home is wherever i'm with you...

wowzer, after plenty of sweat, tears and one terrible printing session during which i was assisted by wee baby j (never again) they're finally finished. my new print 'home is wherever i'm with you'. is available with either sunny yellow or blue sky in my etsy and folksy shops. i was really inspired by these vintage czech postage stamps, the illustrators dick bruna, alain gree and roger hargreaves and by some excellent wooden house blocks we had when i was a kiddo. and by love of course!

dockwood

i went to the dentist last week for part two of a root canal / crown treatment, thank goodness for the maternity exemption (surely the next thing to be scrapped by the tories). apparently i have bendy roots, nightmare. afterwards i mooched over the road to dave's comics and treated myself to 'dockwood' by jon mcnaught (published by nobrow press, the images above are pilfered from their website, hope they don't mind). well lush.

bookworming

some christmas gifts* (and o-o's library book - nice illustrations of NYC and pleasing typography),  need to crack on with reading a novel (or six) as per my new year's resolutions. meanwhile, m's got the OFSTEDs in, shudder.
* obviously the divas and dictators book wasn't a present...bought for myself after a particularly trying day!  

czech this out!

lovely czechoslovakian matchbox labels. i bought from this etsy shop them intending to give them as a christmas gift but couldn't bare to part with them. my favourite is the one with the houses in the top left hand corner.

there's a frost on the ground here. i'm delaying a trip to tarner park until it's thawed. o-o and l-man are chuckling and chatting and running in and out of the garden playing an elaborate game. best buds.

brilliant birta and boo!

huge congratulations to brilliant birta on being featured in 'shorties', the best of the observer graphic short story prize (she's on page 90). here's a bit of her 'acorn for a heart' story, you can see the rest on the observer/guardian website or here. i love the intricate line work and the magical narrative, such an inspiration. revel in your well deserved acclaim b!

while his ma readies her web presence for some serious cyber footfall l-man has been enjoying static-y haired times hiding under the blanket with o-o.