ghostkitten

New Moon and Full Moon Calendars

2012-01-13T19:25:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, each year I make a 11x17" calendar that records the new moons and full moons and is graced with an interesting character and usually her favorite fuzzy, furry, or feathered friend. I thought it would fun to take a look back in time and see all the cuteness that came each. Yes, 2011 is missing, the moon girl just didn't have time to make an appearance that year but no worries, she's back. The 2012 one is for sale at $10 including shipping and handling, just contact me and i will send the paypal info.

This first one is actually from 2007 but I updated it in 2009 to sell on etsy.

Define Dreamer

2011-01-14T10:10:00.000-08:00

I cut out the definition of everything related to dream and then made this drawing with it. I am very fascinated with dreams... the kind we have a night when sleeping. Every since I was a child I felt almost half my experiences and some of the most memorable and real took place in my dreams. I choose the theme, In Flight, for my sketchbook project because flying takes such a prominent place in land of nod. Flying in dreams feels so natural and true that sometimes I think the experience of gravity on earth is more the anomaly or the exception. I have many pages of my Sketchbook Project that I have not shared on this blog yet so expect to see them over the next month as tomorrow, I mail the book out.

Illustration Friday: Deja Vu

2011-01-12T18:06:00.000-08:00

Some how, looking up at the starry sky always gives me a sense of deja vu. Maybe it is the vastness of space triggering a sense of something beyond what i can comprehend, something beyond linear time where everything has already happened and not happened yet simultaneously. it is very familiar and yet hints at something so strange and unknowable that it jolts me out my quotidien experience. Or maybe, I have lived on another planet in another life and I have been somewhere out there before.

Sketchbook Project: In Flight continues

2011-01-11T09:36:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a whirlwind my life has been. I went to Chicago for a week to visit my boyfriend's family. Then I came back on New Years and had to move the next day. I am in the new house now and finally have my studio somewhat set up. Or at least, my desk is built, you can see the floor, and most things are plugged in. :) Yesterday, was my first day of creativity in the new place and what you see above are the results of that. I love that there is a big eucalyptus tree out my window that sings in the wind. These are all pages in my sketchbook that I am racing to finish. I have 5 more pages and the cover left to make before mailing it in on January 15. I never finish anything before the deadline. I don't know why but that is just how I am.

Au Revoir Little Traveller

2010-12-24T07:28:00.000-08:00

So as my boyfriend say, "you really like house with helicopters on them, don't you?" It is a fascination for me for probably 10 years now. Because I've moved so much and traveled a lot, I like to think that home is carried with me where ever I may go. Today, I am off to Chicago to see my boyfriend's family and although we will not be taking a flying house, I am sure it will be a spectacular little adventure. Have a Merry Christmas everyone and safe journeys.

In the mail....

2010-12-22T15:50:00.000-08:00

The theme for illustration Friday this week is "Mail." My favorite kind of mail is a letter with interesting tid bits and surprises hiding inside. It is rare and special to receive a little bit of wonder in the mail that connects you to someone you love who is far away. Emails are convenient and fun too but there is nothing like knowing this very paper was handled by your friend and lovingly written. My least favorite type of mail is obviously unsolicited credit card offers or circulars. Why so many? No matter how many times I try to opt out of junk mail, these still sneak through. oh well. poor tree.

Picture Frames

2010-12-22T12:50:00.000-08:00

This is a stream-of-consciousness doodle drawing in ink that I made in my sketchbook. I have always been intrigued by framing because it signifies a portal into a distinct world. It also is often the barrier between the world experienced through the senses and the world as we interpret it or "frame it." Something to explore more perhaps.

Balancing and The Masked Peppermint Posse

2010-12-19T00:20:00.000-08:00

It has been a very intense few weeks trying to juggle meltdowns and transisitions in many areas of my life. When I read the Inspiration Avenue theme, "Believe" I thought about believing you can accomplish something even when it seems almost impossible. The first illustration is all about the balancing act that is everyday life. There is some magic that helps keep it together even when it seems like it should come crashing down. Of course a few things do get lost or damaged or fall off the balancing tower but it is still amazing what we are able to do. I definitely believe in that magic.
The second illustration is of The Masked Peppermint Posse. They are on there way to an enchanted ball. At least, I believe they are. ;)

Letting go

2010-12-11T21:32:00.000-08:00

This image has been floating around in my mind for a while now. I even drew it once before a few years ago. For me, making this was an act of letting go of my home and finally being at peace with that transition. This is the 4th time in a row that I have been forced into moving due to external circumstances and that is just in last 6 years. In the end, all of those changes proved to be really positive for me. But each time, I had to unravel my attachments, let go of the past, and be open to something new and unknown. Being at peace with change I think is one of the deepest, most life-altering experience of peace.
This is also an example of what happens when you use watercolor on paper that is only meant for dry media and also remove your masking liquid with the wrong type of eraser. The paper starts buckling, making weird dots and textures, and ripping..... but you just keep going anyway because you're curious about the things you can't control.

The Things that Bring Me Back

2010-12-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

click image to enlarge

I will be moving to a new house in the beginning of January so I have started some packing. As I was going through my art supply closet, I found an old journal and it fell open to a page where I had made a list of 12 things that bring me back to appreciating and really experiencing the beauty of life. When I read it, I found that everything I had written still applied to me today. I had also wanted to experiment with some hand-drawn type and participate in List-It Tuesdays, as I have loved list making since i was a little girl. It is amazing how a list takes all the chaos in your mind and heart and crystallizes it into something understandable and attainable. So, I started just drawing in the words from the original list in my new sketchbook and adding doodles. I still had more space so I added 12 more things. 12 from the past and 12 from right now. It was a great mediation on the things I love about life.

What I found in the forest...

2010-12-09T22:20:00.000-08:00

I wanted to play with the old books I found at the topanga swap meet again and mix in some of my drawing and painting. I was planning on having this image go right after this one in my sketch book but after it took shape I think it feels better after this one. This would be the girl's log of what she discovered in the forest. Maybe it's in her sketchbook. :) I have never really liked yellow and green but change is all around. This is one of the reasons I am glad that I didn't approach my sketchbook linearly from beginning to end. I have just been randomly jumping around the pages. I thought it would make it less intimidating to finish and more fun... and now their are interesting and unexpected juxtapositions emerging.

Once upon a time...

2010-12-04T21:20:00.000-08:00

I made this little fairies really quickly today by swishing around some water color and then, inking in the faces and details. Recently, I read that it can be interesting to draw whatever you would choose to draw if you knew no one would ever see it. The first thing that came to my mind was... fairies! I guess that is what my 6 year old self would want to draw so I usually avoid them. When I heard the Inspiration Avenue's Weekly theme was "Once upon a time," I figure this is my chance to enter the fairy realm. I tried to give them a ephemeral quality... at any moment the could flicker out of sight.

Sailing in the Cold Wind

2010-12-03T18:24:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to do a little collage drawing that could go on the opposite page of the fishies (below) in my sketchbook. I decided to use light colors, white space and focus on the above the water world where the wind and air are prevalent in order to contrast with the other picture on the same theme. I actually like them together for some reason. It makes me think of how two entirely different worlds can be residing side by side.

Under water

2010-12-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

This is a very small acrylic painting that will go inside my sketchbook. The theme of the book is "In Flight." I often dream about flying and the sensation it comes closest to in this realm is swimming. you begin to approach a weightlessness under the water and can glide and dip and rise. This did not quite capture what I was envisioning but that is ok. It is good to keep the creativity flowing.

Savour....

2010-12-02T18:18:00.000-08:00

Recently, my mother and I took a trip to the Moab desert in Utah. We went hiking in Arches and Canyonlands every day. This illustration is both about savoring the memory of that amazing adventure because when you draw from your imagination you really loose yourself in the feeling of being there again. It is also about savoring the majestic and surprising beauty of nature. how each time you see something this epic and unusual, time stops and the moments extends on and on. I drew this in ink and then scanned it into the computer to paint digitally.

Bus Stop

2010-12-01T20:29:00.000-08:00

I made this little animation by drawing and painting all the elements and them putting them together in after effects. This is something I would love to take further and explore more. The words are from a children's book by Cooper Evans called "Remember the Night Rainbow." It is really wonderful book about optimism and imagination.

Tight Rope Forest

2010-11-28T11:37:00.000-08:00

This is a page in my sketchbook. Once again, I just started drawing the idea emerged. I love the idea of living up in the tree tops.. the feeling of being vaulted in the air and weightless. I always wanted a tree house. some day, perhaps.

Dandelion Seed Winks

2010-11-23T00:29:00.000-08:00

I have always been fascinated with wind-carried seeds. They seem like fluffy soft creatures traveling like fairies through the air. So, I made a little doodle in my sketchbook to see if I could capture a bit of them.

How the mind works....

2010-11-22T20:45:00.000-08:00

I played with an envelope again, though this time I am telling a little autobiographic narrative from my childhood. You can click on the image to enlarge if you are having trouble reading the text. The mind can be a wily creature and you can't necessary tell it what to do. It will give you unexpected results. I made this with watered down acrylic (couldn't find my water colors)and ink.

Paper play

2010-11-21T23:59:00.000-08:00

A friend who designs custom wedding invites gifted me a bag of left over envelopes and paper scraps. This project was very intuitive and improvisational. I played with drawing on both sides of thin paper with marker so that the colors would bleed through and interact. This is something I would like to explore more maybe in a bit more thought out fashion. I had fun hiding little drawings in the envelopes for people to discover. Ever since I fell in love with the Griffin and Sabine trilogy as a teenager, I was intrigued by getting to unveil something while reading or looking through a book. The envelope is perfect for that. There are many narrative possibilities but here I stayed pretty abstract.

Going Home

2010-11-18T15:17:00.000-08:00

So, first I laid out a couple of acrylic glazes... more just to experiment with the overlay of colors. then, not feeling inspired I applied the text from the old dictionary i found and set it aside. today i picked it up and suddenly decided i saw a forest and a girl returning home from the city to her magical forest lead by a golden bird. so, i drew on top of the paint with black ink and then brought the acrylics back to finish it. this might be inspired from living my adult life in los angeles and my childhood in new hampshire. in my mind there is always an inviting gentle forest waiting for me to return home.

Illustration Friday: Burn bright and share the light

2010-11-17T19:10:00.000-08:00

This is about that ecstatic feeling... when you fling open the doors of your heart and all boundaries melt in the light. you have infinity to give and to receive. it is dancing wildly under the sky and becoming wide open like space.

Twirling then falling into the flowers...

2010-11-16T22:19:00.000-08:00

I went to a swap meet over the weekend and found a old dictionary from the 70's. i tore out some of the graphics and pages to collage together with my drawings, then painted over it. this was a fun experiment.

AEDM: like water and fire

2010-11-15T23:14:00.000-08:00

i was almost to sleepy to draw tonight after designing for 10 hours in the studio and then going to a yoga class. but i managed to pull through. these is the two little creatures are both a part of me... i like the dichotomy. well, good night. i am off to the lad of nod.

Little Sparrow

2010-11-14T22:31:00.000-08:00

it is very calming to draw from observation, especially beautiful creatures or plants. it is almost like touching them with your eyes and being. i almost feel like i fall in love with the subject of my drawings when i am in process. that is especially funny when drawing a person whom i don't know or barely know. little do they know. :)

Falling is Learning

2010-11-13T21:12:00.000-08:00

I was listening to this really beautiful song by Lynx called Venus and I was struck by her lyric, "now, the sky is falling but falling is learning." This very aptly describes my life right now. A lot of things are shifting dramatically and quickly and sometimes it feels out of control just like falling but really it is just intensified learning. i put one cloud being caught by the river and just going with the flow, tentatively letting go and being carried. some of the clouds are relaxed, some are enjoying the ride, some are scared, angry or confused. I painted this on a very small piece of paper with acrylic, It felt a little awkward with out the appropriate size brushes but i just did the best with what i had in the moment. hope you are all enjoying your weekend and getting some fresh air. watch out for falling skies.

Flying Squirrels

2010-11-12T12:12:00.000-08:00

I love just sitting down with my sketchbook and a black pen and seeing what happens... no plan... just ink + intuition + chance.

Illustration Friday: Afterwards

2010-11-11T14:42:00.000-08:00

So this my very first blog post. i always write and draw in my journal and sketchbook but have always shied away from going public. i keep thinking i should design my own blog as i am a graphic designer and have done it for other people but as i am juggling and balancing a miniature tower of ideas and projects, i figured i should just start simple and let it grow from there. so this is an drawing i made for illustration friday... the theme being "afterwards." I am also working on a sketchbook who's theme is "in flight" for the art house coop. so i mixed these two ideas along with the personal experience of leaving the nest of my private and tangible world and entering the online artistic community. so how do i feel afterwards.... a lot like my little bird... vulnerable and filled with the bliss of first flight.