Where's the Summer Going?

This past week sort of went by in a flash but I feel like I didn't get a lot of work done. Don't you hate that? Here's the latest portrait that I've been working on. It's nearly finished.

Tuesday was a busy day of sorts, but that day turned out to be an "errand day", aka. no work was done. Sigh. First, I met with our new cat sitter who will be looking after Suki and Dex while we're away next month. It will be the longest we've left them alone since being in our new place, and also ever. But I think they''ll be in good hands (knock on wood), as Gail already won Suki over with one of the cat toys she brought over and Dex even came out of hiding to check it out.




Later that day, I dropped off some stock at a relatively new store which is appropriately in Toronto's fashion district. The shop was opened by a fellow former designer from this other Queen street gem and her friend. Their shop has been doing alright since their grand opening in March, but they are seeking more independent and local designers. So if any of you are interested, check them out. Happily, I've already sold a couple of things from the limited stock I dropped off.

Right after I left the shop, I ran into another designer from the Collective, and we chatted about blogs, bikes and life in general lately. After parting ways, I ventured into the new Urban Outfitters on Queen St. but wasn't really enamored enough with anything there to shell out $50 on a shirt. I always consider browsing in shops part of market research though. *wink wink* Yeah, that's what I tell myself.

That evening, I was also fortunate to get an email from a customer who bought one of my paintings recently. Turns out she works in the book industry, specifically children's books, and has offered to share valuable information with me since she knows how tough it can be for children's book illustrators to eke out a living. How generous is that?!

This weekend we're planning on taking in the new Batman movie. Although I'm not a huge fan of the movies so far - I always find the casting of Batman to be a bit strange - it will be interesting to see Heath Ledger's performance, there's been so much talk of it being phenomenal.

Summer, Weddings, Sex and the Kitty

It's the first day of June, which means it's the start of our Summer Promo at Fresh Baked Goods. Well, tomorrow is the official start, since that's my day at the store and I still have to paint the window telling everyone "We Love Cats!" Originally it was going to be just a month-long promo focused on cat-themed items in the store, but we've decided to extend it for all summer. There'll be freebies given out with purchases, draws for various prizes donated by the designers in the store and other fun things, such as putting your own cat portrait up on the store window! Hopefully it will get customers involved and bring out all the cat lovers in the city.

I've got two new designs finalized and just have to make the screens up now. Wonder Cat and Wonder Kitty will be adorning shirts and bags and the like very soon.


Taking the initial sketch to the final design always seems like such a long process for me. I tried to speed things up a bit with PhotoShop but it didn't work out as I'd thought it would, so in the end, the computer just serves more as an aid rather than my main medium. I always debate about whether or not to do the design with Illustrator but I find that I like the hand-drawn quality of my images. There's something about stuff that is too clean-looking that kind of turns me off. But that's just my personal taste.

Here's the finished portrait for a friend who's getting married later this year. She asked me to make magnets to put on her invites after seeing the ones Matt and I used as wedding favours for our wedding.

The magnets are nearly done. I'm just waiting on the magnet backings to arrive.



And what about the sex, you ask? Matt and I took in the Sex and the City movie last night and despite not so great reviews from the critics, we both found it entertaining. There was even a lineup to get in to our theatre, which we never had to line up for. Then again, it was the opening weekend of the movie, which we rarely make it out for. My only complaint about the movie really was that Smith Jerrod's character was not portrayed in a great light, when you compare it to the show.
The rest of the audience was entertained too, so who cares what the critics say?!