Flickr Favorites

Here's some Flickr favorites. Check out the links below to see the photographer/illustrator's other work.

1. Baby Jacket, 2. Father and Boy at Lisboa, 3. Today I am scared of..., 4. Quilt, 5. 5ochvideo_01, 6. Try, catch the thoughts that flap and fly, 7. Pseudo-Doisneau, 8. Danger, Will Robinson!, 9. Popieluszko, 10. Street in Mid-april, 11. The Joy of Life, 12. The Jolly Twisters, 13. The Tasha Tudor Book of Fairy Tales, 14. Japanese Crochet Book (2/4), 15. The Birds, 16. Sacre Coeur, 17. Bowling Queen, 18. Pincushion, 19. Happy Pi Day!!!, 20. Home for the Han, 21. Old new candy for me, 22. Thistle II, 23. Monochrome, 24. In casa, un espresso come al bar!, 25. 3 o'clock ballroom dancing

"The Shawshank Redemption"

For an upcoming article in Gilbert magazine, an illustration of "The Shawshank Redemption."

And how come no one in that movie has a Maine accent? I'm still puzzling over that one...

Trepidant Vigilance

I started "In The Best Families" the other night because I just really wanted to read a whodunit. I'm not quite sure yet if Nero Wolfe can hold his own against Monsieur Poirot. But characters spouting phrases like, "Trepidant Vigilance!" are memorable.

Poppies

I decided to try something different this weekend and try linoleum block prints. My mom had given me carving tools and print making ink for Christmas and I hadn't had a chance to really try it out 'till now. I have a tendency to get a bit too stuck in routine and trying a different medium/kind of art helps get me out of a rut.

It's hard thinking in reverse with prints. It took me a couple tries to get the hang of it, but it's a real thrill seeing that first inking. I realized it takes a lot less ink than I had originally thought and there's some inconsistencies in ink coverage that originally bothered me, but now are kind of growing on me. Although this is probably more the result of me being a neophyte at the whole thing.



I liked the trial run a lot and turned it into a hair band today. This is a stellar way to hide a Very Overgrown Haircut. There's really no excuse for this because my youngest sister is a hair dresser (and a darn good one at that). But you know, it's like Peggy Lee sings, "Mañana..."

Off to 'round up some things and head out. We're going to see "The Sound of Music" tonight at an outdoor theatre and I need to find some important things, namely hot chocolate.

M. Escargot

Now off to go watch "Big Fish."

Illustration Friday - Rejection

Illustration Friday - Rejection. Pen drawing, digital color, with scanned paper texture.

The Open Sea

The SCBWI site runs regular illustration contests - the last one was to illustrate an unconventional wedding. By the looks of it there were some pretty great entries. Here was what I came up with. Mind you, I've never been to a pirate wedding. Yet.

And in other more mundane news I drank some natural, organic energy drink today that tasted like water infused with seaweed (blech), survived a swarm of deadly kamikaze mosquitoes (barely), and enjoyed a really nice walk in the lovely warm twilight. Ah, summer...

*Animations like this are reasons why Cecile Bon Bon is quickly becoming a favorite blog

In The Garden

My sister had been telling me all about a farm she'd visited earlier in the week. We went back Saturday and it was really astounding. There's the nursery side of the farm (gorgeous vegetables and flowers for sale), but there's also a real menagerie about. I saw a black swan, all sorts of chicken, miniature horses, a peacock, and was accosted by some pretty peevish geese.

Above are some of the little potted gardens they had there - really clever. They're made up of all kinds of mosses and plants, some I'd never seen before. They look like little landscapes from some lunar field (it reminded me of that old French film, "Le Voyage dans la Lune." No two were alike.



Here's my attempt once I got home. Not as stellar, but fun in a Lilliputian way.

*Belle & Boo - Lovely illustrations

Illustration Friday - Suit

Illustration Friday - Suit. Because in the words of the incomparable Squirrel Nut Zippers, "Suits are pickin' up the bill."

Virginie

Aurelie

Mercy Me

I'm working on some pieces for my Etsy shop at the moment. Sort of the theme I'm working off is the idea of those photos you discover stuffed in between the pages of a book or the family member you never knew about that you find in an album. Working with collage creates one crazy mess (bits of paper everywhere), but it's fun working with all the different textures and scraps.

I finished "Ethan Frome" last night. Goodness, I'm sure glad I didn't read that during the Winter. I'd always hemmed and hawed about reading Edith Wharton in the past, but stuck for something to read, I picked it up. I especially appreciated the fact that the characters tacked those extra "r's" to the end of the words. Talk about authenticity!

Sundry Adventures

I was trying out some sewing this weekend and this is about round 3 of some pretty disastrous prototypes. But this one is starting to come along a bit...

*If you're within driving distance, I recomend heading up to Artstream. The show going on right now is great!