DOARD - Morning Brew

Envenename, cafe amargo.

DOARD - La Banda-da

I'm not alone. I have my Banda. I have my Bandada.

Doodle of a Ramdon Day - Pajarito

No, people. I can't commit to 'A Doodle a Day' so I will have my 'Doodle of a Ramdon Day' that from now on will be my 'DOARD.' Here's the first one: 'Salte de mi Cabeza, Pajarito?'


Puedes salirte de mi cabeza, pajarito?
Porque eres tan obstinado?
Determinado y furioso me rindes
y no quiero lucharte
porque se te ve tan pequenhito
que no junto valor para echarte.

Y no se de donde te me abestias
y te haces pajarraco grandote
Que no quiero luchar.
Salte de mi cabeza, pajarito.

Earthy Talk

Earth's Day illo.

Thank you

Design for a Thank you card. I'm starting to think that I'm obsessed with Kitties. Mmmm....

Emily Chen's Awesome T-shirts

Emily Chen's has a T-shirt giveaway. You can read more about it here. Good luck! Her illustration rocks!

Tweet Clouds

Do you Tweet? I got this tweet cloud of my TweetStats using Wordle. You should try it. FUN.

More Bday Monsters

It's a tradition at the house to have a Very Special Cake for each of the boys' birthdays ever since their very first bd. Even if we had no Party at all and only sang 'Happy BD' the special cake couldn't be missed.

So... here are the sketches, illos and pics for the BD Party # 5 of my oldest. BD was last February and since then have had no time to post. Until now.

As I always do, I started designing the characters for the invitation. Then I laid out the card and continued with the design of cake. Christy from Vanlatte Custom Cakes in Mesa helped me again.

PLUG - If you ever need a baker that absolutely rocks in the Valley, you have to call her. She also helped me sculpting the cake # 3 for my youngest that I posted a year or so back. You can see those posts here and here.

Hope you enjoy them!

Toys, toys, toys

I've collected toys since I was a little girl. Here are some that live around my studio. Some came with me all the way from Peru. Some I got from my trips. Some I stole from my boys. *nodding*


Vintage doll from a swap meat in Sienna, Italia. El Subcomandante Marcos y La Ramona riding on a horse. I fell in love with this dolls in Chiapas. You can find the story behind Marcos and La Ramona here. Extremely interesting. Some vintage children's books, some new.


All Italian imports. Tin box from Rome. Riding lady bug from Assisi, Italia. The illustration behind done in 30 minutes in a collage experiment two weeks before leaving for the Boot.


My most precious toy. Japanese bought in Lima. The one Christmas present that I got to pick. I was 12. The strawberry opens up and is a little RV with kitchen, bathroom, bunk beds, living area. Whomever designed it is a genius!


Dia de los Muertos find from... Target. Huaco from Peru. Crow etching from a Hispanic artist from the Central CA area. Awesome guy. Books from Mexico and Peru. Book 'Los Independientes' published some of my grandfather's pieces.


Mousey that my maternal grandmother got me when I was 2. Habba toy, the first toy of my first son. I kept it :P The little bike I can't remember where or how I got but it takes me everywhere.


'Diary of Friday Kahlo,' I got that book in my first trip to NY on 1996. A-a-a-a-a-h. Huaco from Peru. Rag dolls show a birth - absolutely gorgeous. Yo-yo from Barcelona.


Mafalda is my absolute favorite comic strip. I have them all. I got the wooden suitcase from my mom's dad. I wrapped it with newspaper comic strips from Mafalda. Inside I keep all of my pictures from Peru - since I was born. I keep it closed so I don't get wistful.


My closet had to have some toys, too. Those were also my boys' but I stole them. They are European but can't remember from where exactly. Grandma got them for them... or me.


My Comicons to show my love for design and minimalism. Awesome Design. The guy on the left has two heads, one on each end. The other side is demonic :)


The 3D versions of my illos for the bday cakes. I will continue collecting them from now on.


Llama is a puppet. The first toy I got for my son... 4 years before meeting his dad. Yeti was a Xstmas present from my baby bro. All handmade the old-fashioned way. Sheep - the very FIRST toy I got in this country. It was $20 and boy I needed that money for food at that time. No regrets. The sheep uses her own wool to knit her blankie. Mmmm...


Mousey's corner in one of my bookshelves.


My loved Apron. My daddy got it for me in Colca, Arequipa in Peru. I use it everyday I do mixed media or oils. Habba toy. It lived above my son's crib until I took it. Aren't Germans amazing designers? Habba IS my favorite toy company. If you haven't heard from them, look them up. They have toys, furniture and so much more. INCREDIBLE design!

IF - Fleeting Moment

Love gives you a fleeting, sweet feeling of new start. Love makes you bubbly, alive, 17 again.

Artsy Mood

My soul is back.

Bunny Love

After many suns, moons and changing moods, I'm finally posting. A happy illustration inspired by Easter, the comeback of love, 3 shots of Jager and 2 Stellas.

They were a few months of a severe artistic drought. Mostly due to dull graphic design work, the economy and procastination. But I had a few 'revelations' and I'm BACK.

Lots of things have happened. I have also opened my Flickr account that should lift a big weight of Blogger's shoulders.

Hope you enjoy my 'Bunny Love' that some people will probably call 'Love Bunny.' I have more already sketched and ready to go.

AFTER POST: Mmmm... still trying to figure out the whole flicker showing thingy. Will figure it out for the next one.

Ramdon Thoughts - Saint Patty's Day

Reasons to celebrate Saint Patty's Day:

1. You are Irish
2. You would like to be Irish
3. An excuse to go out and celebrate on a Tuesday
4. You are a devoted Catholic and celebrate every Saint's Day
5. You started dating Hubby.

Happy Anniversary!!

Way too Long

I'm sorry for the disappearance. I've been working in lots of design projects in the last few months. Very busy.

Exciting news are that I just got back from Peru. It was 14 years since I got some time with my girls from high school, college and next door. I wouldn't have asked for more. I traveled single and stayed at lots of different homes - all of my friends'. I'm renovated and rejuvenated. Ready for months of hard work.

A few pics for you all. Bear Hug!

Alive and Kicking

Hola chicos y chicas. Really busy days lately. I'm excited about the projects I'm working on, though. Nothing to post right now.

Voting Location

Finding your place to vote is easy. Just follow the link below and enter your address, the rest is magic: http://www.voteforchange.com/
See you at the polls!

Claudine Hellmuth's Workshop - Pieces

Finally I got some time to upload the 4 pieces that I worked on at the Workshop in Sedona with Claudine Hellmuth. Happy little pieces. I hope you enjoy them.
:*

The Magic Bluebells - Out in November

I got the news today - "The Magic Bluebells" will be out some days before Thanksgiving. So you can add it to your Christmas list!! If you are interested in getting a copy, drop me a line.

A couple of illustrations from the Chapter Book about Vicki and Kate. Enjoy!

You have the Right to Vote - Vote!

I have never been interested in politics but the current economic crisis demands a call for action.

We all need to be part of the change so Get Involved! This November 4th go and vote and vote for change. We have had enough of the same politics for the last catastrophic 8 years.

Let's hope that the new President recovers the image of the US as a naive, too positive country full of people that believe "anything can come true". The world doesn't see us that way these days. Not since we went to war.

No illustration to accompany my post. Just a call for change and action. Vote wisely and vote for change! We all need it.

Twitter Twitter

I added myself to Twitter!! You can see it on the sidebar with the cute bubbles - a great widget by Kadazuro. Que maestro de las teclas! Y vive en Costa Rica!

Sedona's Workshop with Claudine

So I'm taking some time away from design work and posting about Claudine's workshop last weekend. I should have been working, though.

It was at The Barn at the Sedona Arts Center - a very old building that I thought would collapse. It didn't. In fact, it was a very sound building!

First day was a crashed course in color theory and composition. Next 3 days was all about tricks and techniques. We even played with wax which I had never used in my pieces.

Some pics:

The sign.

Is this going to work?

Debbi hard at work.

Lori Garver - now also painting. She is a writer.

Table One - Tina rubbing paper. We rubbed a lot of paper last weekend.

Table One - Tina from Monterey and Kirsten from Tucson. People from lots of places attended the workshop. We even had a gal from Switzerland - although she lived in Mill Valley when she signed up.

Golden promo shot.

Table One - Tina, Kirsten, Claudine, Debbi and I.

Table One got Claudine a present - "Table One Rocks!" All very much Claudine's style.

Leaving for Claudine's Workshop

Now the next big workshop, Claudine Hellmuth at Sedona Arts Center. Debbi and I are driving up to Sedona tomorrow after lunch. God helps us!

Hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures. With so many design deadlines, I can't have a full day worth of painting. In Sedona, I'll have 4. What a luxury!

Pat Cummings last Friday and Saturday

Pat Cummings was in Scottsdale last weekend. Finally! She is an engaging speaker, witty woman and very knowledgeable teacher in her field - Children's Illustration.

Friday we had a Round Table with Authors and Author-Illustrators.
Saturday the much awaited Illustrators' Intensive.

Awesome experience! We shared the room with new people - which was great. We love getting new active Illustrators in the Chapter. Very fun weekend.

Since pictures are worth a thousand words, here you go my friends.

IF - Packed

Blankie and all here I go!

Feliz Cumpleanhos, Baby - From Illo to Fondant

Check out what this girl does for us. I send the sketches and illustrations and she makes them in fondant. She's an artist!
- Color illustration below