TOSKA

 

 At last! I finally get to share something I finished a while back. Toska is a b&w litho printed, staple bound, 20 page book filled with illustrations that I drew during January of this year (in two weeks in fact, in a flurry of inhuman activity). The concept for the book is based on a quote from Vladimir Nabokov on the uniquely Russian sensation of 'Toska' and whilst the book has no narrative I hope you can at least spot a kind of vaguely tangible theme.  This whole project is the biggest thing I've done on my own since my degree (and definitely the most expensive!) and involved me tricking myself into thinking I was confident enough in my work to spend a load of money printing five hundred copies of it! Eeek! This really has been a fairly huge leap o' faith for me.

Toska is now officially on sale for a rather reasonable £6.50 and the first fifty orders will recieve the postcard pictured above as well as their book. I really hope you like the images below (I won't show you them all as it'll spoil the surprise) and that maybe they might tempt you to invest in the book!

Been Listening

Yesterday I went to see one of my all-time, desert island top ten,  favourite bands The Decemberists play the Barrowlands in Glasgow. Having seen them a healthy handful of times (the first being in 2004 at a rather strange church hall/social club in Bristol) I knew what to expect and, of course, was not disappointed. Few bands know how to do all-consuming, heart-swelling joy like the Decemberists. This wee illustration (for Eastwing) is based on me remembering discovering them as a eager teenager desperately lapping up new music in her bedroom.

Anyway doing this got me to thinking about my music consumption (this might be a long post) From about aged 14 to 21 I was a rabid seeker of new music. I read magazines and blogs and visited record stores weekly, thoroughly raiding the racks for obscure treats. When I moved to Edinburgh from Plymouth (where decent live music was hard, nay impossible, to come by) I feverishly attended gigs both here and in Glasgow to ensure I made the most of my proximity to good live venues. Briefly I even co-ran a club night, dj-ed and organised gigs. I was obsessed (and, as any devoted indie fan usually is, I was probably a total music snob).
  In the last few years this has waned somewhat. I buy fewer albums and never really read music blogs anymore. The days of visiting Pitchfork on a twice-daily basis are long gone. In a way that's a relief. My poor computer is grateful of the hard-drive space and having my ipod on shuffle is less of a risky business now that I know that everything on there is from a carefully curated selection of favourites rather than my entire music collection. For the past couple years I've stuck to releases from tried and tested favourites (Grizzly Bear, the Mountain Goats, Radiohead, Why, the National, St Vincent for example) and made way for only a comparative few new finds (DM Stith, Ramona Falls, James Blake, The Unthanks, The Dodos and a few more). I suppose this is part of growing up; no longer needing to sum myself up with a music library, neglecting my mix cd making and generally feeling like its ok not to be on top of whats new/cool/going to be Pitchfork's album of the year. I'm ok with that really, I can't afford to buy records like I used to! But a part of me doesn't want to give up too soon. I still am still floored by good songwriting and I will never fail to swoon at good use of a brass section on record. I guess what this boils down to is what do you fine folk recommend? What albums have had you in raptures recently? What's gotten your toes tapping and your head bobbing? Only the best please. I need quality goods to lift me from my rut! GO GO GO!

Spring!

Spring has very nearly sprung here! Hurrah for blossom and daffodils and other springtime wonders!

CAKE!

Yesterday was my birthday (24) and my friend Verity made me this beauty of a cake. It was absolute torture to cut into! I feel like a monster ruining its lovely face! Tastes pretty super though so i've gotten over it!

Whilst I'm here I also want to let you know that you can currently get 10% off in my etsy store with the coupon code SPRINGCLEAN2011 just fill in the box at the checkout page.

London Zine

For those that were interested I now have some zines of my London Sketchbook over on etsy. I've only made 15 for now so act fast and so on!

The Lion's Laugh

If you follow me over on that there twitter you might have seen that I was posting progress reports on an image I was working on. For those that don't dabble in twitter (you wise souls) I thought I'd post up my screenshots here for you to nose through. They're not groundbreaking but sometimes its fun to share the way an image is put together. Plus at school we were always taught to 'show your workings'!

P.S thanks to those who left lovely comments about my sketchbook project! Much appreciated. Its nice to get a good response to something personal and less 'polished'. I'm debating making a small run of zines but only if there's enough interest so if you'd be interested in one then please let me know! There's nothing worse (there's lots worse) than living amongst stacks of homeless zines.

London- A visual diary

  
A couple of weeks back I went to London for a few days to catch up with friends and fill up on art and history and big old buildings. Rather than take photos as I usually do (and never really look at again) I decided to record my trip in a little sketchbook. Today I finally got round to scanning the pages of the sketchbook to show you. I thought it might be interesting to share some less polished work and spur of the moment sketches. This is the whole sketchbook (I havent edited anything out...regardless how dodgy the drawings are) and it just shows how erratic my drawing can be, the styles are all over the place! I did also write pages and pages of rambling, nonsensical notes, which you'll be pleased to hear I'm not posting for fear they'll bore you to death.

Valentines

This is my Valentines image for the Eastwing front page. No hearts, no flowers, there's not even any red! I am useless at holiday themed illustration.

Lonely planet

I did this illustration just before christmas for January's issue of lonely Planet magazine. I totally forgot to share it with you! The article (which goes in the gaping hole in the middle) was by musician Nitin Sawhney and was about how he is inspired by the music he's encountered on his travels. 

Skies

I have a new giclee print in my etsy shop. It features one of my favourite quotes from D.H Lawrence's 'Lady Chatterly's Lover'. I hope you like it folks! If all goes to plan there'll be more new stuff added soon soon soon!

Red Rabbit

I just got back from a trip to London but I thought I'd point folks over to the Eastwing site where all us eastwing illustrators have drawn rabbits to celebrate Chinese New Year. This red fella is mine (sorry its a bit wee! its only a little thumbnail for the front page).

  Hopefully I'll post some stuff from my London trip up here soon. I did some sketches and doodles along the way so maybe I'll even be brave enough to share them with you!

Interview

You can, if you so wish, read a wee article about me on the Venus website (please not there's an error and 'You Are The Friction is not yet published).

General Interest

Some things that have peaked my interest of late. Firstly the Tree Museum in Switzerland. Designed by landscape architect Enzo Enea the museum displays 2,000 species of tree, many against walls of sandstone. Doesn't it look beautiful? Like something out of a surreal film. 

Lauren Dukoff takes wonderful photos, mostly of musicians. I am totally drawn in by this image of Devendra Banhart. Partially due to the fact that Mr Banhart is unfathomably attractive.

Trawling the archives of OMG That Dress! for incredible period/folk costumes and forever mourning the fact that such attire is no longer in vogue! Sigh.

For the time being I only have a couple more Living Things Books left in my shop.

Picture Book Report

 

I'm starting again with Picture Book Report. I totally failed to keep up with it last year (four posts in twelve months! Not so hot Stewart.) So i've chosen a new book and I'm good to go. I'm going to be working from Murukami's Norwegian Wood; one of my all time favourites. This is the first image that I came up with; a portrait of Naoko being all cold and sad and lovely. You can see the PBR blog post (where the image has type on) right here. 

Reduced!

 

My red Grizzly bear print is now only £5! But only for the next ONE DAY! Argh!

Beach Walk

 I did this drawing today as part of a larger project that I'm working on at the moment (to be revealed next month if all goes to plan). I thought I'd share this one as a taster of whats to come and to prove that I am actually drawing things and not just posting etsy links the whole time!

January (drawing) sale!

New year equals clear-out. Yesterday I took on the mammoth task of streamlining my wardrobe and today I'm dealing with the piles of drawings taking over my studio. Most of these are the original pencil drawings from my Living Things book with a couple of exceptions. As per usual if you are interested in buying a drawing then drop me an email at lizzy (at) abouttoday.co.uk and let me know where you are so I can calculate postage. I'm afraid I can only accept payment via paypal at this time.

 Deer- £13

 Wolf town-SOLD

 Washing Line-SOLD

 Tattoos- £18

 Bear Head- SOLD

 Deer Town- £14

 Tess- SOLD

Cossack Souslik- £18

Hello 2011!

 Happy New Year all! I hope you all had suitably wonderful holidays. I'm glad to have had some time away from my desk to spend with family and friends but I'm glad to be back now and eager to get going on this years drawings!

For those that are interested my shop is open for business once again. I've added some of my Living Things books for those that want 'em. Residents of USA/Canada I recommend you get yours from the Little Otsu store as the shipping costs will be kinder to you!

Merry Christmas Emporium!

Happy Christmas folks! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday period filled with all manner of lovely things! I'll see you in the New Year!

p.s apologies for failing to keep up my christmas gift guide. Time and energy got the better of me in the run up to my trip back to Plymouth from Edinburgh! Serves me right for setting myself a blogging challenge. I should have known I could never keep up the pace!

(p.s need I say that the title post is a reference to this fine fella?)

Christmas Countdown #10

 

I loooove the seafoam blue colour on this ring by MijiandYou.  

Christmas Countdown #9

Somewhat optimistically I'm upping the budget for today's handmade Christmas present choice. This beautiful bag is slightly pricier than the previous posts' items but I just couldn't resist the simple design and subtle wave pattern.

Christmas Countdown #8

For the neurotic in your life why not get this super print by Judy Kaufman? Oh I do love Woody Allen.  

Christmas Countdown #7

My choice for day seven is from the wonderful Clare Owen. I love love love this antique birdcage print. Wouldn't it look so perfect in a battered second hand frame?

10%  off in my shop if you use the coupon code BAUBLES. If you're in the US you need to order before Friday 10th, Europe 13th and UK the 17th.

Christmas Countdown #5 & 6

I was out last night so I missed my Christmas countdown post. Thus today you get two! TWO! Fancy that. First up is this wee bear fella from Sian on etsy. I am a total sucker for this kind of thing and I just love his expression! Dangerously cute. 

 Or how about one of these splendid egg cups from the peerless Donna Wilson. I would definitely eat more boiled eggs if I had one of these friendly faces to put them in!

I've added some packs of these gocco printed reindeer cards to my etsy store. They were printed last year and pretty much straight afterwards I put them away *somewhere safe* and lost them! Oops. Found them yesterday though so they're in the shop now!

Christmas Countdown #4

This super pretty handmade collar is my fourth choice in my countdown of handmade christmas presents. So perfect for making a plain dress that bit more festive!

Christmas Countdown #3

Today my tip for a handmade christmas gift this awesome ampersand letterpress print from illustration superhero and all-round lovely lass Gemma Correll.

What I Wore Today

(if you're in the US then you offically have ONE WEEK to order from my shop in time for Christmas)

Living Things Vol. 1

If you head over to the Little Otsu site today you might see a super exciting announcement involving yours truly. The fantastic Portland based purveyors of all things printed have launched a new series of books called 'Living Things' and I did the first one! It's called 'A guide to Eastern European Wildlife' (although it probably won't actually be that useful as a factual guide) and it features 16 brand new illustrations (8 full colour). It's up for pre-order now! YEAH!

Christmas Countdown #2

Today's stocking worthy treat are these crazy-cute cat keyrings from Yacspocket on etsy. Look at those happy wee faces! I'd like the orange fella please. Or a real cat. One of the two.

Christmas Countdown #1

OK i've decided (as of two minutes ago) that every day in the run up till Christmas I'm going to post a nice handmade thing that I think would make a lovely gift. First up- These pretty ceramic pins from Sophie Elm. Super cute, really affordable and probably thoroughly lovely on a cardigan. Sophie does lovely things with decorative ceramics and I heartily recommend a good nose through her blog.