this moose belongs to me

As I'm sure you know, I love picture books and I have quite a nice collection going. It's not a huge collection yet, but it's carefully curated. I only add books with art that excites and inspires me. I have shared books from my collection in this space in the past, but I'm hoping to do more of it in the comings months. The following book was a recent Christmas gift that I am happy to add to my collection.

This Moose Belongs to Me was written and illustrated by one of my favorite picture book makers, Oliver Jeffers. All of his books are brilliant, but The Incredible Book Eating Boy remains my absolute favorite. I wrote about it here. This Moose Belongs To Me is now my second favorite of his books :)

The story is adorable and the images are a perfect compliment to the text.  In terms of content, the illustrations have lots of little clues and details that add to the story. I notice something new every time I read it. In terms of style, I love the combination of the fully rendered backgrounds and the more playfully drawn characters in the foregrounds.

What I really admire about the work of Oliver Jeffers is his ability to tell simple but clever stories in a simple but clever way. And his illustrations are so loose and free. Because I struggle with that in my own work, I really appreciate it in the work of artists who make it look easy.

leia & luke

Lately I've been sketching Star Wars characters in my style. Above is Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker.

the good stuff from 2012

• I started getting more illustration work from the children's market, plus some new editorial and packaging clients

• My husband and I celebrated 5 years of marriage in July

• We bought a small house in Calgary

• I discovered Moroccan cuisine and have been learning how to
make tagines

• Had a wonderful visit from my best friend who lives in Australia and who
I hadn't seen in years

• Started sketching weekly with my old sketch group

• We got a car

• I was able to visit my home town for the first time in a few years

• I spent Christmas with my entire family for the first time in a few years

• I got to spend some time playing with and getting to know my new
little nephew

• The highlight for me this year: my first trade picture book, 'Bye, Bye, Butterflies!' was released in June

Happy New Year everyone!

saint lucia buns

I recently made Saint Lucia buns for the first time. They were delicious. Although next time I think I'll stuff them.

happy holidays!

Earlier this month I participated in a Christmas card exchange organized by randm collective and the above image was my contribution. You can view all the submissions here.

I got children's author/illustrator Carolyn Fisher's card. It's really beautiful and is going to live in my studio year round :)

I managed to finish up all of my illustration assignments in time for the holidays and am so ready to spend a few days relaxing with family.

Thank you to everyone who hired me this year. It was one of my busiest and most successful years since becoming an illustrator.

Merry Christmas everyone :)

gorilla house live art

On Wednesday evening I joined some illustrator friends at the Gorilla House Live Art night. Artists show up at 7:00 and create new pieces which are then auctioned off starting at 9:00.  It was my first time going and it was a lot of fun.

Here's some progress shots of my piece:

Some shots of my friends at work (and links to their websites):

Aaron Navrady (above)

Karen Klassen (above)

Aaron Sidorenko (above)

feeling festive

sketchbook exercises

A little game we played at my sketch group a couple weeks ago.

• do a sketch that combines 2 random words
• no reference  - all imagery must come from your head
• 20 minutes

HORSE + PATTERN

LACE + MEDICINE

scribble hair

toddler