toddler sketch

©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

ahnabith gish at cjsw

Saturday night ended up being really fun.

My husband's band, Ahnabith Gish, was being interviewed at our local university radio station, CJSW. They were also playing a few songs live. The band asked me to go along to take some photos of them. Since we were going to be there for several hours, I also brought my sketchbook to entertain myself.

I had never been to the radio station before - it's a pretty cool little space. I really liked the wall of shelved records.

I ended up sketching each of the guys in the band in my children's book style. The sketches turned out alright.


©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli


©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli


©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli


©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

And some photos from the evening...

playing with watercolor

These are a couple of experiments I did in my sketchbook this week using watercolor and a bit of gouache.



©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

girl writing my return address

I've been working on a new promo for the work I do in the children's market for several months. It's going to be some sort of booklet (I've been doing postcards for years and wanted to do something a bit more involved). I still have a few more illustrations to do before it's done, but I also also needed a design for the envelope. I painted this today:

©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

for charity

©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

ball point pen doodles

©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

thanks dena

I've been meaning to post a 'thank you' to local illustrator Dena Seiferling. She was kind enough to show her work and talk to my class last week. Check out her portfolio here and her blog here.

some more attempts at a blog banner

©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

You can check out my first attempt here.

more sketchbook activity

©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli


©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

recent sketchbook activity

©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

I like the way the character at the top, in the center turned out. I think it's the shape of his mouth.

memère

My grandmother passed away yesterday.

She used to enjoy painting. At first with oils and later on with watercolors. When I was in high school, I remember spending an afternoon with her painting in her basement. I had never used watercolors so she taught me everything she knew and let me use all of her supplies. She was really proud of how well I did on my first try. That's my favorite memory of her.

She had to be put into a nursing home a few years ago because dementia had set in. She couldn't live alone and no one in our family was able to give her the constant care she required. Her house was sold and her belongings were packed up until an estate sale could be organised. At that time, the members of our family were able to take certain items of sentimental value. I asked to have a painting she had done of some leaves. I like the painting partly because it's simple and the color palette makes it feel old and delicate, and partly because it was important to her. She had painted it while taking a class and she was so proud of it because her instructor had been impressed by how well she captured the colors of the leaves. It's hanging in my dining room.



My aunts also split up her recipes and I got a stack of about 20 of them, all handwritten on various yellowed pieces of paper. I love that I have them - they just feel like such a personal memento. It was comforting to look through them this morning.

assorted owls

I drew these at my sketch group last week. I was researching owls before I did the sketches and was really impressed by the huge variety of different owls out there. Some are really creepy - google the great gray owl to see what I'm talking about.




©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

new promos and an overdue website update

Since my Concerned Consumer image is currently socially relevant, I decided to use it for my latest promotional postcard. My husband picked them up from the printer's for me on Friday so my weekend project was to update my mailing list, print labels, attach the labels and get the cards in the mail. I also wanted my website updated by the end of the weekend so that if potential clients get the cards and decide to check my site they would be looking at my most recent work. Both the promos and the website have been things I've been wanted to get done for several months now so I feel pretty good about accomplishing both this weekend. You can check out my website here.


©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli