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Sanae Ishida

A crafty little atelier in a grey city

Happy Friday + Randomness

June 6, 2014

Happy Friday! I've been loving all the coincidence stories from my giveaway! Yesterday, I was admiring the peonies you see here -- I received them from a friend recently and remembered that her husband had the most extraordinary coincidence story: many years ago, he went to Kyoto, Japan via a research grant or some such (he's an art history professor). He was wandering around alone one day and wanted to experience the non-touristy side of Kyoto and there, tucked in a quiet and obscured area, he ... Read more

Filed in: life, photography • by sanae • 10 Comments

22 Months and 3 Weeks

June 4, 2014

I purchased this tank top from H & M the second week of July in 2012. I remember this because I was frantically scouring the mall for clothes to take with me to a family vacation. That's what I always did for vacations; a profoundly unhealthy habit of accruing a whole new wardrobe just for a short trip. Cheap clothes that fell apart in minutes. I haven't bought a single ready-to-wear clothing item since. Almost two years for both me and K! Okay, I've gotten some socks and underwear for K, ... Read more

Filed in: gouache, illustration, life, watercolor, writing • by sanae • 37 Comments

Type A Summer Vacay or How I’m Not Effortless

June 3, 2014

There are thirteen more days of school left for K, and the ginormous maw of summer has been inching toward me, begging me to feed it with worthy activities. I started a little late on the summer camp sign-up process this year, and here in Seattle, it's like a competitive sport to get access to the various "enrichment" programs. Most of the popular ones are filled by early April, and you have to be aggressively Type A to have your ducks in a row so that you're not stuck with the most expensive ... Read more

Filed in: gouache, illustration, life, writing • by sanae • 20 Comments

Happy Friday + Randomness

May 30, 2014

Happy Friday! This is the unedited and un-styled area that is my helter skelter "workshop" right now as I dash madly into the completion phase of my interior illustrations (I have a little more time to work on the final cover). I've been drinking a lot of coffee and experiencing a generous dollop of self-doubt while having the time of my life. It feels a little like the moment I stood at the edge of the bungie jumping bridge in New Zealand, ready to leap. Terrifying and exhilarating and not ... Read more

Filed in: life • by sanae • 2 Comments

Tolerations Update: April + May

May 27, 2014

The thing about declaring something publicly is that even if nobody else remembers, I do. I'm talking about my monster list of tolerations, naturally. Those pesky little buggers that would free up so much mental clutter if I'd just hunker down and deal with them. I started bold and strong in January and since then, each consecutive month has seen a marked dwindling of productivity. I clocked in with ZERO tolerations-busting for the month of April, but I'm okay with this. April was an ... Read more

Filed in: life • by sanae • 15 Comments

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Happy almost Valentine’s Day! I designed some pr Happy almost Valentine’s Day! I designed some printables for @creativebug that are free for members. I love these little foldable cards and boxes that are fun for non-V-Day occasions too!
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