don’t be scared, little puffers
Potential uses for puffer fish fabric: uhhhhh… oh! this would be a pretty funny shower curtain. Of course, since puffers only puff up when they’re alarmed, that might not be a good message for their potentially naked viewers.
prepared
Between commissioned work and fabric stuff, I hadn’t worked on a regular D&H drawing for ages. So, I turned to Illustration Friday for a little inspiration. This week’s theme is “prepare.” I wish my winter looked like this. I might want to replace the acorns… creme eggs, perhaps (which are already in the stores, by the way! Has that rabbit no shame?!)? Maybe I’ll settle for knitting myself a tea cosy.
Update: totally knit myself a tea cosy.
two new faces on the tour
Remember this drawing? I can’t imagine that people wouldn’t want creatures Segwaying around their… um… tablecloths and pillowcases (??), so I decided to make it into a border design for fabric. The original foursome wasn’t going to cut it, so I had to add a couple of extra tourists. Since the animal line will just repeat on the fabric, the skunk wasn’t going to be able to bring up the rear any more. I think the rabbit looks suitably annoyed to have been stuck behind him, though. Oh, and now they’re touring Toronto, apparently. I guess the SkyDome Rogers Centre doesn’t have the most dynamic silhouette. I should have these guys doing the world tour: passing the sphinx, Pisa’s campanile, the Taj Mahal… they could be the new strutting Leo!
Catching up with D&H
The first tape that I ever bought was Catching Up With Depeche Mode. This is not to be confused with the first tape I ever owned, which was the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack (thanks, Dad!). The Depeche Mode tape has such great cover art. I should totally do a version with, like… sloths or something. That sounds like a reasonable use of my time. Okay… what have I been up to?
House portraits, commissioned by considerate gifters:
Some holidayish cut-and-sew fabric:
and this one isn’t so holidayish, but the bonus squirrel sleep mask really cracks me up:
For… a new fabric shop (exciting! the possibilities!), which is being populated rather slowly, as I wait for test swatches, adjust colours, etc. Depending on how much I trust my sewing abilities, there might be tea towels, pillows, ornaments, and who knows what else in my shop soon. Woo!
Happy New Year festivities, everybody!
Von Summer Beach
I have got to stop doing these custom beach portraits. Staring at the maps and pictures of these places is killing me. Great. Now I need to go to Nantucket sometime in the near future. I might even have to live there. At least it’s probably pretty affordable… right? Actually, my current island-living fantasy involves Salt Spring Island… or maybe Easter Island. Either way.
family tree
This drawing reminds me of the TMBG song My Brother the Ape: “I’ve been acting like a stranger but you guys are all so strange. Though I think of what I’m like and I can see we’re all the same.” Sometimes I like to go out in public and imagine everybody as wild animals, just following instincts in their natural habitats. Is there an opposite of anthropomorphism? Zoomorphism?
This collection of portraits is a spin-off from the back ground of this sick squirrel drawing. I designed it to be a repeating fabric (what a pain getting that wood grain to match up!). I think I’ll change the spacing of the frames a bit for the print version that I’ll put in my shop. I might also make up a mirrored version to be the backing to a canvas ornament set. I think these would be pretty funny hanging from the tree.
2656 Sager Rd.
For several months now, I’ve been having a lot of interest in my house portraits. I chalked this up to my uncanny ability to capture the real essence of the soul of a space, rendering it as so much more than the sum of its parts. As one of the family, if you will – nay! The veritable bosom of the family, which comforts and warms its inhabitants as one! Then I noticed that my shop was getting a lot of traffic from the nest, which is the newlywed spinoff off of the popular wedding website the knot. Ah! They featured my listing way back last February and I was a little slow on the uptake. I guess that works, too.
deck the… rack?
What’s that? I’m already behind on Christmas stuff?! But what about that festive owl card I did? Too much mouse murder? Uhhh… how’s this?
