A little gymnast concentrates on her dismount routine.

The roughs for the spread, below.  Couple of changes by the designer here and there, but, for the most part, it was good-to-go.

I forgot about this one until an illustrator friend mentioned he’d seen it in the magazine, which has been out for about a month now (So where are my samples..!? Just kidding, ClubHouse folks… : ). This is in the August ‘08 issue of ClubHouse Jr. magazine. I, uhm…I’m okay with how this turned out. I heard through the designer that the editors were highly pleased with it, that the colors were bright and all that.  And so, here it is, below. It’s a 4-page spread so that’s why the title runs across the top of the first two pages.  And maybe I’ll post some of the roughs tomorrow.  I always favor my roughs.

The weather was lovely last night so I pedaled down to an outdoor concert at Centennial Park in Beaconsfield. A nice size crowd and I were treated to “The Spirit of Swing”, a sextet of musicians playing big band music from the ’30’s.  Fun times.

silly, rambunctious fairies, having a playful fight.

Over at Jonesapalooza, Doug Jones and his beloved sock monkey, Socmo, are celebrating the Discovery Channel’s announcement that it’s Shark Week.  All things, sharky, I guess.  So watching him do shark cartoons all week had me itching to participate.  And apparently, Bill Ross wanted to play with the sharks, too. as you can see here.

So as I spend time avoiding my REAL work, I share with you all my contribution to Shark Week:

Question:  What is a sharks favorite food? (Answer after the shark.)

Answer: Fish ‘n ships!

Wa wa wa waaaaaaaaaaa….

This is Happy. He likes Summer. Happy is Happy it’s summer. We definitely have that in common.

A drawing just for fun.

There’s nothing clever about this drawing. Just a content grocery sacker-kid putting cans in a bag. Another quick piece, trying out the background treatment and other different brushes, etc. in Painter X. I have a thing for this palette, though, me thinks. I defer to it enough.

I couldn’t do an on-sight sketch of this event since I was holding an umbrella and there wasn’t enough light to see what I was really doing.  So the above is more of an impression, I guess.  It’s how I remember what I saw.  I did scribble a quick sketch, though, to try and recall the outfits of the woman and young girl, but they’re certainly not “drawn from life”.

Anyway, anyway, this past Wednesday evening, a friend and I ventured down town to watch one of the fireworks shows that are part of the L’International Des Feux (International Fireworks Festival–Or something thereof).  You can go anywhere on the water front down town to see them, though some places are better than others.  We decided to go to Old Montreal and the port, getting a nice walk in while we were at it.  With a constant, steady, drizzling rain, we and thousands of others wandered over to see the approx. 30 minute show, sans music (music accompanies each performance).  Though we appreciated what we saw, I got to thinking that either I have to be closer, or I have to have music–or both.

I’ve noticed there are You Tube videos of some of the shows.  I don’t see the show we saw up (which was Canada), but these aren’t bad at all for getting a descent taste of a performance.

THIS is a pretty darn good chocolate cake, I must say. I baked this up Thursday afternoon for a friend’s birthday bar-b-q we attended last night. I was telling party attendees all week to make room for some special decadence as word on the internet street was that this was an A+ chocolate cake, one, as they say, “to die for”. I was a bit concerned that it wouldn’t live up to the hype, but oohs, ahhs and oh my’s were uttered across the room after each person took their first bite…and their second and third in most cases.  It wasn’t overly rich and chocolaty, like you were eating fudge (e.g., a chocolate torte), but it was moist and dense and the cream cheese frosting made a perfect balance.  I happened to have made a strawberry sorbet that we served with it and the two were surprisingly complimentary–a bit of cake, then a bite of sorbet to cleanse the palette.  Yeah, this cake is a keeper. And it’s very easy to make, too, though I warn you, it’s not exactly low-cal. The good thing is, a little goes a long way. You won’t be inclined to indulge on seconds as one slice will satisfy. Enough talk. Here’s the recipe:

Chocolate Guinness Cake

Cake:

1 cup Guinness

1/2 cup unsalted butter (8 tbsp)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup sour cream

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

Frosting:

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. lightly butter or grease a 9-inch springform pan.

In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, combine Guinness, butter and cocoa. Stir and cook very gently until butter and cocoa melt and the mixture is fairly smooth; remove from heat. Whisk in the sugar.

In a small bowl, mix the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk this mixture into the Guinness mixture. Add the flour and baking soda and mix again until smooth.

Pour the batter into the buttered pan and bake 45 minutes to an hour, until risen and firm (and a knife comes out clean). Place on a wire rack and cool completely in pan.

Frosting:

Mix the powdered sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Mix in the cream until it is loose enough to spread easily. Spread on the top of the cooled cake only, so it resembles a poured Guinness beer with foam/head.

Notes: First, any bitter stout will do, not just Guinness. I had on hand a stout by a local brewer, so I used that. As for the butter, if you’re worried about the amount, you can experiment with cutting back on it a little. I had seen a posting by a blogger who said they used only 6 tbs and didn’t think it marred the results. I also used a lower fat sour cream and cream cheese. I wouldn’t use fat-free versions for baking items like this, as it may alter the taste and texture too much, and that’s one of the appeals about this cake.  You can try at your own risk, though.  Lastly, though I bought heavy cream to use, the texture and consistency of the frosting using just the cream cheese and powdered sugar was perfect for the cake. I’m not sure why milk or a lower-fat cream wouldn’t suffice to thin out the frosting if it was needed. I’m now stuck with a pint of heavy cream to figure out how to use. Perhaps some ice CREAM …? Anyway, so many people have blogged about and taken photos of this cake, I’m linking to a few that I perused prior to my making it. Check ‘em out yourself and see what you think, below.

-Heidi’s photo. Yep, that’s how it looks!

-Recipegirl makes a chocolate ganach for the top. Hmmm….

-Sucheela’s variation.

-Nicole makes it for St. Pat’s day.

-Kim for the Washington Post.

-Tom’s version of the Stout Cake.  Some people have a recipe for making it a 3-layer cake.

Another greeting card created for RSVP. A valentine one this time. I didn’t write the copy or come up with the concept. Just followed the art direction to have a bear blowing bubbles, some kind of border, and the copy you see on the front.

Cover copy: “Love is in the air!”

Inside copy: “And you are on my mind! Happy Valentine’s Day!”

Below is a close-up of Bear:

Below are some thumbs with some various ways to handle the design. The client picked to combine the top two.

Back to work!

A somewhat recent greeting card, created for RSVP.

The copy says:

Front–“Hear you’re moving on and moving up!”

Inside–“If we weren’t so envious, we’d be very happy for you. Congratulations on the new job!”

Below: A close up of image area:

Below: The initial thumb idea and some roughs working up to the final. I like the thumb, the way it’s on a white background and gold being the main color, but the client wanted more color, hence the blue and yellow. I tried several color schemes and this is what I settled on.  And, per usual, I like my roughs batter than the final piece.  Grrrrr!

Never enough love to give to my Bobbykittyboo-boy!

Just a quickie; too much work and not enough time.  But I like ‘em when they’re quick anyway, so this works for me.  Enough blathering already, right?

Now this is what summer is all about:  going barefoot in the cool, green grass.  It feels so good, yes?  I did this quick “self-portrait” this past Saturday evening when I was sitting at the yacht club on the bluff over looking the marina.  You’d think I’d prefer drawing the boats or something, but the contrast of my shoes and feet to the grass caught my eye.  I was initially experimenting with some watercolor pencils, drawing the trees and what not, but this is my favorite of the sketches from that evening.

And, below:  I rarely buy new clothes or shoes of any kind these days (years!) so this purchase was a biggy for me.  I was out Saturday morning doing my garage sale-thing, when I stopped at a mall, looking for a muffin tin.  It so happened that I’ve been needing some new shoes, and noticed a nice shoe store there that looked to be having a sale.  After lots of time and consideration (now I remember why I don’t like to go shopping for clothes–too time & energy consuming!), I bought these boat shoes.  I’d have preferred my usual brown color, but the navy blue was on sale and in my size.  I still have to break them in (Oh, the pain!), but I figure these’ll get me through a few years.  And they’re that washable leather, too.  Sweet.

Some little spot roughs for a job I’m working on. I need a kitten (or maybe 2 kittens). The spot will be super-duper small so there won’t be much detail. And I don’t want this little guy over-worked. He needs to look loose and easy. Should he have big eyes, or dots for eyes? Should they be close together or far apart? Hmmmm…

The above is just a bit of my playing around, experimenting with some images and lettering, though this isn’t a random choice. I have a recipe to share in regards to my obsession as of late with my ice cream maker. Funny…I didn’t even remember I HAD an ice cream maker until I was going through cubby holes, etc., looking for useless items to put in a garage sale. I vaguely…No, I don’t remember at all picking up a 1 1/2 quart Rival electric ice cream maker at some garage sale, maybe last summer…I don’t know. Sometimes I remember vividly when and where I get my garage sale “treasures”, yet other times…Well, obviously I can forget about the purchase all together! But anyway, once I saw it, stashed behind the rarely-used pasta maker and wok, I went, “Hmmmm!” and decided I’m up to some ice cream experimentation this summer, yeah. Let’s give this a whirl. And I really have. But to the bewilderment of my husband, I’ve been making sorbets, sherbets and ice milks, not ice CREAM. I just can’t make myself combine such rich and calorie-laden ingredients. I’m mentally trained to stay away from cooking like that, besides, I’ve always liked ice milks. So I’ve tried a few recipes so far (a chocolate ice milk & a blueberry sherbet), with this one being at the top of the list:

Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream (Sherbet)

2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cups sweetened condensed milk

1 tbs sugar

1/2 cups strawberries, diced

2 tbs sweetened condensed milk

Whisk the first 4 ingredients together and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Dump into an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s directions. When the ice cream is done, swirl in the 2 tbs sweetened condensed milk. Serve soft or put it into the freezer to set up.

(I feel bad because I can’t find the blog I got this recipe from. I’ll keep searching and give the author credit when I do.)

Also, the two times I’ve made the above recipe, I forgot to do the condensed milk-swirly thing. I’ll try and remember that for the next go-round.

Other ice milks or sherbets I’m hoping to make soon:

-Coffee Mocha Sherbet

-Maple-Walnut Sherbet

Sound yummy?  Yeah, I know. : )

(Larger version here.)

Wednesday evening concert at Stewart Hall; Jorge Martinez, Flamenco guitar, and his band. It was a beautiful evening for an outdoor concert, but because there were weather reports of possible thunderstorms, they moved the concert to the backside of Stewart hall where there’s a covered patio area. The only problem with this location is the seating is very limited. There’s a narrow bluff which will fit about 4 rows deep of chairs, then a quick drop off. Maybe 100 people can sit in an area where they can see the musicians. If you have a good turn out of 200-plus, you have to find a place on level ground somewhere at the bottom of the bluff. But some of us stood at the slope just behind the last row of chairs (see small sketch, lower-left). Yeah, that’s me, standing all funky with a line of others doing the same, so we can watch the show. As for sketching, I felt intimidated to do so. There were people to my left and right and behind me and I didn’t feel like being obvious. But after a while, when the others got tired of the awkward stance and sat down, I did a few sketches of the band. I’m not familiar with Flamenco guitar so know nothing about the style or tuning of the guitars. Obviously the guitars are classical (Edited to say:  I’m wrong.  There are guitars built exclusively for Flamenco music), but there must be a tunings used that are particular to Flamenco. I had the sense that Jorge was playing one of those guitars a bit like a dulcimer, given he strummed it hand-free from time to time, as well as played lead off of the 5th and 6th strings while the others remained open. Just my amateur observation. I also took notes of the percussion set up. I was impressed by the amount of rhythm and sound the single percussionist delivered. Given I play percussion from time to time, it’s good to see that on person can add so much and in such a variety of ways. More good times.

(Larger version here.)

Tuesday night is the free concert in the park at Centennial Park in Beaconsfield. I cycled over to hear Replay, a Montreal-based Beatles tribute band. They were quite good. Not only did they look the part, but they played extremely well. “Paul” was a groovin’ bass player (and looked so much like Sir Paul in his youth, it was uncanny), and “George” didn’t miss a lick on his guitar solos. “Ringo” stumbled once on the drums, but hey. And even though “Paul” began to lose his voice, they did several hard, rockin’ blues numbers for their encore. It was a big turn out and, since I arrived a little early, I sat in the bleachers verses just leaning on my bike somewhere near the back of the crowd. It’s a bit unnerving to sketch in such close proximity to people but no one seemed to notice. After the concert, I hung around the park waiting for the majority of people to leave (so I wouldn’t be cycling home in traffic), and so did a few post-concert sketches, including the gorgeous moon rise on the lake.  Good times.

I thought of one of those scenes where the prince is heading to rescue a damsel in distress, usually in a castly-type place at the top of a mountain with a precariously winding, switchback of road on a clear but foggy night. He looks to be giving the idea a second thought.

(Larger version here.)