*

Trying more doodling-  These are super quick pencil sketches and then colors just blabbed on top, over multiplied layers and more layers.  It's fun because it gives me the impression I like from seeing layers in silkscreening.  I think I like the first one from yesterday...I am quite a bit more interested in all the patterns and shapes going on in the background and less in the girl...maybe I should forget the girl next time...I will try it and see.                                                                                                                     

This had a picture of a wonky bicycle next to the girl, that I took out, and originally said " The me I used to know- knitting socks, long solitary walks, books and bike rides, mangoes, observations, coffeespoons, night moons, poetry and sleep.  empty days, full now" The only reason I edited it was that I scanned it fast and the rest was cropped out.  It was some ramblings from  night when I was so exhausted but wanted to try and get something for myself done, wanted to get a few pages of quick sketches down so I could later scan them in and do this! Ha! goodnight.

I was exited to have the energy last night to do some doodling.  It occured to me the other night, after I had told my husband that I might just quit art altogether and go into something simple like being a receptionist or a secretary, once Finch is in school.  I do so love filing and getting offices in order ( I am not joking at all there!) and he, horrified, said I mustn't quit! ( thanks babe)  So it occured to me that IT IS ALL THERE.  All the ideas are still in my head, all the images and ideas I liked as a kid, still turn me on.  The colours, patterns, themes and objects.  I still like birds and tea cups and clouds and cakes.  So along came some ideas for drawings I wanted to try that have a lot of layering similar to what I like to do with watercolours.  I like what came out!

Here is a little painting I did for my friend Chandi to announce her return to work after Mat leave.  It goes with the other images she commissioned earlier on.  I had fun adding layers of pattern and colours here too.  Photoshop's nice because you don't have to wait for the paint to dry!

Okay now to get the lunch on and turn off my best friend,  the TV! 

A little doodle I found on the back of one of my scrapbooks. I still love my paper scrapbooks even in the age of pinterest and flickr, etc. If I feel sad or lonely or whatever, I love to flip through these books and see all the pretty pictures i have collected that inspire me. You can see a few pages I uploaded ages and ages ago over there on the sidebar in a gallery. I am working away here on borrowed nap-time time, finishing the final pages of the next book. Amazing how suddenly Finch is napping again, just when I need some extra time to get this work done. Maybe its the warmer weather but I am grateful for it.

happy new year!

friday village

click for bigger

I've got my watercolors out for a little illustration job and so I felt like doing a little doodle as well!

Boy, it has been a while- drawing for fun!  What a novelty!  I just love my Friday's.  I also love all my free time - those mornings on the weekend when we sit quietly reading the paper, strolling around town, stopping for a tea, reading on the couch on a sunny afternoon-  because I know how soon it will be MUCH busier around here!

I don't know if I ever linked to this site, which I drew a few little illustrations for.  She is a child psychologist and I love how she set up her site.  The little girl goes in all shy and nervous and comes out feeling much better.  Today's work is also for another child psychologist's upcoming website- will post once it is live!

I keep a little book in my bag and draw stuff now and then, here are a few sketches from the last number of months!  I drew the second last one a few days ago.

Right now, girl cat is purring on my lap and I have never been more happy to have her!  The week started out horrible, and by some freaky good timing, I was off work that day.  Just after I would have left, she was gasping for breath, turning purple!  She had been coughing for a few days, but I thought it was another hairball. I rushed her to the vet in a a taxi and feared this was the end, but after oxygen, x-rays and diuretics- her lungs had filled with fluid and heart enlarged - she started to improve and by the next day I took her home !  She was so glad to be home and ate, drank and scratched her favorite spot on the rug.  Today I dare say, she seems her normal self again!  On drugs, but meowing like old times. PHEW!  It was so scary.

Oh girl cat- snorgle.  It's not time to join your brother in pussycat heaven just yet!

 

I like...

...finding a scrap of paper at work with a note on it, and drawing a picture to match.  Of course, that is ME as the junior world hockey champ.  Never mind that I was only ten years old in 1985.  There's girl cat helping me score the winning goal!  Never mind that she never goes outside.

Ahhh Friday!  My new schedule includes Friday's off!  Who could have dreamed of such perfection.  Its so easy to get used to a four day week, scarily easy.  I woke up really early because I was so exited to not have to do anything worky today.  I have a lunch date with Karina!  Yay!  She is in town to install her latest and greatest, Organisms and Orifices show!  Last Friday I had lunch with Krissy.  So lovely to catch up with my ladies.

Today, after my lovely lunch, despite the blustery, rainy mess that is the weather, I want to pick up some earring hooks to go with some beads I got last week, get some cat food- her higness suddenly hates her normal food- , grab a dvd or two for the weekend and perhaps later have a NAP! oh the decadence.

I think I am getting the hang of the new schedule finally, and perhaps friday posts might be my new plan.

I swear, a month or two out of the loop and so much has changed.  Typepad is all new, AGAIN, when once I felt cutting edge to have a new blog, now I am frightfully behind the times not having twittter or a blackberry or any of these newfangled things going... who has the energy?  I am just so happy to have some time to read a book, have some tea and go for brunch on weekends with my sweetie.

Bon weekend peeps!

I had big plans to turn this doodle into an animated gif but I have already forgotten how!

So just picture the swallows swooping around and her eyes

blinking and I will go look for a tutorial again.

I remembered again something I liked about blogging back at the start, which I had forgotten.  If I post about some silly little things that cheer me up, I will feel cheered up.  It doesn't matter if it seems pointless, the act of recording things that make me happy, makes me happy, so I might as well carry on with it!  We had baked yam fries with a veggie burger for dinner last night and rhubarb and ice cream for dessert.  I think I will have a sandwich for lunch after I finish my iced coffee...it's really the little things.  Oh, and a massage after work! Yippee!

lum te tum dum

 

Some doodling to reflect the inside of my head lately.

One minute I have ideas, the next they are gone.  One minute I feel good about the uncertain future and jobs and the next I am all scared again.  Worrying is an olympic sport in my family and we are gold contenders.  I like to picture the day in series of time slots these days.  If I can make it through the next five minutes, the next hour, the next afternoon, I am doing well.  Then, every night I go over the nice things in each day and say thanks.  Worrying is all about the fear of what might happen, it always seems much much worse that it will likely be and if I can only remember that right now things are pretty much a-ok, I start to feel better again.  I have made a big decision that things are starting to look up in July!  One foot in front of the other and onward, ho!  The year gets better starting right now.           

Happy weekend!

pattern

I am playing with patterns.  One of the girls in my book will have a dress with a variation of this one.  I have dressed all the characters in clothes I wish I had!  Especially the teacher.  She is actually loosely based on Sally Hawkins character in "Happy Go Lucky".  I really liked that movie.  I mostly liked her, actually!  Such a "cheerful by necessity" character.  As though she quite consciously decided at some point to be cheerful, to combat the never ending gloom that can suck you down if you let it!  A role model of sorts.
Well, happy Friday!

Boo!

I have had a bit of a week-My job that I have had for 9.5 years at the CBC was made redundant, just like you have read in the news.   We were told our department was presently safe, so this came as a big shock.
I am not sure how much they will save by cutting part time me, but there you go.  My vision of life as a great game of snakes and ladders is proving true.  Where is my next ladder?  Who knows.
For now I am enjoying putting finishing touches of my forth coming kids book, and I still have work ( and benefits) till the end of July.  Keep calm and carry on, as they say...or to use my favorite Dead Dog Cafe quote:

"Stay Calm, Be Brave, Wait for the Signs"!

well hello Spring!

What a nice surprise to see you here! 

Just a quick hello from the desk.  I am madly drawing, drawing,
but now it's lunch time! yippee!
I have some squash / sweet potato soup and some leftover rice that
I plan to unite, along with a nice piece of toast...how exiting.
Sadly, all the Easter chocolate is already gone...no restraint!

bricks to dresses

I recently created this image for a magazine.  Its about hospitals and philanthropy and I had to make a pale brick pattern to make the hospital look nice.  I ended up liking that pattern. ( You can't really see it, I had to make this image small because typepad cuts off the right side of everything too big!  click for bigger)  Since my usual default is bright colors and brash patterns, I was momentarily inspired by the idea of having a (somewhat) neutral wardrobe.
 

It would be nice to have this tunic-y thing in a lovely light jersey that won't get all stretchy and saggy later on.  Wear it over short jeans with my favorite shoes and maybe even a short sleeve top, dare to dream!  For now it's still a long sleeve one, but today might be 12C!  Yippee!
I suppose this outfit is not really neutral at all, but it would be comfy.

sunny day doodle

sunny day doodle, originally uploaded by tannie annie.

A doodle for a sunny day.

and some links!

Patouche! Adorable baby and kids clothes made by my knitting neighbor! She will be at the Green mom show here in Toronto this Saturday at the CNIB.  It looks like it will be a great show!

Chi Chi Bean is a cute baby shop for which I designed a little logo.
Super cute things!

w.i.p.

Doing some teensy little fruit paintings with girl cat.

It is a rainy spring day here! I don't mind, it will bring the tulips up faster. My Baking class yesterday was fun again. Here are icing leaves to add to our roses basket. And here is the basket, for which we used all our roses, from last week- a centerpiece of hard icing. Here is my CAKE! Well, it is a styrofoam one. We all got to ice our own and I was bursting with wanting to squeeze that icing out of my piping bag. I was the first one done of course which ended up being a good thing. I scraped off all my icing for the next girl to use because our bowl was empty by then. The only bad thing is now I have a stryofoam cake shape all naked.
This I swear happend all by itself , naturally. I had taken Mr. Tibbs out of his cage when I got home, for a little cuddle. The girl cat jumped up and plonked herself right down next to him! I could not believe it. I think she is a little bit worried Mr. Tibbs is my new best friend so I make sure to tell her "You are my favorite!" a few times.

sunshiney

It is amazing what a few days of sun and above 10C temperatures can do for me! This weekend saw my first bike ride of the season, to dim sum of course. Chatting on the porch to my lovely neighbors, clearing debris in the garden to reveal tiny shoots of my tulips, daffodils and grape hyacinths, cooking a nice brunch for our friend Sam. I even felt up to a bit of a drawing session. Those soaked and partially sprouted geraniums, were planted in some newspaper pots I made. A contraband cup of coffee on sunday had me dreaming up some new things to do around here. I want to get up some downloadable PDFs of stuff- maybe embroidery patterns of some of my drawings or birthday cards to print out? But Hillary's stitchettes are already so wonderful... Prints on ETSY to sell? We'll see! In the mean time, I managed to update my website to include Berkeley, and change up my biography, which I think has not been updated since 2002! Yipes! As well as adding the 3 other books I can now say I have been a part of. Chuff!

I am practicing a bt of positive thinking and truly, spring really is just around the corner! We still have piles of snow, slowly melting and some flurries today but Thursday is the first day of spring and for that I am grateful!

Girl cat says time to wake up and stop hibernating! So for me, a bit of a blog break. I am thinking of signing up for a cake decorating class! Something I have wanted to do since I was a little girl, mostly to pipe icing out of a tube, I think. The thought of baking and icing just fills my heart with hope... See you in a bit!

un-inspiration

I thought it would be nice to make some pictures again but it ain't happening. I am bored of the things I always draw, pictures I did in 2005 seem like just yesterday and so it's lunchtime. Perhaps I just need to get back into the mood - it has gotten so I like to draw for clients and be told what to make more than making my own things... how peculiar and a bit lazy! Perhaps too much time on the computer- noooo!

In other news, boy, am I hugely dissapointed that CBC is cancelling my favorite shows JPOD, MVP and Intelligence. Such a shame. sigh.

Exitingly, H&M is collaborating with Marimekko for some spring clothes! I hope to pop in and have a look soon. I wonder if it will sell out in 2 seconds like the other designer collaborations...if so I won't fight for a bag like an animal!

I saw this thing at pottery barn in the girls rooms section the other day- kind of a paper chandelier made of ribbons and flowers - pretty! Likely very easy to make too, especially if you had a paper punch.

And finally, SNORE! It is tax time and I am adding up everything.

playing in photoshop

It is rare that I have the right sort of energy to just play and not be doing something useful, which is annoying. Didn't art school teach me anything? Anyway, yesterday I felt like playing. I was feeling boundlessly creative and optimistc which I tried to take advantage of because I knew it would not last. This morning I had a long bath and read my book instead of being useful. I feel sluggish and spaced out, probably due to the drop in temperature to a cozy -11C. That's me in Goderich this summer.
I really love the ads I get in my email from Anthropologie that use this technique with watercolor washes and handwriting over photos, so I tried it myself. I liked it. This snow one is my desktop for now. I may as well go crazy and show you all the ones I did. There was also this one.

And this one, which is kind of nice and reminds me of the stuff I used to like in high school- messy, crazy playing in the art room at lunch. Except this time it is not messy as it is all digital, which back then I would have really dissaproved of! I guess according to my high school self, I have sold out, but I would not want to be anyone else! Who can ever live up to old high school standards anyway? :)

Hearts and flowers to you!

Ievute sent me this little piece of spring all the way from Denmark. Isn't that sweet! Now I can dream of a day when we will see snowdrops and not snow. It also reminds me to enjoy this pretty crisp cold weather while I can, because soon it will all melt! I must say, the snow is glistening and pretty today with sun pouring down and sparkling up the world. It's a good day!

♥♥♥

doodles for a monday

Tying up the loose ends around here today. Gathering up the receipts for 2007, invoicing, reminding and a bit of puttering. I am awaiting an unexpected avalanche of magazines though! We got a really cheap offer through the door, so I took the bait and am awaiting Canadian Home and Country because it is pretty, as well as Canadian Living because I love the tips and recipes. The new year can be so bleak, I wanted some cheerful things in the post. Then My brother and sister in law gave me a subscription to Craft for xmas- Woo! thanks guys!! AND THEN, my friend got me a subscription for Real Simple as a thank-you for throwing her a baby shower two weeks ago. Wow! I am going to have alot to read and the already abundant piles are going to become mountains around the house! What a great way to spruce a up a dull winter. Pretty pictures.

rambling rose

What shall I tell you about today? It turns out that 2008 has brought more of a silence on my end, I don't have much to say. I am liking your posts of flickr mosaics of all the crafts completed in 2007, those are nice. I am totally going nuts for Feist's album , Reminder. It's funny, but before I heard this album I was next to her at a restaurant and thought nothing of it. Now I would be all silly and shy and embarrased because, well, she rocks.

Here is a funny dog I saw on Monday. Monday also brought the final print out of the picture book I have illustrated, which was exiting indeed. I will ask my editor (my editor!) if I am allowed to show any of it yet. Tuesday brought a much needed long life saving chat on the phone with my very good friend in Ottawa and today will bring a cozy dinner with my two work friends over yummy Ethiopian food.
Also, some geese and a swan on Lake Ontario, my favorite lake, on Monday as well. We took a day off and went for a walk. I am always amazed at the flotsam and jetsam washed up on the lakeshore. I really just wanted to say flotsam and jetsam, but it is a lot of plastic and a surprising number of balls plus lots of wood. Tommorow is pay day and then comes friday which I always like. Oh, and also on Monday we went to watch "Lars and the Real Girl" which was really sweet and I was pleased. There. I suppose I had a few things to tell you.

blink blink- what time is it?

People, I have been drifting. I don't have much to show for it. Christmas was nice, finished up the book (yay!), watched some tv, read some books, went to bed. What's for dinner? I blame the lack of coffee. I treated myself to a cup today and I was like the energiser bunny for a few hours but that has sadly worn off and I am back to the zombie campground. You can toss me some peanuts, that might rouse the beast. Otherwise, I think I will go and hibernate a bit longer.....zzzzzzz

random sketches

Here are a few recent pages from the old sketchbook. I don't sketch all that much and this week I am back to tweaking a few small things on the book. Adding shadows and various things I overlooked. It is suddenly a whirling swirling snowstorm outside and I have made a pot of tea and brought the heater up to the studio. It would be a nice day to stay in but I have my shift at work today at 3:30. A peculiar time to start work, especially without a cup of coffee....

A sketch of a cozy outfit I might like to wear. I might not have an anchor on the real outfit, I just thought it might make me look more tough.

The product of my waiting and waiting for the guys to deliver our new stove. It is not stainless steel or snazzy in any way, but our old one was rusting from the inside out! Two burners did not light by themselves and the main knob was so sticky with years of grease, I could barely turn it! In this sketch you can also see mention of a new baby in the friends fold. Stella Henrietta born on Saturday! ♥ I hope to meet her on the weekend.

In case you were wondering, I didn't do anything crafty over the weekend like I thought. We did switch our main floor rooms so that the red center room now has the tv and couch and the front room is more open with two comfy chairs. It feels so much nicer this way!
We also went to see The Darjeeling Limited which I just loved ofcourse. I haven't read any reviews of the movie and I don't really want to. I don't care if it was panned or whatever because I just love to sit and watch and get totally immersed in a film. Visually this movie was amazing. It was also really touching and human somehow and I just think Adrien Brody is great. If you get a chance see him in "Dummy".

When you don't know what to draw, draw tablets, living their lives. These might be vitamin C or multivitamins- no way to know from their daily comings and goings.
Here is a nice moment from my weekend which I forgot to post yesterday. A coffee break in Kensington market, watching the world go by. Ah summer, we hardly knew ya.

Please check out some great peas! Aren't they cute?

doing my best