Happy Matzah-Day!

Happy Passover, everyone!
I'm super busy with a portfolio and my Crammed Organism work, so just imagine that I sent you this funny JibJab card. Funny that in the holiday that's all about becoming a free people, I'm slaving so much over my own work. But thus is life, right? But we're actually doing a Seder this year with some friends, which I'm looking forward to very much. I haven't done one in what - six years? Sheesh...

And talking about work, this has got to be a good time for copyright attorneys. Can you believe this? If you're an illustrator, please check this out and make sure you're not one of the people who's work got stolen. On the same note, it broke my heart to read this. So FYI - this is why I won't be making patterns for sale any time soon. Sorry guys.

I hope you find the Afikoman! What did you ask for when you found it, as a kid?

Scary plush and exploring St. Louis

The weekend's heat wave left me with a killer migraine, but I still managed to work on my Crammed Organisms plush. Behold, the team of "Monstrously Nice" - they're monsters alright, but they try to look all innocent and nice so they can lure kids to their home and eat them. Mmm... Yummi. I actually got pretty tired of drawing all uber cute and stuff. I tried for more scary this time, and I'm pretty happy with the result.
These guys don't have names yet, but I'm working on it. This is my first time trying to sort out the colors in the design phase. All these guys are going to be made with synthetic fur, wool felt and cotton. I'm so excited I scare myself, I'm telling ya...


And with these creepy dudes, we too will be going to St. Louis! It's going to be a bit of a way belated honeymoon, late one year anniversary celebration, a post birthdays party with soon very needed and well deserved vacation thrown in for good measure. So, St. Louisians - any suggestions for a hip, kookie, nature, art, craft and fun loving LA couple coming to your lovely city?

37 Degrees (or 98, you non Celsius folk)

Man, it was one hot weekend! I've taken three showers today and am ready for a fourth. The cats are flat on the floor like a couple of pittas (or should I say matza, in the spirit of the upcoming holiday), all the fans are on and the bedroom AC and multiple cups of iced coffee and teechino have been consumed. Sheesh... And it's only April.
Since my brain seems to be dripping out of my ears in this heat, I'll spend today's post bragging talking about my new workspace. Behold - the studio:

This is what used to be a walk in closet. Now - it's my sewing area!

This awesome table is the Jay desk from West Elm which is awesome. Above the desk is this beautiful art piece by Dawbis She made for me as a part of a swap we did a while ago. Yay!

Storage! Thankfully there's a Paper Source nearby. These work so well in my crammed little space.

Ribbon, embroidery floss and buttons in jars from Ikea.

Ze stash (that I somehow almost managed to double in the past couple of weeks. Wow...)

The computer.

The art desk. I finally have all of my art supplies in easy reach, and that's super exciting! No more drawing on a crowded desk shared by a computer, a printer, a scanner and gianormous piles of paper!

Markers and my lovely owl lamp.

More markers, pencils and this wooden postcard that I got and framed. The cup is some Decole cuteness.

Out the window - the entrance to our small complex.

Ok, I've got to get that fourth shower if I'm about to get any sleep tonight. Sigh...

The good, the bad and the random

Some randomness, courtesy of the late hour (am I getting old? I'm calling something before midnight late? Sheesh...):

- At life drawing class at the studio last week, I got really frustrated watching this guy draw really well. Good use of line, shape,character. I got so mad I could draw as well that I left the class early. Ant wasn't there, but he somehow figured out very quickly that the man I was jealous of was no other than Stephen Silver. Hey, if you aim anywhere - aim high.

- We're going to see the Izzard again in August at the Kodak Theater. Ticket pre-sale, baby.

- And speaking of comedians, did you ever watch Demetri Martin? He's a good comedian, kinda Mitch Hedberg-y. But he's much better to watch than listen to. His drawing comedy is hilarious. No, I didn't turn into a comedy connoisseur. I'm one of the least funny people I know. Seriously.

- I took up spinning (the other kind, AKA "indoor cycling") again, in a studio in Burbank. I forgot how strangely good it feels when your legs are so tired they almost fall off.

- I should start doing memes like this and this. In general, I think blogging in comics is neat. Maybe I should use The Healing Sketch to do something like this myself.

- Can you believe I didn't knit a stitch in over a week? My lace project is giving me a headache, my socks bore me, and I didn't get a chance to start something blissfully mindless yet. But with a knit and spa weekend plotted by my knitting maven co-workers Angela and Sonserae (Ravelry links), this knitting "meh" should end soon.

- Also on the craft front, did you know that Joann's has all Simplicity patterns for 99 cents a pop sale? I was there browsing for a hoodie pattern last weekend and overheard the sales chicks talking about it. Me and this other girl who was browsing patterns were plotting how to trick the ten patterns per purchase term of the sale, and soon enough we were both raiding the pattern drawers. I ended up getting almost every pattern from the Built by Wendy line (dude, they're normally $15 each!). I saw the other girl outside the store later, and asked her how many she scored. "Five", she said, "but I'm going back for more" (she was on her way back in. That's my type of girl).

- I got a new phone and it boggles my mind a bit. It's the Sony Ericsson W580i and it can almost make me a cup of coffee too. Considering that my now departed three and a half years old Nokia was my first color screen phone, I think I'm dealing with the tech overload quite well. At least dialing is still just pushing numbers. Phew.

- I've been working on some ideas for my Crammed Organisms application (man, I SO want in!), so here is one of them. Please cross your fingers for me!



UPDATE:
I made it! I made it! Whoo hoo!