an afternoon of sketching

Yesterday afternoon I met with my sketch group for the first time in several months. It was so nice to just drink coffee, and chat, and sketch. Thanks guys for the great conversations, the feedback and the encouragement :) I always feel so refreshed and inspired after spending some time with them.

I drew some butterflies, experimented with their shape and pattern. I prefer the ones with a more bulbous shape to the more realistic ones. I think the purple butterflies on the top left turned out the best.

I also just wanted to say congratulations to my friend, Karen Klassen, for having some work chosen for Lürzer's 200 Best Illustratiors Worldwide book.

my latest promo

These went out in the mail yesterday.

european picture books - pralinky pro sousedku

I bought this picture book in the Czech Republic when we were there last June. I found the design to be quite charming, as well as the color scheme and the characters.

today's sketchbook activity: assorted characters

Experimenting with head shapes, sizes, hair...

tea time continued

what i'm working on - tea time

I've an idea for a series of thank you cards for a while now so I thought I'd start painting them up. This one is 'Tea Time' and it's just done in my sketchbook. I'm experimenting with using colored pencils on a layered acrylic painting.

Also, the Uppercase Work/Life 2 iPhone app is now available. Check it out - it's free.

just a peek

I really love productive days in the studio and this week I've had several. I find that with household duties that regularly need to be done, coupled with the general running of errands, my studio days can easily get away from me. I end up not spending as much time actually making art as I intend to.

But not this week.

I've managed to get quite a bit done and I'm feeling pretty good about that. I even finished a trade piece I was working on, a portrait.

Here's a small peek:


I'll post the whole image as well as my process once the recipient receives the painting in the mail. I don't want to spoil the surprise by putting it up here before she gets it :)

recreated childhood photos

© Irina Werning

Yesterday, my boss at my part-time job showed me the fantastic website of Argentinian photographer Irina Werning. She takes old photos of people from when they were children and re-creates the exact shot with the same person as an adult. The effect of the two photos side by side is so entertaining. If you have a few minutes to kill, I highly recommend checking out this site: http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/

european picture books - welterusten iedereen

While my husband and I were traveling around Europe I made a point of spending time in book stores in every country that we visited. I wanted to see the kinds of images that were being created for picture books in different countries. I was really inspired by what I saw; European illustrators make beautiful, imaginative and experimental imagery. I collected books throughout our journey and posted about some of them here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Welterusten iedereen by Edward van de Vendel and Sebastiaan Van Doninck (check out his incredible work here) is a picture book that I picked up in Brussels, Belgium, last winter. It's a beautiful and colorful book filled with imaginative images about the dreams of the sleeping people in a town. I was really taken with the characters and the narrative quality of the illustrations. Of all the books I purchased on our trip, this is one of my favorites.

presentation this morning - book launch tonight

The presentation that I mentioned preparing for the other day took place this morning and I think it went well. As usual, I was over thinking it, and obsessing over my content, and worrying that I hadn't included enough visual interest. But the student's seemed interested and as soon as I got there the relaxed atmosphere of the class put me at ease. Thank you to Mike Kerr and Charles Bell for inviting me to speak and for the coffee and conversation that followed :)

Check out this blog which features some of the student's work as well as the work of ACAD Visual Communications alumni.

During my presentation I mentioned a Belgian illustrator that my husband and I stayed with during our trip to Brussels. His name is Pieter Fannes and he's a really talented illustrator and cartoonist with a unique visual voice. Here's a link to his flicker page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bos_aap_bos/

I love this sketch he did of my husband sleeping on their couch:

© Pieter Fannes

And this cartoon he sent us about Canadians (click on it to see it bigger):

© Pieter Fannes

Tonight is the book launch and reception for the Work/Life 2 book. You can read the write up for the event on the Uppercase blog here.

april update

• Some recent sketchbook play:


• Here's a peak at some sketches of children I recently did for an editorial illustration, but I won't be able to show the final until the magazine comes out in June. Stay tuned.


• I've also had a few other projects on the go, including a trade piece that's not quite finished and some new postcards.

• I've been working on a presentation I'll be doing at the Alberta College of Art and Design on Thursday. It's on the topic of travel and art and I'll be showing the students my travel journals. I hope they find it interesting and useful.

• The Work/Life book launch and reception is also this Thursday, April 7th, from 5 to 9 at Uppercase in Art Central here in Calgary. Any local people reading this should drop in to check out the books and all the cool art. I also hear there will be cup cakes :)


• After over 2 months of living in this apartment, we finally put our art up on the walls. It makes such a big difference - our home is much cozier now :)

(art from left to right by Lisa Mizeri, Jason Mathis, Jennifer Melrose and A. Widman).