march update

After months of silence in this space, I decided that it was time for an update. I've been working on my latest picture book, Charlie's Dirt Day, written by Andrew Larsen, since late last summer and have put all of my energy and time into making it the best that I possibly can.

And it's almost finished.

I've been working on the final art since early December and in a few weeks, all of the spreads will be complete. I'm pretty happy with the way the book is coming together and look forward to sharing some of the process and sketches in the months to come, leading up to the release of the book in September.

Once the book is finished, I have a few other projects awaiting my attention as well. There are wedding invitations, illustrated maps, portraits, and if there's time, some new prints for Calgary Comic Con at the end of April. I'll have a table there again this year.

I'm also expecting a baby boy this summer.

So there's lots of exciting things to look forward to.

20 weeks

fall update

Although I still don't have much time for this blog right now, I wanted to pop in for a quick update. I'm still plugging away on my next picture book as well as a few other illustration projects that I'll be sharing in the near future. I'm still working at the spice store and soon I'll be teaching at ACAD again as my extended studies illustration class is starting this week. Last weekend was spent manning a booth at Edmonton's Comic and Entertainment Expo, selling prints and books. I'm also finally harvesting from my garden - lots of tomatoes and squash and cucumbers. I even managed to slip away to Saskatchewan for a week to visit my home town of Zenon Park and my family. It was wonderful. I might have gone a little crazy with photos and filters... see below :)


Really cool public art in Calgary's East Village:

Produce from my garden:

My beloved Saskatchewan:

My home town:

When I was a child, I was obsessed with the imprint of scissors in a sidewalk in our park so when I was home this last time, I found it to show my husband. I don't know why I like it so much, but I still do.

may update

Here's what I've been up to this month...

• I started teaching another extended studies class at ACAD at the beginning of the month. This class is all about illustration. It's my first time teaching this specific class and I'm loving all the different subject matter that I get to cover.  My students seem to be almost as excited as I am about process and the way ideas and images evolve which is so exciting for me. There's nothing like having people respond positively to something you're passionate about. Looks like I'll also be teaching this in the fall if anyone in Calgary wants to learn how to illustrate. I'll post the details when the Extended Studies fall calendar comes out.

• As this is my first spring in the home my husband and I bought last summer, I'm planting my first vegetable garden. I've spent the last little while collecting seeds, doing research, re-building the raised beds and prepping the soil. I just finished planting everything this past weekend. I even bought tomato plants and herbs to transplant - but those aren't going into the garden until the beginning of June.

• I found out a few weeks ago that the picture book I illustrated, Bye, Bye, Butterflies! was nominated for an Information Book Award.

• Here's a little commission I just finished for a local couple:

(graphite and coloured pencil on watercolour paper)

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).

website update

I just finished a big update to my illustration portfolio website - a BIG thank you goes out to my husband who did all the coding.

The look of the site hasn't changed, but I added a bunch of new sections (such as a separate one for my editorial work, and a section for my travel books) and swapped out some older pieces in favor of newer stuff. Check it out: www.jacquelinehudon.com

6 boxes of paint, brushes, pastels, pencil crayons, paper, canvas...

When my husband and I decided to go traveling a couple of years ago, my parents were kind enough to store our stuff for us. Since our return, when ever a member of my family comes to the city, they bring a load of our stuff. A couple of days ago I got my drawing table and the last of my art supplies so today was spent unpacking, cleaning and putting everything away. It feels really good to have a clean, fully stocked studio. Can't wait to get to work in the morning :)

I also spent some time tonight tweaking the design of my blog. Nothing drastic, but I think it looks much better now.

back to work

This past week has been a good one as I've managed to get myself fairly organized. Now that I'm back in Canada and settled in an apartment, it's time to get to work.

I've managed to get myself a part time job and although I've always done illustration work on the side, I will now be doing it three full days per week. And I'm so excited about that :) I did a lot of work on my portfolio while we were traveling and now I just want to promote it and see what happens.

I've been adding to my mailing list, double checking the addresses I already have, and sending out more of the postcards that I had printed in November. I've also been working on a couple of small projects: a logo/identity and a wedding invitation. Today I met with my old sketch group which was just the perfect way to cap off the week.

january update

Things have been quite chaotic lately, but everything is finally starting to come together...

After much deliberation, my husband and I decided to move back to our former city, Calgary. We just moved into an apartment and are still getting settled, but most of the boxes are unpacked and we now have a phone and internet connection. It feels so good to have a home again! Traveling was exciting and inspiring and such an incredible learning experience, but constantly moving from place to place for a year and a half is also quite exhausting. It's nice to know that we'll be here for a while now, as we recharge our batteries and save up for our next adventure.

Our apartment is big enough that I have a studio space again. It's nothing fancy but it's something I didn't think I'd have so I'm really excited about it. I've missed having a place to work where I could spread out and where I didn't have to be putting my supplies away all the time.

It's good to be back :)

latest promo + portfolio update

©2010 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

This is my latest promo for the children's market, which I sent out as soon as we got back to Canada last month. I also recently updated my website with the new work I created while we were living in Sarajevo (I still haven't posted those pieces on my blog, but they're coming :) Check out my site here.

the end of our adventure

The last time I posted here we were still living in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and just getting ready to leave on the final leg of our adventure. When we left, we went to Croatia, then to Italy, then back to Scotland, and finally home. After roughly a year and a half of living and traveling in Europe, we're now finally back in Canada.

It's nice to be back, to see all of the friends and family that we hadn't seen in so long. But it's also quite an adjustment. We need to figure out where we should live, find an apartment, find jobs, and start making a life again.

Now that we're back in Canada I should have consistent access to the internet so posting will be more regular again. I do have sketchbook work, some painted pieces and lots of photos to share so stay tuned.

our new home - sarajevo

We arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier this week and fell in love with Sarajevo and it's wonderful people. We found a flat and just moved in today so we'll be staying here for a little while. Our internet connection isn't very reliable yet, but once it is, I have lots of stuff to upload. Stay tuned...

march update

I've been on hiatus for the last little while so here's an update:

We've been packing up our stuff, cleaning our flat, making arrangements and tying up loose ends because we're going to be moving again. We've already left our Edinburgh flat and are going to be floating around for the next little while. When we do settle down again, it will be in Paris. I have never been there and am really looking forward to it. As much as I like Edinburgh, it will be nice to experience another country and explore a new city. Both the hubby and I are very excited about this next leg of our trip.

an update and a sketch

©2010 Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

The reason for my recent lapse in posts is that our internet connection hasn't been very reliable. But I am still here, in Edinburgh, plugging away in my sketchbook. One exciting thing to report is that I recently completed 2 illustrations for a magazine here in the UK. I'll post them closer to when the issue comes out.

As for our European Adventure, we're starting to plan where to go next. Perhaps France. And we might be visiting the Balkan countries during the summer.

I also recently updated the children's section of my website. Check it out at jacquelinehudon.com .

website update

I just updated my illustration website with all of the new work I've done this summer and fall: www.jacquelinehudon.com

edinburgh update

Things are going really well out here. We now have our own flat - which is really nice and comfortable - and we're finally both working. I have a part time job at a bed and breakfast and my husband is working part time in a retail job. I've always either been a student or had a full time job. This is the first time in my life where I'm not working full time and I love that I have an opportunity to draw and work on my illustrations.

In addition to doing lots of drawing, I've also been to some local music shows. Withered Hand is really good. I went to their CD release on Wednesday. On Friday night I went to Sister Spit, a spoken word event. Yesterday, Dario and I went to the National Gallery to see an exhibition of Spanish art: Spain - From Goya to Picasso. It was pretty good. I get excited about seeing works in person by famous artists I studied in school. I didn't usually have that opportunity where I lived in Canada.

website update

I just updated the children's portfolio on my website with my new work. Check it out: jacquelinehudon.com .

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

July update

I have no images to post at the moment, but I will have some soon as I have several projects on the go. I'm doing a series of portraits for my husband's band, Ahnabith Gish, that they hope to use on their new album. I've completed 3 of the 4. I'm very happy with the first 3 - there's a pretty good resemblance - but the fourth guy is proving to be more of a challenge. I took some more photos of him the other day and with a fresh perspective I am confident that I can pull it off.

I'm also collaborating with the guitarist from the band on the art for the front of the album. He draws and did a really cool sketch, but doesn't know how to finish it. So I'll be painting his drawing. I've never done that before so I'm excited to see how it turns out.

I also just got an editorial assignment for a magazine that I've been wanting to do work for for years. I'm very excited about this one. It's a direct result of a promo mailing I did in May. It's really nice to see your promos (all the time, effort and money) actually pay off and attract some work. I'm a happy happy girl.

On an unrelated topic, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to interview my favorite band on behalf of my husband this month. He writes for Beat Route Magazine and was doing an article on The Weakerthans. Unfortunately, with them being in Europe on tour it was hard to find a time to talk with them. Because my husband had to go to his day job and was unable to do a phone interview at the only time the band was available, I did the interview for him. I got to talk to guitarist, Stephen Carroll, and he was very nice and very cool. I feel really fortunate - how many other people have the opportunity to talk with a member of their favorite band? You can read the article in this month's Beat Route or right here.

And now I'm off to do some sketching...

This week...

• I went to the private reception for the Work/Life book at Uppercase Gallery on Wednesday. I've been looking forward to this book since I first read about it last fall. The book is so well designed and beautiful. The content is good too. Reading it got me really inspired.

• Thursday was Art Attack, a fund raiser for design scholarships at ACAD. I am happy and relieved that the piece I donated sold. Live auctions always make me a bit nervous, but it went really well.

May Update

I updated my website last week with the work I did during the last few months. I also made a few changes in an attempt to make my site run better. I took out the sketchbook section and removed some of the work in the portfolios. I'm hoping that with fewer images to load it might load faster. I'd appreciate some feedback if anyone is having trouble viewing my site.

When I first made my website a few years ago, I used to view it on different computers to see how the site looked from one monitor to the next. I hadn't done that in a long time. The other night I glanced at my husband's computer screen as he was looking at my site and I was appalled. The colours were drastically different on his screen compared to mine. On my computer screen, my illustrations look pretty much the way they're supposed to, but on his they were dark and the colours were acidic. I guess there's not really anything I can do about that (is there?). I just hope most people who view my site have monitors like mine.