The drawings I have been making lately are inspired by the motion of the wind, more specifically the way it takes scarves, my hair, leaves, etc. and whips them around my face. Hats and hoods obstruct my peripheral vision. Although it is colder here, this is a very walkable city and I find myself spending more hours outside. The things I saw when visiting as a tourist were only part of the picture. I am enjoying exploring and have been having fun playing with different ways of art making. The above were made with the dregs of my morning coffee and colored pencil.

More experiments with mark making and motion.

The recent polar vortex resulted in some burst pipes around here. Phase two of the renovation has begun a bit sooner than planned due to water damage. My first winter in Canada has been a doozy!

The cold weather makes me want to stay inside, play with art supplies and drink tea.

Sometimes tea = art supplies.

I’ve been drawing a lot of faces lately, usually encircled in swirls. If you happen to be in Kingston this evening, stop by Modern Fuel for the opening of Home is Where the Art Is, Annual Members’ Show & Sale.  When I saw the title of the show, I immediately wanted to submit some of my recent drawings. I’m so glad I did!  The above and a couple of my other drawings are in the show.  I stopped by the gallery yesterday and saw so much amazing, inspiring work! The show runs from Dec 6 to Dec 21.

Our move has made life extra busy this year! There have been so many new things to get excited about. I have met so many wonderful people! I have, however, neglected my blog. As a matter of fact, I’ve taken a break from posting to most social media. Sure, I still check facebook, wish people Happy Birthday and “like” pictures of cats, but for the most part, I have resisted posting all the day to day details of our move and the renovation of our new-old house.  The above photo will give an idea of how deep into it we got. Today I am happy to report that phase one of the renovation is done! Much appreciation for our fabulous contractor and crew. We are now in the home-stretch of unpacking. My studio is almost set up. I’ve resumed my daily art making practice and that feels great! I’ll have more news on that front very soon…

My sweetheart and I are apart this Valentine’s Day but, thankfully, we are in the home stretch of our year in two cities!

I was drawing a map of Guadalajara the other day, for no particular reason, and discovered a bird walking in the streets. Do you see it?

He reminds me of a fella who took a long walk on the beach with me in Puerto Vallarta.

I checked google maps and, sure enough, there are more streets that look like tail feathers. This can’t be a coincidence! Is it my imagination or were the city planners having some fun? I added the “tail” streets to my sketch and colored the map to highlight the bird, a creature I’ve named Birdalajara.

The areas in green are actual parks, the rest of the colors were inspired by the Mexican ceramics and tiles that I love so much.

I was just finishing up this map when I received an email  announcing this week’s Illustration Friday prompt, ocean. Perfecto!

It’s become a family tradition to ring in the new year in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. One of the many things that we love to do while there is go out on a boat and explore. The orange lines on this map show the approximate paths of some of the trips we’ve taken. Over the years we’ve gone whale watching, snorkling, bird watching and have seen manta rays the size of a bed sheet.  This year, we took a night time boat trip. There is something so exciting about being out on the water in the dark under a sky full of sparkly stars. I can’t wait to do it again! Feliz Ano Nuevo!

This week’s prompt for Illustration Friday is Snow. We haven’t had much snow around here, so I was happy to notice some flurries on my blog. Wishing you and your families peace, love and good health in the new year!

I’ve always been someone who loves to see and hear the crash of ocean waves, but the relaxing ripples of Lake Ontario have completely enchanted me. Last night a full moon made the water especially sparkly. Hard to believe that it could be frozen solid in six months!

Here are more a couple more looks at our Weekword, water:

Jen at Timballoo
Emma at the Gift Shed

I choose Jen to do the honors and pick our next word. Visit Timballoo if you’d like to join in!

It is entirely appropriate that I begin this post with the Time Fly. This charming creature was sent to me by dear friend, Shelley Noble, and is the first piece of personal mail that I have received at my new Canadian address! Time Flies are featured in her fabulous, hand made, stop motion, animation movie, Halfland. They control the speed of time, and let me tell you, around here it has been moving way to quickly! I am late with this week’s weekword post! The Time Fly arrived in the nick of time!

Last week our word was Summer, posted by the lovely Emma at the Gift Shed.

Hurry and get yourself a copy of the Spring/Summer issue of SewStylish Magazine before they are all gone! I thoroughly enjoyed creating a map (of sorts) for the article, Sewing without a Map. (click to see the full illo) I found this article extremely helpful, especially for following vintage patterns or for those times when you might want to deconstruct a favorite but worn out dress and remake make it anew. The magazine is packed with lots of other fun sewing projects and tips too!

I hope you’ve been enjoying summer so far. I spent the first part of the season packing, packing, packing and moving.

We’ve all had some adjusting to do.

I will be spending the rest of the summer relaxing/recuperating, exploring and setting up the new nest.

I’ve been tapped to post the next weekword! Let’s see what you can do with the word water. If you’d like to join,  just leave a comment here and I will list your entry on my post this Friday!

This loaf had two holes shot straight through from start to finish. No good for sandwiches, but fabulous for toast! It also inspired a bit of fun for this week’s weekword, glimpse.

While I am in the kitchen enjoying toast with butter and honey, let me give you a glimpse of what is in my cupboards.

Packing up the kitchen will be the most difficult part of moving for me. Not just physically (so much breakable stuff!), but emotionally. We cook and bake a lot in this family. The kitchen is where most of our good memories are made.

For quite a while we enjoyed the “wallpaper archeology project”.  A few years ago I removed some cabinets and discovered layers of vintage wallpaper and paint that, to my eye, were gorgeous. Of course, when it was time to put the house on the market, the wall had to be “fixed” (harumph). But it was a fun glimpse into the past while it lasted!

We are going to have to search high and low for a kitchen in Kingston that can live up to our memories of this one.

Alright, that’s enough kitchen affection for one day, it’s back to packing for me! Head over to Heather’s lovely blog to get a glimpse of what others have posted!

5 Comments on Holy toast!, last added: 5/14/2012

I chose the word sloth for the Weekword prompt this week after finishing my last day at work before our move. I thought I’d be writing about a very lazy week in which I took it easy, ate lunches out with friends, played cards and read novels. Instead, the week filled up with surprises, mostly pleasant, but requiring reams of paperwork and errands. Aw well, I am not a very good sloth anyway!

I recently completed illustrations for a fabulous new novel that takes place in the Amazon rainforest. The book, The Understory was written by Elizabeth Leiknes and will be published this June. I had the great pleasure of creating the cover illustration as well as  little rainforest dingbats that were used to separate the sections and decorate the chapter heads. The first step, of course, was to read the book.  It was amazing! But don’t take my word for it, check out the reviews on Goodreads. It was a lot of fun researching the plants and animals of the rainforest, especially the adorable sloth! Sloth faces have such personality. Above is a color version.

In the book, a little b/w sloth swings from the letter U in the word Sunday.

Take a look at the slothful fun others have had this week:
Sally at Sow and Sew
Jen at Timballoo
Emma at the Gift Shed
Katy at Misericordia

It’s nice to be back, thanks for the warm welcome! Now who’s up next? (tapping chin with finger)

Ok, maybe this is the real reason we are moving to Canada ;)

After a long hiatus, I am jumping back into the weekword fun! Last week Sally chose the word travel. I will be doing a lot of traveling and exploring in the next year. Does anyone have any suggestions for interesting stops along the route from Maryland to Ontario?

I’ve been tapped to choose the next word. Rainforests have been coming up in conversation quite a bit in the last month. One of my favorite rainforest creatures is the slow moving sloth. Let’s see what your creative minds will come up with for the word sloth!

If you would like to join in the fun, please leave me a comment and make a post about the word sloth by Friday. I will post a list of participants along with my own slothful post.

We have begun our big move to Canada! This move will take place in stages over the next year. For a while we will have two homes, an apartment in Kingston, Ontario and a house in Baltimore, Maryland.

The view from each is so very different.

We celebrated Pi Day with white pizza with mozzarella, ricotta garlic and rosemary…

Mad Housewife wine courtesy of Miss Brittany, bless her heart…

and a very lemony meringue pie. Fun.

Happy Presidents Day to our friends in the US and happy Family Day to our Canadian friends!

Time flies.

Ten years ago at Rash Field, Baltimore.

Last week in Kingston, Ontario. I wish I had taken more pictures, but we were having so much fun flying around the rink!

This week the prompt at Illustration Friday is fuel. Coffee is the fuel of choice around here.

My barista-husband buys green beans from Sweet Maria’s and roasts them in the oven. Yum.

About four years ago I bought him a little coffee plant. This year it produced its first berries!  I was told that in five years we’d have enough beans for one cup o’ joe. I can’t wait!

who loves dahlias.

I love Philly. One of my favorite spots there (or anywhere for that matter) is the Magic Garden. Walking through is a jaw-dropping experience….literally.  I saw many people walking around with their mouths open! My first impulse is to say that words cannot describe it. However,  if you click here you will get the full, fascinating story of mosaicist Isaiah Zagar and how he created this wonderland as well as many other murals and community projects in the South Street area.

When I told a friend that I had been to the Magic Garden she replied, “people take pictures there don’t they?” That was certainly my impulse, but I take pictures everywhere. I think with something this complex and awesome you almost have to narrow your field of view from time to time. I recommend that you go and just wander around, take some pictures if you want to, then find a place to sit, put away your camera and immerse yourself in it.

These girls, um… I mean, Men in Black are promoting the fabulous new novel; The Atomic Weight of Secrets (Or the Arrival of the Mysterious Men in Black). The novel is the first in a trilogy written by dear friend Eden Unger Bowditch. It’s primarily for tweens, but I loved it too. Check out the fun website, then get yourself a copy!