posted: March 30, 2009

Ryan and I moved into our first house just over a year ago, and bit by tiny bit, the house is beginning to feel like ours.  The whole thing is a death trap for children, as all of the walls and banisters had been taken out, and the only doors inside the house lead to the bathroom or the basement - so finding a space for me to work in has been challenging.
There's an area on the second floor that I've made into a studio by walling it off with three large open bookcases from IKEA.  It's good, just enough space - for now.  Last week, with spring slowly starting, I had a little flip out and put a day aside to paint the studio... As you can see in the picture on the far left, the colour was a dark greenish brown - which is the colour that the ENTIRE house was painted in when we bought it.  Kind of felt like I was working in a cave, so this is such a relief.  You may ask yourself why this would take me so long - well I've been busy!  But it feels good to have things seem fresh and like mine - just wish I could do it all in one chunk.
What I want to do is to build an insulated modern looking shed to use as a studio in the backyard... That would be ideal, to be at home and not at the same time. 

posted: March 30, 2009

So exciting - the F&G's for the book I've illustrated about Josef Albers arrived today!  It was written by Natasha Wing, published by Henry Holt and will be out in September. 

posted: March 3, 2009

I love days like today - I was running errands, and on my way past a used bookstore, saw this beautiful copy of a 1927 Eaton's catalogue... It was only $10, so was meant to be mine. I don't make extreme efforts to acquire things like this, but I can't resist them when I trip across them.  Look at that cover!
There's a picture of the catalogue in the window before I asked the guy behind the counter to bring it down - it's an amazing source of reference and - more than that - I like the way that things are written, the titles and captions, the prices, the written note just inside the cover.  Eaton's was an amazing department store that you could order ANYTHING from; the latest fashions, horse feed, shotguns and at one time I'm fairly certain you could order a house.
I've bought single pages from old magazines as well, and this is one (Pratt & Lambert Varnish ad) that I have hanging in my studio that is one of my favourites.