[chairs] : eightish

today chairs are just not inspiring. 

i did this new one instead.

[chairs] : six

ok, power was restored, and so I go on... here are the beginnings of four smaller paintings. i think of them as seasonal chairs, (winter=comfy chair, spring=porch swing, summer=Adirondack, fall=rocking chair with afghan). so here are the pencil and pen stages. i like to use a permanent marker for the pen stage...it will bleed through my paint layers so i can always see it. however, it means that it's permanent and that can have its drawbacks.

i also did another tweet while the power was out. this is actually a tweet of my friend Ryan Ridge (he is a fantastic photographer...go look at his stuff! ryan.bigwoofs.com)

anyhoo, i had to figure out how to get one of the armless dudes (frank wants to call them Gangly Gents) to drink coffee. my first instinct was a silly straw, but the glasses straw seemed even better!

in yet other news I have been looking for other work to supplement the old income, and i'm going to apply to be a zoo keeper! i'll definitely keep you all updated on that one!

[chairs] : four? five?

well, for day four I've got a newly redesigned website (www.katievernon.com). there are parts that aren't totally done, i still want to put a lot more work under the misc. work section (some tweets, etc.). but i'm really diggin the more open layout...i can have larger images if i want, and there is just a nice spacious feel to it. so that took up a few hours yesterday.

for day five (today) I don't think i will be able to post anything. Frank and I are currently sitting in the only place in Dover with power and internet and coffee. thank goodness for Adelles. we had a big ice storm last night and there are over 200,000 homes in NH without power. this might last for a bit. Frank is currently calling around to try to find a kerosene space heater (no luck thus far). actually, he's about to run out to look around for one. supposedly this storm was worse than one that hit about a decade ago that left people without power for almost a week.

man, if it had just been a bit colder last night we would've had at least a foot of snow! instead we have about a half inch of ice on the trees/power lines. thankfully the roads are not slick (unless the temp decides to take a sudden plummit.)

toodles!

[chairs] : two & three

more sketches! also, i think i'm gonna do a wee redesign of my website, so i'll keep you updated for that!

[chairs] : one point five

ok, so i have a few more sketches for day two, but it's too cold to go to my art room today (we're getting a space heater for the upstairs on thursday). anyhoo, tomorrow I'll have two postings, and it's supposed to be warming up, so hopefully my motivation will come back. (don't worry mom, we'll turn the heat up during christmas!)

[chairs] : one

yay for chairs! This series is going to go a bit differently. instead of a finished illo per day, i want to have a few (maybe 5 or so) finished paintings by the end of the 10 days. To do that, it is easier for me to work on a few boards at once, so while one is drying i can be working on another, and it speeds the process along a bit. But you'll get a glimpse into my process of going from idea to finished piece, and that's kinda fun. So the first day or two or three are going to be the sketching phase. 

I've wanted to do more chairs since i did these a few weeks ago. there's something about a chair that really conveys a lot of personality. also you can have strange things sitting on the chair, like a narwhal. Also, there are so many different styles of chairs, yet they all basically serve the same purpose. anyhoo, i am gonna miss the tweets, but i'm going to try to do one tweet/week, so definitely keep on the look out. 

[tweets illustrated] : ten

not sure if i like the light one or the dark one better...thoughts?

[tweets illustrated] : nine

these little dudes again...not sure what they're called yet. suggestions?

i dont know why im feeling the sad drawings lately, but here's another one.

[tweets illustrated] : eight

[tweets illustrated] : seven

i don't know what's up with this little dude, but i kinda like him.

[tweets illustrated] : six

wink wink (although, i don't really know what's in the butter)

Happy T Day!

Have a wonderful holiday...i'll be back on monday! Eat lots of turkey (or tofurkey), but beware of turkey brain (WARNING! this is kinda a disturbing illo).

[tweets illustrated] : five

I think the 19th "i" really makes the message work. 

[tweets illustrated] : four

[tweets illustrated] : three

so true, so true.

[tweets illustrated] : two

i want pie...real bad.

[tweets illustrated] : one

This one actually comes from someone i know...my bro-in-law JP! hope you find your pants jp!

also, the project that consumed last week is finished...you can see a slideshow of it by going to the vernons_away blog here.

AND, The Stranger is going to use my illo for its cover for their next issue! it'll come out later this week!

[tweets illustrated] : zero

good news and bad news...

bad news: i don't have an illo for today (and am ignoring the fact that I didn't have one on friday)

good news: one of my postcard mailings has likely produced a job! The Stranger (alternative mag in Seattle) wants to use my "Stumpede!" (a cropped version of the one on my website) image for their cover. Ill let you all know when that's supposed to come out...could be next issue, could be pushed back a bit. So this is very exciting!

but also very exciting is the next 10 days of topic...tweets! i'm really looking forward to doing these, i think it'll be great fun! 

[on my walk] : nine

[on my walk] : eight

today was painting and priming of the bedroom...so no new illo for the day...instead a modified illo and a haiku about our walk:

On our walk she sniffs

pulling, bearing down, to smell

bet it stinks real bad

[on my walk] : seven

So, i can't take credit for painting this design. Frank and I are trying to make sure we succeed in our goal of moving into our bedroom by thanksgiving, so this week we are in turbo mode of sanding-caulking-priming-painting the room. Then next week we will hopefully get carpet and a mattress that can actually fit up our stairs. and then install our shelving thingys (we'll post pics on our vernons-away blog). 

anyhoo, back to the pic...we have this hideous vinyl flooring (see ugly brown swatch) over our whole upstairs. Neither of us realized that there was more between it and the subflooring. I saw this peaking out underneath and ripped up some uggo flooring to get to it. It's pretty amazing. definitely hand printed and touched up with some hand painting. anyhoo, i thought it was neat, and i've got some other projects that i need to work on, so hope you will accept this as a suitable substitute for my normal stuff. 

[on my walk] : six

how cute are mail trucks!

psst...if you haven't read the next post yet...scroll down and read it!

Q. How many blogs can one person have?

A. Not enough i guess.

Don't worry 10 day of followers...the start of another blog doesnt mean that I am going to start ditching the 10 days of site. This new one...tweetsillustrated.blogspot.com will be updated weekly, not daily. 

So what is this new one all about? well you should go and find out. You'll see that the style is a bit different than what i do on 10 days of, but i hope the feel is still 100% kv. 

I really wanted to play a bit more with text. and i was planning on doing this for a 10 days of run (and still might), but i feel like it is something that could go way beyond 10 days. My plan (to give you all a heads up... especially if you really like what you see), is to make limited prints of these (20 at most), so these will be extra special!

hope you enjoy!

[on my walk] : five (but not really)

ok, today i didn't go on nootka's walk with her. I have been really busy making a form on my website for signing up for a e-newsletter, making an illo answering the question of why the stumpede? (i put this question on one of my postcards that i sent out, hoping that people would want to know the answer). and i taught myself how to make a tiled pattern. so i took some of the animal hybrids and made this...i think it's uber fun!

Cafe on the Corner show!

Here are a few pics of the little show I have up at Cafe on the Corner in Dover. Since my pieces have glossy resin on them, it was hard getting a good non-glare, non-flash shot, i think i'll go back when it is bright and sunny out.

click here for more pics

[on my walk] : four

ok, this sucks, but it was a rainy morning, my legs are sore from a new workout class, and it's been a busy afternoon, so here is today's little bastard.

[on my walk] : three

This is from a dying/dried hydrangea. I added the color digitally. Also, if you haven't noticed, I have stuff up on etsy! there is a little thing on the side of this site! The site needs some tweaking, but at least this is a start. Go buy art! also, if there is ever anything that you want to buy that i don't have up there, but that you've seen, just let me know!

[On my walk] : two

Saw lots of these today. Hope you voted!

[On my walk] : one

Well, my week off was well spent, i am sending out about 600 postcards to different magazines/publishers. For the next 10 days of, i decided to take advantage of something I do everyday...walk nootka. Plus I love plants that have neat seed pods or berries and now is the time i get to see them. So for day one, we have some rose hips. Frank says you can pick these and make rose hip tea out of them. I'll let you know how that goes if we do it.

Skippy gets it!

Well, remember that little "contest" i had a few weeks ago...where i needed help explaining my art? Thank you to everyone who helped out and submitted a comment or email. Skippy Baker ended up hitting a cord with "Katie Vernon's whimsical and witty pieces capture the beauty of both everyday items AND the imagination." Skippy, my awesome alaskan, you get it!

5 Days Off from 10 Days Of

Like i said last week, i'm going to take this week off to focus on some marketing work. If anyone has something they want me to post in lieu of my normal posts, photos, links, whatnot, i definitely will. just email me at katie@katievernon.com.

toodles

[coffee makers] : ten

ok, the last one...well i spent about 5 mins on it (i was uber busy getting some work ready for a show at Cafe on the Corner on tuesday in Dover) but even with just 5 mins, i kinda like it. it feels like sbucks. 

click here to see some newness!

[coffee makers] : nine

So this one i did with the first two in mind, i think the three of them would make a nice little family in a frame. I am feeling much much better today, but i might take a week off of 10 days of next week to work on marketing. I have a postcard that i am going to be mailing out, i'll post that on the sketches blog here soon enough. also, i am going to have a little show in a local coffee shop, and will need to do some prep for that. i knew you all would understand!

[coffee makers] : eight

it'll make coffee eventually. I really wanted to do a french press in honor of our broken one, but im coming down with something and spent most of the day with a migraine, shivering, holding a hot water bottle between my hoodie and pink robe. Also, yesterday's coffee maker is also a soup maker...gotta go! 

[coffee makers] : seven?

sorry folks, it was bound to happen at some point...i just wasn't in the studio today at all. but no worries, tomorrow i'll be back! In the meantime...this is truly my coffee maker...frank! it's true, he gets up and makes the coffee while i lay in bed for an extra 10 mins. i love this guy! but why is he so sad you ask? well, frank kinda broke the glass part of our french press today. sad. maybe it had to do with the coffee maker gods not being appeased today.

[coffee makers] : six

The beautiful Chemex coffee maker! Not 100% on how it works, but it looks good. This illo is performing double-duty as my "Late" entry to the blog illustration friday. As the saying goes: "the early bird gets the chemex coffee!"

[coffee makers] : five

So let me get this straight... exotic sounding instant coffee plus fancy spoon plus random mug of hot water equals....coffee? not likely. {warning: do not try this at home}

In other news, i figured out how to get a fancy little icon-thingy to show up next to my website in a bookmark list and in the header (like the orange "B" that Blogspot has). good times. 

[coffee makers] : four

How much do you want one of these retro cappuccino makers! so cute! i couldn't decide between the original red illo vs the computer altered brownish one, so here they both are! (although i'm kinda loving really neutral brown/greys with a hint of color as of late)

[coffee makers] : three

I like to call this one "Decaf Nightmare." pretty spooky...all those orange handles. To see the full shot of this one and the addition of some paintings on my website, click here. also, every once and a while i make something that i fall deeply in love with. the current infatuation is the first image in the paintings section. the reason for this love? i'm not sure, but it might have to do with the hairy legs. but don't tell lobster boy, he might get jealous. 

[coffee makers] : two

the moka pot! 

[HELP!/free stuff!]

Ok, so sometimes I am not the greatest with words, especially when it comes to talking about my artistic style. So here's where I need your help. How would you describe my work/style in a few words or sentences? It would be most helpful for me if you look at my website and at[coffee makers] : 1,  [animal hybrids] : 2,4,7,9 and [1-10] : 1,3,4,7 (these are the ones i like). 

To the person whom i feels really hits the nail on the head I will send a free archival pigment-ink print of whatever image they want (now or later) on beautiful paper. you can either post your comment here (make sure your name is somewhere in the post) or email me at katie@katievernon.com. 

Thanks so much! 

[coffee makers] : one

Maybe it has been all the time spent in coffee shops lately, but the next ten days of will be of coffee makers! starting with the wonderful percolator. 

[animal hybrids] : ten

the wee moush. Have a good weekend little moush!

[animal hybrids] : nine

So, I kinda like this guy, he's awkward but trying to get by. Sherin (my sis) says it looks like he's dancing. i think he might have to use the bathroom. 

[animal hybrids] : eight

Uff, today i had no oomph, I spent most of the day printing off work for my portfolio and staring at the computer that my brain was fried by the time i got around to doing today's TDO illo. I couldn't even think of a name for this one. help!

[animal hybrids] : seven

yar, thar be a squale!

 

and here be frank's "theory of everything" books

[animal hybrids] : six

well, i really enjoyed the "Sneal Lion" from day four, so for the remaining 5, i'm going to do them as though they would all be spot illustrations for a magazine article on "toxic oceans." and maybe out of the 6 i'll end up with 4 that i could group together and put in my portfolio. 

on a side note, if you want to see a chicken leg with chicken legs, go here.

[animal hybrids] : five

well, today i had no steam. so i just traced this guy from a sketchbook, gave him some heels, doodled in the background and then played around in illustrator (first one) and photoshop (second). have a fantastic weekend! 

[animal hybrids] : four

ah, the illusive sneal lion. 

[animal hybrids] : three

So i crossed a duck with a beaver with an otter with a snake and got this crazy venomous creature. I don't know how i'm going to top this. 

also, the Obama cards i did are posted here.

[animal hybrids] : two

Well, today was a slightly political day...did some pro-bono work for my friend laura who is in georgia working for team Obama! The work is not 100% done, but it'll let you all know when it is. anyhoo, hence the elephonkey. you can decide amongst yourself how it eats. 

[animal hybrids] : one

Well, by popular demand, "non-human hybrids" beat out "fall" on the little poll. So here's a wee sketch digitally colored of a rabbit-dog. It kinda looks like Nootka if she had just gotten her wisdom teeth removed. 

Also, I have been hard at work trying to get my website to a better place. It is far better than before, but still a lot of work to be done. take a look!

[1-10] : ten (!)

This is why we don't have all our fingers on one hand. It looks strange. And all those finger puppets would be pretty crammed. 

Hooray for 10! I have had a great time with this first ten days of (hope you have enjoyed it). I think there will be one minor change to the set-up i have going on. Instead of 10 straight days, I'll do two 5-day work weeks so i can have a legit weekend. At first I thought about having a "5 days of" blog, but where's the challenge in that? Also, I want to thank everyone for some really great suggestions for different themes. I will definitely be using them in the upcoming weeks. As for the next theme....well, you're gonna have to come back on monday!