What I'm making right now

This is a cool line, BUT it's taken out of context in such a strange way; it haunts me:
It's on a shirt I picked up at Bard On the Beach in Vancouver, BC last summer and It's from a rather disturbing character in the play Titus Andronicus (aren't all the characters in that play disturbing?) by William Shakespeare. It's spooky when a creepy character says such a beckoning thing.

Like I said, the line is like a specter haunting me.

So I asked myself who else would say that, "I'll show thee wonderous things." And here's what I came up with (I settleled on "marvelous" instead of "wonderous"):

"The Book Dragon Beckoned.
"'I will show thee marvelous things,' he said.
"So I climbed on his back. And we were off."

I'm making a book dragon.
He isn't finished.
And I still might change "marvelous" back to "wonderous."

He's a scrappy illustration sample that isn't for anything important. He's just for fun.
I feel like I've dived out of overly-serious goal mood into playland (although I did make the drawings for this guy last month as part of my -- abandoned -- holly jolly goal).

And since we're in playland I don't have to worry that I'm posting too much or giving something away. This isn't a big official capital letter WIP (work-in-progress) or anything. This is an experiment in process to see what I can do and make some interesting illustration samples. So let's see what I can do.

I'm going to share a bunch of scrappy process stuff and photos as I go.

Join me for the ride.

Happy New Year!

P.S. Let's just make this the illustration of the month for December. It will end up as more than one illustration (kind of) So it may be for January too... We'll see.

Book of Cards: Journaling Inspiration of the month, December 2008

So here's an inspiration to anyone who wants to make a photo album journal of your Christmas adventures.
It involves the big stack of holiday cards you've received from all your friends and family that you've got sitting around in a basket somewhere.
I love getting holiday cards from my friends and family. They are precious little glimpses into the lives of friends and loved ones who I don't often see.
I like to make my own holiday cards. Usually (this year included) I send out "Happy New Years" cards because I don't get around to making the cards until I'm relaxing for the Christmas break. In fact, guess what I made last week as part of my Christmas crafty craze? Yep. New Year's Cards:
So anyway, one year I made a Christmas album out of the holiday cards I received from friends and family.
Before I go farther I've got to give props to my sister -- like several of my personal albums/books, I started this project, but my sister helped to finish the book. While I came up with the idea for this book, she really should take the credit for this one -- she did most of the work.
The pages of the photo album are the holiday cards people sent me. The cover looks like an envelope.
I didn't write anything on any of the cards, but the signatures or notes others wrote show between the photos on many "pages."
You could make the same kind of book for a graduate or a birthday treat (I made something similar for my son's birthday last year).

This book is one of my favorite Christmas albums.
Happy New Year!


Christmas Craftiness and The Handmade Book of the Week Dec 27, 2008 - Jan 3, 2009

Eat your carrots!
Or maybe I should say "play with your food"... Click here for more pictures or to buy this week's book of the week. You'll see shortly what this week's inspiration was.

I took a break from all of my big ambitious goals last week and chilled out (literally, it was crazy snowy here) by taking a week to make crafty stuff for Christmas. This time of year always makes me want to go craft crazy and I decided to indulge in the craving. Check out this bird I made from recycled old book. The bird's body is from a cover and the wings are made from pages. She's a reading bird. I made a few of these. I think I might sell them next year.I wish I had taken pictures of the cool books I made my sister for Christmas. I made her an awesome dos-a-dos wine journal (different than the ones I sell) and a crazy Christmas stocking altered book that took forever and left me wishing I had made three or four.

Speaking of my sister, she came up for a few days and I taught her how to make felted goodies. Here's the felted goody that started it all. I made him several weeks ago with some crafty buddies of mine.
And here's a picture of me felting last week. My son Oscar was pretending to felt too. I used a needle. He used a pipe-cleaner.I started felting my new slippers:
My son got a play kitchen (we've been calling it kitchen stadium) for Christmas. So my sister felted my son a carrot to go with his kitchen:

Anyway, I gave myself permission to let go of my holly jolly goal so I could play at Christmas time. Play is important when you are an artist. Play leads to important discoveries and breakthroughs. You can't be all work and no play.

CRAFT ON!

P.S. I do have some awesome drawings I'm really excited about. I'm turning them into collages today, so all is not lost for my holly jolly Goal.

:)

...

Snowed in, sick and sipping tea

First the gripes:
Poor me. I'm sick this week. And my son was sick all week too. I got little to no work done (except for today -- today I drew and drew and drew). So, while my holly jolly goal looks sadly out of reach right now, who knows? Maybe it's for the best that I take some time to take it easy...

Which leads to the grins:
Even though we were sick, my son and I, we were cozy. It snowed here all week and it rarely snows here. When it snows everything shuts down and happy people bask in the beauty of it while grumpy people fuss (I've done both at different times over the years). While we couldn't go outside to play (because of the sick) we looked out the window lots. The snow sparkled and whisked around in the wind. I drank lots of tea. We both enjoyed the lights on the Christmas tree. My husband fixed us lots of good food.
Instead of work this week, I read stories to my son. Lots and lots and lots of them. He couldn't seem to get enough stories. And with that, how can I really complain? It was a good week.

Inspiration right and left

Okay, I confess. I'm behind with my holly jolly goal. Here's what I've got: a pretty dang awesome drawing (or right now I think it is anyway.) I'm going to have to kick things up a notch. I'm also going to have to focus and stop being distracted by all the awesome distractions that have come my way this week.

What's been going on this week? Inspiration: right and left!

First I attended my friend, Jaime Temairik's art opening in Seattle at the North Hill Bakery on Capital Hill. Her holiday monsters roar in a good way. I've got a cupcake monster card that will be framed and put up every Christmas!

On Saturday I went to the Urban Craft Uprising and The Phinney Ridge Neighborhood Craft shows -- this year as a shopper, not a vendor (I haven't been a vendor at UCU, but I have been one several times at Phinney). I LOVE these two shows. The Urban Craft Uprising has to be about the most fun, hip and playful craft show I've ever attended. I bought quite a few goodies and was tempted by many more.

Some of my favorites from both shows:
World Of Whim -- Awesome and imaginative handmade toys and dress-up for kids. My sister and I picked out a very kingly crown for my son, which he adores.
Chikabird -- I now am the proud owner of an awesome rhino ornament. They also make super awesome t-shirts and hoodies and whatnot.
Marmalade Originals - Could there be cuter handmade skirts? I'm not sure. Plus it turns out the woman who makes these is an old aquaintance of my sister's from high school. She's super nice. And she uses awesome fabrics.
Voracious reader sculptures made with maps and old books -- enough said.
A potter who imprints bike cogs and chains into her pottery -- also, enough said
Silly Feet -- Frog slippers for the little ones
Scissors sweater -- I bought one. Big treat for me. I heart scissors.
Type-face belt buckle with a bike tire belt -- Um... super cool, what can I say?
The most awesome shadow puppets ever -- Santa oh santa, am I too old to write you a letter, complete with a frivolous wish?

And I could really honestly keep going on and on and on...
I felt super inspired by these craft shows. On the one hand I was kind of sad I did not partake as a vendor. On the other, I've gotten lots of illustration and writing work done because I forwent craft shows this year AND it's sooo fun to attend and check out all the booths and chit-chat with the artists. I'm a crafty lady by heart. Through and through.

And the inspiration doesn't even stop there, my friends.
On Wednesday night I trucked down to Seattle again to listen to the talented Laini Taylor speak about finishing a novel draft. Now, I am not a novel writer -- I write picture books. But I had heard universal praise for her talks and I LOVE her book, FAERIES OF DREAMDARK, BLACKBRINGER.

A small plug -- I'm not even a huge fantasy person (although I tend to like books that linger at the edges of the genre) but I'd say FAERIES OF DREAMDARK, BLACKBRINGER is one of my favorite books I've read in the last few years, or maybe ever. And I read a whole heck-of-an-almost-embarrassing-a-lot. READ this book. It's so good. I can't wait for the sequel.

Okay so anyway, Laini's talk just blew me away. I loved her photos. I loved her quotes. Her advice was sound and perfect.

I loved how she challenged us to be the sort of writers who follow through with projects and finish them. "If it's a battle between writer and book -- writer should always win... YOU are the method of propulsion." I loved that.

Also I loved how she suggested to pick a project and stick to it. Don't let a "slutty new idea" lure you away from your commitment to your WIP (work-in-progress). Slutty new ideas have a way of becoming new works-in-progress with their own problems that will rear their ugly heads and tempt you to leave for yet more slutty new ideas. And the cycle will go on and on and you will never finish anything. Stick with something and WORK THROUGH THE HARD STUFF. I love this. It makes me want to dump everything and only work on my current dummy.

Anyway, I'm rambling on and on. But if you have a chance to hear Laini talk, do! And read her book!

But the inspiration doesn't even stop there. I've had many friends with jump-up-and-down good news lately. My friend, Jolie, signed with an awesome agent last week. Yay, Jolie! Then, yesterday I attended my monthly critique group and I just am beaming at the edges for all of my fellow friends and critiquers. The stuff they brought yesterday simply rocked. It was so good. I really think there were several of my collegues who brought their personal best yesterday. It's awesome and inspiring to see that and watch people grow. I hope (and believe) I'm doing the same. It's great. And I brought my new dummy draft to the critique group and left with gobs of motivation to get back to the drawing board, to forge on, and to refine my own WIP.

But. First. I have this goal of getting illustrations done. And I need to get illustration samples done. I need to. So I've got to crack the whip. I've got to stop blathering on here and actually get to work. So off I go, with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head, back to work. Later folks!

Yellow

Yellow has always been my favorite color.

When I was very young I asked my mom to paint my room yellow. She did.

My husband sent me an awesome article entitled: "Yellow Expected As a Bright Spot For 2009.". He found it via Lance Armstrong's Twitter page.

Here's a quote from the article: "There's a prediction from a leading color source that cheerful and sunny yellow will be the influential color of 2009." Awesome.

What a sunshiney article to get in your inbox! Articles about color are good things.

Here's another.

Thanks, Bryce.

Enjoy!

P.S. I feel compelled to point out that the links on this post may not always be what you expect. Try the Lance Armstrong one, for example. Now. I better get back to work...

Handmade Book of the Week Nov 29 - Dec 5, 2008

Flip OUT!
To celebrate the beginning of the Christmas and Holiday season, I'm making this week's handmade book of the week a flip-out book. I think these books make great little holiday albums or stocking stuffers. They look really cool when they are filled up:

I include directions with how to fill them (although of course you can fill them however you want). To see the directions or for more info on the flip-out books, check out my flip-out page on my website.

For more pictures of this week's book of the week or to buy the book or look for other flip-outs I have for sale, click here. I also have many flip-outs in stock that I haven't photographed so I haven't posted in my shop. Contact me if you are interested in other colors.

Handmade Book of the week Nov 22 - 28, 2008

Draw on!
In honor of my drawing frenzy this month (that looks like it's going to stretch into next month too) I hereby make my pencil journal this week's book of the week.

No kidding, I had planned on making this book my book of the week this week because of the drawing frenzy. But I sold it a few days ago to one of my most favorite repeat customers. I've made her a couple of custom books -- a hamburger book and a hippo book, both for very specific and very cool purposes. I hope I get to see them filled someday. I'm super excited that this book is going to the woman that it is going to. Yay!

I decided to post it even though it's already sold. It's a cool book and it fits with my mood. But sorry folks if you want a pencil journal yourself, you'll have to order one special or check out the scissors and pencil journal I have in stock.

P.S. Isn't this shape of journal fun?

Experiment in BIC

Some of my friends are inspiring me with their Golden Coffee Cup determination. I decided it's my turn.

I'm daring myself today with a thumbnail gesture drawing challenge. I've been going too far towards finished drawings to meet my Golden Coffee Cup goal and so I'm going to step back and try to just get "ideas" for the drawings -- very (very) rough compositions that I can develop further later. That was the whole purpose of the insane original goal anyway.

Let's see how many thumbnails I can get rough compositions for today. Let's see how rough I can let myself be. Is it too crazy (it seems absolutely absurd) to aim for 10 by 4:00?

BIC = Butt in chair

Let's see where it gets me... I'll check in at 4:00 with how it worked out.
Here I go!

UPDATE 1:00 PM: Going good! And I'm learning a bunch too. I've got numerous thumbnail gesture compositions for 4 spreads. Pretty good! Way better than I would have expected prior to trying this challenge. But I'm starting to feel distracted. I'm not sure I can keep up the pace... But at least I'm starting to feel a tiny glimmer of hope for the overall goal...

UPDATE 2:50 PM: I'm up to 6. I've worked on 6 spreads and have multiple potential compositions/thumbnails -- that I'm actually happy with -- to work with for almost all of them. Who knew that such a sloppy draft would have some good potential in it? I guess that's why they teach gesture drawing in school. I've also worked a bit on changing the pacing and it's a good improvement. I feel so jazzed about today! Thanks for the inspiration, Molly, Holly, Jolie and other Golden Cuppers! I'm breaking for a very late lunch. I'll check in again sometime after 4:00.

UPDATE 4:00 PM: I'm pretty fried. I worked on one final spread to bring me up to 7 but the thumbnails for the seventh spread are pretty iffy at best. But they are there and I suppose I should count them since I'm supposed to be thinking "rough draft" dummy. So anyway, SEVEN!!!! I feel great about what I accomplished today. I have a couple more work days before the end of the month. Maybe, just maybe I'll actually come pretty close to accomplishing this Golden Coffee cup goal.

Enough rambling. This post was pretty much for me and to hold myself accountable. But thanks for bearing with me.

Illustration of the Month: November, 2008

Okay, okay, I know this illustration is not finished. So maybe, technically, it shouldn't be the "illustration of the month." Call it "sketch of the month," if you must, BUT I post it anyway because...

This month has been all about me working on my current dummy for my Golden Coffee Cup Goal. And even though I'm so far behind I'm almost certain I won't reach the goal by the end of this month (shooting for next month?), I have made huge strides and I LOVE what I've been making.

This is the drawing (which will probably change some when I get to the revision stage) for pages 30-31. It features my three resilient friends, Crow, Armadillo and Opossum in a scrappy patched together treehouse that they build at the end of the story I'm working on. I had an enormous amount of fun drawing it.

I liked this manuscript a lot, but I can't describe how much fun making the dummy for this one has been. It's VERY challenging and crazy to fit all the cluttered stuff that needs to go in the drawings, but it's so, so, so fun. And I can't wait to turn all these things into collage. It's going to be awesome and crazy and it just looks so fun to get into. I just feel like this book is pulling the best of what I can do out of me. Yay for that!

Handmade Book of the week Nov 15 - 21, 2008

Be Bold!
I've had this book in my Etsy shop for awhile. But I'm posting it for this week's book of the week because I love it. For some reason I haven't sold this type of book via my website much, even though they are hugely popular at craft shows. I think it's the kind of book that's best held and looked through if you want to appreciate it's value.

Anyway, I make this my book of the week because I'm thinking of keeping it. If no one buys in in the next few weeks, it'll be mine. It's a book I made for writers, it has a writer theme. I love the way "Bold" refers to both a kind of being and a kind of typeface. I love all the goofy little writing references inside. So, I'm making it as my book of the week to give people one last chance. This book is going to be mine if it doesn't sell soon.

Anyway, all that aside this is an upcycled/reclaimed book. I've torn out the pages on a very-out-of-date freebie book that I took from the free shelf at the library and now have given a new life. There's fun colorful pages inside, interesting visual surprises throughout and It's a darn cool journal.

To see more photos or to buy the book (which would be okay too -- it is still for sale and it makes me happy to sell my favorite books because then I can make more that are similar), click here.


Website Update

The SCBWI WWA Bellingham Network had a schmooze last week that focused on a writer's presence on the internet. I got a bunch of ideas for my website that night.

So after a full day of drawing and working on my dummy (yay, my son was better today), I gave my drawing muscles a break and stayed up late tinkering and making some improvements to my regular website.

New stuff:
  • I made it so my home page features the current illustration of the month and handmade book of the week from this blog.
  • I fixed up the goodies page (although I still need to post the handout from my creative journaling presentation). I especially like the old goofy picture I put up on this page.
  • I changed the "news" tab in the header menu to say "blog," I moved the stuff from that section into my goodies section and now I have a tab in the header menu that directly links folks here!
Okay, now I'm off to bed. Maybe I'll get some more drawing done during my son's naptime tomorrow...

War Letters: Journaling Inspiration of the Month, November, 2008

I feel strongly that letters are journals. They are journals unbound and shared through the mail. In honor of Veteran's Day, I'm making my journaling inspiration of the month about Veteran's letters, and in particular, about two "journals" of sorts that share some of these letters with the world.

I got this idea from a story I heard today on the PRI radio show, The World. The story highlighted two blogs that both feature historical letters sent to family from Vets of WWI.

The first blog features the letters of an English soldier and WWI veteran, Harry Lamin. Harry's grandson, Bill, has been posting Harry's letters that he sent home during the war exactly 90 years after the date that Harry wrote his letters. The radio show indicated that the letters reveal a very personal portrait of one man's experience in the war. I've looked at the blog a bit and I confess I'm hooked! I want to read it like a novel. Lucky for me, Bill mentioned on the radio that he is working at translating the blog into a book.

Harry's blog inspired William Hills and his daughter Carol to start their own blog, featuring the letters of an American WWI Vet, William's dad, Paul Hills. These letters also look to paint an intimate picture of WWI. Fascinating and I look forward to reading it in more detail.

Do you have old letters or an old journal from a passed loved one sitting around in an attic somewhere? Maybe you've got a blog to start...

Or at the very least, maybe you could honor these letters by finding a beautiful box to put them in. Then get the box out of the attic. Put it out and show it off. It'll be worth conversation.

Setback!

Sick kid. This means I loose at least one, maybe two, days of work in my current three-day work week. My golden cup goal was already a little insane. It may be impossible now. But even if I don't make the big crazy reach goal of finishing the draft of my dummy by the end of November, I hope I at least make big strides.

And then I'll finish it by the end of December.

But lets not rule out the reach goal yet. There's still a few weeks to go...

Handmade Book of the week Nov 8 - 14, 2008

Cheers!
This week's handmade book of the week is a dos-a-dos wine journal, meaning it’s two books in one. A dos-a-dos book includes two books that both share the same back cover – so they are sewn together into one. One side for red wine notes, one side for white wine notes. This is the perfect journal for a wine lover or someone who loves to go wine tasting.

Click here to see more photos or to buy the book.

Tree Houses

I love what I do. Today, I'm working on my golden cup goal that I posted a few days ago. The dummy I'm working on has a shack kind of tree-house in it. So I'm doing a bit of research.

I always feel that I should somehow put quotes around that word in terms of my work:

"Research."

Try this. Go to Google images. Type in "tree house." Surf for a while. Draw a few sketches. Repeat with something like "shack" or "shanty town."

That's a sample of how I "research."

Lest you think it's all fun and games though, putting all this "research" together into something meaningful and fitting for my book is a bit like giving birth. You are not sure at all how it will happen, when it will happen, but it will be VERY hard to do, no matter what. Only unlike birth, it isn't inevitable. You may do all the work and nothing may come of it...

Which believe me, can be a let down. But it's a fun journey. And hopefully something will come of it.