Cookies! Olé!

After taking a cookie-making break, here are some Mexi-cats.

Cats in sombreros and mariachi cats, born from a doodle I did earlier this week.

The cookies will be on the bake sale table at the annual Chili Cook-Off that the Gananoque & District Humane Society is holding on Saturday at the Lansdowne Community Centre (Jessie St.) from 11 to 2.

Gnomes Love Carbs

Spoonflower has a design challenge every couple of weeks. This this time, it's all about Gnomes!

Here's the challenge prompt:
No one appreciates getting cozy quite like gnomes, preferring to nestle into subterranean caves and nooks. Although we hear they DO love to travel.... Entries will be previewed on a 21" x 18" fat quarter and should repeat.

And here's the watercolour I based my design on. I added some more cupcakes for interest. Still learning about repeating surface designs.

You can vote, if you're inclined. Just go  here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been working on a big (BIG!), top-secret project, so I haven't had anything I could actually show here. :(  However, my friend, Kate, reminded me I haven't shown any drawings in a while. I thought I'd resurrect one from the archive. This one's from 1997 when I was free-lancing editorial cartoons. The message is still good, and it's fun to see how much my style has changed.

Warm and fuzzy

I dropped in on a friend this morning. It was one of those perfect spring mornings....all bright sunshine and blue skies. And the scene in my friend's kitchen was Norman Rockwell perfect. Beautiful kids standing on chairs, making cupcakes. I don't do portraits, but this is what it felt like:

Only the cat is made up. They really need a cat. :)

Crazy friends, lucky me

I count myself lucky that I have friends who share the same love of whimsy, love of animals, and love of art and creating that I do. It's good to have company. It would be a sad and lonely world without them. It would be an even sadder world without whimsy. Gotta love whimsy.

Occasionally, one of my friends will mention something that just sets off my imagination. I think in pictures. Doesn't everyone? I seriously wouldn't know. My brain could be odd that way. However, when my friend Kate wrote that her dog Doug brought in the mail from his evening walk, I knew she meant her husband had stopped at the mailbox on his late night walk with Doug, but this is what I saw in my mind's eye:

In the Kingdom of Coco, anything is possible.

One last drawing for 2015

The new year approacheth

A couple of years ago, I made a calendar for myself, with some of my favourite drawings. I only made one. I didn't think anyone else would want one. Of course, a couple of other people did want one, but there was only one. They were out of luck. I honestly don't think any of those people lost sleep over their deprivation, however, this time around, I thought I'd announce my plan ahead of time.

If anyone else would like a 2016 calendar full of my favourite drawings, I can make that happen. Each calendar which is entitled My Catty Life 2016 (don't ask), will include 13 drawings....one for each month and one on the cover. There are big, blank squares for scheduling your life. I chose one of Vistaprint's 'fun and whimsical' templates, so they're cute, too, with a cat and mouse on each page in various 'fun and whimsical' stereotypical cat & mouse activities. :) They will cost $18. Canadian, plus $2. for mailing, if you don't live nearby. All proceeds from sales of my calendar will go, as always, to The Lyndhurst Feral Cat Project. Below are the 13 photos. They each mean something to me. I can't predict what they might mean to someone who doesn't live inside my head. Some take me back to the day I drew them, and remind me of what was going on at that time. Some make me smile. Some make me wistful. The one constant is that there's a cat in each one.

Cover

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Happy Groundhog Day!

I don't think there's any chance the poor little groundhog will see his shadow here in the Kingdom. It's a snow day here! A good time to recycle a drawing I did a couple of years ago. Just because I can. After all, who makes the rules around here? :)

Snowed in!

And, here's the Little Red Riding Hood baby sweater all finished. The front bands did spro-i-n-g back a bit, but not enough to worry about. I added 3 buttons with loops just as the designer did. The absolute perfect buttons were just sitting in my stash. They've been there for years waiting for their moment.

I used Patons Canadiana. I tried to interest Cassie in modeling it, but she said she was busy. Diva!

I am not a production knitter

I'm currently trying very hard to fill an order.....an actual commission .... for 5 pairs of mittens. Five pairs of identical mittens. And I've already done 1 pair (that got me the commission). So that is SIX pairs of all-the-same mittens. It's for a very good cause, and part of me really, really, REALLY! wants to do it. Unfortunately, the creative part of me is digging in her heels. There is no alternative but to bring in reinforcements. If only.

My muse is back

My muse is a fickle spirit who runs off at the first sign of trouble. Any sadness, any loss, and she heads for the hills. A fair weather friend, at best. When she's gone, the days are very long indeed. Endless days of scarf-knitting. Don't get me wrong. Any kind of knitting is good knitting, but the best knitting happens when she's with us.

Today is a grey day in the Kingdom, but there is much under way. Here's what it looks like (since my friend Kate says people like to see what's happening, and not just what's finished):

And here's proof how little respect I get:

Happy New Year

I've always been a fan of recycling. :) 

I drew this one in 2011, but it`s still one of my favourites. 

If you hang around long enough, and look closely enough, 

you`ll see the cat is trying to grab some mouse-y treats from the tray. 

When we celebrate in the Kingdom, we ALL celebrate. 

Holey Smokes! I just realized this might be one of the few drawings 

I didn`t work my signature into.

If I have a resolution for the new year, it is to draw more.

What`s yours?

Little known fact

The most popular cake on the menu in Heaven is Devil's Food. 

Bonus little known fact:  According to Wikipedia, 

the original Devil's Food cake recipe included beets, 

just the way carrot cake is made with carrots. How cool is that?

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is 'Wings'. 

Wings made us think of angels and angels suggested Angel Food Cake. 

After that it was a short (twisted) hop to Devil's Food.

Blue Monday

Today's supposed to be the most depressing day of the year. Blue Monday. We heard this on Canada AM, so we guess it must be true. You have to imagine that last sentence spoken with tongue firmly placed in cheek. When we tried to investigate, we got some reference to a mathematical equation involving weather conditions and debt and time since Christmas. Very official and scientific. Again  . . . imagine the tongue and cheek business. We also read that it was started as part of a campaign by some air line. Now, THAT part rings true. :)

At any rate, if you're having a slow start to the day, or just generally feeling sad, we offer this little bit of nonsense as a bit of good cheer. ALL our drawings are intended as nonsense. This one's no different.

The Illustration Friday topic this week is . . . Myth. Honestly, who makes these things up? Myth. This is all we've got. Pull up a rock, and help yourself to a marshmallow.

Some silliness

Illustration Friday's prompt this week is 'Ocean'. Great. 

Just when we've decided we'll make a big effort to take part each week this year. 

Week number 2 and we're stumped . . . again. :( 

In the end, we went with a silly image that came to us pre-dawn.

With apologies to James Cameron.

IF - Edge

We've been in a drawing mood lately, and we've been thinking we ought to try to keep up with the Illustration Friday prompts. Not exactly a resolution, but one drawing a week isn't much. And it's often good to have someone else suggest a subject.

This week, the subject is 'Edge'. Hmmmm..... Often the effect of the prompt is immediate. An idea comes to mind, and over the next day or so the composition comes into focus for us. Like an itch we resist scratching, we hold off drawing until it's all there in our mind. Or at least, until most of it's there. The bare bones. Sometimes things just happen when we start to draw.

With 'edge', we just came up empty. Hence, this little mouse and his lady friend, enjoying a late night snack. Mr. Mouse is tap, tap-dancing along the edge of the cookie tin. That's it. The best we can do.

When we first moved to our house on this rural property, we were horrified to find we were moving in with mice. While cute in children's books, in your kitchen, they're a different matter. Over time, by scrupulously tightening up every conceivable entrance, we've finally made headway. We don't tempt fate by leaving the lid off the cookie tin though.

Happy New Year!

Sometimes it feels good to leave the old year behind, 

and look forward with hope to a new one.

May 2013 be good to all of us!

While CoCo sleeps . . .

Christmas Eve in the Kingdom of CoCo

Indispensable thing 2

A week or so ago, we mentioned that there are a couple of things we absolutely NEED in order to be able to move on into a new year. The first was the calendar. The second is a new sketchbook. There's nothing like a blank page to say, "Anything is possible!"

This year, it's a moleskin . . . 8-1/4" x 11-3/4" . . . the largest moleskin we've seen. Ninety-six pages of heavy-weight, acid-free paper, nice and smooth, just the way we like it. With a heavy cover, a ribbon bookmark, and an elastic strap to keep it closed. Curry's has them on sale right now, with free shipping!

This is a photo of our newest drawing-in-the-making. If you're eagle-eyed, you'll be able to see it's a Christmas Eve scene. If we finish it soon enough, we'll post it here. Mostly, it's in preparation for next year's calendar.

On Curry's website, they say, "The legendary [Moleskin] notebook used by Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Hemingway and more." And now Coco, too! :)

Reprieve!