Getting ready for my Sale

Red Rose tea at the ready


Making the coffee ring with a pie plate dipped in tea
(I used to use a big pail - this is a much more delicate solution)


Tivoli radio and ipod keeping me going.

In prep for my sale I tea stained my last remaining penguins prints today.
I am also working on several new designs (!) plus note card sets.
Very little sleep is happening at the moment.

White Expediat It is!

This photo convinced me.
Love that orange chair.

Good book: Penguin 75

This a great read. Really fun to get the inside scoop on 75 of Penguin's best covers from the perspective of the creative director, designer and writer.
Penguin's Creative director Paul Buckley is a funny guy and I was pleased to read that "he follows illustrators the way some people follow musicians". (Me too)
Also loved the comment by one of my favourite designers Kelly Blair who wrote that she was looking forward to hearing what the Bronté sister's thought of her design for their book.

Favourite image from Today

Micheal Cera in a cbc tshirt in Scott Pilgram. Nerdtastic!

New lettering Work

Charlotte Gainsbourg - has smarts + incredible style. A real muse.
I love working with white lettering on top of photographs.
I am also currently obsessed with drawing garlands.

A bit about my process below.

I start by drawing with a pencil crayon on white paper.
(I love the chalky look you get from a pencil crayon as opposed to a smooth marker look)

Next I scan the image and bring it into Photoshop.
I then invert it under Image - Adjustments.

I then make the background invisible, create a new layer and then place on top of the photo.
This was another idea.
I especially like the look of white text on top of blurry photos.

Inspiration

I love this book cover by Leanne Shapton.

New work: Good egg bookmarks

Book mark for cookbook store good egg

Close up

My Julia Child illustration has been printed up on bookmarks for good egg.
I love the deep pink that Mika chose for the background.
Susan at Cumberland Press did a wonderful job on the printing.
For a peek at the creative process behind this design see this earlier post.

A note on the drawing:
I wrote this text up an hour after watching the film Julie and Julia. I was so inspired to learn that the author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking didn't start cooking till she was almost 40! The lesson here for all you late bloomers =
It's never too late.

Joan Rivers: A Piece of work

Nice hand lettering.

Saw this documentary on the weekend. Directed by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg.
Funny. Tragic. Fascinating to get such an intimate behind the scenes look at a creative person's life. I viewed it as a cautionary tale of what happens when you work too much.

I never met a librarian shoe I didn't like

Hazel's shoes

A great pair I spotted last week

I bought these vintage shoes for 3.00 at a garage sale
I used them for reference in my Alphabet legs print below.


Little drawing from today

My friend Hazel popped by today with a great pair of nerdy brogues so thought it was time to do a post celebrating librarian shoes. I am always inspired to photograph them when I see them and they often make their way into my work.

Sketch: Kitties

A sketch for a pattern I'm working on.

Print & Pattern

Skinny Laminx (Heather Moore)

Julia Rothman

I'm beginning work on some patterns so bought this great book for inspiration: Print & Pattern by Bowie Style. Bowie style is the pseudonym of Marie Perkins who writes the very popular blog of the same name.

Press: Swiss Miss

My Big scissors print was featured today on swiss miss. Small Note: The scissors are actually orange not red but Tina is so nice I didn't feel like correcting her. :-)

Printing Typewriter note cards

Today I printed some small notecards with my typewriter image on them.

Inspiration: Artists' Lists

One of my favourite lists from the book is Franz Kline's liquor store receipt from New Years' Eve 1960 for booze delivered to his loft at 242 West Fourteenth Street. SIGH!

Here is Picasso's list of recommendations for the 1913 Armory show
(sorry very blurry photo!)

I bought this great book a couple weeks ago:
Lists, To-dos, Inventories, Collected Thoughts and other Artists' Enumerations
by Lisa Kirwin. Very inspiring. I have long believed a receipt or grocery list can tell a lot more about a person than their official bio.

New Work: Greeting card for Trader Joe's

This is an illustration I did for Trader Joe's in the US.

Trailer for the Facebook movie

I went to the movies on Sat and saw this fantastic trailer for the new facebook movie: The Social Network. (Written by Aaron Sorkin, directed by David Fincher)
The music was Scala + Kolacny Brothers' cover of Radiohead's Creep and it was well.. CREEPY. (in a good way)
A great example of how the combination of music + images is often greater than the sum of their parts. I wonder if the film will live up to the trailer.