wedding planning

This past weekend we got together at Lies' house for a session of wedding planning for Emily! The proper wedding is happening in their Candian homeland, but we are having an celebration here in NZ before they head off.

Just about every time I go over to Lies house, I feel the need to take hundreds of snap shots because every little corner is filled with something bright, interesting, and very inspired -just like dweller of the house themselves. There is always something different; a new toy, drawing, knitted blanket, cushion cover, and so on. My eyes don't have a chance to get bored!

Emily wants the celebration to be held at these beautiful indoor winter gardens, isn't that fabulous? And so we are going to do it! Here is a little collage I designed for the e-vite... working off of the ideas of winter, garden, and some of emily's favourtie colours.

Also another big thing this week, dropping off my finally completed portfolio book to my new agency! international rescue are now representing me as an illustrator which I am very happy about. If anybody would like some tips about portfolio books and you live in auckland, I would sure be happy to talk. I learned a lot about printing and bookbinding through this process.

Off to an appointment with my accountant, which will be about as much fun as a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. oh well, these things must be done.

merry weekend everybody!
-k

happy valentines

These are some Vvalentines day cards I made for the markets.

I hope you all had a special day of love. I have noticed that in NZ, valentines is really seen as only for those involved in romantic love. I wished someone a happy valentine's day at the markets and she looked puzzled. Her reply was, "oh I have no boyfriend," as if that meant the holiday weren't for her. too bad.


Growing up valentine's day was for everyone and was meant to celebrate many different kinds of love. Friends exchanged cards, teachers with their students, parents with their children, and yes of course those in romantic love celebrated as well. I can't help but enjoy this holiday. No I am not a cynic, and its only a 'greeting card' holiday if you make it one.


Anyway, I spent most of this day at the Cross Street Carnival markets with Lies and other stall holder friends. We braved out the rain and cold, huddled under our leaky marque, and ate cookies someone brought. Surprisingly, people turned up, and we had on okay day selling our goods.

Though I admit I would have rather been home, warm and dry, with my guy.


I hope everyone else had a good weekend too. I have been thinking of those suffering from the bush fires in Australia, and my thoughts go out to them. Hyena in Peticoats, has blogged a bit more about this with some actions you can take so if you want to learn more go HERE.


I missed writing on the blog last week, some exciting but busy stuff came up but more on that later.

until later,
-k

Illustration in 2009

SO I didn't manage to get my refrigerator cleaned out yet, but I have been working on illustration stuff. This is my current work in progress for NZ Wedding magazine. I probably should have this up here yet but since it is still at the sketch stage and hasn't been approved, I think it is okay. shhhh, don't tell.



I have also been updating my website, and flickr account (MAJOR) and documenting work. Above is my illustrations in the current issue of New Zealand Wedding Magazine.

detail

It looks like this in print, only slightly better because I can never manage to take good photos of magazines.

Anyway, back to drawing!

hope you are all well!
-k

GAMES

You can choose from one of three characters, mix and match outfits, and select a friend before printing your creation. *click the yellow arrow to make the magic happen



COMING SOON: Breeding Wabbits game

feeling the love

Birthday Hat: thanks mom! (see etsy seller here)

Birthday Fabric: one irresistible panel by Ralph Lauren. Thanks global fabrics and your secret birthday discount which I am not supposed to tell people about. sshhh.

Birthday Ring: Thanks Luke and jeweler Greg Froment who I met at kraftbomb, see his website here in case you want your own white stag ring.

Birthday Garden: thanks Glenys (mother in law) especially for the grapevine lattice sculpture you made, the sweet peas will grow up it and look fabulous. Also thanks for your great gardening adivce,

"Expect about half of everything you plant to die, that way you won't get too put off."

Birthday girl (a selfie to commemorate the day) looking disheveled and happy. This mirror image makes everything in our apartment backwards!



It was a really great day, 27 totally kicks 26's pants off.
Especially since Luke sent birthday reminders out to all my friends just so everyone would flood me with warm wishes and happy messages, which they did. Everyone is the best.

xoxo

ps we have heard that our commenter was broken or being funny, so that people were unable to leave comments. Sorry, I think I fixed it now though :)

world domination: part 2 (or, becoming world famous one country at a time)

What is this all about ??? hmmmm. go to werkhaus to find out more/
-k

on magazines and being world famous, one country at a time.

Well folks, we are famous! and by we I mean kiwi craft bloggers. World Sweet World just hit shelves this week and if you have a peek inside there is a little article I wrote about our community. I interviewed anemone (lies, not myself, though that would have been interesting) , tiny happy, lilys make believe, anknel&burblets, and stripy sock studio!

my illustration for the article

Also inside are MANY MANY more interesting things inside such as tutorials on how to make a hoodie, a solar oven, and stencil screen printing. Also hear from other Kiwi creatives about grass roots business, sustainibility, and life in NZ. Go HERE to see about getting your copy!

another magazine worth checking out is frankie (though it's aussie not kiwi).

This issue features

• various artists making it on their own
• an article on those dolls (blythe?) which I am trying to understand (what's the obsession?)
• a toilet paper review
• some fashion: vintage style one piece swimsuits!!!
• some crafty ideas: a tutorial for making a retro style tissue box holder
• and a free wall poster by illustrator mel stringer.

yeah I am definitely their target market.


ah yes, RUSSH, my favourite south pacific fashion magazine. They get me every time with their collage layout style, their tributes to yesteryear, and their profiles on interesting creatives.

many of the fashion spreads are raggamuffin-esque, with layers of varying textures and materials. Even though I know its not, much of it looks like stuff you could score on a really good op shopping day- as though the outfits were put together by a a super stylish art student on a shoe string budget. Street fashion kicks runway fashions butt almost every time. well I think so anyway.


Also in RUSSH an advertisement booklet for the new Kookai collection, which I had never heard of before. I think I like the photography and the movement of the fabric more than the actual dresses. but wowee none the less.

Lets all put of flowing dresses and meet at the beach in 15, okay?
see you there,
-k

ps a list of things that have broken in the last week, or, why my sister asked me if we have a poltergeist living here:

the electricity
our only speaker system
the telephone
our front door handle and lock
yoshi's collar (while outside near a busy road!)
Luke's mobile charger
and something smells in the kitchen but I don't know what.

a little showing off

It's that time again... yes New Zealand Wedding Magazine has hit the shelves which is exciting because my second illustration for them is in this issue. Let's have a look, shall we?

ta da! but again with the down the gutter layout which I have no control of, oh well. So nice to see my work in print, I really wish this happened more often.

here is the non printed version, maybe you have already seen it on my illustration site, but I waited to post it here (I think) until it was officially printed.

ah yes, that's me!

also if you want to see my first illustration for NZ wedding, I posted about it here.

I have many things to look forward to this weekend including but not limited to:

• almost not being sick anymore
• yoshi school (dog training with my favourite canine)
• my soon to be sister in laws 'kitchen party' at my in laws place
• and my second Sunday working at my new job.
• finishing my 3rd NZ wedding illustration (deadline is Monday!)
  

have a good weekend everyone!
-k

feeling bluesy

oh no say it ain't so!

I have been making cards, these two are taken from comic strips in a popular girls mag circa 1960. I worry about the message here: teen life full of drama, boyfriends, popularity, and having long thin legs. which is a message I think still prevails today. I hope I made it look O.T.T. (over the top, for those of you who don't talk in ironic abbreviations. but you should try it, it's fun.)

mean girls

To cheer myself up from my bluesy morn I have posted a few things I have been up to:

merrily the treetops
19.5 cm squared
a collage (not a card) with some painting.

arranging these glass jars full of dead and dying things is a happy activity, because if your garden dies, that's okay. it can still look pretty.


my cheerful army, with new wild kitties joining the ranks.

and I am returning to my sci-fi needlework which I call a device for contacting the future humans (a working title). I had put this away for a while because I was impatient and the results were slow yielding. Good thing I found this red hoop over the weekend, what a motivator. I have a lot more to go, but baby steps, right?

so this has cheered me up significantly. also reading the comments about the wabbit maker was delightful. My favourite was hearing about the 8 yr old who played it 20 times in a row - exactly what I was hoping for :)

and also I have been meaning to share a few super fantastic crafty blogs I have found or rediscovered recently....

elsie marley image above is from her child's room which also featured in apartment therapy here
anna maria horner who is a fabric artist
wren who is a brooklyn based craft artist and also works at a martha stewart craft magazine

that's all for now.

happy midweek.
-k

the wabbit breeder

something a little different

I heart my life drawing class because....
each week the same man arrives late, full of energy and with pieces of bread sticking out of the breast pocket of his tweed waist coat.

The children's ballet class carries on next door, and heard through the walls is the pitter patter of pointed toes, piano music, and at least one little dancer in tears.

The young Asian guy always draws the models anima style so they become longer, leaner and undergo graphite breast augmentation. This is funny to watch, I try and sneak as many looks at his drawing board as I can without being too nosy.

The very old people in my class pull my heart strings with their faithful attendance, shaky hands, and slow movements. Also they draw better than everyone else put together.

And the brave beautiful models who take off their clothes each week and stand up there in front of everyone with NOTHING ON, 3 years of drawing nudes and I still can't get over this.

all the drawings here are by me from the last two weeks and were done in charcoal. Most poses were 10-20 minutes long.

For anybody in the Auckland area, this is the untutored life drawing class held each Thursday from 9:30 to 12:30 at the Ponsonby Community Centre. Attendance is casual, so there is no need to sign up. oh yeah, its only $10, which is the least I have ever ever ever paid for life drawing, and this is one of the BEST set ups I have experienced (and I have taken 5 different life drawing classes in 2 different countries). SO DO COME ALONG.



okay for those of you who are a bit over the nudes, here are some friendly faces!

'hi, we are in the shop' they sing out in harmony.

newly acquired, oh what will they become?

ALSO on monday I have a new thing for you, and you might just like it, so stay tuned!

-k

post craftwerk and my fambly

craftwerk was amazing, crazy busy, and moved at lightning pace! There were crowds 6 people deep with human traffic, lovely bands playing, a fashion show, live poetry readings, and a string orchestra at the very end. The whole event was merrily merry and both Lies and I agree that the buzz is back.

I bet right now you are noticing that I have no pictures of the night, firstly because it was night and I just HATE flash photos, so I didn't even bother. But even if I had wanted to take photos, I couldn't leave the stall, it was that busy. Lies and I did quite well, so THANKS to everyone who came and supported us.

For those of you who are wondering, above are details of a smallish watercolour I worked on this morning.

Rain My Deer!

The night of craftwerk a few people were interested in my bigger collages. These are mounted on the backs of children's books and I most people seem buy them for their children's rooms. For those of you who wanted to see some more (you know who you are :), here are two that I did yesterday. If its not your thang, no worries, just watch this space for others.

One of the best thing about this craftwerk for me was the amount of men who bought things from our stall. All my small wabbits were purchased by males between 18-30; I also sold many cards, some prints, and some bigger collages to young men. Now isn't that surprising?

London Bridge Birds

FAMBLY: a few little personal notes for those who want to get personal

Luke in his new World t shirt, a birthday gift from me.

Today my husband Luke turned 27. We've now been friends for 11 years and I still remember when he (okay his mum really) invited me to his 16th birthday party back in Minnesota. I saw the invite and thought "I hardly know this guy!" and immediately called one of my friends to see if she was also invited. She was, but even if she hadn't been, I would have gone anyway. Luke was somebody I wanted to get to know.
Anyway, we have now been together' for 7 years and married for 4 and a half years. That's a lot of togetherness for people our age, so I am very thankful.

The other member of our small family is the Yosh. In this series of photos he is practicing sit, down, and die. Yoshi and I are attending dog school (not puppy school, no, this is for misfit adult dogs) so everyday we do our 'homework' in preparation for our next lesson. Even though his obedience is top notch, he does not play well with others (he's a combination of nervous, scared, and really excited around big dogs) so that's why we go.

This Saturday is the 'tricks' session which the yosh excels in. We are supposed to teach one trick to the class and I have decided we should do "the lone gunwoman", a one act play in which I pull out my gun (pointed finger) shout BANG! and yoshi falls over dead. This is a violent game so I am curious to see how the class will react. This perhaps is the week they find out I am several shades of crazy.

My brother had his daughter this past weekend and my parcel arrived just in time for her turn at dads. Here is sweetie Ella in the sunshine top I made her. I don't think I am going too far when I say she is the cutest child who ever lived. ever.

okay that is all for me.

Cheerio,
-k