Summer

The calendar informs me that I have five days left in which to refer to the current season as, “summer.” And that being so, I’m taking advantage of the fact in the titling of this post (even if it is being accompanied by an illustration of a woman kitted out for cooler temps).

The past few months have been busy with work, full with life and attempts at balancing the two. Deadlines have been intense, but I did manage to fit in a trip to the amazing Maine Botanical Garden for my birthday and had a visit with family shipping overseas. Other things as of late:

* Eloise’s Garden, my first fabric collection comes out in November!

* I gave gardening a go for the first time this summer after binge watching Monty Don on Netflix. I had good luck with peas, scallions and small pumpkins, but no joy with sweet pea or basil. And the swiss chard is surviving, but barely, because apparently goldfinch have a taste for it. I’ve already put in another row of peas, figuring it nothing else I’ll have shoots for salads and plans for radish.

* Speaking of gardens, my mom had a bumper crop of zucchini so I made this zucchini chocolate bread and it’s outstanding. My grandmother used to make a similar cake and baking it was 100% an act of nostalgia for me.

* One of my favorite reads so far this year has been The Map Thief. Please, someone in Hollywood, make this a movie.

Eire

I’ve missed blogging regularly. Overhauling this space took longer than I’d initially thought, but all’s well that end’s well, right? So now to catch up on the past few months, and to start with, Ireland.

I’ve wanted to visit Ireland since I was a child and the star’s aligned to make it a possibility this past February. A friend that I’d shared my travel plans with mentioned that for those of Irish heritage, there’s an unexplainable connection with the land that one feels upon touching down. I wasn’t sure what to make of that, but tucked it away in the back of my mind.

But now I understand. Fully.

Visiting Ireland felt like returning home, home in the purest, most complete sense that I’ve ever known. I’ve tried to rationally explain this sensation, but I can’t come up with a plausible theory. All I know is that something that was buried deep within my being felt a sense of true belonging and deep joy. And to leave that ached. I’ve spent ages on the Irish immigration website, attempting to understand residency requirements, visas and other ways that this American might make a longterm stay in that land. And I’m not sure how to make that a reality, but want to, somehow, someday.

The Cliffs of Moher

But more practically, in the meantime?

* Ireland is beautiful in the winter. If you’re hesitant about visiting during that time of year, don’t be: it’s as stunning then as ever. February was by turns rainy, blustery, grey and drizzly. But we also had days of glorious sun and afternoons where a coat wasn’t needed. I’d go back to Ireland in the winter in a heartbeat.

* We ended up staying at a rental in New Quay, in County Clare (The Flaggy Shore). The house was terrific and our host wonderful — if anyone wants contact information, don’t hesitate to write me! The location was a perfect jumping off point for the places we visited: Galway, The Burren, The Cliffs of Moher, Knock and Connemara. I was only in Dublin for a couple hours after arriving, but did manage to visit Trinity College and the Book of Kells. I wish I’d made it to County Cork (where most of my family came from), but the west of Ireland won my heart, for sure.

* Assorted other places I visited: Wooden Heart in Galway is the most wonderful toy store (and has many beautiful children’s books). Corcomroe Abbey is beautiful. I’d love to live in Kinvara. Linnane’s made the best crab cakes I’ve ever had (and their Friday night music sessions are a delight). Linnalla Ice Cream was the stuff dreams are made of. The Moycullen bogs captured my imagination. And visit Brigid’s well.

Maam Cross, County Galway

* Other general recommendations? Get off the beaten path. Ask questions. Bring a raincoat. Wear waterproof shoes. Drink a Guinness (or two). Be prepared to be amazed.

Many Happy Returns

Happy Mother's Day! To celebrate, here's a free greeting card download. The file is set up with crop marks for cutting -- if that's new to you, this video tutorial is a terrific help.

* Download Here *

For personal, school and library use only, © Abigail Halpin

HEARTH

The latest issue of Taproot Magazine is out, including my cover illustration! There's some terrific articles in this issue and I'm itching to knit the included shawl pattern. Random asides, I have a braided rug like the one pictured (made by my grandmother), own a plaid winter jacket as shown (albeit grey), but have regrettably never lived anywhere with a fireplace (life goals). 

And here's a list of stores where you can find Taproot. Personally, I've bought mine in the past at FOLK in Kittery, Maine, because then I have an excuse to go to Lil's Cafe

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Be Mine

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's a free Valentine printable:

:: Download Here ::

Free for personal, classroom and library use only, please. Abigail Halpin, © 2018

Begin at the Beginning

I've decided winter 2018 is going to be slow. I usually jump into the new year with guns blazing and a million ideas at hand. But this year I'm shifting gears. I decided January would be about completing old projects, finishing what I start and settling into a quieter, less frenetic time of year.

So in keeping with that, I've pulled out this quilt. I've been working on it since high school and this is the year it'll get done, fingers crossed. I'm only a few rows away from having it large enough for a twin size quilt and I figure if I add at least one rosette a week, it'll be done by the time 2019 comes knocking.

Aside from that?

* I watched Fanny's Journey the other week and loved it. Based on the true story of a group of children fleeing Nazi persecution, it's cinematically beautiful, acted superbly and full of heart. It's on Netflix and here's a link to the trailer

.* I'm on a Sidney Bechet kick as of late. I think he's the perfect antidote to January's greyness. I could listen to his cover of "The Blue Room" on continuous repeat all day.

*And I'm over the moon to be illustrating Taproot Magazine's 2018 covers. I've been a huge fan of the magazine for ages and it's a dream project, for sure.

Twenty Eighteen

Christmas was splendid and New Year's was lovely. I ate an inappropriate amount of cookies and wore pajamas until noon, so basically the holidays were a home run in my book. But it's back to work this week, although I did sneak in this sketch of Alice White as a warmup today. I burned through Granite Flats over the holidays and basically now all I want to draw are cold war spies and technicolor dresses.

I went back this week to look at previous year's posts, resolutions from the past. Some I managed, others I gave up on. But hope springs eternal (or something along those lines), so here's what's up in the months ahead for me:

* I'm working on a couple new projects that are a change of pace for me and that I'm over the moon about. One, I can share about this month (stay tuned) and the other sometime this spring.

*Mama's Belly by Kate Hosford comes out in April.

* And Anne Arrives by Kallie George (an adaptation of Anne of Green Gables) will be here in the autumn!

Aside from that, I'm planning to finish the Queens of England project I started last year (I'm up to the Stuarts), work on some new embroidery pieces, start a book dummy I've been thinking about forever and restock my shop. Nothing earth shattering, just plenty of staying the course.

Other than illustration?

* Last year's resolution to read less (but longer) books was worthwhile and I found I wasn't just burning through things for the sake of an arbitrary number. So I'm planning to read twelve books this year and anything beyond that is gravy.

* I'm going to keep going with previous years' resolutions to sew more of my own clothes. My wardrobe has a lot of staples that I've sewn over time, and I'd like to continue to keep that trend going.

* And I'm headed to Ireland! The motherland! Finally! Any recommendations for the Galway area? Pubs? Fabric shops? What have you? Please and thank you.

All Wrapped Up

Happy holidays! Below is a link to some gift tags I made, inspired by the Snow Maiden folktale.

:: Download Here ::

You'll need a PDF reader to open these. Before printing, I recommend adjusting your printer settings so that it's at its highest output quality (especially if you choose to run these on card stock). Feel free to print as many as you like for personal or educational use. Enjoy!

And a belated Happy Hanukkah, a very Merry Christmas and a season of peace and joy to you and yours! It's snowing like mad outside and I've got some gingerbread to bake, so I'm off to go revel in the season.

Whatnot

Something I picked back up this month, to work on during Open Studios. Speaking of which, the weekend turned out splendidly and it was wonderful to connect with so many delightful visitors. If you came out, many thanks!

An assortment of things:

* I finally have Sketches and Sundries available for purchase! It's been reformatted for paperback and can be found over here

* I'm slowly adding prints, original artwork and what have you to my Etsy shop

* I've just received a new batch of tea towel fabric, to replace what I sold at Open Studios. I'm working on sewing those up, and will put them in the shop as they're available. If you're looking for a print quickly, my Society6 shop is probably the speediest (and most economical) way to go.

That's that I think? November is fading away, but it's been a good month. Thanksgiving was lovely and quiet and I redeemed myself in the pie making department (after a slew of disastrous crusts). I'm just about done with Spies in the Family and the last episode of George Gently was a solid, well-written series send-off (warning: spoilers in the link). I've given up convincing myself I can get by with sweaters and stubbornness, resigned to the fact that it's winter coat season. And I'm chugging away at two exciting new projects, that I'm looking forward to sharing in the new year.

So that pretty much sums up the eleventh month. Now on to December!

Housekeeping (of the literal and metaphorical sort)

So here's what's what about prints, tea towels, books and what have you:

* If you're local, I'll be participating in the Artists of Salmon Falls Fall Open Studios next weekend, November 18-19. I'll have prints, original artwork, tea towels (the above design), embroideries, books and an assortment of other goods. The mills open studios are a terrific event and if that's not enough of a come on, Rollinsford is also home to the splendid Black Bean Cafe and North Country Hard Cider, or you can drive over the river to Thistle Pig in South Berwick. In short, you can make a day of it in these here parts.

* I'm sewing tea towels and will have those available online within the next couple of weeks. Want to make your own? I've made the fabric available in my Spoonflower shop. One fat quarter is all you'll need for a tea towel (or you can fit four per yard).

* I'm working on getting prints ready for my Etsy shop. I also sell prints, greeting cards, phone cases and other things over on Society6. Speaking of phone cases, I ordered this one from my shop and really, really love it. I feel like humming the Poirot theme every time I whisk it out (full disclosure: my ringtone is actually Doctor Who).And I think that's that (for now).

UPDATE: I'm waiting for a shipment of paper and ink that's due to arrive Monday, November 23, after which I'll be able to resume print sales in my Etsy shop. Apologies for the inconvenience! 

Fort Building Time

I'm excited to share Fort Building Time is out!

Written by Megan Wagner Lloyd and published by the nice folks at Knopf Books for Young Readers, the story was a delight to illustrate. And many thanks to editor Julia Maguire and Nicole Gastonguay, for top notch art direction!

And to celebrate, I'm giving away a copy of Fort Building Time. Here's the details:

1. Leave on a comment on this post any time between now and 11:59 PM EST November 7 to be entered.

2. Open to residents of the United States and Canada, age 18 and over.

3. I'll choose the winning entry randomly, using this tool.

4. The winner will be announced on this post, November 8 and will be contacted via email as well.

8/11/17 *Congratulations Rebekah Plum! Email me at abigail@theodesign.com with your address and I'll send your copy of Fort Building Time right along.*

Giveaway closed

Sketches and Sundries

Thank you Blurb Books for sponsoring this post!

It's no secret that I love sketchbooks. A lot. And as someone who's been keeping a regular sketchbook since high school, I have stacks of the things around. A few months back, I decided to put together a book of my sketchbooks, to have handy in one volume a smattering of all those drawings. So when Blurb recently offered me a chance to create my own book through them, I immediately jumped at the opportunity to make the sketchbook idea a reality. If you're not familiar with Blurb, they're a terrific company that allows you to create and print your own books, magazines and eBooks (as well as sell the end result in the Blurb Marketplace, Ingram, or on Amazon).

Sketches and Sundries is the book I made with Blurb, a hardcover volume full of sketchbook images from the past few years. I'm over the moon with the way the book turned out — Blurb's quality is top notch. The Premium photo paper I used for the interior pages is the stuff of dreams (speaking of which, the paper swatch kit is a big help in figuring out paper stock). And the colors! I'm blown away by the vibrancy of the images and my artwork reproduced beautifully.

To design the book, I used the Adobe InDesign plug-in available from Blurb. I've never worked with a plug-in before, but it turned out to be straightforward and well worth the time. The plug-in integrated with InDesign to set up my document to spec, so there was no guesswork on my settings or about output for print. If you've got a basic, working knowledge of InDesign, you should be good to go using the Blurb InDesign plug-in (and if you need some extra help, I'd recommend the help page and video tutorial). But if InDesign isn't your cup of tea, Blurb does offer BookWright, its own layout tool that's free and easy. 

And I'll have Sketchbooks and Sundries available for sale soon! So stay tuned on that...

I had a terrific time making this book with Blurb. Having the opportunity to go through my old sketchbooks gave me the chance to think about the illustrations I've made and the things I'd still like to draw. Invariably, there have been plenty of ideas I'd forgotten about in those sketchbook pages that I'm ready to bring to fruition. And among those ideas would definitely be more books like this. I've been mulling over the idea of making a book of portraits or even a one-off magazine. I’m excited by all the possibilities and plan on diving back into those sketchbook pages, to see what future projects are waiting inside.

Summer Summary

Apologies for the lull in updates over the summer -- it's been a full few months. I'm in the home stretch on final book art right now and between that and other assorted work, there's been lots of drawing happening. Aside from work, I've tried to take some time over the past weeks to step back and recharge. I saw the fantastic Marguerite Zorach exhibit at the Farnsworth, scraped paint off the porch, ate fish and chips and spent the night on the Isles of Shoals. In short, it was a good summer.

Otherwise:

* The above is a test stitch of some embroidery motifs I designed that'll be available in my Etsy shop this fall. I'm hoping come October to have some time to finish this one up.

* An inteview I did over on My Giant Strawberry about sketchbooks. Speaking of which, be sure to check out Anne's work while you're over there, as well as the treasure trove of artist profiles she includes on the site.

* In less than a month, Fort Building Time comes out! And I'm thrilled that it's made the Autumn 2017 Kids' Indie Next List.

Clara

It's been too long since I've done any Doctor Who fan art, so here's some Clara Oswald to fix the situation.

May 2017

May is just about done and I can't quite fathom that Summer is on its way. I'm wrapping up the last bits of a 2018 picture book and just finished sketches for another book. In between that?

* If you're within driving distance, the current Andrew Wyeth drawing exhibit at the Farnsworth Museum is wonderful. It's a terrific assortment of Wyeth's studies and sketchbooks, and well-worth the visit.

* I'm thrilled that Finding Wild is included in The Best Children's Books of the Year, selected by the Children's Book Council.

* I finished reading Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art by Claire Wellesley-Smith last week and it's wonderful. I really enjoyed the portions about the need to pull back from society's relentless pace.

* I'm doing a shop update this coming Friday, June 2 with some new original pieces. I'm hoping to get back to print sales later in the summer. In the meantime, though, I do have prints available over here.

On Going Goings On

It's been a busy Spring so far. I wrapped up final interior art for a spring 2018 picture book (more on that later) and began working on character sketches for a new project. I've been trying to finish up a few watercolor pieces and some embroidery projects in between. And I'm very slowly working my way through a 2017 personal challenge, illustrating each of the Queens of England.

What else?

* I just finished A Long Way From Chicago (courtesy of my sister, who leant me her copy) and it was wonderful. And I'm just about done with Jane Jacobs's The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which is also a terrific read.

* I've been binge listening to the Creative Pep Talk Podcast. It's swell!

* Speaking of bingeing, Father Brown is top of my Netflix queue at the moment.

* And I'm sewing the Moneta dress from Colette Patterns, using one of my Spoonflower designs. Photos forthcoming! I was a bit nervous tackling this one, as I've never sewn jersey before (and don't own an overlock machine). But the pattern is so well-written and the online tutorials so good that it hasn't been the painful experience anticipated. I can't recommend the pattern enough!

Now back to drawing. And (in the interest of full disclosure) bingeing on jelly beans.

Red Herrings

I've been listening to mostly television and movie soundtracks lately while working. And because said playlist is 75% mystery theme songs, here's a rather mysterious lady (who looks like she knows where the arsenic is kept).

Also, if you'd like a listen, here's a link to the Spotify playlist

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February Findings

The past month, in a nutshell:

* I read Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and liked it (aside from the final chapter, which wandered). It's a beautifully written little volume, leaving the reader aghast at the complexity and wonder of the universe.

* If you aren't subscribed to the Small Batch List, run over and do so immediately. Claire puts together a stupendous weekly newsletter, full of all sorts of goodies. Film recommendations, recipes, artist profiles -- it's a delight to read and I look forward to it every Friday.

* I finished knitting Irina Dmitrieva's Foliage Hat and have been wearing it daily. I hadn't knit cables in years and was a bit nervous initially, but it's a well-written pattern and fits like a dream. And for yarn (if you're local) may I wholeheartedly recommend Saltwater Fabrics?

* Speaking of local, I hosted a Valentine Making Party in my studio this month and it was so much fun. I'm hoping to host more events in the studio, later on in the year.

Aside from that? I'm plugging away at final book art, shoveling out from snowstorms, working on a surface design lookbook, loving Last Tango in Halifax and in general, trudging through February. But the light lasts longer at the end of the day and the seed catalogue came in the mail, so I think it's acceptable to start daydreaming about spring. Right?

UPPERCASE Surface Pattern Design Guide

I'm thrilled to be included in the new UPPERCASE Magazine Surface Pattern Design Guide! A part of the most recent issue, it's packed full of delightful print and pattern and well-worth the read.

Twenty Seventeen

Happy New Year! Hope your holidays were splendid.

I've been mulling over the new year, making plans and resolutions, albeit slowly and with a heavy dose of realism. Professionally, I'd like to:

* Continue to explore embroidery and surface design.

* Make some sort of a zine (or if I'm really ambitious, a book) that would consist of sketchbook faces and accompanying stories.

* Get back to making comics, however sporadically that happens.

Aside from that, I'm working on final art for a 2018 picture book right now, then will shift gears to a project that I can't wait to share more about. And in the fall, Fort Building Time by Megan Wagner Lloyd comes out!

Personally?

* I want to make more of my clothes, mostly because as a grown woman it's impossible to find a shirt covered in cephalopods. But also for reasons of sustainability, I'd like to knit and sew more of my wardrobe, even if it's only a handful of items.

* Reading is on my list of resolutions, but I'm not setting a number of books this year. The Brothers Karamazov and Little Dorrit have been sitting on the shelf forever. Owing to their size, I'm planning to read a couple hefty books this year, rather than a lot of shorter volumes.

And beyond all that, I think I'll just stay the course. I'm sure there'll be trips to see family, vintage shenanigans and hopefully some more camping once the weather accomodates.

And you?