Looking Back - art of a sleep-deprived new mom

As i was pulling together files for this website, i found myself looking through old archives on my trusty external hard drive. And looky what i found!

i made this digital illustration when my son was just an infant. (He's almost 4 now!) The idea came to me when his dark, dark baby hair started falling out, as i'd heard it likely would, and the new hair began growing in a very peculiar way. My little man was basically growing a mohawk! A cute, little fuzzy stripe of hair came in down the center of his head, and grew much quicker than the sides and it couldn't have been cuter. i thought this was genius, of course, and encouraged the teeny mohawk by combing the hair in toward the center and tidying it up for photos with some mom spit from time to time.

Now my nephew, who was 7 weeks younger than my guy was also having some hair anomalies. He had a little ol' baby mullet. Bid-ness in front and party in back, baby! The hair at the nape of his neck was his original baby hair and hung on for dear life, while the rest of his head was more like peach fuzz.

So, in my new-mommy-sleep-deprived-stupor, during late night feedings, and groggy daydreams, i came up with a little E! True Hollywood Story in my head about our rocker-babies who formed their own band with their awesome hair, wooden spoon drumsticks and wiffle-ball-bat guitars. This image above is how i imagined the cover of their album would look. Of course it HAD to be an album! i was thinking along the lines of super-cool lullabies and modernized nursery rhymes set to music....a rock-opera like "Tommy", but for the stroller set.

Anyway, i had so much fun digging in my archives, i may just make a little "looking back" feature a regular gig here on ye old blog. Lord knows what i'll find next.

Starry-Eyed

i don't know why i love making art on unfinished wood panels. But man do i! This one is very starry. i haven't used a lot of stars in my illustrations lately, but i think i may revisit it. i also want to start finding some cool places to source my wood panels, like harvesting old furniture for its parts and salvaging old, weathered wood that's been left outside. Keep an eye out for me, ok?!

Snow & Glitter

It feels like a friday night because both my boys both have off tomorrow, one from preschool & the other from work. The snow is coming down outside and will be doing so throughout the night they say. So, instead of catching up on work, what am i doing? i'm playing with glitter, glue, wood blocks and tiny, tiny mirror tiles.

I know these aren't the greatest pics. But what can you do when it's midnight, you're indoors and, let's face it...a little lazy? At least these give you the idea, eh? i

i used 4" (roughly) wood blocks and decorated them up with silver glitter, mirror tiles and some Triple Thick glaze on the "c". The glaze is making the glitter look less sharp in this photo, but it looks really nice in person! Maybe i'll make a whole alphabet to dot around the house? Or maybe they'd look better grouped on a shelf? Who knows? It's supposed to be snowing for a looonnnggg time & i have a full tub of the sparkly stuff.

Scatterbrain

i love the word "scatterbrain." it's so funny and not at all vicious, even though it's meaning is less than a compliment. it makes me think of some children's book character with disheveled eyeglasses, one kneesock up and one down...maybe Ramona Quimby? Remember her? or Amelia Bedelia? Do i have that right?
All i know is, it's a word i like to use and so i was tickled to be able to use it in the item description for this latest illustration.

"Miss Lookilou is a scatterbrain. She loses her favorite things all the time! But all she has to do is look UP to find them all twisted and tucked into her hair.

A seek-and-find illustration which is sure to reveal something new every time you look at it."

Available here. I hope you all enjoy!