Quick sketch of a musician

I drew this picture from a magazine picture, and now I don't remember who it's of. Let me know if you recognize her! She's a contemporary singer.

Silhouette of Alice

I sketched a quick silhouette of our last foster cat, Alice, before she was adopted on Friday. We are now enjoying the company of our new foster cat, Charlie. I'm sure I'll do a sketch of him as well!

Swintak poster final

Here's the final poster as a bare image and with the text. Come see the talk if you can! June 16 at the TSA.


Here's the final poster as a bare image and with the text. Come see the talk if you can! June 16 at the TSA.

Swintak final drawing

I redrew the face, added a little bit more shading, and drew in the background before adding color.

Swintak sketch

A woman from my art class (Camilla Singh) is organizing a series of artist talks at the Toronto School of Art and invited me to illustrate a poster for one of the upcoming speakers. Here's the initial drawing of the artist for the poster before I added color or type.

3D Monster

Sean is working on a digital 3D version of my yellow "ecstatic creature," so I decided to make my own 3D version, old-school style.

I made him in Sculpey, painted it with Gesso (actually an unnecessary step, but gives it a little texture), then painted it over with acrylics and matte medium.

Laundry detergent

I've grown increasingly averse to using toxic chemicals and generally try to avoid buying things that use a lot of packaging. After seeing this great post on all-natural cleaners on the Young House Love blog, I decided to start making my own.

Sean took a recent business trip to the States, and brought back some Dr. Bronner's bar soap and liquid castile soap from Trader Joe's. I found some borax powder and washing soda in bulk bins at a great store called Grassroots, and scooped them into some (clean) repurposed yogurt containers. I ended up with about two cups each of the borax and washing soda for under $3. I also scored some regular baking soda at the Dollarama down the street, and got a 4-litre jug of vinegar at the grocery store.

So far, I've made a surface/all-purpose cleaner that works great in the kitchen and bathroom. I used to have to open the windows in the bathroom and would get light-headed when I used a stronger commercial cleaner (that claimed to be earth-friendly). Our whole upstairs would smell toxic for a couple of hours afterward. Now it just smells clean and slightly pepperminty/vinegary for a little while. I put together a laundry detergent as well.

The recipe on the YHL site I linked to above uses Fels Naptha soap, which isn't vegan, but I found this recipe, which recommends using a Dr. Bronner's pepperment bar soap.

It was super easy. I grated half of the bar of soap with a fine microplane grater, added a half cup each of borax and washing soda. Hooray! The laundry I've washed so far is coming out just as clean and fresh-smelling as with the commercial detergent I'd previously been using (if not better), and it's a lot cheaper and more earth-friendly.

A monster walks into a classroom

I sketched this during my second-to-last art class session last month. I want to try to incorporate more background/context for some of my drawings, so I drew the corner of my classroom and imagined that a monster was walking in.

Head doodle

Drew this while watching Breaking Bad a couple of weeks ago.

Old-fashioned face

Her Fearful Symmetry

This drawing was inspired by the two odd but intriguing twins, Valentina and Julia, from Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry. I didn't enjoy the book quite as much as I did The Time Traveler's Wife, but I still recommend it.

Marc Dreier

There was an article about Marc Dreier in a recent Vanity Fair that I picked up from the library. I thought the somewhat evil smirk and the lighting in this picture were interesting.

Disheveled

Guy with a goatee

Guest post on Bride's Brain

Sorry for the absence - I've been taking a brief break from posting during my parents' visit to Toronto! I'm posting some make-up posts right now.

In the meantime, check out my guest post on A Bride's Brain, my friend Jenn's blog. She's off enjoying her European honeymoon!

Alphabet - Z

Alphabet - Y

Alphabet - X

Alphabet - W

Alphabet - V

Thank you and monster stamps

On a whim a few weeks ago, I bought a small lino block at the art store, and today I ended up cutting into it. It was fun, but definitely a learning experience! This was my second time doing any lino cutting since a printmaking class I took in elementary school. I'd like to make more little stamps, or maybe bigger pieces.

Alphabet - U

Alphabet - T

Alphabet - S

Alphabet - R

Alphabet - Q

Alphabet - P

Alphabet - O

Lemon Poppyseed Loaf

I'm working on trying to come up with a good recipe for a lemon poppyseed loaf. I've made two so far. The first one was almost fat free, since I forgot the oil until it was too late (it had already been in the oven for a few minutes). The next was a bit better, but I'm still not totally satisfied with it. I'll keep trying, but here's attempt #2.

A crocheted alien + bonus cute cat

Alice made friends with my new creation. (Alice is our first foster from Toronto Cat Rescue. It's a great organization. If you're looking for a new pet, adoption is the way to go!)

Alphabet - N

Alphabet - M

Alphabet - L