Life

 'Tis been a long time since I've last posted; life keeps moving along and somehow you're that much further down the road. Been busy raising a family, moving house, renovating said house, personal sewing projects, and some lovely freelance work that recently petered out and may or may not see the light of day (sometimes that is the way it goes, unfortunately - if it does surface I'll be sure to share it here).

I'm hoping to get back on the blogger bandwagon a bit; in the meantime, here is a sketch from a drawing day at Synonym and a finished sewing project from this summer:

  

Life Drawing: Etienne

Some life drawings of model Etienne at The Cotton Factory; 

he's a fantastic model.

The Hamilton Spectator did a nice little article on him, here.

Oom Johannes

Recently finished a short film I've been working on (off and on) over the last number of years; between story contracts, before a baby came, after the baby came, etc. 

The words of the band Bright Eyes' song 'First Day of My Life' have echoed throughout this process: 

'Yeah these things take forever/ I especially am slow/...but I'd rather be working for a paycheque/ than trying to win the lottery.' 

So the film is finished, and I hope it speaks to your heart. It's been a good film to work on. 

You can watch it on Vimeo here.

Life Drawing @The Cotton Factory

Nice to get back into things.

tree roots

 

Tree roots along the Welland river

King Street & Cafe Oranje

 

Back yard

 The back yard, in a new year

sketchbook panoply

 

Around the house in The Hammer, Covid Era. 

A sketch (of me, haha, by my husband in the top leftish corner), and a sketch of him at bottom right, as well as some drawings of pedestrians and a drug deal around Gore Park.

Sketches of Jeff, the cat, the cactus, and a snake and crayfish we saw on a Kilarney camping trip.

My old stomping grounds, The Sitting Spot

Style sample I (finally) made into a diarama, 

harking back from the Dog Walker music video 

I made for Toronto band The Most Loyal. 

It's more of a challenge carving out time for 

these sorts of things inbetween the commercial work, 

but it's satisfying to finally give them a home.

Happily sitting in the office-studio.

One more card, a la The Darth.

 

An Assortment of Cards

 An assortment of recent cards for nephews, nieces, in-laws, and my love:

the home studio

For the first time in my life I have a room designated particularly for studio use. This is quite a blessing, particularly in an era of working from home, and it was a fun little project to pull together over the summer. 

My husband is quite handy and laid down the wood floor as well as constructed the built-in bookcase, we picked up the cupboards (repurposed kitchen units) off Kijiji - miraculously got them all to fit in the station wagon - and the walnut countertop was a sale find. 

The room was an addition at some point to the original house, so it was a delightful surprise to discover the brick (plus a defunct window, covered over) underneath one wall. 

Some pics below:

A year in review

2020 was quite a year; it started off rather inconspicuously in Ottawa but soon included the likes of meeting my husband in March just before Covid hit, half-way Belleville dates, being laid off due to said Covid and heading back to Niagara, dating, getting engaged, planning a wedding and getting married during a pandemic, and settling into a new home in Hamilton with this incredible man and kindred spirit.

In a year that has seen much turmoil and upheaval, I have also seen the goodness of God in the land of the living. The boundaries have fallen in pleasant places indeed.

Covid-Era Council Meetings

EasyLocates Web Illustrations

Some website illustrations I did a few months ago for EasyLocates, 

software that helps track locates for digging operations. 

The site in all its glory can be found here: EasyLocates | Streamline Your Locates

A selection of birthday cards for the nephews

For Josh

For Lucas

For Elliot

hay bales!

view from The Sitting Spot

Lee Pace

Thankfully this has never happened to me.