It's that time of year again! See you in Burbank this weekend!

I will be selling the new book, prints, some jewelry and have some felties on display. I am also actively looking for work now, as my job ends in a few weeks. Boooo.

Come say hi and share some stories with me! I will be entertaining and delightful, so long as I have had my coffee first. 

Perilously close to the end of this book - last piece is tonight! Here are a few more samples of what I've been up to. This will make for 17 illustrations total for my half of the book and there's even more artwork than what I have posted here over on my facebook art page!

Home stretch...

Some more rodentia dementia for the book! Feeling very nostalgic for New England, so here are some harvest mice enjoying that special crisp air that we seem to lack here on the west coast.

And here is a tribute to my Rocket, who earned her wings SUPER HERO CAPE two weeks ago. All of my rats are special to me but Rocket was just that extra something, she had that certain sparkle about her and enthusiasm that only our most precious companions seem to have. It's been sad times. :(

Onwards with the book...

Petit-pigs anyone? This took WAY longer than I had anticipated, so I will have to hustle on the next illustration tomorrow to make up for all of the noodling on this one. I'm glad that guinea pigs got some love at least! That's quite the family those two have, though by the looks of that Himalayan, there was either a little infidelity on mom's part or some seriously recessive genes afoot.

 

Channeling even more Nate Wragg than usual, I put together another piece for the book last night. I also had a rare moment of common sense and decided to start selling prints before the book is published, in an effort to help fund the printing costs. 

This piece and a few other new ones are for sale here!

None of the rats or mouse in this piece are any of mine specifically, which is sort of a first for me. I might have one more rat piece in the book but I am afraid of being redundant. We'll see. Also, my palettes have been getting really dark lately. I wonder what that says about my inner workings these days... or maybe it's because I got called out on having a narrow value range. Booyah! ;)

So if you're new to this blog, this is probably one of the best times to start watching. The fall is my art marathon, that is, it's convention season and I am a self-proclaimed eleventh hour finisher, so basically I will be updating here often with new illustrations for my upoming animal art book and if I can find the time, some portfolio pieces as well. Some people train for marathons that you can run, I train for art ones :)

So! Another one for the book! It wouldn't have been complete if I didn't include at least one cat butt. This is Fritzy, one of my two new feline housemates, courtesy of my boyfriend. They say we take on each other's baggage as we merge our lives, right? Cats count as baggage in my humble opinion. 

I will be offering this one as a stand-alone print, I think, or maybe do some cropping and do a greeting card run? I dunno!

Took a brief detour from the book to make a piece for the “Searle in America" fundraiser auction! This piece will go live next week on ebay. Hopefully it’s an obvious homage to Searle himself and is titled "Fancy Rat" (you rat enthusiasts get the pun I hope!). It’s the first time I’ve used my pen and inks in about a decade. X_x

Lots of catching up to do on the book now. Unfortunately we suffered the loss of one of our favorite furry kids this week, that being miss Rocket. Her health was declining for weeks and she needed a lot of nursing, so it wasn't sudden like poor Porkchop's passing, but all the same we are still in a state of mourning for her and things have slowed down a bit. I think the next book illustration will be about her, considering she is still on my mind quite a bit these days. 

IT’S ON NOW! I have begun work on volume 2 of Snorffles and Meeps. The brand spanking new art book will debut at APE in October and then be available online in my shop. I still have about 8 copies of the first volume of the book, so if you haven’t snagged one, this is your last chance!

Let's get this party started with a maned wolf. Hard to believe the chubby little charcoal lumps grow up into lanky killing machines, eh?

Welcome Taiga!

Here's a piece that was backlogged for a little while! It's a gift for my dear friends Bill and Ikumi, who welcomed a healthy baby boy into the world 2 months ago! It was just tonight that they saw the special illustration book that this was part of, along with works from lots of other artists and based on their reaction, I think it was worth the wait!

Welcome, Taiga!

I'm going to be in short supply for a bit, as I am moving this month and tending to a pile of surprise freelance, but the rewards are many and I will finally have a bigger studio space. Time to stock up on caffeine and tissues for the stress-induced crying fits.

Also happy to report that I did not have to resort to violence to secure a place, after 4 months on the rental battlefield. I'm telling you, it's a war zone out there. NEVER MOVE TO THE BAY AREA EVER!!

IT'S GO TIME!

...And now the necklaces are listed in the shop too! Big thanks to everyone who's purchased something thus far, I nearly have enough to cover Smudge's upcoming surgery. Smudge thanks you as well, but not enough to share her strawberries with you. Smudge is kind of a brat.

While I am enjoying the guiltiest pleasures of having minimal work to do this weekend, I did manage to upload listings for the greeting card packs I sold at Maker Faire!  

Head over to the store to see 'em!

Each pack of 10 3.5” x 5” cards and slightly larger envelopes are blank inside and available in cat butt and rat ball flavors. I am running low on cat butts :(

If you can spare the change, pick up a pack and help me save for the next rattie surgery! Smudge is due for her tumor removal next month and every bit helps!

It was a very busy and quite tiring weekend at Maker Faire (why is standing behind a table for 2 days physically draining? GAH!) but it was also a blast! I did well for my first year vending there and I hope they'll let me set up shop again next year. I didn't have a chance to get away from the table much, but I did manage to steal away and snag a Crabby Bear plush! A joint project between Martin Hsu and Lana Crooks, he's a proud addition to my family! Thank you to every one who stopped by my table this weekend and to my booth babe, Rez, shown below :)

I will update shortly with links to the online shop, where I will be adding the necklaces and greeting cards that I made for the Faire. The cards did much better than I expected - who knew that people still sent hand written letters? I'm glad they do!

I am taking some much needed downtime for the next couple of weeks and focusing only on my job and freelance. Once I recharge the batteries I should have some new stuff from my secret project to post! No major conventions or shows on the horizon until the fall, so I will be enjoying this "sleep" and "socialization" stuff I keep hearing about.

See you soon!

A special portrait of my Dad’s border collie mix to give as a gift to him when he visits this week. I am soooo damn excited :3

This will be available as a print in my online shop this week, without the text. I love you guys, but only my Dad gets the print with the special words! ;)

This is a piece for the upcoming Clash of the Classics anthology. Check the Tiki Machine blog to read up! I decided to revisit my Little Red piece from a couple years ago and this time I gave Red a fighting chance. 

Though on second thought, it might have been funnier to give her a smashed wine bottle, since the presence of alcohol in Red's basket of goodies got the book onto the banned books list. Not even kidding you guys, this is the world we live in now. >:(

Anyhoo, back to secret projects and hopefully a couple new prints for Makers Faire! Back in a bit :)

In light of what happened in Boston on Monday, from now until May 15th  I am going to be donating 100% of online sales to the Greg Hill Foundation and to NAMI to help fund research and support for mental illness. I will also be donating 100% of my earnings from the Cherry Blossom Festival this weekend to the same causes.

For those who don’t know me well, I was born and raised on the North Shore, about 30 minutes north of Boston. I have many years of happy memories going to Red Sox games, the Commons, Quincy Market, the Theater District, the Museum of Science, the Aquarium, Chinatown, getting my very first kiss on the T, and visiting Copley Square, of course. Seeing cruelty like this anywhere in the world is inexcusable but it’s rocked me to my core to see it happening in my old home.
So go ahead! Make me weep when I have to lug tons of orders to the post office. It’s all for a good cause! Two, in fact!

 

I'll tell you, it's been a pretty exhausting couple of weeks. Burning lots of midnight oil both at work and on gallery pieces and side projects. But I am happy to say that my felted version of "Raturdae" is done and is ready to be shipped off to the gallery!

 I have to admit, the little white rat has grown on me. I hope they go to a good home, he's hard to part with!

 

The show is at Clutter Magazine's gallery in Beacon, NY and you can sign up for the preview list right here! 

I have some good news about this spring, mostly regarding conventions and upcoming shows in the Bay Area. I will be at the Cherry Blossom Festival April 20 - 21 and at Maker Faire May18 - 19 to sell prints, the last of the books and some brand new stuff! I will keep you posted on here, of course.

This might also be a  good time to direct folks to my art page on facebook; while I have no intentions of abandoning this blog, I tend to be more active and post more works in-progress on FB. Go on over and "like" the page and make sure you have it in your pages feed to see more stuff!

I told you there was a Fledgie on the way! This little blossomed budgie is for the Spring is in the Air show at Tr!ckster on the 30th! I will be at the gallery reception to hang out and snarf down refreshments. stop by and make fun of me!

Sorry for the hand in the second photo, I didn’t have time to mount the perch into the wall before I have to drop off this guy at the gallery! I will try to take a pic of him once he is installed :)

Here is the show flier, for you local folks!

Another drop-in post, so everyone knows I am still alive and trying to do things!

HI!!!

The pooch is my Dad's border collie mix, who does in fact prefer to stick a leg straight up while resting. This is the family's first dog who isn't a cocker spaniel, so I dunno, is the leg silliness a border collie thing?

I think there will be a Fledgie showing up here soon, so keep on the lookout! Lots of shows and things happening for the next month, kind of makes me wish I had an assistant or an intern who accepted pay in the form of cupcakes, hopes and dreams. X_x

Here is the completed piece for my ECCC Exclusive print, “Starbrux” - I am printing an 11'' x 17'' edition of 10 and once they’re gone, they’re gone.

The piece is lovingly dedicated to my sweetest Pork Chop, who passed away without warning on Friday night, while I was working on this, in fact. For those in the know with rats, she was fine the day before and when I found her she was very dehydrated, weak, unable to eat or drink and shaking with a lot of poryphorin. I rushed her to the ER and we determined it was either a stroke or a mild infection that suddenly went systemic, and given her state and age, she wasn't expected to improve, so I chose to let her go gently, instead of languishing in an incubator. This never, ever gets any easier.

My heart aches for her loss, but at least she’s still part of this piece ♥ And with that, I need to go snuggle my ratties and tell them that they're great.

Hello again! I am working out the last few kinks for Emerald City Comic Con next week, mainly figuring out how to pack all of my materials and displays into a single suitcase, since in the past I have always driven to cons rather than flown. I think I have most everything sorted out now... or I hope so, anyway.

So here's the skinny! I will be in Artist's Alley at table K-20. Though I am holding down the fort solo this year, I will be joined by the always awesome Brianne Drouhard on Saturday, so you can pick up some original sketch cards and chat her up then! Here's the map and stuff - this venue looks HUGE!

While I won't have the new book ready in time for ECCC, I will have a new exclusive 11x17 print ready and assuming my week doesn't go from crazy to chaos, a few original paintings of my own. Here is a teaser of the exclusive print... yes, those are what you think they are. When have I ever pulled punches before?

And on that note, I await the call from my vet to find out how Rocket's surgery went. Have you snuggled a tiny critter today?

It is a feltie-tastic post this time around! I was knocked clean on my ass right with the flu after my last post here, so I fell even more behind on these commissions out of fear of contamination and, you know, the fever of 103 and delerium. I am back in the saddle and pleased to announce that I have finished my last two felt commissions!

I will be taking an extended break from commissions while I recenter and get going on a long term personal project with my new mentor. I have been waiting for an opportunity like this forever! I can't wait and you can be sure I will show the fruits of my labor on this blog. I also have a couple of gallery shows to make felt stuff for, as well as conventions to attend, so really this is the calm before the storm.

First drawing of 2013! A typical self-deprecating self portrait. I wore pigtails for the first time in like a decade and then questioned whether a 32 year old looks cute or pathetic in them. Oh dear.

I have some big announcements coming up in a few weeks, mainly in the form of upcoming conventions and a new book project! I need to iron out more details before I can fully spill the beans though. There should be a new feltie coming up in a week though, so in the meantime, here is the chickadee Fledgie I made for my Grandmother over the holiday break. She made me the spiffy red knit hat in the portrait!