Fa La La La La

I drew over the holiday. Some real stuff, some not so real.



I knit also. If Martha Stewart and MacGyver had a kid, this would be up their alley. I cut up an old t-shirt into strips (here's a good tutorial), and then combined that with some leftover yarn I had from another project. Super easy, super fast.



I have a little more downtime here, so off to go enjoy that. And have I mentioned peppermint ice cream? I should. It's really amazing. And I don't say that lightly.

Illustration Friday - Clandestine

I couldn't resist this week's subject. Cue the 60's mod-spy music and grab a martini.

Take Joy

Cookies in the freezer, presents wrapped and I've heard "Snoopy vs. The Red Baron" on the radio, so all's right with the world. Shopping for gifts on Etsy beats dealing with the mall traffic any day. Wrapping cookies like this is better than using old margarine tubs (like I'd been planning). And there is plenty, and I mean, plenty of snow on the ground.



Friends and family are popping up, which means I'm off to celebrate. With eggnog. Real eggnog. Oh yes.

So Merry Christmas / Happy Hanukkah / Peace + Joy all around.

Illustration Friday - Voices

Ultra-quick lunchtime sketch - the theme made me think of Shaw's "St. Joan", so here's an illo of Joan of Arc listening for the voices.

Snow and Soup

A blustery December evening. Me, I am staying put. With soup.

Tags!

I was going to entitle this "Wrap Star", but that's a pun that would be pretty bad (even for me).



I've been working on these off and on for awhile and finally put the finishing touches on them tonight: a free gift tag download. The link below will take you to a high-resolution pdf file which you're welcome to print as often as you like (for personal use). Enjoy!

::Download Here::

Penguins on Ice

Typing the post title I thought to myself, "Well, that's a bit redundant."



And when the going gets tough, the tough get... Chococat. Kawaii to the rescue!

Some links? In the category of "People-I-Know-In-Real-Life"

*Katie Vernon: I met up with Katie last month to chat illustration and she's uber-nice and uber-talented. Go check out her blog over here.

*Erik Evensen's Gods of Asgard: Like graphic novels? Like Norse mythology? Well darn, you're in luck. I thought I linked to this eons ago, but apparently forgot about it.

Zap

Yup, we lost power.

50+ hours with no electricity in December is definitely a "character building" experience. After about 30 hours, we could see our breath in the house, at which point my sister and I took one look at each other, reckoned enough was enough and headed out for the Boston suburbs. A weekend at my other sister's house (including hot lasagna and warm baths) was just what the doctor ordered. No burst pipes or flooded basement, which is a super-extra perk.

Oh, and thanks to New Hampshire public radio for some rockin' news coverage via Twitter.

*****

I had plans to post some gift tags for free download this weekend, but Mother Nature obviously had other plans. Stay tuned; those should be up sometime before the end of the week.

She + Him

Lately I've been doing two things: attempting to consume less caffeine (argh) and experimenting with some different techniques/subjects. In the realm of trying to work on more editorial pieces, here's an illustration of She & Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward). I really, really like their hair, as you can probably tell.

*****

And in the spirit of all things seasonal, here's some holiday-ness:



I yanked them out of the backyard last week. Shhh...

Illustration Friday - Similar

Is it me, or at some point do a lot of couples start looking like one another?

Pen and watercolor with a healthy dose of photoshop (color, texture, handwriting, etc.).

Festivities

I'm just getting around to taking photos of things I painted in early Fall. Living in the woods, in December, means there's only about 19 minutes of optimal light during the day. This is why I really like having walls painted yellow to convince myself that it's far brighter/earlier/warmer than it is in reality.



Now I'm ready for snow. Knit in between turkey, parades and the general lazing about that constitutes Thanksgiving. It's very warm. And I won't be lost in a crowd anytime soon.

Some links:
*Fleet Street Scandal: Amazing retro-ish illustrations and prints.

*Holiday shopping? The first week of December is Shop Local Week.

Illustration Friday - Balloon

Up, up and away.