27. July 2013

Oooh....who are the people in your neighborhood?
"They're the people that you meet, when you're walking down the street.  They're the people that you meet each day!"  I have been singing this in my head all morning working on this print.  Actually, I sing that song a lot to myself since living in a small town, you really do see the same people every day.  The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker...you know how it goes.
So here is a print in celebration to all of them!

26. July 2013

Inspiration, Motivation, all the "tion"s come in waves. Yesterday I saved my morning coffee for the afternoon and got a late day motivational boost that had great results, for example. This morning I am motivated to clean up the house, which I have to take advantage of while it lasts! Last week I was last minute motivated to enter the Crickets competition on Spoonflower, and my little guys made it into the top 10! Woohoo! And that also means they are now for sale :)

25. July 2013

First of all, how is it already the end of July?  I think summers always feel shorter to me here in Germany because they have different summer vacations - this is the first week of Diemo's summer break!  So while I'm feeling like the summer is just getting started, really its well underway.


So here's to summer road trips, and also plane and train trips.  Next week we are off to Berlin which, for us, means summer is really in full swing!

22. July 2013

Today is the deadline.  Of a lifetime.  Lilla Roger's Global Talent Search, round 1.  Like many artists I'm sure, the prize (which is among other awesome licensing deals, a 2 year contract with Lilla Roger's studio) is the dream of a lifetime!  Lilla's artists are so unique, talented and inspiring.  I had so much fun with the round 1 assignment, a journal cover with a playground theme.  Just the assignment in itself left me so motivated and inspired.  As Lilla says "People buy your joy" and joy was definitely the place this cover was designed from :)

Fingers crossed for the shortlist!

19. July 2013

Yipee!  My design "Ponyhof" made it into the top 10 of Spoonflower's horses challenge :)  The best part is to see the artwork printed on fabric.  The next best part will be ordering some!  You can order some too, here.


18. July 2013

While I am working away over here, mid-heatwave, with a wobbly 6-month-old in my lap, trying to perfect my entry for Lilla Roger's Global Talent Search, my line of artwork for Keka Case has been lauched.  Yahoo!  Check them out :)

17. July 2013

What a great time we had in Copenhagen for the long weekend!  I got refreshed, refuled and inspired!  Unfortunately, most of the inspiration hasn't made it to the paper yet so here is a little something else and unrelated for you -- crickets :)

11. July 2013

Getting ready to go to Copenhagen tomorrow :)  I am so looking forward to it.  I am supposed to be packing, finishing up some client work, doing laundry, blah blah blah, but I am just so into adding photos of my favorite subjects into my illustrations that I am totally distracted!


I am having way too much fun with this and keep thinking of ideas for more...

10. July 2013

A special blog post as today I am remebering the birthday of my best friend, who left this earth too soon.  She lived her life in a way I have always aspired to - by never thinking any dream was too big to go after and always reaching for the next possible goal.

There are people out there who say its better to keep what you love to do a hobby and not try to do it professionally because of the chance you will get sick of it.  Obviously this person has no idea what they are talking about.  I consider it such a priveledge to be able to take joy in my work, improve my skill, get lost in time in a world of drawing and have that be my profession.  

Sure, there was a time when I also considering if I should keep my love just a hobby.  Mostly because I was scared to fail.  Thank you Lauren, for being such a role model and that even though you never were able to give me this advice with your words, you did with how you lived every second of your life.  Happy Birthday xoxo

9. July 2013

In gearing up for the huge-mongousest contest of a lifetime (aka Lilla Roger's Global Talent Search) I've found its been great entering other contests even if it feels like the topic might not be my thing.  For example, I wanted to enter this week's Spoonflower contest but I saw the theme was horses which did not get me excited and I thought about passing.  But then I realized this was exactly what I needed.  Its possible to do horses that are cute, forward, and original and not just, well, horsey.


So I made horses that are really in my style.  Its so fun to have come up with something that is so me, but a topic I never would have picked voluntarily.  And to have an end result that I am happy with is just icing on the cake!

8. July 2013

In the spring, I thought it was a nice idea to put out stale pieces of bread on the balcony table.  The little chickadees were loving it and stopping by every morning to see if anything was out there.  Sounds cute, right?  Well, now that the days are getting warmer, I leave the door from the kitchen to the balcony open most days to let in the bright sunlight.  But when I leave the kitchen and come back 10 or so minutes later, these gutsy little birds have invited themselves into my house and are poking around under the table, on the countertops, and wherever else they please, looking for a crumb or two.


Even this doesn't sound horrible.  I mean, they're chickadees, right?  Its not like they're crows or seagulls or something.  But I will tell you when the line was crossed.  When I went to wipe down the kitchen table and found little bird poops dotting the table.  They pushed their invitation too far...

4. July 2013

Happy 4th of July to all my fellow Americans!  (Insert fireworks here)  Here is how I will be celebrating in my heart tonight - imagining I am in Seattle on Lake Washington floating along on a boat with family and friends, having a little sing-a-long (where I would not be singing, to spare everyone's ears) and watching the fireworks... but while I am not doing that, I did just get from buying train tickets to go to Copenhagen for my friend's upcoming birthday so that's also exciting :)

Is this what blogs are for?  Rambling?



Anyhow, in Tigerprint's competition for patterned font I submitted a design I really loved and its made the shortlist!  Fingers crossed that it goes even farther :)  I feel quite honored to be on the shortlist, there are so many beautiful designs.

3. July 2013

Its been a long time since I've had a blog on my website, but then I realized that when I'm on someone else's site, the blog is my favorite part :)  So I'm starting over with a clean slate, fresh blog, new illustration, and still haven't even made my cup of coffee yet!  (Okay, the illustration is from yesterday.  I'm not that good.)


Sometimes when life gets crazy, the house needs cleaning, the kids need entertaining, and I need to remind myself to prioritize my work because its my job, the things I want to do like entering competitions like the ones from Spoonflower don't make it onto the to-do list.  But this week I loved the theme so much that I couldn't keep my pen still :)  Hope you like what I came up with for the Picnic theme!