I'm between freelance assignments. Our taxes are filed. Penny's birthday party is done. For once I can focus on nothing but myself and the family. I've been cooking a lot, hitting the playground with Penny, playing accordion, doing lots and lots of shopping, having some fun nights out with my mom friends, going to yoga, and basically doing whatever feels good.
Penny turned one year old yesterday. I threw a robot-themed party for her and 15 of her closest baby buddies (and their moms). Making a robot cake was really hard! I have newfound respect for the bakers on Ace of Cakes. I used to think that seemed like a fun job, but now I don't want to look at another cake till Penny's second birthday. Still, it felt good to be creative in a new medium. I need to find more time for my artwork...
Here's a cool idea I stole from my nephew's nanny: I printed out some images (some off the internet, some of my own), had them laminated at the local copy shop, cut them out into squares (with rounded corners no they're not pointy!), punched a hole in each one, and put them all on a binder ring (I think that's what they're called. You can get them at office supply stores). So easy and cheap! And the best part is you can put pictures of family, friends, and pets along with other words you want to teach your baby. As you can see, Penny is obsessed with her cards and carries them all over the apartment.
Someone out there needs to buy this rad terrarium footstool I spotted on Etsy. I can't quite justify buying it myself, but it is so fantastic. Photo by Hindsvik.
Here's a few quick watercolor sketches I did while Pen was napping. National Geographic had this cool story called "Within One Cubic Foot" where they figured out how many living organisms live within one cubic foot of ocean or soil. So these are sketches of some ocean inhabitants. Nat Geo is great for drawing inspiration, I highly recommend. I think I need to invest in some better paints, though. I had to juje these up in Photoshop a bit because the paint dried a bit muddy and bland. Not enough pigment I think.
Right now Chris is out getting our car thoroughly cleaned. I don't think I mentioned that our car was stolen and recovered 3 weeks later! We are so happy to have it back, especially in good condition, but it was soooo dirty. I wish it could tell us about the crazy 3 week adventure it had. Or maybe I don't want to know. Anyway, it was a wonderful surprise to have it back. Hope you all have a peaceful week!
The shop's been a bit quiet, as is typical for January. I'm enjoying the break. Here are a few things I've got to share...The first is this cute treasury my print was featured in. I love the themes Etsy member some up with...this one is "walkies". How cute!
The second is this cool blog called Knock Off Wood . It shows you how to build the beds, shelving units, and bookcases you see in high end catalogs. The item that compelled me to blog about the site, however, is this rad play washing machine a reader built for her daughter. (scroll down) Soooo cool!
Finally, I wanted to show you One Artsy Mama's Wednesday Wishlist, which includes my toddler tee. Thanks for the love!
As promised, I'm sharing the lovely portrait Penny's grandfather painted of her, and the photo he used as reference. There's a bit of reflection from the glass, but you get the idea. My dad, who's been a successful commercial artist since the 60's, used this cool technique: he started with a streaky wash of brown tempera, then drew over that with a wax pencil, then went back in with tempera to color the hat and flower. You can click on the image to get a close-up look. I love it.
Happy New Year! Pictured above is a small commission I did last month. I usually don't have time for these, but I couldn't turn down a request for a pirate robot!
For Christmas, Chris gave me 3 prints from the fantastic Ryan Berkley, a hand-knit slouch hat (which I prefer to wear all day long, indoors and out, because it's incredibly soft, not itchy, and looks 10x better than my hair), and a melodica, which looks like a tiny piano keyboard, but you blow into it. I gave Chris a Wii! Then I gave myself a Wii Fit Plus, which I love. Except for the talking punching bag - he kinda scares me. Penny got the best present of all (in addition to her snazzy red velour sweatsuit pictured above), a portrait of herself painted by my dad. I'll post a pic in my next entry.
Now we come to the time of year when I'm just DONE with the cold, so in January I plan to distract myself with trips to the pool with Penny, lots of freelance work, working out with Wii Fit, and looking into ZipCar. Stay warm and safe in 2010, and let's all have the best year yet.
