THE WEEKLY MONSTER: “COFFEE AND SIGARETTES”

Ok, I don’t smoke, so coffee it is then.

HEART SHAPED GOODIES

I had to make a visit to the office today to pack and post a few orders, and try to stay on top of things even if I’m down with the flu. Some things can’t be helped. I needed to scan some of the spreads for the book I’m working on, and do some office work so that when I come back I wont be recieved by a huge pile of work with a big blinking red light on top of it.


Since I saw there were heartstickers in the photo above, I wanted to post more heart shaped goodies. These are Non Stop Chocolate Cookies I made for my neighbour’s son’s birthday last Friday, and I’ve been wanting an excuse to post the photos


The recipe I got from fellow KHIB student Caroline over at Good Cupcakes Good, yummy! (I changed 100gr of chocolate with Non Stop btw.) She is on a mission to try out different coockie recipes, and this is nr 6 of 500.


They came out really crunchy on the outside, and softer on the inside, and now there is none left.

RAIN & THUNDER

I’s actually quite nice to be indoors when it’s raining like mad outside.


We live in a loft, and it sometimes feels more like a tent with the rain hammering the windows.

And when the imagery I’m working on is a fantasy jungle it’s actually quite cosy.

WATERCOLOR TREE-MAN

This is a tree-man from one of the stories for Trøysteboka that is soon half way to the printers. I won’t meet the deadline 1st of July, but close enough.

The brush is a japanese calligraphy brush, and when I discovered it by accident (got it from my mother in law that thought it was just a normal brush) I was THRILLED! It might look to large and clumsy for fine details, but this brush is the best discovery ever. The tip goes back into the finest point after a stroke, and that makes it valuable in my book.

It’s extremely soft and works with watercolor in an organic and beautiful way, you don’t ever see hard brushstrokes. (If that is sometning you are trying to avoid on a certain motive.) And when I work on a motive that needs the same stroke and color but goes from large to tinytinytiny details it saves me from the meeting brushstrokes that usually annoys me if I have to change brushes. I was actually surprised over how steady it was to use, I was expecting to mess up the test sheet because of the bulky soft tip. It took a while to get used to though, because it was so different from normal watercolor brushes, but it was worth it 

I’m not sure what hairs the tip is made from, but it’s supposed to be goat. (A black, very soft goat apparently. Guess it’s dyed.)

SECRETS

Kristin Talseth and Kathrine Kristiansen over at Baluba Illustration Studio has issued a good idea: They want to collaborate with other illustrators on a calendar for 2012 and is for the moment looking for a theme. That of course sparked my espresso ridden brain and I thought of the theme “Secrets”. They won’t decide on a theme until late July, and many more suggestions will flow in, but the Secret-idea stuck with me this morning.

So I want to make a weekly post like the Weekly Monster about Secrets. Doesn’t have to be hardcore truths, only small guilty pleasures or things one treasure. Or have done.  Maybe revealing something about yourself that is quite funny or plain lame. I want to do this like my Champagne Project, that I collect sayings from myself and others and then illustrate it. I’m starting out with myself and this morning’s little (very innocent) truth: I like Hello Kitty even if my friends think it’s silly. (This will probably be filed under “lame”.) 



I realize it will probably be a little more difficult to get people to give me stuff to illustrate this time round. But I love when people aren’t too concerned what other people think of them or their interests, and this will be anonymous, so maybe it’ll work. Feel free to post your silly secrets here Next one up I have already figured: “I love to listen to “10 000 Lovers” from TNT”.

MY NEW OFFICE

Since my pink office is being occupied by people with jackhammers and helmets for the moment, this is my new desk.

It's safer too I think, the roof at our lunch-room at Bryggen has sunk from the vibrations from the heavy machinery. My kitchen table may be a smaller desk, but at least the roof stays where it is. And my neighbour gave me tricolored jelly since I have the flu on top of this ordeal, I already feel better:)

SILENCE OF THE JACKHAMMERS

 
But now we have no water. I think I’ll pack some things together and work from home for the next week:)

WORKING FROM HOME AND SMELLING OF GARLIC

This guy here is the reason for my trouble. Him and hos crew is tearing my office building apart with a jackhammer. Actually he was quite nice, guess you have to be when you ge to drive a tiny tractor in the centre of Bergen. Reminded me of The Straight Story.  (Wonderful film and soundtrack, must be seen.)

We photographed the fumes and dust coming up through the floorboards from the machines downstairs today, and sent it to our landlord. He probably has enough trouble as it is with all the workers suddenly occupying a whole building ment to be a tourist attraction, but we don’t know what to do when we can’t use the office. So I went home instead.

It isn’t all that bad working from home though, the lunch/dinner is slightly healthier, and certainly more interesting. Even the picture smells of garlic and blue cheese. But this far into a project I need my office. *Sigh.*

Tomorrow I’m going in after the workers have left, to paint the watercolors on to todays inking, and scan and photoshop the ones I painted yesterday.

The good thing was that today I was supposed to draw trees for different stories, and from my veranda I had quite a few live “models”

THE WEEKLY MONSTER

They are fixing up the building my office is located in. I love the sound of masonry drills in the morning. Especially when my desk is shaking from the vibrations they make, and at the same time Idol is having their auditions just outside. The last few days have been intense. Mosonry drills, Beoynce-wannabies and singer/songwriters wailing outside, and 19 og 21 folders in my Dropbox mysteriously disappeared. I should be curled up in a corner sucking my thumb by now, but actually the whole situation is so insane that I can’t help but laugh about the whole thing.

But I did have a moment earlier today, after I had spoke to the masonry drill-man on his little tractor telling me they would be drilling for a few months, that I wanted to buy some planetickets to somewhere very remote. And typed in “loneliest place on earth” in google and found this. But I don’t want to go to Antarctica, maybe just a tiny trip to the Seychelles. Nothing to expensive. Just a quick visit to the same nice hotel the Prince William and his lovely Duchess of Cambridge went to on their honeymoon.

I ended up channeled my frustration in a drawing. Here is the Weekly Monster:) Quite disturbing actually this one.

DR. SKETCHY AT GARAGE

Drawing proper fantasy is something I haven’t done for ages. Fantasy as in elves, woodland, tacky as hell explisit imagery that I secretly think is good fun. But yesterday my tacky fantasydrawing had a revivial with me. I LOVED IT. A group had arranged Dr. Sketchy at Garage. Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School is a concept for drawing croquis the fun way, with different themes and costumes, good music and beer. Much better than art school. I started counting and figured it was about 10 - 12 years since I have drawn fantasy imagery not the cute children’s book way, but the whole lot with boobs, wings and weapons. And my skills had seriously rusted. I’m so used to draw the way I do now that I didn’t know how to draw from real life, I only draw what is in my head. So I kept drawing my figures from the poses the models did, but after a few rounds I started adding meat to their bones, and I realize I have some cathing up to do.  

 

The model is actually holding a rake here:D


Ha ha, loved the idea for a drawing contest: “Best incorporation of pink elephant in explisit imagery.”

 
And again, since I hate drawing men, I kept using Kif from Futurama as a stand in.

Trying to add some meat to them bones.

I recommend participating next time round, it was so much better atmosphere drawing from life with good music and beer, and with clapping and cheering the burlesk themed models on stage:)

GARDEN GNOME MOMENT

Finding myself at work today was quite a shock. I didn’t really wake up until I was halfway here, surrounded by tourists, clinging to my sunglasses and a Coke. On my way home last night a friend sent me this picture, and I’m still laughing:D

Title: “Lurking garden gnome at 03.00.”

 
Of course I had to draw one inspired by the photo. I’m calling it “Busted Garden Gnome But It’s Actually Myself Being Hungover.”

I AM NINJA

“They travelled in disguise to other territories to judge the situation of the enemy, they would inveigle their way into the midst of the enemy to discover gaps, and enter enemy castles to set them on fire, and carried out assassinations, arriving in secret. “ (From About Ninjas in Wikipedia.)

I’m only a wannabe ninja, since the wristband is to ensure I don’t use the hand and wrist wrong while I “set castles on fire”.

ADVANTAGES OF BEING SELF EMPLOYED

Being self employed may sometimes be a curse. But not today! I could take my job outside and have a tan. The weather has been so skitzofrenic the last few weeks, yesterday it was autumn, so I have to take the chances I get to experience the phenomena called “Sun”. I draw whenever I get the chance for the moment, to be able to meet the deadlines. Keep carrying the sketched up sheets with me everywhere. And more importantly, if I suddenly FEEL like working as well it’s nice to have them close.

Drawing on my veranda, visited my familiy in Oz, drawing on their veranda… 

…ate cod, and I now I feel sleepy.

THE WEEKLY MONSTER

We visited my new niece today 

(This one I had to color in photoshop, I guess  the notepad paper wouldn’t like to be soaked in water.)

GOOD LOOKIN’ MAMA!

A sneak peak at the Cupcake-Marie-Antoinette-photoshoot we did this spring. My friend and co-worker Birthe Barbarella Rosson is the Good Lookin’ Mama on these ones, the pictures are taken by Karine from K&K Fotoatelier, hair & makeup is by Kristin Garlid, with me as art director. Kristin is btw now a REAL good lookin mama, her little girl was born two weeks ago. …..AAAaaaand, today my niece was born as well, YAY, babies popping out all over the place

 
We have many great pictures from this shoot with Birthe and Kristin, can’t decide which we like the most. This project is going to take some time, we want 10 pregnancies photographed for the exhibition we are planning, we now have five. We started in 2006, and since it takes quite a lot of planning and lots of time to make the sets and costumes for each one, we can only do one or two each year. Maybe in four or five years time we’ll be there.

Earlier ood Lookin Mama posts: Behind the scenes, The first shoot, Rockabilly Mama, Smoke-Machine Mama

ON A ROLL

Yesterday me and some friends drank watermelon drinks from coconut cups and watched Pirates of the Caribbean; “Why is the rhum gone!?” We have decided that when I finish the book we are going to celebrate with transforming our veranda into a ship and have a pirate party.

Since today was a national holiday, and us self employed people are not aware of that, we had a meeting about the book we’re making. My office is in the yellow building.

A bit of photoshopping on the white polkadots there.

Salmon lunch while having a tan in the foaje.

A bit of candy to keep me going though this 11 hour workday, drawing fantasy houses filled with African flora.

I’m not staying this late tomorrow But it was good with an intense work session, but I have to be strict and leave at 17 from now.