A Bit of Impossibility

Want to read about my work process, favorite childhood books and why I'll never become an entomologist? If the answer is yes, then you might want to check out today's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

The Conference of the Birds

It's long been a source of disappointment for me that there aren't more illustrated books for adults. The marriage of words with pictures is so powerful that it seems a shame that past childhood, there aren't more art-filled tomes. You can imagine my excitement, then, when Trish Collins from TLC Book Tours wrote to ask if I'd like to read Peter Sís's The Conference of the Birds, an illustrated all-ages book.

Based on a Sufi epic poem, The Conference of the Birds is a beautiful tale of the journey from dark to light, from fear to bravery, from singularity to community, realized in the travels of a flock of birds seeking their king.

The story is wonderful in its own right, but as an illustrator and a designer, I was blown away by the art and production aspects of The Conference of the Birds. There's an amazing attention to detail in the book, from those embossed elements under the dust jacket, right down to the delightful textured paper in the interior.

Of course there's the matter of the stunning artwork. Sís's use of color and pattern are wonderfully varied, matching the elements of the story perfectly. But what really struck me with the artwork was how cinematic the spreads felt: I could almost hear the whirring of bird wings near my ear. It's at those moments when Peter Sís's filmmaking background really shines through, giving the story so much visual movement.

So beautiful, both in art and prose. And so very worth the read.

Thankfully

There's a few small items left on the to-do list, but I wanted to stick my head in to say Happy Thanksgiving! And speaking of giving thanks, thank you to everyone who reads these rambles throughout the year. The internet seems so phenomenally vast at times and art making can be a bit of a solitary undertaking, so your comments and quips really do mean an awful lot.

Enjoy your holiday, safe travels and I'll catch you after I've managed to meet my yearly quota for mashed potato consumption.

The Spaces in Between

A last minute push to finish work up before Thanksgiving means there is considerable busyness emanating from this space. But of course there still needs to be time set aside for gigantic cinnamon rolls, trips to artist's studios and yes, more monotypes.

Drifting

While I may be seated at a drafting table working on sketches, my brain is already in full-blown weekend mode, as evidenced by the doodling in the margins. Also, there's an apple pie in the oven and it's making concentration a futile endeavor due to the fact that it smells SO DARN AMAZING.

Anyway, enjoy your Saturdays and Sundays. And thanks for all the great movie recommendations; my Netflix queue is once again full and I'm pretty sure I'll have to attend to that here shortly.

Slurp

I am a firm believer that an extra large slurpee is an adequate solution to most problems.

Illustration Friday - Silent

Here's something for this week's Illustration Friday theme, "Silent."

Saturday-ing

Weekends! Currently, they are for 8+ hours of sleep and Mexican hot chocolate (cayenne pepper + cocoa = muy delicioso).

Also, my Netflix cue is looking sadly empty. Recommendations?

So, what's the problem?

Because sometimes you absolutely, positively have to drop everything you're doing and draw a boot-wearing, bob-sporting, sword-wielding heroine. Yup.

Page Turner

I hit the mother lode at the library book sale this week.

Now to find a home for all of these. Plus the ones I didn't photograph. Also, there's the stack from the yard sale this summer. Gulp.

Sadly, though, I did not have a short, squat monster to help me haul said books home. But there's always a next time, right?

The Troubadour

Roll Up Your Sleeves

Here's some monotypes I was working on this weekend. For digital artists, there's a danger in forgetting the tactile, no longer recalling how ink moves, the way chalk feels and the manner in which graphite drags across a paper. In light of this, I'm trying to remind myself to get my hands dirty more often, to remember the "why" behind the "how."

Getting to the Core of the Matter