I Was In My Mommy's Tummy

I'm so excited to finally be able to show off some artwork from the children's book, I Was In My Mommy's Tummy! Lee Mes, the author, and I have been working on it for the past year. And we're both very happy with how it all turned out.

It all started when Lee contacted me back in January 2010. She had written a children's book that she planned to self publish, and she asked me to illustrate it. We had a couple of false starts with the spread designs, but in the end it came together with just the right amount of scrap book and photo album details.

I'll be doing a series of blog posts about some of the artwork and spreads. I decided to include some of the sketches, to show a little of my process.

Above is the sketch of the expectant mother. And bellow is the final of the spread. We liked how this one turned out so much, we reused it on the cover.

I'll post another spread soon! You can get your copy of the beautiful, hard covered book here.

Odds And Ends

Here's a logo I made for an ice cream & sorbet company based in Texas, Wanderlust! I only wish I could have sampled their delicious looking treats.

Here's the business card design I whipped up for my good friend and excellent musician, Shawn Clarke.
And lastly, a quick image I put together from some existing bits and pieces of my illustrations. It's for an upcoming seed bomb party. We'll have wild flowers growing all over Toronto this summer.

Local Government Week Poster

I was thrilled to have been contacted by Mark Haak, art director at Swerve Design, to illustrate and design the 2011 Local Government Week poster! We tried to include as many Municipal Government services as possible.

This poster will be displayed in a bunch of municipal buildings throughout Ontario, so keep an eye out in library's, elementary schools and high schools!

Feathertale Review Illustration

Hey y'all! So the Feathertale Review, issue 8, came out last week. I contributed artwork for a very dark story about child abuse at the hands of the boy's father. The part of the story I illustrated took place on a ship heading to New York.

Fig & Grape Shake

I recently learned about a great illustrator website called They Draw & Cook (via a favorite blog of mine, Creature Comforts). There's so many great looking illustrated recipes! It's completely addictive to flip through them.

I made this Fig & Grape Shake illustration for their year of the fig contest. I wanted it to look bursting with fresh, pretty fruit. And the turquoise, reds and greens colour pallet is always a favorite of mine.

Fingers crossed!

*UPDATE* Wooo! Just found out I won 3rd place in the fresh fig category!

Midwives Editorial Illustration

I had the pleasure of working with art editor, Carrie Bremner, to create an illustration for Midwives Magazine. You can read the digital version here.

It was fun to illustrate a man for a change! I often illustrate women and children ... and houses. But I'd hate to eliminate men from my portfolio.

This piece is about letting father-to-be sleep over at the hospital, so they wont miss the birth of their night baby.

Original Framed Illustrations

Arctic Synchronized Swim, 17" x 14.5"

Fermina Daza's Sunroom, 19.5" x 14.5"

Gardener, 9" x 12"

I'm really not very good at photographing my framed illustrations. They are all under glass, and I find it very tricky to get a shot without a glare from a light or window. Luckily for me, Jesse is very handy with a camera!

These pieces, as well as a number of prints, are available in my Etsy shop!

The Bouquet

I made a new illustration! For fun! I really like how it turned out and I have the perfect frame for it. The image gives me the impression of both the monster gathering a bouquet, as well as a sullen girl being possessed.

I tried to describe the illustration to my friend, Shawn, over the phone, (a girl, looking like a rose, sort of embraced or possessed, by a sort of monster .. or wolf ...) and I was trying to figure out a story or fable that it might symbolize ... and he told me is sounds like Twilight.

Also, I've been really enjoying listening to The Hunger Games audio book. It's so good! Another good one is The Help. I rent them from the library, but you can also download them on audible.

*UPDATE* Hanna has just informed me that this piece is much more like Beauty and the Beast! And she's so right, I can't believe I didn't catch that myself.