"When in Rome, do as you done in Milledgeville"

I like typography. I like embroidery. So I decided to do an embroidered book cover, as a personal project. The process is slow going, stitching all that kudzu. But I’m always up for stepping away from the pixels to work on something more tangible, so this scratches that itch nicely.

Other things:

1. My Mom loaned me The Face of Russia: Anguish, Aspiration, and Achievement in Russian Culture and it’s fascinating, the juxtaposition of art, literature and film with the history of Russia. Very readable, definitely recommend.

2. The reboot of Why Didn’t They Ask Evans is a delight. I was underwhelmed (and slightly disturbed) by the 2009 version, but this go around is a far better adaptation. Also, with Hugh Laurie as writer and director, I don’t see where you can really go wrong.

3. A fun Canada Day roundup of books, including Anne Arrives.

Dystopian Daydreams

Earlier this month, I hopped my first flight in three years and headed out west for a family reunion in Oregon, near Crater Lake. There were lots of campfires, cups of coffee and catching up, after years of not seeing one another. All in all, it was 110% worth the 21+ hours of travel time to get home.

During the visit, my 13-year-old niece told me her genre of choice is teen girl dystopian novels. I applaud her taste. So the above is an attempt at something dystopian for her, which just ended up looking steampunk.

But who’s to say you can’t navigate the apocalypse in a hoop skirt?

Obligatory Crater Lake National Park snap. Snow! In June!

The Nineteen Hundreds

Doing a deep dive into some Edwardian photo reference and this wistful guy felt like he deserved a portrait. Cheer up, buddy, electricity and antibiotics are on the horizon.

"You don’t need your eyes to see"

I saw Wolfwalkers with my sister and her kids last week and oh my, what a movie. I didn’t think anything could possibly top Song of the Sea, but Cartoon Saloon absolutely outdoes itself with the art in Wolfwalkers.

So, I couldn’t resist doing a little warmup drawing of Mebh Óg MacTíre today. That girl has sass in spades.

"Don't let Kristin make the coffee"

I was watching The Brokenwood Mysteries the other night and it dawned on me I’d never done any fan art for the series. So, problem solved.

This is the calendar / These are the dates

I’ve had The Ghost of O’Donahue stuck in my head for weeks. And if you’ve got to have a song endlessly looping in your head, this works rather nicely.

A Habitat

I keep adding bits to this days. Fifteen minutes here, ten minutes there. Slowly, it adds up. Not as fast as I’d like, granted. But it’s more on the paper by the end of the day than when I started.

And that sweater sleeve is the Shore Cardigan pattern, which I finished up late last autumn and basically spent the winter (and most of the spring) wearing.