'Tis the Season...

I just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful winter solstice. Yay, longer days are coming! I'm home for the holidays, and I was hoping to do some dashing through the snow, (even though we don't have the open sleigh), but now we seem to be missing an adequate amount of snow cover. I guess there's still time for it to arrive. Maybe I should do a little snow dance while singing 'White Christmas'.

I also just passed my 2nd year blog anniversary, and I appreciate everyone who's stopped by, and left words of encouragement. It really keeps me going, and always brightens my day. :)

A very Merry Christmas to all, and Have a Spectacular New Year!

Illustration Friday: Little Things

Sometimes it's the little things that make life wonderful like enjoying a pint at Ibsen's favorite pub.

Usually commercials are annoying, but I love the Citibank commercial with the father and son in Norway. The dad is so adorable, and has the most gentle, sweet eyes. I tried to capture some of his likeness, but I couldn't quite get his full cuteness. For those unfamiliar with this commercial the son asks his dad what he wants to do for his 60th birthday, and the dad says he'd like to go to Norway, the land of their ancestors. They sample the local fare. They see the fjords, and get new sweaters. Then they go to the hall of records, and discover that they are actually Swedish, and buy two tickets, and set off for all new adventures. You can see the video of the spot on YouTube here.


Special Thanks
to Norm Golden
for stopping by,
and sending me
this great photo!

My Top 25 Favorite Movies

I was tagged by the uber-talented illustrator, David Sones a.k.a. Pickeldog, to put together my list of top 25 favorite movies. Whenever asked this question I draw a blank. While there are many, many movies I've enjoyed I just can't go handing out the title of 'favorite' all willy nilly. It's been over a year since I've been to the theater, so if it's not on dvd I haven't seen it. There are only 7 movies that I personally own. To make it into my library a film must be full of artistic eye candy, and/or have a story that somehow pulls me in every time I see it. So, this list took some deep thought, and I feel like I'm forgetting some goodies, but here's the ones that came to mind.

1. Run Lola Run
2. The Nightmare Before Christmas
3. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
4. The Chronicles of Narnia
5. James and the Giant Peach
6. Empire of the Sun
7. Children of Dune
8. Memoirs of a Geisha
9. Alice and Wonderland (Hallmark version)
10. Lara Croft Tomb Raider
    
11. Fight Club
12. Pan's Labyrinth
13. Mirrormask
14. Ratatoulli
15. The Princess Bride
16. Star Wars (the original trilogy)
17. Titanic
18. Scrooged
19. A League of Their Own
20. Stranger Than Fiction
21. Jumanji
22. Back to the Future- trilogy
23. Batman Begins
24. The Neverending Story
25. The Journey of Natty Gann

I now tag the following 5 incredible artists:
Eric Orchard
Andi Butler
James Bradshaw
Claudine Hellmuth
Michelle Lana

Illustration Friday: Excess

When Ned walked into the laundry room and witnessed the overflow of excess suds he knew Billy had been up to trouble once again.

I'm lacking an excess of time this week, and the ideas weren't flowing so good, so I only have time for this quick colored sketch.

This topic made me think of the Tricky song, 'Excess', which is on his 'Blowback' album. I thought it would be fun to listen to while I brainstormed ideas, but my album seems to have gone missing. :(

5 becomes 8 Random Things Meme

I was tagged by 3 wonderful artists. Both Kimberly of Soggy Dog Studios and Sheree Boyd tagged me for 5 random things, and Linda of Sketched Out tagged me for 8, so I added a few to the list.

1) I absolutely love cats, but I don't own any myself. Instead, I count the days between visiting my parents and their 3 furry friends who I adore.

2) I'm an herbal/homeopathic remedies junkie. The Vitamin Shoppe is one of my favorite hangouts to support my habit. I can sometimes be obsessive about it. I realize that this can be viewed as unhealthy.

3) I'm a tv-oholic. My must-sees include 'Chuck', 'Heroes', 'Prison Break', 'Pushing Daisies', 'Reaper', 'Project Runway', 'Grey's Anatomy', 'Supernatural', and more. I also enjoy the Discovery Channel, History Channel, and the Food Network. But, most always I multi-task while I watch, or just listen. I'm often drawing, painting, reading the newspaper, or cooking dinner.

4) In grade school I once won a hula hoop contest because the other girl looked over at me, and couldn't stop laughing. My technique was apparently quite comical.

5) Chocolate is an essential part of my life. I could possible live without it, but really have no intention to. I don't need a lot. A few Toll House chocolate chips are enough to satisfy me, and get me through the day.

6) I was rear-ended just last week on Black Friday by a Direct Tv van.

7) My first job was at a vinyl window factory where after 2 years I learned just about every job in the plant, and could build a window from cut pieces on down to final assembly. Funny, how that skill doesn't come up much in day to day life.

8) I love to read horoscopes. I don't think they work for everyone, but I'm a very typical Pisces, and very often my life's ups and downs follow the star patterns. My favorite scope to read is my monthly horoscope over at Astrology Zone. Susan Miller is very thorough, and this month looks wonderful for me! :)

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I tag:
Trevor of The Art Pitt
Eric of Glimbit Art Blog
Amy of Amy Zaleski Illustration & Lettering
...and anyone else who wants to meme along! :)