are so crisp and clean. Only a couple more pics to do and I will start sending my samples out to companies again. Please keep fingers crossed and lots of prayers please. Enjoy!
A Gift For You-Watercolor Santa
Just finished this picture for a Halloween card, flag, or other. I like the way this turned out, but I may try my hands at watercolors next time for such detailed picture. Pastels are great for getting that realistic look to portraits, landscapes and animals. But for some reason, when you have to do tiny details, it is not the best. The color is not that intense either. I know they would be more bold in watercolor. Maybe I will try this picture in watercolors and see what you think.
Back to the drawing board! 
Vintage Halloween Girl
Someone stop me…this is too much fun! I wish I knew a Santa like this one! I spent a little more time on this one.
Santa...again.
Hello! I just had to share this with you! I have titled this post “Snowman Surprise” because I really was surprised that I could actually make a snowman picture like this, as I have never tried anything like this before.
I usually have a planned out drawing in front of me, always on white paper and always in colored pencil. This was not planned at all. I had gone through some of my old collections of Christmas cards that I keep for inspiration and saw these interesting snowman cards of just their faces up close and it looked like it was either paint or pastel with a colored paper background. I haven’t used pastels since the 80′s!
So last night, before bed, I grabbed a piece of blue construction paper and my pastels from the basement and just went at it. No pencil markings, tracings or anything. It took all of 10 minutes and I couldn’t help but smile. I kept saying to myself, “This is so cool!” I just didn’t expect the colors to come out the way they did or the way the shading worked. It was fun.
So here he is. Hope you like him. I’m going to try more…maybe a Santa face…hmmmmm….:)
Surprise Snowman
I am posting some of the first pictures I created for greeting cards back in the 70′s. I remember taking the designs down to the printers with my mother and going over everything with the printer. The artwork couldn’t contain many colors because of the expense, so to provide interest, I drew in black ink with a rapidograph pen and had it printed on cream-colored stock and colored in certain areas with a red marker. That was it. I was so excited when, in about a week, I would get the call from the printer that my cards were ready. Boy, have things changes since then or what??? It was so exciting back then, though.
So, here they are. The first designs I sent out into the world as greeting cards. You know, I think I am going to cry.
Girl On The Beach
Girl On The Hill
Girl In The Rain
I’m just posting an illustration of some characters I made up for children’s book or greeting card series. It is a primitive rag doll named Charlotte, with her two friends. They are her trusting, Scottish terrier (another primitive icon) Toby; and Gunther, the goose (primitive icon again). Gunther is the sidekick, comical one, who always seems to get into mischief. Toby just kind of sits quietly by and is usually on the receiving end of Gunther’s antics. Like the straight guy. Charlotte is the guiding, mother figure and keeps the two in line.
I must say, I have much fun drawing these pictures and making them have all kinds of neat adventures together. I just can’t seem to find the right way to market them, I guess. I have an illustrated story I have done with them, but haven’t put it out there as yet. I am thinking maybe cute greeting cards or along that line. But for now, I’ll just see where it takes me. I do have another post about the book I wrote awhile back.
Anyway, for now, I am posting this picture to celebrate Fall, and I will post more to follow. This will force me to continue to draw this trio and maybe come up with a marketing idea as I go along. It can’t hurt, right? Here it is:
Charlotte and Friends Welcome Fall
Okay, this may seem a little unusual. In the ’70′s, I came up with a series of characters called Ped-Heds. I came up with the character while doodling in my high school class one day (go figure). I came up with this goofy looking character that had just a head and a foot and made them into greeting cards, to hopefully sell to a greeting card company (as always). I had the series sent in for copyright protection (officially) and then started sending them out to various card companies. As I drew them more and more, they became what you see today. They became cuter and had funny sayings, and it seemed perfect for it’s time. Then one day, I received a contract in the mail from a large New York Company that dealt with alot of work overseas, as well as here in the U.S. They were very interested, but the contract was not drawn up very well. It looked a little shabby. So I took this contract to a lawyer I knew, and had him review it just to be safe.
Needless to say I was very excited. Dreams of me finally reaching my goal in life and doing what I loved and getting paid for it, was unbelievable. I couldn’t wait to sign on the dotted line, but wait…..
The lawyer made recommendations to the contract and things had to be reworded on the contract, or I would not be protected. They could take everything and I would not get a penny if I signed it as is. I was crushed.
The Lawyer sent the recommendations to the company and we waited. They came back by saying the contract was fine the way it was and that there were too many recommendations. I called them hoping beyond hope this could still work. This was all a mistake. But no…
On the phone they told me they thought it over and that they couldn’t do, or wasn’t interested in, the idea any longer, and that was that. Dreams dashed…again. 
I was miserable for a long while, but I had to think that if I had signed that contract, it could have been worse. I tried after that to send them to other companies, but got rejected or was told they looked deformed.
Many years later, I was talking to someone about this whole episode in my life, and this person told me they thought they remembered seeing or hearing of Ped-Heds, but it was not “me” they saw on an interview, or where ever they heard about this. It was someone else. I was furious!
This was before computers were so popular and I never checked it out, but looked everywhere in shops to see if I saw them anywhere. I never did.
I google the word “Ped-Hed” now and don’t see anything. But will anyone out there let me know if you do… and also tell me what you think of this character. I tried putting arms and legs to the character, but I don’t know if it does it any justice. Then I’ll have to change the name!!!
Anyway, world…this is a “Ped-Hed”©, and even though I am no longer Cheryl Riley, I am now Cheryl McNulty and I am the creator!!!!
The End
"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" Ped-Hed
"I was just lying here thinking of you." Ped-Hed
"Friends are for sharing the best of times!"
