squirrels + magpies + owls

I did these drawings last winter when I was in a certain European country for a couple weeks. They didn't actually use any of what I worked on while I was there, but they seemed pretty happy with it at the time. I did these with marker on this totally bizarre round paper that they had. I could've used photoshop, but they only had old crusty PC's (which I hate) and the keyboards are different in Europe (like the z and c keys are switched I think?? or something?) and all the keyboard short cuts were different too, and photoshop is just no good without shortcuts. So I went for markers and paper. Also, I don't really know how to use markers! Obviously!





Sometimes you do a drawing and look back on it later and think "oh yuck", and I don't quite feel "oh yuck" about these...they're slightly above yuck. I may decide that they are yuck later but I'm strapped for blog content right now. I fear that I will soon be posting pictures of my feet or something.




Anyway, they were fun to do. It was really liberating to just hang out and drink free cappuccinos from the fancy espresso machine in the office (Alpenmilch! Yum!) and mess around with markers, and then go eat a pizza and watch Pippi Longstocking on TV.





I promise not to lame out with only one post like I did last week. I had been doing so good posting twice weekly!

And last post was my 100th! I forgot to mention it at the time, but it kind of fills you with a feeling of accomplishment...even if it took over two years to make it to 100 and most posts are just a bunch of my gobbledy gook writing anyway.

grampa's christmas cards + winter break

I don't think I've ever mentioned this before, but my grandfather on my dad's side was an artist. He worked for a company called Josten's that made class rings and diplomas and such in Owatanna, Minnesota, for several years. Like any good artist, he made a new Christmas card every year (a tradition that I have yet to catch on to...maybe when I have some dogs or babies to show off I'll get into it). Last November when I was in San Francisco for APE my uncle handed me a big, fat stack of those Christmas cards. It seems that the responsibility of cataloging and sorting through and sharing-with-the-rest-of-the-world of grampa's work has come to rest on my shoulders, so here's a few cards that I liked the best. It's their internet premiere, and probably the first time anyone besides family has seen them in many, many years...



There's more of these guys on my flickr. I finally broke down and got myself a flickr pro (200 images is really not that many). Merry X-mas to me!


I never knew grampa that well as he died when I was only seven, and he wasn't around much before that. I do remember him sleeping on the couch in our living room with the TV on and wondering if he would wake up if I changed the channel to cartoons...


What do you think? Did I inherit any of my skillz from this guy?



Also, I'm taking a Winter Break from my blogging responsibilities. Don't be sad, I'll be back after Christmas! I've just got so much seasonal stuff to do: bake vegan goodies, watch like 1000 hours of TV, and go to Bahooka for my yearly Hawaiian Christmas fix. I know Christmas + Hawaii probably doesn't make sense to you, but if you go to Bahooka and check it out this time of year you won't regret it. Me and Sean have made it a holiday tradition. We're going to take our dogs or babies there with us when we have some! I'm spending Christmas by the seaside this year in my hometown, and although it is without fail a green Christmas every year, we may actually have rain, which sounds just utterly cozy to me. Hopefully when I return from my break I'll be recharged and fat and rested and ready to take on some smashing New Year's parties.

Here's wishing you a Merry Christmas! See you later!