Loosening the belt already

A few years back we decided not to travel to visit family for Christmas. I was looking forward to baking but soon realized that baking = eating and when you only have 2 adults in the house and your three different cookie recipes make 2 dozen cookies each that is a lot of eating. Once we bought our house, met our lovely neighbours and had kids I discovered that holidays now mean gifting with edible treats. I made the mistake one year of baking and then we were gifted with copious amounts of treats. There was so much we had to freeze quite a bit and save it for later. I can only be so glutinous. I have now learned to only make my favourite, Almond Roca, for gifts and a little extra left over and let everyone else supply us with baking.

Needless to say this status update struck a nerve and I had to whip up a quick illustration.

Oh the eating I have to look forward to! Watercolour & Ink.

Where, indeed

Text reads "It's a sad day when you realize all of a sudden the sun is gone, you're sitting in the dark, still in your PJ's doing homework at 5pm. Where did the day go?"

I guess I'd currently define myself as a SAHM (Stay at home mother). As many other mom's can relate to, I often can't believe it's time to make the next meal because I could swear I just made and cleaned up the last one. Before you know it, it's bedtime, then mom's wine time and then we start the next day all over again. Sidenote: Dooce used to call herself a SAHM (Shit Ass Ho Motherfucker) and you have no idea how many times, since reading that, I have nearly blurted that out when the 'what do you do' conversation comes up.

Watercolour & Ink

Albino Rain

This is a bit of a random post. I have two sketchbook spreads ready to blog about but they don't have much in common other than being from the Facebook portion of my sketchbook. I like the combination of the names in my title... Albino Rain. I think I may lock that away in the memory bank for inspiration later.

 

Sweet, sweet, Rhino lovin'. Watercolour & Ink

Second rain themed post & sketch. Watercolour & Ink

Young Love

Is there anything better than young love? I'm in my 30's with two kids but I can still remember the gut wrenching intensity of first love. When I was a teenager (back in the olden days), we didn't have cell phones or the internet, let alone texting and facebook. We just talked on the phone ENDLESSLY. Remember those days, internet peeps of the same era? Lengthy phone conversations are a lost art.

I read this person's post, who happens to be a teenager, and was flooded with memories of sneaking away and, er, holding hands at the library, ahem, cough.

Young, hipster love. Watercolour & Ink

'Tis the season to be crabby... fa la la la

There's a little tradition that was started around our house a few years ago. On December 1st we officially kick off the Christmas season by opening some small presents. These presents are specifically Christmas style gifts like an ornament or a chachki. This year my oldest daughter is finally able to help make cookies so I have plans to make a simple sugar cookie recipe and add red and green sprinkles. Once the kids are tucked in I'm going to watch my favourite holiday movie, Love Actually. This should help everyone get excited for the big day and warm our hearts a little.

Nothing can ruin Christmas for me faster than a busy shopping mall. I am trying to avoid them at all costs this year. This facebook post had me saying 'Word, brotha' out loud so of course I had to illustrate it.

Happy December 1st!

"I love Christmas but I hate shopping mall crowds" Watercolour & Ink

That Mouse is Gangsta

I've been following the adventures and struggles of someone's mouse-catching story on Facebook. It seems to have followed the average arc of soap opera-style drama.

- A discovery was made
- The matriarch was informed and a plan was hatched
- Through trial and error the perpetrator was caught and vengeance was had

In all honesty this person handled the critter spotting and catching with a lot more humour and grace than I would have. I have a real thing for bugs or critters in my house. That thing being 'nearly loose my sh*t and call hubs to take care of said problem'.

Throughout the status updates I always imagined this really tough mouse that was too smart for the average trap or was organizing the troops with distractions. This mouse was truly Gangsta.
Watercolour & Ink.

Filling up the Sketchbook

The Facebook section has dominated my sketchbook. It's been the easiest section when it comes to generating ideas. Makes sense, I suppose. There's a constant stream of new material and all I have to do is find, edit and then draw.

BFN!! Watercolour & Ink.

This is actually the Facebook post that started it all. No idea what the reason was for this person to post this message and it got me thinking and theorizing and I kept picturing a door being slammed and the sound of feet stomping up the stairs. It helps that the post was written in ALL CAPS. Yelling too, it seems.

Really wish I could have magically switched places with this person for the evening. Instead I decided to drink wine and paint. Watercolour & Ink.

I am not a fan of brussel sprouts. I have called them mini farts, so when I saw this post, I knew the brussel sprouts had to be accusing each other of letting one rip. Watercolour & Ink.

Zombies, anyone?

What mom can't relate to feeling like a zombie some days? This was a facebook post (from a mom) and I can relate. I put my own perspective on this illustration by adding two little jumping silly bean kids, so alive and raring to go in the morning. My mom-zombie (mombie, perhaps?) feeling was driven home more clearly by the recent time change.

Speaking of zombies... I am becoming obsessed. The new series The Walking Dead on AMC is my new Sunday night indulgence, now that Mad Men is over for another season. Have you seen it? Do you love it?? If you're joining my obsession, there is a great essay on this series and comparative zombie analysis on Cinesnark's blog. Enough with the vampires already, let's talk about zombies!

Watercolour and Ink... and sleep deprivation.

Washing & Brushing

I love these two observation and confession updates. The sharing of information in Facebook statuses can be cathartic, funny and TMI. The stranger the better for my illustrations.

No matter how often Larry scrubbed and dried, he was still covered in a slimy film. Watercolour & Ink.

Squeaky clean and minty fresh. Watercolour & Ink.

A big ball of stress

I know that I need to learn to chill and that I should take change in stride. My 'worst case scenario' thoughts are a coping mechanism in which I theorize if I can handle the worst possible outcome of a situation, maybe it won't happen. I think that makes me a pessimist.

Deciding to move is stressful. There's a moment or two of relief once the decision is made until the reality of ALL THE WORK that goes into the process sets in. Moving across the country in my mid twenties with my boyfriend was easier and exciting. We had so much less stuff and could pack all night long if we wanted to. Now, with 2 small kids who can't skip a meal or skip naps, moving is so much more complicated.

I created this illustration quite a while ago from someone's Facebook update. It very easily sums up my current feelings.

Stress dude is not a happy camper. He hasn't slept well in months and his T-shirt is too small. Watercolour & Ink.

Facebook + Sketchbook = Fun

There is an almost euphoric state when an illustration works. From brain to paper things click perfectly in place. These are the illustrations I like the most. They were instant ideas, an easy process and fun to do.

Does this sirloin make my hips look slender? Watercolour, Ink & Clippings.

Hopefully the peanuts didn't give the jam a hard time. Watercolour & Ink.

The virus is a bully. He should really partake in some anger management classes. Watercolour & Ink.

Facebook Inspiration

I've collected a real eclectic assortment of status updates. They vary from observances to gripes to confessions. I start the process by checking my Facebook page to see what people have been saying. I copy and paste the ones that spark some interest. When the kids are down for the evening I review my collected notes and pick a few that I think might work well. Sometimes I sketch in another book to see if my idea will work, other times I just go right into it and start painting.

A pink tracksuit. Wonder if she was on her way to somewhere special, like bingo. Watercolour and ink.

While I'm off of the Timmie's myself, I do appreciate the uniquely Canadian understanding of what a double-double is and what it means to NEED one. Watercolour and ink.

The cream and sugar are making plans.

Is complaining about the weather uniquely Canadian too? Ink.

What's on your mind?

Been plugging away on my sketchbook, feeling inspired by a new subject. Before I go into more detail I need to confess something. I am fairly addicted to Facebook. Twitter is growing on me, but Facebook is usually the first site I check during breakfast. My favourite part of checking the site has to be the status updates. They are mini journal entries, confessions, blog posts and little windows into what's going on in someone's life. I love getting a good chuckle from someone's status that is part geeky and part confessional.

I've often day dreamed about the imagery that goes along with some of the wackier updates and so I decided to make this a new section of my sketchbook. I've been collecting some of my favourite status updates and tweaking the wording on a few.

It must be... what's on your mind.

Title page begins like a Facebook conversation. Watercolour and ink.

Knights in shining armor have to work night shifts too. Janitorial work, or maybe data entry. Watercolour, Pencil Crayon and ink.

On another kind of status update, we have decided to pack up and move across the country. Nearly as across as you can get... Ontario to BC. I'm committed and determined to finishing my sketchbook and mailing it back in time. I'm going to be writing as many posts as I can in bulk and posting them using the scheduled posting feature. (Man, I love that feature.) That way I won't be MIA for months.

To say things are going to be busy around here is a massive understatement. The due date for the sketchbook is January 1st. Our house will be on the market soon so prepping and showing will take a great deal of time. We will be moving as quickly or as slowly as it takes for our house to sell. Halloween is just around the corner and Christmas is really only a few weeks away. Did I just freak you out? I just freaked myself out.