CBDecker

Musica de Espana

2011-09-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

I found a new font I liked called Ginga. I think it works.

Mr. Jiffy

2011-07-11T10:45:00.000-07:00

Here are two ideas for the Band "Jiffy" Darrel asked for something with a Mexican flavor and a skull. He also liked the connection with the peanut butter...why? Dunno, but I tried.

Remember and Prepare

2011-06-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

I've been asked to be the chairman for a big commemoration of 9/11 here in Modesto. Most things will have to be delegated out, but I gave myself the job of making a poster for the event. The text is subject to change (it still needs editing by the committee) but hopefully the changes won't be major. I saw a similar poster online and modeled mine after it. I've made plenty of changes but I can't take all the credit.

New Band Poster

2011-06-06T22:29:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit slow with this poster but I like the way it turned out. Fun, whimsical, musical, I think.
Let me know what else needs to be added.

Posters for Del Mar College

2011-04-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

More blue texture from Mr. Hester, plus some vector images (perfect for manipulation because they stay crisp and clean when you size up) from dezignus.com. They are royalty free, if you mention where you got them!

The New People and Composition Symposium

2011-04-17T19:30:00.001-07:00

I'm excited about all the blues that are happening in this and the next poster. I have to give credit where credit is due. I found a site with some royalty free grunge textures created by Darren Hester. I've manipulated one of his, together with some of my own images to create the background.

Go to grungetextures.com to find some of your own.

A Night of Symphonies

2011-02-09T06:58:00.000-08:00

Try to guess what texture I used in the background. Here's a hint: it's something you use at least once a week. Generally, I like these posters in a vertical format, but I couldn't resist a landscape layout since the title of the poster is A "Night" of Symphonies. I wanted to promote the physical earthiness (is that a word?) of the whole thing, hence the landscape view.

Fall Classic

2010-10-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

Three layers in the background make for a big file! I found a great site with free textures. I'm a crazed woman when it comes to textures. Three fonts too. Myriad Pro, Kunstler Script and ...well, I can't remember the third. I'll have to look it up before I send it to the printer.

Sketches

2010-09-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

I was asked recently to provide sketches for a magazine client. I'm competing for a monthly comic strip. I have to admit that trying to put the required information into a square roughly 3"x 3" was a DAUNTING task, akin to writing good children's literature. I did 6 panels and this one is my favorite.

Caribbean Rite

2010-08-28T13:04:00.000-07:00

I love the way this poster came together. For the background I began with an image I had saved on my computer just waiting for the right application. I duplicated it so I had two of them, flopped one of the duplicates and put it on top of the other. I moved them around until I began to see a "face" come together in a very subtle way. On top of that I placed another image which I hope the viewer will recognize - but not too quickly. All of these layers have a bit of transparency so that texture from each layer adds to the final version. Then the whole thing gets flattened into one finished background.

Finding the right font is always fun. I have used two, Blackadder and Tw Cen MT Condensed -one serif and one sans serif to compliment each other. The color for the fonts are "picked" out of the background.

It's always a challenge to include all of the text that Darrell asks for without destroying the background underneath, but I think it works here.

Colored Up

2010-05-03T23:23:00.000-07:00

I hope this isn't too colorful for you all. Let me know. I have the other files ready to send.

2010 Summer Band Camp

2010-05-02T21:41:00.000-07:00

Darrell, this is just a beginning idea. The individual letters could be different colors, I could add more little viking guys with musical instruments or scrub the whole thing for something else.
I also need to know if you want a date on the poster...I may have missed that on your email. Let me know what you think. I think the date would look great in the middle of the "d".

2010-03-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

Changes made to the dates...and a small font change made.

2010 Composition Symposium

2010-03-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe a whole year has come around since the last symposium! What'dya think of this new image? Pretty fun. You'll have to imagine the right side edge. Because it's white without any box around it, it doesn't show up. Same size poster (11x17) as always.

The Cannon Ball

2010-01-09T20:34:00.000-08:00

Sometimes on Saturday Matt takes me "garage sailing". I call it sailing because we sail around looking for sales. Matt has a nose for this kind of thing. Last Saturday we went to an estate sale in Del Rio. I found a few pieces of art that I really liked and...a cannon ball. After a little internet research I discovered that an etching Matt bought me for $10 was worth $150 and the cannon ball that he bought for $5 was worth about $375. What FUN!

My mother's things

2010-01-09T20:18:00.000-08:00

I received such a nice gift in the mail today. My brother and sister-in-law sent me some of my mother's things - some jewelry and a scarf. Jewelry wasn't too important to her but what she had was nice. It brought her memory into sharp focus. It took me by surprise and I have to admit, made me a little teary. Robyn asked to see it and so I've taken a couple of pictures. I think she liked this leaf motif neckless because it covered up the scar left from her thyroid surgery. I remember her wearing it in the early years of the Murray home. I'm going to wear the scarf to church tomorrow. I'm wearing the camp neckless as I type.

THANK YOU Jon and Renee.

Originals band poster

2010-01-09T16:13:00.000-08:00

The background was inspired by Paul Rand, one of the great graphic artists of the 50's 60's and 70's. He did many wonderful book covers - very clean look.

A New England Halloween

2009-09-13T15:28:00.001-07:00

The background was taken from one of N.C.Wyeths paintings entitled "The Magic Pool". Painted in 1907. It is a beautiful piece with an Indian in the middle drinking from the water. I took out the Indian and a few other elements and then darkened what was left. I love all things Wyeth.

Band Camp Shirt Design 09

2009-06-14T23:49:00.000-07:00

A fun shirt, I think...what'dya think?

2009-06-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

Farr and Away

2009-05-28T19:40:00.001-07:00

Beautiful!

2009-05-28T15:37:00.001-07:00

Here are more pictures, inside and out.

The house of my dreams

2009-05-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

I love the Farr house. I've dreamed about it ever since moving away from my childhood home on 144 South 10th East. The Farr's were our neighbors (130 South 10th East) and I spent a lot of time playing with Colleen and Marilyn. This past week I had opportunity to go inside again, after an absence of 34 years. I was not disappointed.

2009-03-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, I had to use my old Photoshop Elements 3 in order to export this poster with the correct color. This is the final version. I hope.

2009-03-06T14:49:00.000-08:00

2009-03-06T08:53:00.000-08:00

Composition Symposium Poster. For some unexplained reason when I uploaded this image the color was changed to it's opposite. It is actually red, brown, pink...not blue, purple or green.
Well, you'll get the idea when you look at the background on the poster (2nd one down) below.

The Latest Poster

2009-02-16T12:48:00.000-08:00

Here are two ideas for Darrell's latest poster. I originally did the reddish brown one and then decided that the background would serve a more contemporary design better. So, I changed the background and the text placement and came up with the more Renaissance feeling piece.
I like the brown background for this particular poster and will use the more contemporary background for the more contemporary concert...coming next.

2008-10-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

Poster for Darrell's next concert...Day of the Dead! I have another version, the only difference being the November 1st text is red instead of white. Whatd'ya think?

More Christian stuff

2008-10-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

Christian the Lion

2008-10-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

Rat Fink cover sketch

2008-10-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

This is the cover sketch I will be sending to Dutton. The goal is to make the boy, (Logan) look a little rattish, but still cute...and the girl, (Emily) a "snot" but likeable in the end. So, I've given the boy, beady eyes, ragged hair, a long nose that ends rather small and two front teeth that are prominent. For the girl, an upturned nose and posture along with the down turned eyebrow help to make her look snobbish. I hope she still looks cute. Grandpa is in the background in his flowered towel, which in the end will be pink. The black boy is Malik, and what's in his backpack is the secret that turns Logan into a RAT FINK. What d'ya think?

A Musical Celebration

2008-09-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

Darrell has given me another opportunity to exercise my graphic design muscles. I used the traditional Kanagawa Wave as the beginning, changed the background, took out the boats and fishermen, posterized it, changed the size and added text. Back in the 70's the great poster artist, Mac Magleby changed the wave, morphed the edges of the wave into birds that flew up into the sky, changed the shape from horizontal to vertical and added the text, "PEACE" across the top. His version pops up all over the place. It's a great wave. Oh, the school logo should be placed up in the left hand corner, next to the boxed text.

Rat Fink

2008-09-27T21:57:00.000-07:00

Sketches are due on Tuesday, the 1st of October and I'm not close to being done...aaargh! Rat Fink is a cute middle grade novel. Black and white interiors and color cover. Basically, Logan (10 year old boy) is not happy that his grandpa (think dementia) has come to live with his family. Grandpa does goofy things...like going outside to pick flowers without getting dressed first, or as in part of this sketch, showing up at a school function and taking over the microphone to sing old songs. One thing Logan suggests to help grandpa find his way home is to give grandpa a camera. But it backfires on Logan when grandpa uses his camera to take a picture of Logan (left hand part of sketch), later used as fodder for blackmail by Logan's nemesis.

Two down, six to go.

New website ideas

2008-08-10T14:49:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of making a new website (sorely needed) and I'm toying with using this art (after painting of course) for the categories. Each animal would have a label, ie: books, portfolio, sketches, contact...you know how it works. Then when the mouse scrolls over the animal it would make a noise. Anywho, I'm not totally in love with this line drawing and might scrap the whole thing for something else...when I think of something else.

2008-07-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

This piece and the one that follows were both done on brown toned paper. It's fun and easy...add highlights and shadows and...presto! The scary part is, I was the model for this one.

2008-07-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

This was something just for fun I posted on http://www.drawergeeks.com.%20i/I love the site. Check 'em out. Each week a new subject. Lots of talent!

Betsy Jane Leavitt Hamblin

2008-07-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

Last summer this art was used on one of three monuments in Arizona honoring my Leavitt ancestors. The other two monuments had images that worked together with this one. Theoretically one could travel to the three different monuments and do a rubbing that connects all three pictures into one larger piece, the background then becomes recognizable. Want to know what was in the background?

The School Library Journal Review

2008-07-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

HOWIE, Betsy. The Block Mess Monster. illus. by C. B. Decker. unpaged. CIP. Holt. June 2008. RTE $16.95. ISBN 978-0-8050-7940-1. LC 2007007229.
K-Gr 3—Calpurnia has a Block Mess Monster in her room that doesn't want to be put away. Her mom who, oddly enough, can't see it, encourages her to clean up. And that's the little girl's problem. "Just say POOF!" advises Mom. But no amount of poofing makes Block Mess disappear. And no amount of cajoling on Mom's part convinces Calpurnia that Block Mess doesn't exist. But just when she's about to lose her patience, Mom comes up with a brilliant idea that resolves the issue. Watercolor cartoons brilliantly capture the humor and exasperation of this parent-child tug-of-war. Calpurnia, always in a different getup (including an Indian outfit) repeatedly tries to discourage Mom's attempts to clean the room. Droll vignettes depict the child in various guises trying to "poof" away the dreaded monster, while Mom's oversize hand reaching to clear away clutter and a close-up of her blazing eyes and downturned mouth cause Calpurnia to quip, "Oh great. Now there are two monsters." There are many picture-book stories that urge youngsters to clean their room, but this perfect pairing of text and illustrations is irresistible.—Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT

I'm told a good review in the SLJ will expose your book to tens of thousands of school librarians across the nation...one can hope!

The Quilt Store

2008-06-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

Recently, a friend's daughter paid me to create a logo for her new quilting store, LadyBug's Quilts. Originally she asked that I create a black, white and red logo. Thankfully, she decided to use more color (afterall, it's a fabric store full of color!) and this was what we came up with together. She has this on her business cards and store bags and even on the cash register receipts. If you're ever in Manteca California make sure you stop and buy your quilting material from Jenny Dancy!

Bad Luck Chair

2008-06-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

I read recently on James Gurney's blog that too much green on the cover of a book spells death. Ooops. This is the cover (minus the text) of a middle grade novel for Dutton titled The Bad Luck Chair. The color green figured prominently in the story along with a lot of magic and mystery. The inside has a slew of black and white illustrations. Any resemblance to anyone you know is purely coincidental. It must be doing okay, they recently asked me to do another! I LOVE Dutton.

Elephant

2008-06-15T23:46:00.000-07:00

The text should read: "You Too?" Originally this art was meant to be a get well card and somehow the bandages became socks. I liked it enough to post it, but we'll see if it makes it to the next round...meaning, will it become a card?

Another Version

2008-06-15T18:11:00.000-07:00

How's this one? More musical? Keep your fingers crossed.

Fun design, but no go

2008-06-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

I liked this design...but unfortunately, by emphasizing the "Viking" text, the music camp got relegated to second fiddle. Back to the drawing board.

My Latest Book

2008-06-15T15:07:00.000-07:00

The Block Mess Monster hit the book stores on June 1, 2008! It got a great Kirkus Review and was immediately picked up by the Children's Book of the Month Club. I hope it all translates into more work and more money!

Del Mar College Music posters

2008-06-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my son-in-law, Darrell Brown, who teaches music at the college, I get a lot of opportunity to do music posters. Good for me and I hope good for him, too!

One of several bad ideas for Band Camp T-Shirts

2008-06-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

O Pioneers

2008-06-14T10:32:00.001-07:00

I come from a long line of pioneers. Leavitt pioneers to be exact. Last summer I was asked to create three pieces of art for three monuments that were being erected in Arizona to honor my pioneer forebearers. This is one of the pieces.