3 card split

i feel like i have split art personalities. it makes organizing my website complicated and i think it confuses people, including myself, about what i make. i like quick, cartoony type drawing...but to me, they're just a side dish and i don't know what the entree' is.

i spent some time looking at greeting cards at a neighborhood gift shop. as usual, i got jealous of how clever other people are. so i decided to borrow some ideas and do it myself this time.

ugly animals doing things i hate #12

drawing cars

i had to trace this little upside down car just to get myself to do it at all. it's not that i CAN'T draw cars....i would just prefer doing about 1000 other things.

ugly animals doing things i hate #11

who ARE the people who wake up with glee?

google search for "waking up happy" and you'll soon realize that only stock photo models do. probably because they can't wait to eat salad and laugh.

ugly animals doing things i hate #10

ugly animals doing things i hate #9

not sure how much longer i can put off wearing socks this year and admitting that winter has already won.

ugly animals doing things i hate #8

please, don't ask me to chop carrots.

also, don't make me eat raw carrots. thanks.

ugly animals doing things i hate #7

you know...if i had a vacuum cleaner this small, i might not hate doing the stairs so much. should have drawn it much bigger to depict real life!

i cleaned up my blog's look yesterday (tabs! no cluttered right column!). i'm happy with it, but these clumsy sketches on the front page make me seem like i've lost my marbles a bit--which may be true.

ugly animals doing things i hate #6

trying to make up for yesterday's accidentally cute creature.

fyi: i love goats. they are the GOAT.

ugly animals doing things i hate #5

admittedly, this guy is pretty cute. whoops.
and, guess what i have to do today.

i wanted to call this series "awkward animals happily doing things i hate to do." it's ridiculously long but far more accurate.

ugly animals doing things i hate #4

"discussing" directions

(one day i'll get how to take a good photo of a drawing)

ugly animals doing things i hate #3

admit it: running is awful*

*so is the quality of this photo.

ugly animals doing things i hate #2

see day 1.

i'm aiming for 1 ugly animal a day for the next 2 weeks. i'll reassess how long i'll go after that---i hate doing so many things, it could go on forever.

ugly animals doing things i hate

i'm aiming for 1 ugly animal a day for the next 2 weeks. i'll reassess how long i'll go after that---i hate doing so many things, it could go on forever. the first one ended up being an accidental pun and i'm ashamed...let's cross our fingers that doesn't happen again. 

everything in my brain feels too serious, fussy and over thought. also i'm feeling contrary and want to try drawing awkwardly on purpose. hopefully i'll loosen up a little. 

fabric doodle

even though this is  a teacher exemplar, i'm excited about this process for myself. it's another one of those "i've been meaning try this out for an embarrassingly long time" things. turns out, it's fun and almost exactly what i had hoped for. the watery painted shapes is a common element in my work so this is also a sampler for myself as well.

first, i brushed some clean water onto some spare fabric. i added more colors after i took this shot:

i expected it to spread a LOT more. i might have to soak the fabric and let it drip dry for a bit when i do this again for myself.

i skipped some steps here but i added more color and water. i was really try to get a tie-dye effect. now, you could just draw and sew right on this and it'd look pretty cool. but i think this next step is going to be a hit with the kids. i used some fusible webbing and ironed it on the back of the painted parts i thought looked the best. then i cut out those patches from the fabric. fusible webbing is great!

then i cut out shapes that i wanted, peeled off the paper and ironed them on my final fabric. since it's a "doodle" i didn't plan this out too much.

i used a mark b gone pen to doodle a bit. the lines disappear with water.

the drawing and colors are all made with kids in mind so i don't think i picked colors and the doodling i would have if it were purely for myself. not too much drawing either because the more lines you make, the more sewing you have to do! i don't want students to see something i might work on for weeks and go nuts drawing lines they won't have time to sew. eventually this will be turned into a small "no sew" pillow that the kids will make. again, fusible webbing is awesome.

unknown untitled

christmas past day 5

posting some old holiday card designs. you can see other previous illustration work on my website. 

Happy Holidays!

christmas past day 4

posting some old holiday card designs. you can see other previous illustration work on my website. 

Happy Holidays!

christmas past day 3

posting some old holiday card designs. you can see other previous illustration work on my website. 

Happy Holidays!

christmas past day 2

posting some old holiday card designs. you can see other previous illustration work on my website. 

Happy Holidays!

christmas past day 1

posting some old holiday card designs. you can see other previous illustration work on my website. Happy Holidays!