but most of all, when snowflakes fall

we made funny sugar cookies – they were my first so i am very proud of them. z didn’t understand the hedgehog silhouette (as you can see), but his bespectacled moose made up for it. if you are a baking novice like me, here is the easy peasy, stress-free recipe.

thank you for all of your very thoughtful suggestions on what i should draw next; now i have some personal projects to work on in the winter months. happy christmas! (i really hope it snows tonight.)

sweet juniper holiday card

in the last few weeks i have had the pleasure of illustrating and hand-lettering this year's holiday greeting card for jim griffioen of the blog sweet juniper! and his very cool, detroit-based family (their amazing home was featured on design*sponge back in 2007). as you can see, i really enjoyed drawing them. thank you for the opportunity, j. and w.!

maîtresse-en-titre

thank you for your comments and messages; i read and appreciate them all. i wonder:

is there anything you would like to see me draw?

oh comely magazine

last month i illustrated an essay called "the place where i am happy" - in which a young woman describes her weakness for the glowing romance of the bar at el quijote beneath the chelsea hotel in new york city - in london-based oh comely magazine. those of you in the UK can pick up issue № 4 now (stockists); i will be eagerly waiting for my copy to arrive with the post!

poppytalk

pleasant surprise: my lace is on poppytalk today! i am particularly flattered to be featured alongside finnish illustrator anna emilia laitinen (on whom i've had a secret crush for years) and UK-based clare owen (i bought that sewing machine print immediately). good morning! (actually it is a very glum, rainy morning. listening to velvet underground's "pale blue eyes.")

(art market went very well for me, i think, but i wish you were with me, b. minding the inventory felt like a chore without you.)

new business cards

once again, my new business cards (from overnight prints) arrived just in time for art market. this time i chose czech lace for the front.

helix

yesterday evening a crowd gathered in mount vernon square to watch the washington monument light up. it felt magical and wholesome; my favorite part was watching the fireworks dissolve into gold dust. i can see the monument now through my windows, glowing in the cold night air. "bright are the stars that shine; dark is the sky; i know this love of mine will never die." it's such a simple song, and after twenty-two years of listening to it, why does it still always sound so new and so poignant?

art market 2010

the annual MICA art market is coming up next week; i am participating as an alumna this year (which feels a little odd). on friday, december 10th, i will be working at the illustration table, probably all day, so if any of you are planning on coming, do stop by for a chat!

"the MICA art market is a venue for the sale of original artwork and hand-crafted wares created by students, faculty, staff, and alumni. the event fosters professional development, peer to peer networking, and provides funding for need-based student scholarships. admission to art market is free."

MICA leidy atrium, brown center. 1301 w. mount royal ave. baltimore, md 21217.

mermaid

i watched two versions of "the little mermaid" this week: karel kachyňa's "malá morská víla" (czechoslovakia, 1976) and vladimir bychkov's "rusalochka" (ussr, also 1976).

něco z alenky

inspired by jan švankmajer's wonderful, wonderful "alice" (czechoslovakia, 1988), i made a new and improved version of my alice that i feel is good enough to add to my portfolio.

close encounters of the bookstore kind

i work at a major chain bookstore, where i am oft subjected to the madness and rudeness of the general public. these frequent encounters make me practically run home to tell the story in the evening, and are often so dazzling that i have taken to making quick ballpoint pen drawings of the local eccentrics on scraps of paper the second they are out of sight. i share them:

and hey look, my "swedish horses" drawing was on where the lovely things are on sunday! i only started looking at the blog this week, on b's recommendation (she was featured in this gems of the week last month). i love a sensory overload!

recent acquisitions

books, books, books! i love them. i finally have a copy of the exquisite book (by also design)! other new treasures, clockwise: zombies vs. unicorns with a brilliantly exciting cover by josh cochran, the penguin classics deluxe edition of hans christian andersen's fairy tales, issue 3 of ammo magazine with a lovely cover by anke weckmann, belgian illustrator brecht evens' mouthwateringly beautiful graphic novel the wrong place, and florence parry heide's dillweed's revenge: a deadly dose of magic, illustrated by carson ellis.

another darling

the cat's meow

the first in a series of jazz age women. as the mica art market - and holiday season - approaches, i am working on a series of note cards to package and sell in sets of four.

amelia's magazine

i used to work at a very cool shop called harbor news, in the harbor east neighborhood of baltimore. in addition to the typical american newsstand publications, we carried many, many (often obscure) domestic and international newspapers and magazines. baltimore wasn’t ready for a shop like harbor news, unfortunately, and it went under.

but it was during my long shifts running the floor of the shop by myself that i first became acquainted with amelia’s magazine. it was a beautiful printed magazine from london that came out twice a year for five years. the covers varied from sparkly, metallic, laser-cut, encrusted with swarovski crystals, scratch n’ sniff - what have you, and the inside was a sensory overload of fashion, illustration, photography, music, and interesting articles. the magazine is no longer in print (although a few collectible back issues can be purchased here), but continues to thrive online at ameliasmagazine.com.

last year, amelia gregory produced her first book, amelia’s anthology of illustration, and this year we await the release of amelia’s compendium of fashion illustration. i am one of thirty illustrators to be featured in the book, which is anticipated to come out in time for the holidays. you can pre-order your copy here! the book is £18 ($30) or can be purchased together with the anthology and issues 7-10 of the magazine for £50 ($80).

proszę słonia

"do as the elephants do - when they're unhappy, they just disappear." (à bout de souffle)

today, i was sitting around, contemplating elephants, and had a passing thought about polish children’s book author ludwik jerzy kern. my first elephant experience was in the form of one of his books, which was read to me when i was very small. in russian it was called listen up, elephant... and i still have the same old copy in my collection, as well as a german version, my elephant is called dominik (which has the same cover illustration as the original polish edition). the 1967 book is about the adventures of a boy named pini and his friend, a porcelain elephant.

i mention jerzy kern because as the thought of him drifted into my mind today, i absentmindedly looked him up and suddenly found that he had passed away yesterday, in krakow, at eighty-nine years old. goodbye, goodbye, and to every elephant that ever vanished: goodbye. you always seem like the last, but a new one comes ambling along when i least expect it.

wah nails

illustration for matt bramford's article in amelia's magazine about the barbican centre beauty party (part of the exhibition "future beauty: 30 years of japanese fashion") featuring wah nails, a nail art boutique in london.

also, it looks like i am one of the thirty illustrators who will be showcased in amelia's compendium of fashion illustration! on tuesday morning i gave a brief skype interview about my work to amelia gregory, which will be posted online as a supplement to the book sometime in early 2011.

north, two

north, one

the first two spreads from my "north" sketchbook. more coming soon!

"elephant dream" at urban outfitters

"elephant dream" is now available at urban outfitters, printed on 12 x 12 inch stretched canvas. the wall art is available for purchase here at urban outfitters online and will be appear in stores as well! in other news, i am cozying up to the digital world by jumping on the bandwagon of iphone users and those who tweet. click here to follow me on twitter.

consolation prizes

i found quite a collection of beautiful things on my trip. arctic cloudberry liqueur and marimekko from finland, dala horses from sweden, norwegian wool. i love wonderful objects. i surround myself with friendly items and books the way i do with wonderful people. they all come through and save me in moments of sorrow and despair.

norway

we spent the night in oslo and today we drove eight hours to voss, where we are now staying in a wonderful lodge. norway is cold and hearty in a way that makes me very glad to be alive and to be here. on the way from oslo, we drove through mountains and rose to such altitudes as to see patches of snow laying about here and there. and everywhere, neat wooden houses surrounded by quietly grazing sheep.

from somewhere at sea

today we left saint petersburg behind, drove through karelia, crossed the finnish border, and reached helsinki. now i am writing from the night ferry to stockholm. tomorrow morning we will get back in our car - which is traveling with us on a lower deck of the ferry - pass through stockholm (which, like helsinki, we will examine thoroughly on the way back) and go straight to oslo. (p.s. i love helsinki - more on that in my sketchbook)

northern wabi-sabi

above: empty studio at the stieglitz st. petersburg academy of the arts; below: the cold and windy gulf of finland.

let's get out of this country

i am going away for three weeks, on my annual trip to saint petersburg. this time we will be driving up to finland, sweden, and norway, too! i bought a new, tiny sketchbook for the occasion, and even though my internet access will probably be very limited, will try to share my whereabouts through this blog.

sketchbook, fourteen

last week i finally went to see this wonderful exhibition, featuring textiles by british designer lucienne day (1917-2010) (and a few key pieces by her husband, furniture designer robin day), as well as two of her contemporaries, marian mahler and jacqueline groag.

sketchbook, thirteen

one of the last scenes from andrei tarkovsky's "solaris" and a poem by his father, arseniy tarkovsky.

who was changed and who was dead

today in the mail i received two copies of barbara comyns' who was changed and who was dead from the lovely dorothy publishing project. i had the pleasure of illustrating the cover for this intriguing novel (originally published in england in 1954), as well as dorothy's owl logo. dorothy publishing project is "dedicated to works of fiction or near fiction or about fiction, mostly by women." this high quality, paperback edition of who was changed is endearingly small, very pleasing to hold, and is available for purchase directly from the publisher here.

new prints + milk and peas

"swedish horses" is now available as a print (in two slightly different sizes) in my shop!

in other news, my dad has curiously become a musician called milk and peas.

lace - grandma's curtains or fabulous fashion?

illustration of a dress by minna for this article by stephanie ellis in amelia's magazine, as well as a couple of lace drawings. i could draw lace all day; it's so meditative.

book by its cover feature

after a long and rather exhausting day at work, i came home to see my sketchbooks showcased on julia rothman's book by its cover! this news is just the cat's pajamas and my day has certainly been salvaged. thank you, julia!

swedish horses

dealing with my desire for this blanket.

tamsin wilson

an illustration of singer/songwriter tamsin wilson, accompanying rachel clare's review of a nu-folk night at london's legendary jazz club ronnie scott's in amelia's magazine. tamsin's music is quite lovely.

animal bandido

illustration for spanish street-wear label animal bandido, for this article in amelia's magazine online.

for b.

friends, i hope you are well.

izzy lane: cozy, ethical fashion from the yorkshire dales

three fashion illustrations for amelia's compendium of fashion illustration, which will be out later this year. my ethical designer of choice is izzy lane, a tasteful, yorkshire-based knitwear company. izzy lane's mission is to save sheep that "would have been sent to slaughter for being male, missing a pregnancy, being a little lame, being too small, being too old or having imperfections such as a black spot in a white fleece" and give them a happy home. in addition to supporting the ethical treatment of animals, izzy lane keeps the british textile industry alive, utilizing victorian machinery, as well as local spinners and dyers. i hope i make it into the book!

(the top two are available as prints in my shop)

sketchbook, twelve

self portrait

for amelia's compendium of fashion illustration

independence day

on the fourth of july, we mixed margaritas, grilled steak on our balcony, and had a perfect view of the fireworks display (more)