a couple days of sketching

I've been pretty lucky the last few days in that I've been able to hang out and draw with some pretty talented illustrators.

Friday afternoon my sketch group was down to just Karen Klassen and myself. Despite the rain, it was a great afternoon of art books, chai tea, sketching and great conversation.

Saturday afternoon I met up with Mike Kerr and Renata Liwska for some coffee and drawing. Renata was even nice enough to sign a couple of books for me. After a few hours of sketching with them, I left feeling happy and inspired. Thanks guys :) You can read Renata's post about it here.

today's sketchbook activity...

new work in today's parent magazine

This is a small editorial illustration that I did a few months ago for the June issue of Today's Parent magazine:

freckle juice

This is a personal piece I just finished, inspired by Judy Blume's short novel, Freckle Juice. I realized that I needed more black and white work for my portfolio and I chose Freckle Juice because I wanted to illustrate a story that hasn't been overdone so that I wouldn't be influenced by existing imagery.

There are a couple of process photos below.

recent sketchbook activity - characters

sketches of bottles

inspiring interview

I just read a really good interview with illustrator Carson Ellis over at 7 Impossible Things. I've been in love with her beautiful pen, ink, gouache and graphite illustrations for a while now as well as her gift for telling stories with her images. Her style is clean and simple yet detailed and delicate. I recently read Dillweed’s Revenge: A Deadly Dose of Magic and was so impressed by the balance between words and pictures. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a well illustrated picture book with an unconventional story. You can read the interview here.

recent sketchbook activity - boys

letterpress print by meg hunt

I just got the most fantastic delivery from the postman. A few weeks ago, I finally ordered a letterpress print from Meg Hunt that I had been coveting for a while. It arrived today!



It was really fun to open the package and not only find her lovely print, but also a few unexpected bits. She threw in a hand written note as well as some business cards with her beautiful work on them. Thanks Meg!



I've been a fan of Meg's unique and vibrant illustrations for a long time. I can't wait to frame this and put it up in my studio.

bowl of soup thank you card - final

bowl of soup thank you card

Last summer I had an idea to make a Get Well Soon card where the letters in a bowl of soup spelled out the message. I did several sketches in my sketchbook, but I never actually got around to painting it. This past winter I revived the idea, but made it into a Thank You card. I recently painted a version of it in my sketchbook, where I'm still experimenting with colored pencils.

I'll post the final version tomorrow. Until then, here's some of the process:

website buttons

I made these buttons the other day for my website.

steam clock print

This is the beautiful photo that I mentioned in the previous post. I got it from Vancouver based photographer, Tracey Ayton, in a recent art trade:



It was really hard to chose as Tracey has so many beautiful photos, but I'm really happy with it. I think it's such a nice image and that it will look great framed in our living room. You can read Tracey's post about our trade here.

family portrait

A couple of weeks ago I posted a glimpse of a portrait I had done. That piece was part of a trade that I did with Vancouver based photographer, Tracey Ayton. Her website is full of really beautiful photographs. You should definitely take a look.

Here is the entire portrait of Tracey, her husband and her dog, followed by some photos I took of the painting process:



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I had wanted to post an image of the beautiful photo I got from Tracy, but my camera batteries are dead. You'll just have to wait :)