the back garden

our fabulous temporary home

This 150 year old, 3 story, stone house has really great old details and the owners have really great stuff. Check it out.

• the original door, knob and detailing - even a keyhole cover


• inlaid flooring


• a servant bell from back in the day


• the most elaborate crown moldings I have ever seen


• the view from our room on the second floor


• the most beautiful old grandfather clock


• the skylight and light fixture above the stairs


• staircase with gorgeous railing


• intricate tile floor in the entrance


• I absolutely LOVE that they still use keys like this :)


• a collection of blue and white ceramics


• kitchen art


• backyard garden (I'll take some outside shots if/when it stops raining


• one of 3 gorgeous fireplaces in the house. This one is my fave because of the detailed tiles


• upright piano


• the sun room - I covet a room like this for myself someday






The last 3 are of the sun room, which is where I'm headed now to spend the rest of this rainy day sitting, drawing and drinking tea.

hee hee hee

good-bye, first UK flat

We moved out of our first flat today. We had only rented our room, one of three in a shared flat, for the month of August so that we'd have a place to live while we looked for something more permanent. Although it had a good location and some lovely features, it wasn't the most comfortable space for us and we're quite excited about the flat we'll be moving into, just the two of us, on September 14.

I took some photos of our room yesterday after we had packed up our few belongings and cleaned.

Beautiful crown moldings:


Very tall window with shutters on the inside:


Our fireplace (didn't work though):


We also had a mouse and the kitchen/living room was prone to slugs:


We have been living in Edinburgh for just over a month now and we have been lucky enough to meet some really, REALLY kind and generous people. The friends we've made have offered us beds in their homes for the next 12 nights while we're homeless. We're also going to be taking a trip up to the Scottish Highlands.

The home we're staying in now is so beautiful and quaint and cozy and clean. We've been here since lunch time today and we're already so comfortable. I'll try to take some photos of it tomorrow so that you'll know what I'm talking about.

Here are a few random shots from around Edinburgh:

edinburgh international book festival

Yesterday my husband and I went to a reading at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. It was part of the Imprisoned Author Series and the poetry that was read was all written by Tibetan writers and read aloud by authors at the festival.

It was excellent. The poetry was so beautiful and moving. I had forgotten how much I liked poetry. One of the readers was a Scottish author and she had the most lovely reading voice and accent. I absolutely loved it.

As a bonus, one of my favorite children's book illustrators, Pablo Bernasconi from Argentina, was one of the readers. I was thrilled to meet him when the event was finished.

what i'm working on...

Here's some process sketches for an illo I'm working on. It's based on this sketch from last spring. I thought it would be fun to paint it, but I didn't have time until now.


©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli


©2009 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

dolls & marionettes

Yesterday afternoon I spent several hours at the Museum of Childhood. They have tons of old toys: all kinds of dolls, doll houses, miniature furniture, elaborate train sets, tin toys, teddy bears, bikes, board games... There was an entire floor of old dolls from around the world that I really enjoyed. My favorites were the creepy marionettes. I found the museum to be really inspiring. It's only about a 10 minute walk from our flat and it's free so I can go back as many times as I want. And I will.

sketchbook - male faces

from my travel journal

arthur's seat

There's a small mountain in Edinburgh called Arthur's Seat. Yesterday we took advantage of the beautiful weather to hike up to its summit. Part way up are the ruins of an old chapel from the early 15th century.