Annie Ink

My Week in Sketches

2012-02-10T07:41:00.000-08:00

A few sketches from my days last week:

I spent most of Superbowl Sunday visiting friends, eating great salad,

and listening to the Hunger Games audiobook as I drove home. It was fantastic.

A typical dinner with my housemates:

My friend got engaged!

I don't know why I felt the need to draw the coffee cup in her hand,

but she was holding a cup of coffee when I first saw the ring, so I guess it had to be included.

This is me, driving anywhere and everywhere I could think of,

just so I could listen to more of the Hunger Games audiobook in my car:

Tomorrow I have a 2.5 hour drive and I can hardly wait!

The second Hunger Games audiobook is beckoning!

The Hunger Games

2012-02-09T07:59:00.000-08:00

Boy, I kept hearing people talking about "The Hunger Games" book trilogy, and I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. I read the books' descriptions and they didn't entice me. But last weekend I knew I had a two-hour car ride on Saturday and another two-hour car ride on Sunday, and that's a perfect audiobook storm. I've become rather addicted to audiobooks, perfect for long car rides, and now that's how I want to read every book. (So just when I thought I couldn't get any lazier, I make the decision that I won't read a book unless someone is reading it to me. Fantastic.) Once I got into the first Hunger Games book, I realized it was my kind of story. Come on, a girl running around a forest climbing trees with a bow and arrow? That's my kind of heroine. I'm into it. And I can't help but picture myself up in those trees...

Horseboy

2012-02-08T07:36:00.000-08:00

Today's drawing was inspired by a friend of mine who casually mentioned that she rode her pet cow once.

I was taken aback first by the thought that anyone actually has a pet cow, and then I found myself blurting out "Why don't people ride cows more often?" I was asking this for real. Not mocking. Suddenly it seemed like such a logical mode of transportation. My friend explained something about how cows aren't built for that sort of thing, but I still couldn't shake the idea that, at some point, people must have tried it out to see what kind speed and dependability you could get riding a cow...and I wager it would have looked something like this.

Billy Graham

2012-02-07T07:47:00.000-08:00

Last week I had an idea. Actually, a friend sort of suggested it to me, but I liked it and decided to try it out. He suggested that I use a really old picture and then take a new photo in the same spot as the old photo, then split the photos down the middle and put them together (don't feel bad if this isn't making sense yet. I don't know how to describe it well.) So I started thinking about what old photos I could get my hands on that were taken in a place that I could go to and recreate...and I could only think of one option: an old photo from when Billy Graham spoke at Forest Home in 1967. It was the only photo I could find that I had access to, as well as having access to the location the photo was taken. I scurried up to the rock where it still stands by the lake and took a picture of myself by the rock. Then I merged it together with Billy:

It's not a perfect match, not a perfect angle, but it is the same rock in both pictures.

In all seriousness, I have a great deal of respect for Billy Graham and his life's work.

This is a photo from that day in 1967, and I actually get very sentimental at the sight of it:

The rock is still in that same spot. It makes me feel like I've touched a part of history.

(Also, it should be mentioned that Billy does not appreciate it when you take a call while he's speaking.)

Room With A View

2012-02-06T07:53:00.000-08:00

This is one of my latest art projects. I consider it to be a pretty ideal treehouse.

I drew this on a piece of wood and then stained the area around it, making the trees and house seem a little bit lighter. I still think it's lacking something, maybe some color, but I like the idea of it a lot. I still think some day in the future I might just retreat to the wilderness, find some good trees with solid branches, and build myself a house up there. And be perfectly content.

My Week in Sketches

2012-02-03T07:40:00.000-08:00

At the camp where I work, we often use walkie-talkies to communicate with each other.

I decided to sketch-commemorate when this happened:

On Saturday I got to visit a friend of mine that I don't get to see enough and it was SO great.

I admit, our conversation stayed on mainly one topic:

Another friend and I have a fantastic tradition where every month or so, she makes me salad for dinner and then we see a movie. Salad is my favorite meal, movies are one of my favorite activities...put them together with some good conversation and you've got my ideal evening. I should mention that in real life, my friend does not look as spacey as I drew her. It was late. I was very tired. And I drew in pen:

The next night I had the pleasure of watching Anchorman.

Except, in this drawing, it doesn't look like Will Ferrell at all.

It does, however, look a lot like my dad when he had a mustache:

Last night my friends and I dined on some homemade Spanish food (think Spain, not burritos) and it was so good I want to eat it every day. Why don't I ever buy goat cheese?! I should.

And that was my week. It was a good one.

Sherlock Squirrels

2012-02-02T07:59:00.000-08:00

This was cooler in my head. I liked the idea of a shadow being cast by a bunch of random objects, but then the shadow looks like something else...in this case, a famous detective. It's the random objects that I'm a little dissatisfied with - why squirrels? And that's supposed to be a ham on a plate at the top. A ham? I got a little desperate for things that were the right shape. But squirrels are one of my favorite animals, so I guess it makes sense that they worked their way into my drawing. They often do.

My Olympics

2012-02-01T07:51:00.000-08:00

The summer Olympics are coming up. As I realized this yesterday, I found myself thinking "How come I never participated in the Olympics?" You know, like it was just an after-school activity that I forgot to sign up for. But as I thought it through, I concluded that there simply aren't enough sports that I could compete in...but there are plenty of other things I could compete in if the Olympics would just add a few more categories. Here are the activities I think I could earn a medal in. Go Team U.S.A!

(Nertz is a card game, Boggle is a word game, and I live in the mountains where raccoons run rampant.)

Ron Burgundy

2012-01-31T07:52:00.000-08:00

You may or may not know who this man is. But you ought to.

This is Ron Burgundy, played by Will Ferrell in the movie Anchorman.

It's one of my favorite movies and probably my favorite comedy, just edging out Date Night and Spiceworld (which is a comedy on every level). But Anchorman takes the cake. It's one of the most quotable movies in my day-to-day life ("I love lamp", "I'm not even mad! That's amazing!", "That escalated quickly..." to name a few.) Even right now, it's hard for me to stop quoting and move on...Not only is Anchorman quotable, but it's also constantly poking fun at the news, which I love. I just think "the news" in general takes itself so seriously and I like that Anchorman takes it down a peg. I created this version of Ron Burgundy in the style of street-art-genius Shepard Fairey, or at least that's what I was going for. I might have to make this into some posters and paste them all over town to remind everyone to "stay classy".

Little Piggies

2012-01-30T07:48:00.000-08:00

This little piggy went to market.

This little piggy stayed home.

This little piggy had roast beef,

This little piggy had none.

And this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home...

I decided to illustrate this nursery rhyme today. It doesn't really make sense when all the pigs are connected on a foot. I mean, if one pig goes to market, they all go to market, right? So really, I don't think there's very much logic to this nursery rhyme (as opposed to all the other logical, fact-filled nursery rhymes...) As a kid I always felt bad for the little piggy who had no roast beef. I mean, how sad is it to be characterized by something you didn't do? But now I think the idea of pigs eating roast beef is kind of gross. It's just a few pastures away from cannibalism, you know? It seems a little close to home. As in, wee wee wee all the way home.

My Week in Sketches

2012-01-27T07:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a look back at the week I've had.

There was spray-paint, snot, sudoku, and certainly lots of sketching...

I had dinner with some friends that I never get to see often enough:

I spray-painted someone on my office wall:

Yet again, the most exciting part of my day was when I got to dogsit my coworker's puppy:

I got REALLY sick last weekend. I've never used that much kleenex in my life:

I got to recuperate at my parents' house. This is me with my mom.

I'm doing a sudoku puzzle with a kleenex box at my side:

My family watched the football playoffs on Sunday.

I root for the team with the cutest quarterback.

Then I had to go to the dentist. I learned that one of my teeth is sort of eating itself from the inside out.

But on a positive note, my dentist says I have "really neat" teeth roots.

On Tuesday I was reminded that it only takes one 20-minute exercise video

to make every muscle in my body really sore.

On Wednesday my friend and I did a puzzle while watching sitcom reruns.

It was divine. I'm secretly really into puzzles.

Last night I played a trivia game with friends and I kept almost talking myself out of the correct answer.

My highlight of the evening was when I correctly knew the singer of the song "No More Drama" because I remembered the 30 Rock quote where Jack says "As my good friend and fox hunting partner, Mary J. Blige would say, 'No More Drama.'" It was a personal victory.

Treehouses: The Sequel

2012-01-26T08:13:00.000-08:00

Everyone loves a good sequel, right? Today is kind of like a sequel.

Hopefully it's the good kind. Not like "The Sting II" or "Speed 2: Cruise Control" or "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde." After yesterday's post, I decided I should spruce up the drawing with some color, so that's just what I did. This is like a remixed version of yesterday's post. Or an aftershock. Or a sequel.

Treehouses

2012-01-25T07:58:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted a treehouse. When I was a kid, I wanted the typical treehouse fort with a tire swing in the backyard. Now that I'm older, I've graduated to a more modern treehouse dream - the dream of having a legit, actual, real house in the trees (tire swing still included. And there needs to be a rope ladder somewhere.) I know it's never going to happen, but I love looking online and in books at crazy big treehouses that people have built. They make my imagination happy.

Today I drew some treehouses. I made them look like little bird houses.

But they're for people. And maybe tomorrow I should draw birds that live in suburban tract housing.

Tina Fey, the Dentist, and Me

2012-01-24T07:54:00.000-08:00

I had to go to the dentist yesterday, and I'm still a little grumpy about it. I have a dull, aching pain lingering from where I had to get anesthesia shots, or whatever you call the shots that numb your mouth and tongue and half your throat and make you feel like your cheeks are ginormous. (Side note: I always kind of assumed "ginormous" was a made-up word, like when people say "absitively" to be clever...but it's not. Spell-check accepts it. Weird, right?) And this is the second time in two months that I've been to the dentist, and BOTH times, my dentist has seen something in my mouth and said "Huh, I've never seen that before!" Let me tell you, when I'm sitting in a dentist chair with my mouth pried open like I'm in the torture scene of a horror movie, that is the last thing I want to hear. (Although I guess I can't help it if I just have really interesting teeth...) Anyway, the point of all this is - well, I guess there is no point. Except that I wanted to sort of explain why I'm not going to explain why I decided to draw a cartoon of Tina Fey today. Do I really need a reason? I think I've proved I'm in the hypothetical Tina Fey fan club by this point. And to channel her alter-ego Liz Lemon, I'll just say yesterday was a real "Blerg!" of a day and I'll leave it at that.

Tight Ends

2012-01-23T07:46:00.000-08:00

This is the conversation I have in my head with football players every time I watch a football game.

These are grown men. And they're wearing spandex. I'm never quite used to it.

Spray Painting Henrietta Spray Painting

2012-01-20T07:44:00.000-08:00

This is the newest addition to the spray paint wall in my office.

Henrietta's doing some tagging.

Here's how it went down:

Because I'm tagging the inside of my office building, I try to tape everything off and make sure I don't get spray paint everywhere around my stencils. So it's not quite as care-free as common street-tagging. Is that even what it's called? Street tagging? Me talking about street tagging is like when elderly people talk about tweeting or "the interwebs".

I also added a paper version of the stencil hanging behind my door.

Behind my door is apparently where I keep my "tagged things" and used stencils.

Henrietta will watch over them for me.

Stenciling Henrietta

2012-01-19T07:56:00.000-08:00

This is Henrietta Mears, Forest Home's founder.

I'm pretty grateful to her, since I've had a lot of pretty great, meaningful experiences at Forest Home throughout my life. I thought the most appropriate way to repay her would be to make a stencil of her face, am I right?

It took a lot of work (I found a photo, altered it in photoshop to be stencil-able, printed it, copied it onto a transparency sheet, then cut out the part that needed to be removed) but this is probably the most proud I've been of anything in a long time. I just never would have thought her face would come out so clear! I was doing a lot of victory-dancing after this, and throwing my fists in the air triumphantly like Rocky.

This Week

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

It's been a good week. Winter camp has started up at the camp where I work, which means lots of hustling and bustling but also some really great moments and games and visitors and campers. I work late most Fridays, but then this Saturday I went shopping at the outlet mall with my housemates and it was so fun. Cute little household shopping trip. Then we got to visit our friends on Sunday and Monday, which was so great because it's been sooooo long since we've all hung out. It's not important to understand the text I wrote in the dialogue bubble in the top-right cartoon...all that I wanted to remember is that, with some friends, you can be apart for months and then pick up right where you left off when you see each other again. And I like having friends like that.

Merge

2012-01-17T07:41:00.000-08:00

Most of the time, I'd say imagination is a good thing. A great thing, even.

But sometimes, I think it can be a bit of a nuisance. It can get out of hand.

Take this street sign, for example:

I see it all the time on my way to and from my house.

Except when I see it, this is what I'm always picturing in my head:

Someone taking a leak. It's a bit crude, I know...but this is what imagination does. I see things that no one else sees. At least I hope no one else sees this. There shouldn't be more than one of us running around visualizing this on merge signs.

Cartoon Sean

2012-01-16T07:58:00.000-08:00

This is a drawing I did of Sean Connery in Adobe Illustrator, which I've been really into this week.

Also, I've been really into Sean Connery for, like, a couple decades.

I remember being younger and trying over and over again to draw him and it never looked right. It makes drawings like this feel like a victory. I mean, it looks enough like him to make me happy. 12-year-old me would have been pretty proud.

Sketch Journal Snapshots

2012-01-13T07:53:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned my new journal and how I'm going to try to sketch-journal 2012. I thought I should show you my progress so far. I know you've been wondering.

So here we go. Just a quick snapshot from some of my days...

This was after my friend Angela stayed with us for five days and we stayed up until 1am or 2am every night talking...so then after she left, I was in bed by 8:30pm the next night to catch up on sleep! I'm a real party animal:

I live with my friends and their two little girls, and I love when they want to play. This particular day resulted in Addie climbing onto my legs and pretending I was a tree and she was a koala bear (she originally wanted to be a possum but her mom and I convinced her they're yucky.) I like recording ordinary moments like this.

Sometimes I spend my evenings cutting spray paint stencils by the fire (doesn't everyone?):

My coworker brought her puppy to work for a day and I fell in LOVE with this dog.

It was most definitely the highlight of my day:

And do I even need to explain what was the most wonderful thing about yesterday?

30 Rock is back, people! Tina Fey, Liz Lemon, laughter. At long last! Definitely sketchworthy.

Cartoon Us

2012-01-12T07:47:00.000-08:00

This is my dear friend Laura (on the left) and me. At New Year's we had a little photo booth set up and we took a bunch of silly photos that I love, and I felt like trying to recreate one of the pictures in Illustrator. Now we're cartoons! It's a little silly that I chose to cartoon us not smiling, but I kind of like how Laura's "tough" face turned out. I mean, she's holding a gun in the photo, after all. Don't worry, it's just a bb rifle. But we did figure out later that it was cocked and loaded when she had it pointed at my face.

I created this last night with Laura's 4-year-old on my lap, and at first I thought it was kind of cool that she wanted to watch me draw (she's really into art right now) but then all she wanted was for me to make my face pink. Make my hair pink. Now make Laura's face pink. Now make my hair purple...She wanted us to be one giant paint-by-number-without-numbers. But she approved of the final project, even without any pink hair. She was especially fond of the tiaras, as am I.

Baby Fight Club

2012-01-11T07:43:00.000-08:00

Okay, hear me out - I know that fighting babies is not a laughing matter. Toddlers with black eyes are not to be joked about. But my 2-year-old friend Olivia woke up with a black eye a few days ago and won't tell her parents how she got it. We suspect that she may have stood on her bed in the dark and hit a shelf...or the only other logical explanation is that she's in a baby fight club. This is the chattiest toddler I've ever encountered, and she won't explain to anyone how she got the black eye? She must be sworn to secrecy because she's in a baby fight club.

Disclaimers:

First off, Olivia's parents are wonderful and responsible and black eyes are not a regular occurrence.

I doubt Olivia is actually in a baby fight club, but if she is, my money's on her.

Yes, I realize Olivia is a toddler and not a baby, but I think "Baby Fight Club" sounds better.

Also, I've never actually seen the movie Fight Club because I'm a wuss...so all my light-hearted joking about baby fight clubs is probably due to my lack of fight club knowledge. I'm picturing toddlers throwing stuffed animals at each other - is that not what happened to Edward Norton?

Aaaaanyway, this whole post originated as we were discussing Olivia's mysterious* black eye and sarcastically decided she must be in a fight club, and then someone said I should draw it. So I did. Don't call child protective services (Call your bookie instead and put $20 on the chatty 2-year-old for the win!)

*not actually mysterious.

Truly

2012-01-10T07:59:00.000-08:00

This is an updated version of a family portrait I started last year...now it includes the newest family member! My friends Josh and Heather adopted a precious little girl named Truly. In fact, the day I posted the original family portrait of them was the day we found out they'd be adopting her. So it was like the portrait was outdated as soon as it was completed! But Josh had the idea of completing it and surprising Heather for Christmas, and that's just what we did.

Hairy Potter

2012-01-09T07:58:00.000-08:00

Today I drew a HAIRY POTTER! Wordplay!

Looks like someone was cursed with a hair-thickening charm, eh?

My favorite part is the potter's wheel because I have no idea what they actually look like. Maybe I'm close. I originally drew the potter with a cigarette in his mouth (because he seems like a dirty hairy hippie) but then it just made me think of Jesus with a cigarette and it seemed wrong. And you probably didn't notice, but I technically should have drawn an additional rung on the stool - on the back side, to match the lower rung on the front side - but I overlooked it at the time and now it makes me crazy. (Just a little insight into the decidedly odd parts of my life where I'm inexplicably a perfectionist. Stool rungs? Really?)

...so she did.

2012-01-06T07:21:00.000-08:00

As you may know, lately I've been pretty into using wood as a canvas.

Today's post is no exception - I used pen and watercolor to create this little guy, and enjoyed myself along the way. I was happy that the abstract colors turned out kind of cloudy, like a sunset, and it also seemed to enhance the wood grain. The quote is one that I've heard before and always liked. She believed she could, so she did. Simple as that!

Toes

2012-01-05T07:56:00.000-08:00

Do you ever just stare at people's toes? I sure do. Toes are funny-looking in general. But sometimes I see people with such crazy toes that I have to stop and wonder if they're aware that they have weird feet. Whenever I'm reading through a silly celebrity magazine, I love to look at the celebrities' feet. It makes them seem more human to me, especially when they have weird, gnarly toes (there's a reason we invented shoes, people.)

So I thought it would be fun to draw out all the different kinds of toes I could think of. Like a periodic table of toes. These are just the little nuances I've noticed on different feet over the years and the names I've come up with for them. I think the one that weirds me out the most is what I call "Fingertoes," which is when someone has really long toes that look like they're practically fingers. Like, you're wondering how many words per minute those toes could type with. "Hairy Knuckles" is also a pretty unfortunate toe plight. But toes are toes, right? There's no right or wrong, I suppose. Feet are weird-looking! But at least now we can categorize them.

Zoooooooey

2012-01-04T08:04:00.000-08:00

Lately it seems like everyone in the world loves Zooey Deschanel, and I'm the only one who's kind of on the fence. For starters, I still can't get past the fact that she spells her name "Zooey." I've never particularly liked her movie roles (whose idea was it to cast her as Jim Carrey's love interest in "Yes Man"?!), but now she's starring in the show "New Girl," which is the first time I've really given her a chance. I'm still warming up to her. Today I tried to draw her, but I think it looks more like Snow White.

Are You An Other?

2012-01-03T07:54:00.000-08:00

Sorry y’all, this one’s only going to make sense if you’ve watched the TV series “Lost.”

(And even then, it’s kind of a stretch.)

I’m just still so infatuated with the idea of turning classic children’s books into…anything else, really. I like mutating them. You wouldn’t believe how much of my days have been spent brainstorming how I can turn “The Giving Tree” into Harry Potter or how I could draw “Where the Wild Lord of the Rings Are.” Or something like that. It’s harder to think of than I think it should be. So I keep trying. Today’s post is a little obscure - it’s a reference to Lost, featuring Walt and a polar bear. A group of people on Lost are referred to as “The Others,” and that’s about as much as I’m going to explain here without getting too spoilery.

The original:

My only other idea for this book was a James Bond spoof book called “Are You my Lover?” (you know, because he has so many lady-friends), but I generally try to keep this blog g-rated so I went with Walt and the polar bear instead. Also, to quote Liz Lemon: "The word 'lovers' bums me out unless it's between 'meat' and 'pizza'."

2012 (the year, not the movie)

2012-01-02T08:14:00.000-08:00

It's 2012!

I feel like it doesn't have enough impact when you write out the numbers.

It's TWO THOUSAND TWELVE!

It's like we're living in the future or something.

We should all be flying around on hoverboards by now.

In honor of the new year, I've decided to pick up a new sketch project.

Now, at no point in 2011 did I think "Hey, I haven't been drawing enough lately" but I thought this would be a really cool thing to attempt so I'm doing it anyway. My friend Heather recently gave me a sketch journal that's designed to be drawn in every day for a year. The pages are small so it seems manageable, and for someone like me this seemed like an ideal way to journal. I don't know if I'll really be able to keep it up, but I wanted to give it a go! Here's my first entry:

I definitely rang in the new year with Diet Coke in my hand...That's how I roll.

It feels a bit ambitious to add this sketchbook to my plate, but I love the idea of showing this to my kids one day - "This is what your mom was like in 2012..." And I turn 30 this year!

It seems like a worthy year to keep track of.

So I will.

...And More Muscles.

2011-12-30T08:02:00.000-08:00

Boy, this is another page out of my high school sketchbook....it's a little embarrassing.
Really? This is what I spent my time drawing? Was this supposed to be my ideal man? With his boxers hanging out and, um, wings?! I like to think my taste has matured since this was drawn. I spend a little less time dreaming about boys with triangle torsos and wings in their backs.

Muscles

2011-12-29T07:38:00.000-08:00

Does anyone actually have this shoulders-to-waist ratio that makes their torso shaped like a top-heavy triangle? Because that's what's going on here. I found this page in an old sketchbook of mine from high school, and I couldn't help but laugh at how I drew the dude's pecs and abs, then apparently got bored and moved on. Who cares what his face would have looked like - it looks like I just wanted to see him with his shirt off. The rest of the sketchbook is filled with other typical high-school-Annie sketches and doodles, featuring the Spice Girls, Xena, and floor plans for my own personal jet...Typical, like I said.

Santa's Haircut

2011-12-28T07:53:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas is behind us now, and Santa finally has some free time on his hands. Looks like he decided to get a haircut! But once I started drawing out this sketch, I realized that I think Santa's probably bald under his hat...so that's not much of a haircut. It's more of a beard trimming. I think of Santa's elves as the kind of employees that are versatile in a variety of different skills, like acrobatics and beard-trimming. On a separate note - I don't know how to draw Santa's outfit without feeling like I'm drawing him in a miniskirt.

Woodland Friends

2011-12-27T07:44:00.000-08:00

This was one of my favorite gifts to give this Christmas - a drawing of some of my best friends.

This is a sketch I did of my friends Chris and Kira and their adorable dogs, Cruiser and Daisy.

I drew it on a piece of wood, which seemed appropriate because they're outdoorsy and they live in Idaho where there are trees and snow and nature. I know their family will change and grow over the years, but I liked the idea of giving them a memorable snapshot of what their family looked like in 2011.

The Parking Dance

2011-12-26T07:47:00.000-08:00

As I've been doing my holiday shopping this December, I've been in quite a few tight spots. You know, literally tight spots, where you can barely get out of your vehicle because the cars are parked so closely together and you have to do a cirque-du-soleil routine to wriggle out your door. And the other day, as I was slithering out between cars, it occurred to me that I'm glad I care that much about hitting the car next to me. I would rather crawl out bit by bit in what can only be described as a contortionist act than put a dent in the car next to me. Even a little dent. Even when they've parked over the line. I think most of us feel the same way, right? And I like that about people. I also like that holiday shopping will be over soon,

and mall parking lots will return to their normal half-empty state for a few months!

Santa Crossing

2011-12-23T07:50:00.000-08:00

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Eat, drink eggnog, and be merry.

Be very, very merry.

This is totally the best time of year to be merry.

Being merry in April just isn't quite the same.

Now, now is your time...

Be merry, and have a wonderful Christmas!

Gingerbread: The Sequel

2011-12-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

I know it might seem like kind of a cop-out to use gingerbread houses as my "art of the day" twice this week, but I spent like four hours making gingerbread houses yesterday. It counts as my daily dose of art!

After my aunt's annual gingerbread house party, she always makes a few extra houses to give away at our church's food-share program, so some underprivileged families can have gingerbread houses at Christmas time. This year, I was on the candy-decorating team that cranked out the decorations for 15 extra gingerbread houses. Our instructions were to just get a bunch of candy on each house, but I couldn't help but add a few artsy flourishes...This first house didn't have much to brag about, but I liked how the roof turned out:

This house got a roof made of Nerds (frosting the roof and then dumping Nerds on top of it was nice and speedy). I made a tree and garden on one end of the house and tried to string some "Christmas lights" on the other end.

Aaaaaand after a long day of candy-decorating (and candy-tasting...I have to sample my building materials, right?), today I go to the dentist, which seems right on schedule!

99 Years...

2011-12-21T07:50:00.000-08:00

My grandmother turned 99 years old yesterday!

99, I say! That is ooooold. I can't imagine being around for that long. She was born in 1912!

I should cut her a little slack when she doesn't understand how the internet works or she can't remember what month it is (half the time, I can't do those things either!) When she was born, cars were still a new thing. TVs weren't around yet. I can only wonder what crazy inventions will exist when I'm 99...but I bet it will look something like this:

This is 99-year-old me, flying around space with my jetpack and hovershoes. This is totally what life is going to be like in 2081. Just you wait! And I like that I drew myself with a cane even though it seems a little unnecessary in space. (You never know when it'll come in handy!)

I look forward to the day I get my first jetpack. See you in 70 years.

Shrub Sculptures

2011-12-20T07:44:00.000-08:00

This weekend, my Saturday night consisted of watching a documentary about topiary sculptures with my mom. Yeah, that's right. I know how to party. But as I thought about topiary sculptures and what I would want in my garden, the first thing that came to mind is that I would want a shrub sculpture in the shape of a person that was pruning a different sculpture. So I attempted to draw that out. The other favorite option was a dragon topiary sculpture that would be eating the other one...and this version just seemed more humane. So here you go!

Gingerbread House Party!

2011-12-19T07:44:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite family traditions is the Ludes family gingerbread house party! My aunt (with lots of helpers) bakes and builds dozens and dozens of gingerbread houses (and some graham cracker houses for less-advanced decorators) and then there's a massive open-house gingerbread party. It's a wonderful tradition. A legacy, if you will. My family knows gingerbread. We do it right. I take a little pride in it. As a kid, there was nothing more magical than walking into that living room each year and seeing the gingerbread city.

For the past several years, I haven't been able to come home for the gingerbread party because it's a busy time with work and holidays and I couldn't make the drive - but this year, I returned! I was so, so happy when I found out I could attend. I was talking about it with my friends beforehand, and I think someone made a joke about the gingerbread houses catching on fire...and I had a vision.

I wanted to decorate a gingerbread house that looked like it was on fire!

With candy corn flames. This was my creation:

When I was a kid, my favorite thing was always to create unusual things on and around the gingerbread house. I wanted to make candy satellite dishes, pretzel swingsets, candy cane boats... The candy corn flames (on top of flattened coffee jelly beans to give the roof a "charred" look) fell into that category for me, where I felt like I was getting to put my creativity to good use.

After I made the flames, I spent a while rolling green "Dot" candies into a fire hose (green gummy worms were surprisingly uncooperative.) The hose was my dad's idea. I think it turned out pretty cool.

The best part is that the hose was connected to a candy cane spigot at the back of the house.

Towards the end I just started sticking candy anywhere on the house because I had been at it for like two hours and all I had was a hose and some flames. It kind of went downhill at that point. But I was pretty darn proud of that fire. I'm already brainstorming what gingerbread natural disasters could happen next year!

Flannel Ben

2011-12-16T07:52:00.000-08:00

You know what’s super-fun and really easy? Making your own flannel board characters!

I attended my friends' Christmas party yesterday and we had a white elephant gift exchange. I couldn't think of anything to bring, so I decided to make a homemade flannel board instead (like the little felt characters they always use in Sunday school.) This is a flannel board set of my friend Ben.

Ben is a great guy, but somehow he’s also the natural target for stuff like this.

It’s his blessing and his curse. Here’s what I came up with:

We sometimes tease Ben about how he always wears black, which is why there are so many black shirts. There’s also an Angels pennant, a Sigur Ros record, and a Radiohead record. Ben plays guitar. He wears sunglasses. He has an iphone. And he’s the best darn Monopoly player I’ve ever played against. He’s like a Monopoly wizard. Every time we play (group games - it’s not like Ben and I have one-on-one Monopoly duels), Ben always wins, and I get mocked for how in awe I am of his Monopoly skills. I’m telling you – Monopoly wizard. Anyway, this is Ben in a nutshell. A Ben of felt.

This isn’t so bad, right? Ben’s kind of a private guy so I wasn’t sure if this was an un-loyal thing to create and post about…but there’s nothing bad on here. He looks like a normal, cool flannel-guy, right? And hey, at least I gave him pants. That was loyal. He would haaaaaate it if I drew him in his undies. At least I know him that well. Although I'm pretty sure he'd hate that I just used his name and the word "undies" in the same sentence.

If You Give a Man a Wookiee

2011-12-15T07:45:00.000-08:00

This one's a little weird, but I'm glad I at least gave it a shot! The cookie/wookiee rhyme was just crying out to me. I had to think of something. I spent days trying to come up with something other than "man" in the title, but I came up with nothing. (Give a scoundrel a wookiee? Give a Han a wookiee?...) So we're giving a man a wookiee and pretending that's a normal phrase. Just go with it. And if you're wondering, the round gray things are supposed to be Han's ship, the Millennium Falcon. Or maybe the top one is the Death Star...

I imagine the book would go something like this:

"If you give a man a wookiee, he's going to ask for a fast spaceship.

When you give him the spaceship, he'll probably ask you for an astromech droid to help with repairs.

Once you've reached light speed, he'll ask you for an Alderaan princess..."

You get the gist.

Etsy Shop!

2011-12-14T07:52:00.000-08:00

I'm fiiiiiinally starting to get my act together and set up an etsy shop! I wanted you to be the first to know. If you don't know what etsy is - it's a website where people sell homemade and vintage things (it was first described to me as "ebay for crafty people.") I'm still getting started and so far I only have three prints available for sale, but at least it's something. I've been working towards this for a long time and I'm happy that I'm taking these first steps. I have several more prints and things that I'm ready to sell, I just haven't had the time to post them on etsy yet. And even though Christmas is notoriously known as a busy, busy time of year - I actually think I'll have more time than usual to be working on this stuff. It's funny timing, but I'll take what I can get. So, without further ado, I present to you the AnnieInk etsy shop!:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AnnieInk

Curious Geordi

2011-12-13T07:37:00.000-08:00

A friend recently sent me this link to a website featuring well-known children's books that had been turned into sci-fi alternatives. It's pretty awesome. I barely even know what "Dune" is, but I still love the hypothetical cover for "Goodnight Dune" in place of "Goodnight Moon." It's so good! So clever! I like to copy clever things. On that note, I give you Curious Geordi:

It's Geordi La Forge from Star Trek! I love doing stuff like this.

I love combining two different known styles or characters or art into one combo-piece that looks familiar, but then you realize "Oh, hey - that's not George, it's Star Trek characters!" Really, it's just like when you think you're listening to the beginning of "Gangster's Paradise" and suddenly Weird Al is singing about harvesting grain! (Sometimes I miss the 90's.) I'm digressing. Here's the original Curious George cover that I copied:

And yes, I realize I gave the Star Trek dudes the wrong color outfits! I drew their characters in black and white originally. Then I went to color their outfits and I realized that I had just happened to pick the three guys that wear gold. Against a yellow background. A little too monotone for my taste, so I changed their outfits. Just pretend they were promoted from operations to medical, and Geordi is the new captain (and a curious one at that!)

Dog Walking

2011-12-12T07:43:00.000-08:00

So, lightheartedly, I thought it would be fun to draw a dog that was taking a man for a walk.

Like a freaky-Friday role-reversal situation.

And then next thing you know, I'm drawing a guy with a leash around his neck and feeling awkward about it. Maybe I didn't really think this through...but there's no time to dwell on it. His (uncannily tall) canine owner is clearly late for work at the stock exchange.

Mattsquatch Crossing

2011-12-09T07:33:00.000-08:00

As you may recall, I posted a “Mattsquatch” drawing a few months ago.

It’s a drawing of my friend Matt as a sasquatch. Nothing unusual.

You know how it is, drawing your friends as mythical woodland creatures, right?

Since Mattsquatch has been known to appear out of the woods and startle people at any given time, I thought it would be best to create warning signs that alert people of spots that Mattsquatch likes to frequently visit. AND it’s an excuse to spray paint something again! I accidentally painted the black part way off-center, but I think it still gets the point across. I want to tag this all over the place. Mattsquatch crossing! Beware!

I felt like tagging more so I hit up a tree stump. It was not as successful, but it does seem more like what a sasquatch-tagging-job would look like. It’s sasquatch graffiti!

30Rock Rocks.

2011-12-08T07:29:00.000-08:00

Oh, 30 Rock, how I've missed you! 30 Rock is by far my favorite comedy and I've been waiting very patiently for it to return to TV in January. I've been reading Tina Fey's "Bossypants" on repeat to supplement the lack of Liz Lemon in my life right now. But January is almost here! And I thought I should draw some 30 Rock character caricatures to celebrate. Tina Fey has said that she's proud of the fact that 30 Rock has such a "human-looking" cast (meaning they have normal faces, as opposed to a cast of hot twenty-somethings), and I like that it makes them easier to draw because you can tell them apart! I'm slowly trying to develop the art of caricaturing - I never seem to know which features to exaggerate. But I'm happy with these four folks. Fortunately, their human-looking faces were easy to work with. Thanks for everything, 30 Rock. I'm excited to hang out again soon. See you January 12th!

Sasquatch Buddy

2011-12-07T07:40:00.000-08:00

I have to tell you - I had the most amazing time at work last week. I got to dance in a music video about two sasquatches falling in love. YES. This is real, people. Before I get into it - is the plural for sasquatch really "sasquatches"? Because right now it's underlined for me like it's misspelled...but I guess it's the only viable option, right? Sasquatchi, like cacti, is too ridiculous. Aaaaanyway, I got to be a part of a music video we filmed for upcoming winter camps, and it was just so, so silly. There were a lot of g-rated dance moves and a couple of friends in sasquatch costumes. I pretty much just flailed around for the entire filming. It was such a good work day. And now I keep getting reminded of sasquatches whenever I see tall people or furry animals or bare feet. So I drew a sasquatch today.

The Bluths

2011-12-06T07:59:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been watching through some "Arrested Development" episodes, and now I can't get the Bluth family off my brain! I decided to take a stab at drawing caricatures of their characters. Some are definitely better than others, but I didn't feel like spending too much time on this "project". I was actually trying to test myself and see what I could come up with in quick, 30-second sketches of each character. I was surprised that Gob and George Michael seemed to be the most difficult...especially Gob! He's such a character! I apparently can't draw him at all. And Buster looks like such a creeper...normally I have a secret crush on Tony Hale, but not this version. I think my favorite might be mopey Tobias - I didn't mean to draw him looking so sad, but somehow it suits him.

Superjealous

2011-12-05T07:58:00.000-08:00

I decided to add a few characters to a drawing I did for an earlier post...

Suddenly everyone's got superpowers!

Now Superman's sad because he's not so special any more.

My favorite is the cat shooting itself with the bullet bouncing off its chest.

I'm less proud of the boy with icy cooling breath powers (that always seemed neat when Superman did it, but describing it sounds lame) because I think it looks like he's just spitting in his hand.

Oh, and the bird is supposed to be "faster than a speeding bullet" but it just looks like a normal-speed bird...Anyway, Superman's just jealous that he's no longer the only superdude in the neighborhood!

The Ugly Truth

2011-12-02T07:59:00.000-08:00

Let's be honest. Yesterday's post made it look a little too easy.

This is what it actually looks like when I'm trying to "tag" something. Except a little less graceful, if that's possible to imagine. No matter what I do, I always end up with paint all over my hands and clothes and most of the time it ends up in my hair. All in the name of art, eh?

Feeling Tagsick

2011-12-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

Tagsick. You know, like homesick, but for tagging.

I miss tagging things. It's been too long! Silly Thanksgiving.

I was busy eating turkey and being thankful instead of tagging up more of my office stairwell.
So what do I do when I'm tagsick? I draw myself tagging.

I know, it's super-nerdy.

This is from another page in my Walls Notebook - so the brick, stairs, and the words "artist's space" were already there. I took the liberty of adding the rest. It needed a little tagging...as do I. Sigh.

Mountain Dewed

2011-11-30T07:50:00.000-08:00

I was going through some old boxes last night and I came across this little gem. It's from 2006.

Yes, I drew a picture of a boy bringing me a can of Mountain Dew. Is that not normal?

It's my favorite drink, although these days Diet Coke is really winning me over.

For added amusement, I discovered that the drawing was on the back of a custom word-search that my friend Sarah made for me when we worked at summer camp together. All the words had to do with that summer and the jokes that came out of it...My favorites are "greasemonkey," "turkeyleg," and "wouldyourather." Those are the best.

And yes, I save stuff like this. I get sentimentally attached.

One day I'll be a hoarder with piles of word-searches and lots of cats.

White Eyes

2011-11-29T07:55:00.000-08:00

Today is a pretty odd bunch of doodles...it's just a handful of guys with white eyeballs. Last year, my friend Jordan had a link on his facebook page saying that everyone should check out his friend's art blog. As someone in the "art blog" realm, I was particularly interested. The artist is named Kevin Parks and he blog-shares doodles as he creates them (often drawn on post-its.) I seriously love this guy's drawing style. I'm hooked. I read every post. And I love the fact that I only know he exists because I happened to see a link on facebook one day. I don't even know Kevin Parks...but he's from Ventura, California like I am so he's already got that going for him. Anyway, he often draws people with white eyeballs (or no eyeballs, I guess...or maybe weather-altering eyeballs like Storm from X-Men) and since I love everything about how this guy draws, I decided to see what my dude doodles would look like with white eyes.

They look weird. I'm no Kevin Parks. But I'm Annie, and that's okay.

Springhill Suites

2011-11-28T07:43:00.000-08:00

I don't know if this is interesting to anyone, but here goes!

My dad recently emailed me a link to the Springhill Suites website, where they were promoting a design-a-keycard contest. Meaning, the hotel chain was holding a contest to see who could come up with the best new keycard design for their hotel. As a fan of both design and hotels, I felt like this was a great opportunity for me. I loved the idea of having my little drawings on a keycard! (Also, the winner gets an ipad.) Unfortunately, I only had a couple days and not enough free time before the contest was closed for submissions, so I didn't actually submit a design. I only got to the brainstorming phase. But since that's usually my favorite phase, I figured it was still worth sharing. These sketches were my initial brainstorms for what I could design on a keycard:

In this next portion, I tried to draw something that could look like either a sun rising over a hill between two trees, or a bed between two lamps. See it? It's a stretch. But it's the most clever idea I had. Oh, and then there's also a hand reaching for the lamp on the nightstand...but it's a tree, not a lamp! I don't know why I kept trying to put tree lamps in their hotel rooms.

In the end, I didn't have the time to finalize any of these ideas into something more concrete, but it was still a fun process to sketch all this stuff out. Maybe I'll get 'em next year!

Superboy

2011-11-25T07:41:00.000-08:00

Today I just felt like drawing a superhero. So I drew Superman hovering in the sky (I always accidentally add gloves to his super-outfit...doesn't it seem like he should wear gloves?) I originally was considering drawing Superman watching as two people below were getting in a fight over Black Friday merchandise (you know, to be culturally relevant and whatnot) but then that seemed like too much work. So instead, we get a little boy who is strong enough to lift a trash can. Superman seems to have an unexplainable look of fear in his eyes, so you have to assume that he either fears this boy as a future adversary, or he's wondering if somewhere down the line he fathered a super-child. Either way, I think it would have been more entertaining if I'd drawn some Wal-Mart shoppers battling it out instead...

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T07:53:00.000-08:00

May your holiday be filled with pie, football, family, stuffing, and gratitude!

Also, I'd like to mention that you get two thumbs up from me if you are not currently reading this on your phone while camping out in line for Best Buy. In fact, I hope you're reading this on Friday because you were so busy being thankful with your family on Thursday. Go on, get out of here - go hug somebody and eat some turkey!

Look What I Made!

2011-11-23T07:56:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick doodle I sketched out - I drew it a few days ago as I was surrounded by nature and clouds and birds and sunlight and I realized how much I take it for granted sometimes. But I want to be grateful. And I know the world wasn't created by a toga-wearing Jesus looking to me for approval like a needy toddler...but somehow this seemed to embody what I was feeling - mainly just that I wish I remembered to be grateful more often.

Critter Buddies

2011-11-22T07:52:00.000-08:00

You didn't really think I was all done with my street* art, did you?

I've got plenty more where that came from. Okay, maybe not a ton this week - but I'm definitely not done with this art medium yet. Especially when I've got a whole wall to work with! Today we have a chipmunk aiding a raccoon that looked like he needed a friend. I like the chipmunk stencil because wherever I paint him, I can draw anything coming out of the sharpie marker in his hand...so many possibilities!

*No art was actually done on streets, near streets, or anything street-related.

Liz Lemon & Me

2011-11-21T07:48:00.000-08:00

A long time ago, I blogged about this wooden plaque I was working on.

I bought it because I stumbled upon it online and immediately recognized it from Liz Lemon's office on 30 Rock. Yeah, I'm kind of obsessed with that show, and I'm always molding my life to be as much like Tina Fey's as possible. So in the spirit of TV-obsession, I bought the wall plaque on ebay and was intent on hanging it in my office just like ol' Liz Lemon.

But I wanted to make mine just like Liz Lemon's, or at least pretty close.

And when I bought the plaque, there was way too much orange:

So I painted. I sanded. I painted. I sanded. It was a long, delicate process.

And finally, after I sanded off the last of the orange flowers and repainted white ones in their place...I love it. I absolutely love this weird, funky artwork from the sixties! It's not exactly the same as Liz's, but I like to think Liz Lemon and I might be the only two people in the world with a wall plaque like this.

Because who takes this much time to work on altering a weird retro wall plaque?

30 Rock set designers.

And me.

I like those odds.

Raccoon Balloon

2011-11-18T07:49:00.000-08:00

You know how I said I've been brainstorming street art for upcoming work projects?

Well, that turned into my bosses (some of them - I sort of have four bosses) trying to convince me to practice graffiti and spray paint stenciling on our office walls. I laughed at them. Of course not! I'm a rule-follower. I'm not going to tag up our office. We went back and forth for a bit, with my bosses cheering for me to spray paint something on the wall and me refusing...partly because the whole thing felt like a trick. Was I reeeeally allowed to spray paint on the wall? Suddenly my question was answered - one of them grabbed the spray paint can and started tagging the wall himself. Like this:

Yeah. That happened.

But once the wall had been officially "christened" by this little number, I knew they weren't kidding around. They really did want me to paint things on the wall! Open season! And after that "design" was on there, I knew there was nowhere to go but up. So I took the honor of making their "art" a little more Banksy-ish with a raccoon taking responsibility for the tagging. Silly raccoons!

To reach the balloon, I had to precariously balance on a chair propped up on the stairs,

which was the hardest part.

Boba Fett Stencil

2011-11-17T07:39:00.001-08:00

Look what I made!!!
I try not to use that phrase too much...I never want to be the artist who's running around like "Hey, look what I can do!" But today, I am truly giddy about what I've created. I don't know why I have such a weird obsession with Boba Fett, but I love the guy. He's the bounty hunter from Star Wars, if you don't know. You should know. Everybody should know who Boba Fett is.

So anyway, I was particularly excited to show someone (anyone!) this Boba Fett helmet I'd created with stencils and spray paint - my very first multi-colored stencil! I was so pleased with myself. When my coworker Michael arrived at work, I eagerly showed him my new creation...

Me: "Michael, look what I made!"
Michael: "What is that?"
Me (horrified): "IT'S BOBA FETT!"
Michael: "From Star Wars?"
Me: "YES, from Star Wars! You don't know Boba Fett?!"
Michael: "Oh, was he the assassin?..."
Me: "HE WAS A BOUNTY HUNTER!!"

I was suddenly equally sure that he should know more about Star Wars and I should know less.

I cut three different stencils out of thin cardboard and then sprayed one layer on top of another.

I was pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to do the three different layers...

And now I have a new set of stencils so I can spread Boba Fett awareness wherever I go!

Raccoon (More like Rac-cool!)

2011-11-16T07:59:00.000-08:00

Part of why I'm on such a street-art-kick is because I've been researching it for work-related stuff. I've been tasked with brainstorming and researching various aspects of street art, which I love. Looooove. So even at work, daydreaming about stencils and spray paint is allowed and even encouraged. As I was showing a coworker the latest stencil I'd created, he asked when I made it, and I told him I'd cut it out the night before while I was watching a movie. For some reason this stopped me in my tracks - I mean, not everyone spends their evening sitting by the fire watching a movie and cutting a raccoon out of a transparency sheet. Right? This is a unique hobby. I get it. And I don't mind. Today's wannabe-Banksy-stencil-of-the-day is a raccoon, a little buddy to go with yesterday's squirrel. I like him a lot.

The stencil I cut out of a transperency sheet, pre-paint:

My favorite raccoon tag - an abandoned sink!:

Are You Nuts?!

2011-11-15T07:50:00.000-08:00

I had one particularly tiring day at work last week. It wasn't that bad - it was fine, but I was eager to clear my mind when the end of the work day rolled around. I enthusiastically fled from my office with stencils and spray paint in hand. I had a new stencil, a squirrel I'd cut out of a transparency sheet (like what you use on overhead projectors - remember those?) and I could feel all the stress of the day fading away as I started tagging random objects with a goofy little squirrel image. It gets dark at like 5pm now with the silly California time change. I found myself ducking behind dumpsters in the dark whenever people were walking by, making me feel like I was getting the true "vandal experience." Not that it would have mattered if I "got caught", I just didn't want to have to explain to a random coworker why I was in the dark tagging a squirrel on an abandoned toilet. How do you even begin to explain that? But when I finally walked in my front door that night, hands and forearms splattered with black paint, reeking of paint fumes and carrying a toilet tank lid I'd decided to keep...suddenly I couldn't remember what was so stressful about my day after all. All I knew is that night-tagging (even as a vandal-wannabe) can feel like a real adventure.

I made the squirrel saying "Are you nuts?" as a play on words...

Like he's asking you if you're crazy, or also if you happen to be an acorn.

I switched out our office toilet tank lid for a quick photo op:

Tagalicious

2011-11-14T07:48:00.000-08:00

It’s Banksy week! Hopefully I can keep it up. Creating images, cutting stencils, and spray-painting is a big process - one that I’m TOTALLY enjoying, but it’s also pretty time-consuming. I'm fairly sure I’m doing everything a little bit wrong, using methods that are probably quite inefficient compared to the pros – but I’m still having a lot of fun, especially for a beginner.

For my very first “I’m going to pretend I’m a street artist” stencil, I decided to stay simple.

I copied Banksy’s signature stencil and used it to create my own "signature":

I cut it out of some posterboard I had lying around. It’s nice and sturdy, making it so fun and easy to run up to something and tag it quickly. Again, I’d like to add the disclaimer that I’m not actually tagging buildings…I only meant that it’s a quick and simple process with a very clean, consistent result every time. I pulled a few fun items out of my favorite dumpster at work (the one where we dispose of furniture and lamps and objects, rather than typical “trash”) and just went to town! I sprayed my name on everything, it was so ridiculous and fun. I had no idea I would enjoy it that much! I highly recommend tagging. (You know, in a wholesome, rule-followy kind of way.)

I know it's not great to tag a book.

But it was in the dumpster already and it had been rained on the night before.

(Mom, that disclaimer was for you. I know how much you love books and hate graffiti,

and you're probably wincing at the sight of this.)

I liked the guitar neck so much that I kept it and added it to my mantle in my office at work:

Banksy!

2011-11-11T07:57:00.000-08:00

All right, I admit it - I've been totally enthralled with Banksy this week. Banksy, the street artist! Google him if you don't know what I'm talking about. This guy is artistically inspiring, and I don't say that about a lot of people. I may not agree with his vandalism or political views and I think "Banksy" is kind of a nerdy name, but I love his ambitious artsy style. It makes me want to go tag stuff everywhere! And I will. Except I'm a total rule-follower and I won't tag on buildings. I only tag things that I find in dumpsters. Clean-ish dumpsters. I'm not a bag lady. You'll see. Next week is going to be so fun. I've already made some stencils and tried it out, and spray-painting stencils is such a blast! After all these years, it's refreshing to try an art medium I've never tried before. And it makes me feel pretty hip while I'm at it.

This drawing is just a spoof of what it would be like if Banksy himself came and confronted me while I was copying his tagging style (is "tagging" even the right word? I'm definitely not up-to-date on current street artist lingo.) Banksy hides his identity and never shows his face publicly, so I imagine that he would block his face somehow (like Wilson from Home Improvement!) which is why he's holding up a sign in front of his head. Silly Banksy. On a semi-unrelated note, today I decided that if I was really into street art and I got a new puppy, I would name him "Barksy" in Banksy's honor.

X-Kids

2011-11-10T07:58:00.000-08:00

I loved the X-Men cartoon from the early 90's!...I know I've already mentioned it on this blog. A few times. I forever picture all the X-Men characters in their outfits from the cartoon instead of the black leather outfits from the movies. There's a lot more spandex in this version, for better or for worse. Today I created Peanuts versions of my favorite X-Men (and X-Ladies) and this is the result. I love the challenge of drawing familiar characters (like X-Men) in different drawing styles (like Peanuts-style.) It makes for some real cute little guys...I just love little Gambit with his pink chest plate and trenchcoat! And I originally was going to title this post a cross between "X-Men" and "Peanuts" until I realized that would result in either "X-Nuts" or "Pea-Men", and neither of those seemed quite classy enough.

The Jetstones

2011-11-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

This is obviously the follow-up drawing of Monday's post, with the Jetsons thrown into the Flintstones' world. My favorite is probably little Elroy running around in Bam Bam's getup, although Rosie the robot maid wearing Barney Rubble's one-piece also makes me smile. I've never really realized before that both Judy Jetson and Bam Bam Rubble have white hair, which is rather odd for adolescents, right?...Maybe it's a prehistoric/futuristic thing.

Calvin

2011-11-08T07:58:00.000-08:00

We've all seen those bumper stickers, right?

The ones with Calvin relieving himself on a Chevy logo? Or the Raiders logo? Or a politician's name?

Classy, folks. Reeeeal classy. The only good that comes out of those ridiculous stickers is that it helps me sort out who I want to be friends with. I do not associate with people who have Calvin peeing on things on the back of their car. It's just good sense. To clarify, the drawing above is not intended to endorse the Calvin stickers...if anything, it's meant to be a protest.

And the worst part is that I bet Bill Watterson (the creator of Calvin and Hobbes) hates those silly stickers. He didn't want Calvin and Hobbes to become too commercialized like lots of other comics (which is why you're probably not wearing Calvin and Hobbes boxers right now.) I looked around for any articles that addressed Bill Watterson's opinion on the matter, and the only quote I found from him was the wry comment "I clearly miscalculated how popular it would be to show Calvin urinating on a Ford logo." At least it seems like Bill still has his sense of humor.

The Flintsons

2011-11-07T07:52:00.000-08:00

This one's pretty self-explanatory - it's a drawing of the Flintstones characters in Jetsons outfits.

I know at some point there was a "Flinstones Meet the Jetsons" crossover episode, but I'm unsure if they actually ever swapped lives and outfits and everything...if they did, it might look something like this. I've been in a cartoony mood lately, so I'm thinking this week will feature a lot of cartoon drawings. Lots of dialogue bubbles and 2-dimensional characters coming your way!

Celebrity Costumes

2011-11-04T07:38:00.000-07:00

To conclude this week's series,

here are a few more ideas of celebrity Halloween costume ideas based on their last names:

To clarify - Halle Berry is dressed as a raspberry, not a bunch of grapes.

I had to do some online research for Emily "Blunt." Turns out I didn't really know what those were...and I still don't really. Drug free, the way to be - right, kids?

Technically I drew Reese "Withered-spoon," but I still think that counts.

I found it funny to draw Megan Fox in a chunky little pudgy fox costume, since she is the opposite.

In my peripheral I keep thinking Emma Stone's stone is actually a gross, gray fried egg.

I know the drawing of "Brad Arm-Pitt" is one of the weirder ones...I was too set on the idea of drawing him as an armpit and not a peach pit.

And last but not least, we have Kirstie Alley as both a bowling alley and a shady in-between-buildings-where-you-get-mugged alley. I couldn't decide.

Ryan "Gosling"

2011-11-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was reading through Banksy's book "Wall and Piece" for some work-related research (which makes it a pretty hip day at the office) and now I can't stop thinking about it. If you don't know, Banksy is a graffiti artist that is famous (or infamous?) for his often-thought-provoking street art. I don't endorse vandalism or anything, but it's a fun book to look through. And I couldn't help but think about Banksy's "legacy" as I was looking though it...how has he become a worldwide phenomenon using graffiti?! I admire him for making up his own "career" and mainly for being so, so creative. Personally, I'm not looking to be a law-breaking-graffiti-vandal any time soon, but I'd like to think a tiny bit outside the box sometimes. I don't know what that looks like, but I wish my art had more direction, or at least a bigger scope. I wish I did more with it, but I don't know what...Maybe graffiti murals?

Well, I guess now's as good a time as any to introduce you to this:

Ryan Gosling, dressed up as water fowl.

This is my legacy. This is what I have to show for myself.

But that's okay. Because I giggle every time I look at it. Why does he look like such a sad little gosling?

Probably because he's not wearing pants. I'd be sad, too.

Lance "Bass"

2011-11-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

Well, after yesterday's post a friend asked if the celebrity-Halloween-costume-that-goes-with-their-name idea was going to be a series. And I thought it should be. So here we go! #2 in the series: Lance Bass! Get it?! This one is DOUBLE the fun, because he's dressed up as a bass fish AND he's holding a bass guitar! Bass, bass, bass.

For whatever reason, I was originally considering drawing Robert Pattinson in a ridiculous costume. I kept trying to make his name work. The only idea I could come up with was to draw him dressed as the gender-ambiguous "Pat" character from SNL, and then draw another little Pat next to him, so it'd be like "Pat 'n son," like Pattinson. Buuuut since that's the worst idea ever and it's far too complicated, I decided to draw Lance Bass in a fish costume instead. Good compromise.

Teri "Hatcher"

2011-11-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I had costumes on the brain (you know, since it was Halloween and all) and for some reason it made me think about what different celebrities could/should dress up as, according to wordplay with their names...which brings us to Teri Hatcher. Get it? She's "Hatch"ing out of the egg! She's a hatcher! I'm going to stop talking down to you like you don't get it. I know you get it. And I know this is not my most clever or talent-filled post...but it's today's doodle, nonetheless. I like how the nest ended up looking sort of like a tutu.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T07:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

I briefly considered dressing up in costume for work today, until I remembered it's Monday and I'm typically alone in the office on Mondays. Then I had fun as I imagined what that would look like, with me prancing around the office by myself dressed as a hobbit or superhero or protocol droid or whatever. I would enjoy knowing that when I answered the phone, the person on the other end wouldn't know they were speaking to someone in a ninja turtle costume, for instance. In actuality, I'm wearing a plaid button-down shirt with a black sweater and pretending I'm Liz Lemon without her glasses on. It's almost a costume. Like when you use your green braces to get people to not pinch you on St. Patrick's Day even though you really forgot to wear green...I'm just barely dressing up. But hey, getting the office to myself so I can blast the new Coldplay album while I'm pretending to be Tina Fey = best Halloween ever.

Bacon Crest

2011-10-28T07:56:00.000-07:00

Today's illustration was inspired by my friend Nate, who really, really loves bacon. I actually have two good friends named Nate that are in love with bacon, so it could apply to either. In truth, everybody named Nate probably loves bacon, because all men seem to be in agreement about the wonders of bacon. Today at our staff lunch meeting we had "breakfast for lunch" and even though the menu said "steak and eggs," Nate#1 kept hoping and hoping that by "steak," they meant "bacon." A little desperate for bacon, are we? This artwork is obviously just a tweaked version of yesterday's post, but it was still fun to come up with. So here's to all the Nates of the world and their love of bacon! Think of it as the Bacon family crest. Bacon Crest. Sounds like a nasty toothpaste or a shady city I wouldn't want to raise kids in.

Earthy

2011-10-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

I love to sketch. I really do. But lately I've been a little tired of doodling such silly, cartoony doodles...I needed to shake things up. So yesterday I decided to do my "drawing" on my computer in Illustrator and it feels refreshing to have a different kind of artwork to show for myself. It was inspired by the thought of a family crest and it made me think that if I had my own personal crest, it would have to be very mountainy. Because my life is very mountain-centric. And I like nature. Once I was finished, I got excited for a moment thinking I had just created a symbol that could double as a Captain Planet logo...until I realized it's not four different elements - it's Earth, Water, Earth, and Earth again. And yes, I know there are five different Captain Planet team members, but I always thought "Heart" was a bit of a stretch. Right, Planeteers? Anyway, I also designed a monochromatic version that I might like even more than the first version. Some day I will make a shirt with this on it, and I will pretend I'm a Planeteer.

Treedude

2011-10-26T07:57:00.000-07:00

Would you rather date a really cute guy who has a tree for body....or date a tree with a man-body?

Don't answer that. It's rhetorical. Or nonsensical. Or something. I just think "Would you rather" questions are funny. But I don't like when they're depressing, like "Would you rather have no eyes or no feet?" I've heard some pretty gnarly ones that make me wince as they're being listed off. I prefer exciting "Would you rather" questions like "Would you rather have a magical elf who grants you three wishes or be given a $5,000 gift card to Outback Steakhouse?" See how much more fun that is? And then follow-up response questions add to the excitement - Is it a boy elf or girl elf? Does the gift card have an expiration date? Will I have to feed and clothe the elf? Could I just wish-ask the elf for an Outback gift card? (Duh.) Aaaaaaanyway, since it seems as though this whole post was sort of one big tangent - I'm gonna' sign off. Hope you enjoyed the tree-dude.

Adeline's Drawing

2011-10-25T07:56:00.000-07:00

My housemates' 4-year-old daughter, Adeline, made this for me a few weeks ago, and I love it. She just recently started really drawing people that look like humans, and I simply love this drawing. She said it's a drawing of me and her - and look at how our little stick arms are holding hands...come on, that's adorable. This is good stuff.

But then I started thinking about what these people would really look like, with these long, skinny limbs and no torsos...so I decided to draw a slightly more realistic version of Addie's drawing:

...Aaaaaaaand it's the creepiest thing ever.

Bad idea, right? I should have left it alone. Weird little skinny monsters - gotta' love the unibrows, though. I think they translated pretty well from the original. Everything else...not so much. Adeline knew what she was doing. I shouldn't have taken matters into my own hands. Lesson learned.

Weakened Weekend

2011-10-24T07:52:00.000-07:00

"Is this too gross to post?..." I wondered as I clicked the "publish" button.

Come on, you can handle it, right? Because I've had to live this, people! Okay, maybe the inner-tubers are fictional, but I've been so sick this weekend and "runny nose" barely begins to describe it. I'm still pretty sick. As I'm typing this, it's 8:56pm Sunday night and I'm in bed already, wearing a breathe right strip with a pile of toilet paper next to my bed because I never bother to buy kleenex. It's a sorry sight.

This weekend has been a slew of sorry circumstances, and it was only accentuated by my sniffling and sneezing. I was prevented from visiting my parents this weekend due to a forest fire that closed a nearby highway, which resulted in me spending my weekend playing the game of watching TV shows that were filmed in New York (which I just visited for the first time) and mentally saying "I've been there!" every time characters walk past a familiar landmark. And when that got old, I got sucked into watching a BBC miniseries starring Judi Dench because there was nothing else on TV. It felt like a real low point.

But I'm sure today will be a better, brighter day.

With less forest fires, less BBC, and less nose-blowing.

Canada Week

2011-10-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought I would ever do an entire week of sketches about Canada?!

I certainly would not have predicted that. But here we are.

Last one, guys. I promise. "I leaf PEI." It doesn't make any sense, I know. I originally tried to draw a maple leaf that was in the shape of a heart...but it just looked like a really pointy heart.

"Bring back a mountie!"

2011-10-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

This drawing goes out to my friend James,

who, before I left for my Canadian vacation, told me to "Bring back a mountie."

I didn't see any on PEI, or I totally would have.

Eh?

2011-10-19T07:43:00.000-07:00

This is a silly sketch I did to remember one of the funny moments when Alison and I were visiting Prince Edward Island. At one point, we were going for a walk through the national park, and a guy rode by on a bike and said "Big snake in the road, eh?!" And he kept riding off before we could respond. Alison and I, caught off-guard by both the thought of snakes and the reality that Canadians actually say "eh" at the end of their sentences, didn't know what to make of it. We just started laughing about it, because we couldn't tell if he was warning us about a snake he had just passed, or if he was asking if we had seen a snake on the trail we'd just walked. In hindsight, we realized that he was dressed like a park ranger and had a bucket with him, so he had probably been tasked with the duty of finding and relocating the alleged snake...but it was just a funny interaction for us at the time. We definitely watched for snakes on the rest of the trip, eh!

Tromping

2011-10-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

Today's drawing is based on a word that was commonly used on my recent vacation: tromping.

When I get out into really pretty nature, I revert back to my ten-year-old self. I want to climb trees and jump around and play and leap and frolic. Picture a really excited terrier going for a walk. I want to see everything and pick up every leaf and run up sand dunes and throw rocks and scurry around chasing squirrels. As my friend Alison and I were running around Prince Edward Island last week, I kept wanting to run off into the woods or a field or hike through the trees, and we quickly referred to this as my love of "tromping." I don't know how to explain it any more than that...whenever we'd find some new trail or cliff or something, I would immediately need to go explore, which Alison commonly referred to as my "tromping through the forest" or "tromping through the bushes" and we decided that I'm just a tromper at heart.

So anyway, at one point we saw a sign with a moose on it, and Alison was telling me about how her friends' nickname for their son is "Moose," and then that reminded me of how some of my friends' nickname for their son is "Chomp" and then I was telling her about how there are a surprisingly high number of little boy shirts out there that say "chomp" on them... (stuff like this:)

...which led Alison to say "You should make your own kids t-shirt that has you tromping through the forest, with you saying 'Tromp' instead of 'Chomp'." I know it took a long time to get to this explanation. And it makes it sound like Alison and I have the most boring, baby-ridden conversations ever, but that was the origin of how this illustration came to be:

Coming to a Baby Gap near you.........

probably never.

But I highly recommend tromping.

I Kinda' Heart NY

2011-10-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

I just returned home after nine days of travelling! (Actually, I wrote most of this yesterday in the JFK airport, while still travelling. But I'm home now!) I traveled with a friend to Boston, New York City, and Prince Edward Island, Canada. I know, that last one might seem a little out of place - but if you were raised on "Anne of Green Gables" like I was, you know that's where the story takes place, and I've always wanted to see it. Prince Edward Island was everything I hoped and imagined it would be - it was absolutely, positively perfect!

It was a funny trip because I didn't realize when we planned the vacation what opposites PEI and NYC would be. I just didn't think about it. But PEI, which was the first leg of the trip, was one of the most peaceful, relaxing, gorgeous places I've ever been...and New York is probably the busiest, loudest, bustling city I've ever been to. They were polar opposites, and it was weird being in both places in the same week!

I know some people are city people, and some people aren't...and I'm just not. I know that. I like trees and personal space and backyards too much. And even though I had a great time in New York, I was much more unsettled there than I was on Prince Edward Island...and every time I walked past NY street vendors (which, for the record, was about every five feet) selling things that said "I heart NY", I couldn't help but think "No, I heart Canada! I heart Green Gables! You can't tell me what I heart!!" so I made a few revisions to the classic "I heart NY" logo to represent my trip. I know it's New York blasphemy. I'm sorry. But I heart Canada. (And last night as I drove beneath the stars and pine trees up to my cute little home in the mountains, I was reminded that California ain't so bad either. It's kinda' good to be home.)

Super(?) Hero

2011-10-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

All right, I confess - I didn't draw this guy. I used a superhero generator, which is awesome.

I could play on that site all day long, making superheroes. For each individual item, I feel the need to scroll through every option and possibility there is! Very time-consuming. This is my favorite superhero that I've come up with. I like that he has a bo staff (like Donatello) and a magical ring and an eyepatch. I had an art teacher with an eyepatch and I always thought that made him so tough. You know, like how tough guys in movies always have eyepatches...And my favorite part is that his sidekick is a squirrel! I know it seems like probably the wussiest sidekick a hero could have, but there are lots of squirrels where I live and I've come to love them. And besides, this squirrel probably knows kung fu or something. It's a super-squirrel and together they're a super-duo.

Batlaundry

2011-10-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

This must be what it's like when Alfred the butler is on vacation...

I don't know where in my brain this came from (or more imprtantly, why) but I like it.

My favorite part is that he still has his mask and gloves on while he's washing his pants.

The Lake

2011-10-12T07:43:00.000-07:00

This is the final drawing I did in a series of scenic spots at Forest Home.

It was easily the most difficult and the one I struggled with the most, I think because there were so many different elements involved - the stone wall, the plants, the road, the sand, the lake, the mountains...it was hard for me to visually communicate the proper distance between them. But I still liked getting the opportunity to draw such a prime spot at this camp that I'm come to love so much...

Underwater Adventures

2011-10-11T07:40:00.000-07:00

This is the latest page from my Walls Sketchbook. The page is actually a photo of the blue siding of a building, but I decided to make it an underwater adventure instead. With aliens. They took a wrong turn and got lost. And I wanted to draw a mermaid, but since clamshells are so cliche nowadays, I made her wearing a sweatshirt instead. It's a casual mer-day.

On Hold

2011-10-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

I drew this last week after being on hold with the laaaaaamest company I've ever dealt with...and my frustration is taking place in this doodle. I don't know why the phone is so huge in this scenario - maybe it's symbolic of the burden I felt from dealing with such a company...or maybe I just felt like drawing a big phone. I never remember that speakerphone is a thing, so I always end up holding the phone to my ear for an hour like a chump (okay, so maybe it was seven minutes and not an hour.) But in frustration-time, that's like 3.2 years, so...it felt like I was on hold for forever.

Steve Jobs

2011-10-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

I've never been much of a mac user. I know, I'm an artist - I'm supposed to use a mac! Believe me, I've been harassed about it by every graphic design classmate I ever had, but I've just never been drawn to macs. I had to use them in all my high school and college art classes, and it just never clicked for me. I'm a PC girl, through and through, for whatever reason. Maybe I'm just stubborn.

But I still think it's pretty impressive that Apple has become what it is today. I like itunes and ipads and iphones and ipods...I like that things have touch screens now. I like that sometimes laptops are pretty. I am thankful for Apple and the innovations that Steve Jobs had a hand in. Wasn't he the head of Pixar for a while? I mean, there's no denying that this guy made the most of his 56 years...and this is me paying tribute. I think he deserves it. Even though I'm typing this on my PC...

James Bond Jovi

2011-10-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

The idea came for this one came to me after I drew my "Bondfire" sketch a few weeks ago. I liked the idea of drawing James Bond (aka Sean Connery) into other ridiculous scenarios, like being Bon Jovi. Rather, Bond Jovi. It was a toss-up between this and "Bondie and Clyde." I went with this. Obviously. I tried to think of something clever he could be saying - something that was a Bond/Bon Jovi crossover reference, like "Livin' on a prayer? More like livin' on martinis and womanizing!" but there's just nothing to work with there. Nothing clever. The closest I got was if Bond was singing "Women, I'm a player" in place of the words "Livin' on a Prayer." Clearly that's the only Bon Jovi song I know. And really, you don't need any clever Bond Jovi wordplay to be entertained, right?...I think this tuxedo muscle tee is providing enough entertainment to go around.

Photoshopped Friends

2011-10-05T07:51:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite photoshopping ventures. It was for work, and it was my responsibility to clone a lot of our staffers onto different musical personas. These are two of those staffers and two of those musical personas. Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. The original picture (below) was much too innapropriate for us to use, so I cleaned it up a bit. Christina's laced-up shirt was the first to go. But my favorite part of the whole thing is that I changed the word "sexiest" to "neatest." The "neatest tour on earth." My world is rated-G, people. PG occasionally. But mostly a lot of G. I love when I get to create things like this for my job. It's such a ridiculous thing to get paid for. I dig it.

*I do not own the rights to Rolling Stone, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, her laced-up shirt, their music, or anything else related to this post. I own nothing.

Big Ol' Tree Redux

2011-10-04T07:37:00.000-07:00

You know how it's kind of a bummer when you're painting something in your bathroom with wood stain,

and then it makes the whole house smell like gasoline?...You know, and then you have to explain to your housemate's 4-year-old daughter why there's a giant piece of wooden artwork in your bathtub?

Does that not happen to everybody? Because there's definitely some tree art in my bathtub right now, and it's making the whole first floor smell like gasoline. Not cool. This is the plight of an artist, I guess. Having to clarify to your housemates that no, there's not a gas leak - I just felt like doin' some wood stain. It's a twin of this artwork I did a while ago, one of my favorites. I liked it so much that I decided to another... although I don't know what exactly I'm going do with it yet. For the moment, I'm satisfied with it giving my bathtub an artsy look.

Up a Tree

2011-10-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

I always wince a little as I try to figure out how to explain drawings like this...

Sometimes I wonder if they're meant to stay in the depths of my brain where they came from.

I drew this a few days ago - I got to paint my department's office last week, and it resulted in me running around the office barefoot for a few days so my shoes wouldn't get all painty. There's something wonderful about being barefoot. I've been really embracing it lately. It makes me feel like a kid! And when paired with some long denim cutoff shorts, it makes me feel like a Tom-Sawyer-esque rascal. Like I'm about to get into mischief. And it made those work days so fun. So even though I was at work, the days had a hint of childhood and mischief to them, and this was my doodle-method of illustrating that. Kind of silly. But our office looks so much better now! Nothing silly about that.

The Hills

2011-09-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

This is the second in a series I did of various locations around Forest Home. This is a spot that overlooks the creek and has a great view of the mountains, making those fun red chairs a wonderful place to spend an afternoon. My favorite thing about this spot is that it's right by where my office is supposed to go if there's a fire drill. It's our evactuation location. I've come to really love and look forward to our fire drills, since it means I get to spend an hour in this beautiful spot! I bring snacks. And a sketchpad. It's great. It reminds me to be thankful that I get to work in such a beautiful place.

Arwen & Aragorn

2011-09-29T08:10:00.000-07:00

This is a drawing I did last year, but I don't think I ever posted it. It's from when I was drawing different movie characters in different cartoon styles (which is one of my favorite projects I've ever done!) This was one that I always thought needed improvement, but at this point I think this is as good as it's going to get. It's meant to be Arwen and Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. I'm always a little bit proud and ashamed in the same instant whenever I see the letters "LOTR" and I immediately know what it stands for. Is that just me? Anyway, I drew these guys in the style of the Peanuts characters, specifically Lucy and Schroeder. I like it, but I think the biggest problem is Arwen's dress. In Peanuts all the girls have short dresses, but Arwen is always wearing a long dress...ahhh, the dilemmas of being an artist!...

Snow(man) Cone

2011-09-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

On days like this, I feel silly trying to "explain" my drawings.

It's a snowman. But he's stuck in an ice cream cone! He's wearing a cherry as a hat! The hilarity!

It's self-explanatory, so I won't insult your intelligence by trying to explain it further.

It was what I felt like doodling, and that's about all there is to it!

Jeff's Dimples

2011-09-27T07:41:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed how deep Jeff Probst's dimples are?!

They are massive. These are some giant dimples, people. Like charming little canyons in his face.

I think they might even be large enough for gnomes to hide in, as shown above.

(I have no excuse for the ridiculousness of this drawing, other than the fact that I've been watching a lot of old Survivor episodes lately, plus the new current season, and I've got Survivor on the brain!)

Tie-Kite Chess Appleball Branches

2011-09-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

This is an odd doodle that I came up with the other day. I felt like drawing but didn't have anything in particular that I wanted to draw, and I ended up with this. There's not a whole lot of meaning to it, but I like that it reminds me of Salvador Dali's famous painting with all the melting clocks. The necktie in the middle was originally going to be a road, all wavy and weird, but then I decided to make it a tie instead. I had an art project in college where I had to designate symbols for the things and people in my life that I loved (oh, art class...) and it led me to designate that an apple would be my mom's official symbol (because she really loves apples and they always remind me of her), and home plate would be my dad's (because of his love for baseball.) It was a weird assignment. But the point is, sometimes I still work apples and home plates into my pages of doodles, and I like that it's like a little secret code of love for my mom and dad. Like a doodle shout-out in parent hieroglyphics!