Illustration Friday - Fierce

Fierce? Makes me think "Project Runway," every time.

The Little Mermaid

Some sketching with watercolor pencils.

Other randomness before I collapse into a puddle of exhaustion (albeit a puddle with a bowl of raspberry ice cream):

*The Rather Difficult Font Game via How About Orange (which is pretty darn swell)

*"Artisan Breads, Pastries, Cookies and Desserts" - Coming out in August, a cookbook full of recipes and techniques from the Beach Pea Baking Co. I worked here for a stint a few years back and a) the food is INCREDIBLE b) the employees and owners are some of the best people you could ever hope to work with. Can't wait for this one to come out.

*Cathy Cullis's melding of illustration and textiles is amazing

Ephemera

Reading about Tasha Tudor's passing the other week in the paper has left me a bit wistful. 92 is decidely respectable and most definitely a full life. That said, when I have to think of individuals who (creatively speaking) have had an impact on me, I'd have to rank her near the top.

Growing up, I remember being completly enthralled with Tasha Tudor's world of corgis, country fairs and all things whimsical. The copy of Drawn From New England that my grandparents got my sister's and I is still here and completely dog eared. Reading about the Sparrow Post or her Christmas celebrations left me with a sense that life need not follow the status quo and that modernity's trappings could be (if not completly forgotten), pushed to the side for awhile to enjoy hoop skirts and long forgotten cake recipes.

***


Weekends should always include donuts. And adventures. Walking (literally) on the Maine/New Hampshire state line I stuck my camera through the fence to get the back side of one of the mill buildings.

Howdy!

Drawing this had me thinking of my own school cafeteria as a kid. I'm quite sure we didn't have happy oranges on the walls. I think though there was a poster of what to do if someone was choking.

In 5th grade though it was all good, because we got to paint a giant seascape mural. Me? I was all about the jellyfish.

Illustration Friday - Punchline

Q: Why are mathematicians so formidable?
A: Because there's power in numbers!

(Truth be told, I had the illo. around, then went hunting for a joke to fit)

To Grandmother's House

Yikes, one update a week? I think I can hear the crickets...

Anyhow, here's a doll I made a few weeks back for Etsy. Sewing and drawing in one project? Uber-fun. So is gelato (mmm), but not so much "The Happening" (a film I would not recommend to those with serious plant phobias). Also, if you're anywhere near Portsmouth, NH, the Little Muses show at Three Graces is swell (Bailey Saliwanchik's work is stunning).

So Maisie told Mandy...

Things I discovered this weekend:

1) You can get a sunburn while in the car.
2) Dan In Real Life is absolutely charming.
3) Photoshop can, and will crash (with reckless abandon), the one time you forget to hit "command + s."

Illustration Friday - Baby

Zut alors! It's a baby!

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Personally, I was always more of a peanut butter and fluff kid.

Illustration Friday - Worry

Poor Chicken Little...

"X" Marks the Spot

In a good book.

Color Loves and Likes

I was messing around with some colors this weekend and not being frightfully happy with any of them. So, back to Color Theory 101. I setup a file for myself in photoshop to use as a palette and tried to remember what I could from Design Fundamentals (one of the hands down best classes I ever took for understanding just "why" you do something, rather than just because "It looks good."). I'm going to keep playing around with this a bit more, but I can see where it helps to take a step like this.



It kind of looks like sorbet. That's making me hungry. But speaking of color, I know it's old news (and everybody and their brother has already been over there), but I really, really like kuler.

Illustration Friday - Wide

A Typical Day

Eric tagged me for the Typical Day meme that's floating about the internet, so let's see... I'll give you a typical Saturday, because that's when I end up doing the bulk of my work (that and nights and random days off). I'm a graphic designer by day, which is actually pretty cool to get paid to hang out with typefaces and pixels. But since this is pretty much an illustration blog, I'll fill you in on that.

Anyway, here's a typical Saturday:

8:00-9:00: Wake up. Depends on how late I was up Friday night (could be late if there's a "Godfather" marathon).

9:00-10:00: Get coffee. Stat. I'm monosyllabic and snarky up until this point. Tune into Polka Party on WUNH, because Gary rocks it old school. Check email and blog surf.

10:00-sometime before noon: Pack any Etsy orders and make mad dash to post office before it closes at noon. Swing by library to return books. Late fees and angry librarians kind of scare me. I usually end up bringing home a stack of books, some just for inspiration to flip through (I'm a sucker for costume reference books). Oh, and I'm short, which works out well when I end up in the kid's section.

Noon on: Bust out the pencils and bristol board and/or get on the computer to color stuff. This also necessitates queing up an episode of "This American Life." Ira Glass can do no wrong in my book. I'll usually listen to episodes of that while I'm working (or other podcasts).

2'ish: Raid cupboards for chocolate chips in lieu of a real lunch. Refill coffee. Probably on third cup by now. Go back to work.

5:00: Begin to wrap things up. Consider eating something real.

5:00 on: Might go back and take a second look at whatever I was working on. Tweak things a bit. Grab jacket, bag and any willing partners in crime and head out to run errands, visit bookstore, or rent movie. Probably stop drinking coffee about now. Correction, should stop drinking coffee about now.

Late - My sister usually works closing shifts Saturdays, so when she gets home we'll watch a movie or something.

Hopefully prior to midnight - Go to sleep. Dream in color.

And I'll tag the following nifty people if they have the time: Sarah, Susan and Ben.

Corporate America

A quick warm-up with some pencil and gouache.

Teenage Meme

I couldn't pass this one up - the "Draw Yourself as a Teenager" meme, so here's a quick sketch immortalizing some really, really big hair, c. 1994.*

*C'mon. You all totally had those bangs. Just admit it.

Lemon Goodness

I have a penchant for most anything citrus. Lemons in a special way.



And lemon cupcakes most definitely.

Family in town, so off to go socialize.

We Dress Like Students

From the Vector Experiment of '08 a few weeks back.

Today was about dodging rain drops, Flannery O'Connor short stories, and a trip to a rummage sale. My Dad snagged an autoharp at said rummage sale. About a half hour, one snapped string, and four sore fingers later, I've got it working and it's delightful!

Now off to go get in touch with my inner Carter Family.

Illustration Friday - Wrinkles

Grey Skys

It finally rained a bit today. The grey light is making the new grass look all the more intense and saturated. It was a long winter; I'm glad to have some color to look at.



Some quince branches I was forcing inside. The bottle was from a Taco Tuesday run.

Bezier Curve Fun

Forrays into vector art. It's different than the style I usually work in, but a fun change of pace. And you know what else is fun? 80 degree temps, daffodils and the first iced mocha of the season. The little things are always the best.

And I finally signed up for a profile over at Goodreads (could be dangerous considering how much of a time warp Flickr and Facebook already create). Anyhow, it's a pretty nifty site!

Leaf Pile Redux

There's always a sense of euphoria that comes with racing off the schoolbus.

Tortoise Shell Comb

Some lovely weekending in these parts: green tea, sitting out in the sun reading (pssst, "The Arrival" is fabulous), driving with the car windows down, a visit from the nieces, some drawing and pondering, coffee with the family, a red haze on the maples and a nice long run.

And now off to Monday.

(And apologies for sporadic communiqué - my site hosting and email are conspiring against me and have both been acting delightfully irregular as of late)

Illustration Friday - Fail

A quick lunch-time drawing for Illustration Friday.

Sidney

Quite frankly, a pair of frames like that would make my day. It would almost make up for a lack of 20/20 vision.

Going, going, gone:

*Elisa Granowska's 3D illustrations are delightfully magical

*The story over at Milliner's Bliss is awfully charming

Thinking Thoughts

Another ACEO, made up of bits from an old paperback novel. Looks like the page was an advertisement for Keat's poems.

Teresita

Another ACEO. Oh Derwent watercolor pencils, how I love you. Almost as much as the Maryink nesting doll shirt I splurged on the other week over at Etsy.

But not so much as I love melting snow and budding trees.

Leaf Pile!

Working on something new and here's a snippet. I love leaf piles. Raking them, not so much, but the jumping part is pretty fun. Not sure what the neighbors think of that though...

Illustration Friday - Homage

Here's my "homage" to the best band a geek could ever love, They Might Be Giants. In particular, that line in "Birdhouse in your Soul": "Not to put too fine a point on it/Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet."

*I almost drew a "Purple Toupee." The Bee won out.

Sniff

Highlights of the past few days?
Visiting nieces, Thursday night tacos, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", and nice hot tea from my aunt (to offset one doozy of a cold). I also really like Vitamin C drops.



And some more recent Flickr favorites. Click on the links to check out the über-talented photographers/illustrators.

1. Frog Prince? Girl Posed in Shell with Frog, 2. 16118, 3. How To Play Rock 'n' Roll Accordion, 4. .fiddler on the... rope, 5. Flowers, 6. 03 Close-up, 7. Ovens Cemetry, 8. colours, 9. DSC_8372

*I was thinking Tim Burton's version was way less frightening than the original '70's film. Gene Wilder really unnerved me as a kid...