It's time to highlight the utter loveliness that was the Secret Valentine Exchange! In total, we had 39 participants including me and my indispensable co-organizer Ute - amazing! There were ladies from the U.S., Germany, Canada, Australia, Singapore, India, France, Spain, Ireland and Italy. So international, right? I'm overwhelmed that these are all -- in some capacity -- readers of this little blog. One of my favorite aspects of this project was that I got to know the various folks that stop ... Read more
Happy Friday + Randomness
Happy Valentine's Day!! My goodness, with the way I kept going on and on, you'd think it's the only holiday that matters to me. Case in point: I can't seem to stop making bookmarks, though my excuse is that I'm practicing my digital painting. So these are the ones we ended up assembling for K's class (K helped punch holes, though she quickly lost interest; she did, however, write out all her classmates' names for each bookmark bundle). K said that the animals looked too girly and was ... Read more
Happy Friday + Randomness
Happy Friday! This week I've been diving in full force and working on my book, and I've just made a happy discovery. I love painting with gouache, but with the kinds of illustrations I want to create I need a lot of control and the flexibility to change things on the fly. The beauty of traditional painting is the lovely unintentional effects that can happen. The not so beautiful part is the permanence of a painted line when mistakes are made -- no undo button! Enter digital watercolor painting. ... Read more
Happy Friday + Randomness
Happy Friday! I've been a busy bee. Once I declare something publicly, due to my powerfully guilty conscience I have a hard time not following through. This means I've been steadily working on my tolerations. Eliminating them, that is. I started out with 108 items (!) after going through each room in the house and other miscellaneous fodder. Currently, I'm down to 93, and rather than doing a blow-by-blow review of everything I accomplished which would surely send you and me both running for the ... Read more
Secret Valentine Exchange Updates + Valentines Download
Ute and I are thrilled with the response we've gotten from the Secret Valentine Exchange! We have 39 participants (quite the international group, I might add), and the creative energy is palpable! Ute and I told each other that if we got close to 10 people, we'd be totally happy, so the turnout is above and beyond expectations. Huzzah! So, just a few updates and housekeeping info in response to inquiries and things we realized we didn't mention: 1. If you received a partner information ... Read more