The shopping is finished and the big holiday of the year is almost here. The kids are excited about Santa coming and are watching holiday movies to pass the time. As I shout to them to the other room that they cannot have any more cmas cookies until the party tonight, I give in again. So I leave this post by saying Merry Christmas and officially sign off to spend more time with my kids, and counting down to a big martini at the Cmas eve festivities tonight!

The Time Traveler's Wife

The artist, Clare, in this book had an intriguing edge as it related to the time traveling character, Henry. Her paper assemblages of birds and a direct comparison to Anselm Keifer, one of my favorite abstract artists, was a great connection. Clare was driven to creating beauty in her work much of the time with her final dark bird creation at the end of this tragic story. An amazing piece of fiction with visually rich metaphors and symbolism-lots of good stuff for making art!

Wondertime

Outside it is frosty and crisp. Some of my favorite things I see out a window or walking up the sidewalk are simple things added over the years to the landscape. Everything is so beautiful anyways in black and white, no? And with the high-contrast of winter, it is almost a must to see all of it this way.

O Christmas Tree

Last night was the annual lighting of the giant holly tree in downtown Avondale Estates. We have gone every year since we moved here (5 years!) And it is magical every time. The kids are definitely in to it, but I have an adult love affair with it as well. I love singing Christmas carols, sipping hot cider and munching on Krispy Kreme donuts (yes, so decadent!) It has been really cold every year so far, and this year was no different-37 degrees! But the sky was clear, no wind and it felt so, so Christmassy! Seriously, in Atlanta, it is hard to come by sometimes. I really do miss the holidays in MI, the snow falling, the beautiful snow-covered landscapes, drinking coffee by the fireplace. Just the coziness and hunkering down when the wind is whistling hard outside and the crackle of a roaring fire inside. Welcome winter!

Happy Red

How alluring is this number? So cozy and very retro inspired.

On paper

Experimenting with my favorite element of collage-old dress patterns. I picked up a few packs of these from the antique market and love how this stuff layers in so many interesting ways. Portraits are becoming a bit frequent and the simplicity of line and color.

A Lucky bag

Working on some fun fashion pieces highlighting a very cute Lucky bag in this one.

Twilight

October Pick
A vampy, teen novel with lots of gushing adolescent lovey-dovey angst. With Halloween just last weekend, it was fun to have one last spooky gathering with this theme. Comfort food to the max, white bean soup, tenderloin sammies, lasagna, homemade brownies, brie and rasberry filled filo cups, chocolate truffles and apple crisp. Bloody marys and red wine, of course. Our group is especially pumped to see the Twilight movie on Novemeber 21.
One theme that resonated with me in this book was the ubiquitous prom scene. The magical lights and dreamy eye-googling is every teen girl's dream. Even Bella, who didn't want to go to her prom, can't knock this moment.

Ghost

Halloween is always a blast in our neighborhood, and it's very easy to get in the spirit of being ghostly. I did this piece a couple weeks ago, and now that Halloween is over, it's kind of sad, sort of like the let-down feeling after Christmas or something, Wierd, I know, but taking down decorations yesterday was done with a lot of sighing and wistfulness.

A bag to have from Squash Blossom

This lusciously beautiful bag is from Squash Blossom boutique in Decatur, GA. I love velvet and the red accent on this piece is just exquisite! The wildly colorful patchwork is so unique and would be an awesome accessory for going out this fall.

A Fluevog is portrait-worthy

Chaos

It's 6:35 pm and all hell breaks loose around this time, it's interesting to know that when kids are being loud and there are feet pounding all over the place, questions, frustrations. Wait, just had to help my 5-year-old with the mechanics of the printer tray. And so, I sit and type with all this loudness and the only thing allowing any tolerance is a glass of wine. But this isn't all supposed to be complaints and any morose, it's just a commentary on my daily ritual. I can't even recollect what it "used to feel like" before kids, this is what it feels like now.

Lotta drawing going on here

Another drawing by Karina. It is a lovely thing to see the little sketches and paintings all over the house. She likes to tape them up on the wall underneath a acrylic on canvas piece I did. Does she want to be just like mommy? I hope so, but better! A funny action is watching how she jumps from activity to activity in a matter of minutes. She'll see a marker or piece of paper lying around and just immediately sit down and start creating something. "Where are my scissors mommy?" she asks. She will start cutting shapes into her folded up artwork to make a design, or start gluing collage pieces all over a background. She likes to draw in crayon and then paint over with watercolor noting the change in color it makes. Can you say mixed-media? Phenomenal!
Here's a cute little pen and ink on notebook paper.

The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure

The Golden Pineapples
This month's book pick by Jack Pendarvis, was a collection of short stories. This was some modern writing that took a bit of getting used to, but after book club, decided that it was worth giving it a chance and have a greater appreciation for the writing. I still don't know what the title means, but i liked this short story, coincidentally, because I see about a thousand squirrels a day in my neighborhood this time of year. It was almost silly to NOT do a piece on squirrels! Squirrels that watch you, that is.

"I think these squirrels are exhibiting some pretty strange behavior. I just want to know if they sit in that hollow and on that knot when I'm not around. Because it's pretty clear they're interested in me. I'm not saying that in a paranoid way. I'm sure it's just a phenomenon of nature gone awry, you know, like when baby ducks start following around a cat or something."

Incidentally, when I'm in the bathroom overlooking our backyard, there is always a squirrel perched on our deck looking in at me. A little disconcerting to say the least. Little m&%^)* voyeurs.

Cumberland Island

I just got back from an amazing long weekend from Cumberland Island. Adults only!! This is the third time we've gotten to go with JT's friends, aka the Chicken Gang. The Warrens, our host, own property at High Point and we get to stay in this rustic, lodge-like house that has 8 bedrooms, a giant den with fireplace, a dining room with a 10' table and a two room kitchen, and this long porch with super comfy furniture overlooking the marsh. It's just incredible. We ate amazing food, had a low-country boil, went clamming, spent afternoons on the beach (of course) and took pics of wild horses. The live oaks surrounding the house must be 100 years old, spanish moss hanging, it's so beautiful. The surrounding forests are full of palmettos and huge wild grapevines climb the trees-you could seriously swing from those suckers! We take 4 wheelers and trucks right out to the beach, park it and set up camp. No one is on the beach, we are completely isolated. We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to come here every year. I'm already looking forward to the next trip!
Here is a slideshow of the trip: http://www.jensingh.com/Cumberland/Site/Last_Import.html

Apple season

My dad just sent me this pic of the apples they picked from their apple trees in Michigan. He only just planted them a couple years ago and they are bearing a ton of fruit! I'm so jealous!! The apples in the grocery stores are terrible-probably have been sitting in cold storage from last season. We're planning a trip to north Georgia in October to take the kids apple picking. I can't wait! Apple pie, fried pies, apple cider....yum!

Floating

Just did this one today, part of a multiple submission for the fashion illustration contest for Free People. I am in LOVE with Free People, www.freepeople.com-if I could have an entire wardrobe of this label, I would be so happy. I'm going to do 2 more, I think. This is an interesting experiment for me, I haven't done much fashion illustration, but I'm really digging it.

Sugarland

Oh, I just couldn't resist doing a portrait of these guys. Am I a country music fan? No way! But here are two great performers that deserve even more attention! Seriously, though, I'm really liking the music, and it was due time I did a tribute to them and their success. Enjoy the ride you guys!

Peter Pan was the pick this time, and what a surprise that this was one of the best books I've read in awhile! It makes me want to go out and rent all movies related to Pan, Hook, J.M. Barrie, you name it. There was this wonderful style of writing that made me feel all warm and fuzzy, yet there was diabolical naughtiness that just made me giggle. Great fun to read, and juicy visuals for an illustration.

Illustration Friday: Memories

In Turquoise
There was this fabulous picture of me and my high school theatre buddies posing for a group pic on our stage-I was wearing a turquoise, shiny, metallic mermaid dress with all this "ruching" (sp?) It was 1987, and the hair was big-now I'm not saying this looks like me (ha), but I just had to do this piece and dress this girl up in that obnoxious number. If only I could find that dress again in some second-hand store, that would be my Halloween costume this year!

Distracted

I have to say that I'm so impressed with my 5-year-old daughter's amazing focus. She can sit down and draw, paint, cut, glue, paper punch, you name it, for long period's of time. She asks me what colors to use, to take a look at what she's done so far, and to stay tuned for her art show. (coming soon!) She reminds me of how nice it is to be distracted easily. Like when I walk by my drawing table out of the busy-ness of the day, sit down for a minute and then the next think I know, I've become completely engrossed and lost track of time. It gives me a good example of how a young mind works, and to remember that we can put a pause on whatever is going on and just be distracted.

Blueberry season

Karina is a star blueberry-picker at my parent's blueberry farm in Michigan. And these Jersey blues were delicious! We seriously couldn't get her out of the blueberry patch, she loves her coffee can tied around her neck for holding the berries. But she won't eat any-not one! Marly, on the other hand eats them right off the bush, as you can see. Priceless.

Illustration Friday-Routine

An interpretation of 8.23.08 topic: Routine on Illustration Friday. 5 pm is a much revered time when it signals the home stretch of my day, but also has become a very productive time where a little burst of energy gives me extra creativity. A good routine!

Jen Singh Creatively

Beeswax is sooooo nice!

I was doodling around in my journal last night and noticed a box of beeswax crayons I had bought for my daughter a year ago on a shelf. They were just too precious to unleash on my 4 year old at the time, so I was keeping them safe, hee hee! Now I'm thinking the real reason was that I wanted to keep them for myself! What a dream, not your run of the mill Crayolas-these are like professional oil pastels or something.

African mask linework

I'm working on a newsletter for the Mectizan Donation Program today. I've been doing this newsletter for them for over 10 years! We've gone through many redesigns, but this time, I had a great time using some African mask imagery for the masthead. The doodle along the bottom was provided by my client who was sitting next to a woman at one of her meetings and noticed her doodles were amazing! I had to include them in the design and the doodler insisted we not share her name. Probably because she would be embarrassed about colleagues finding out that she doodles during meetings! She certainly is talented!

Beautimous, so lovely

Don't you just want to hug someone close to you? This is the most snuggly pic ever! My friend Talia and her sweet daughter Vivi are just perfect for the cover of the new lillibands product catalog. I've had a blast working on this for my bud Jen Newman, who is fabulously talented working with fabric. Don't you want a lilliband now? Check out her site, www.lillibands.com.

I need a new look

I just threw this together yesterday after realizing I haven't revised my "image" in a long time. I had an old bus. card in my wallet the other day, and I was in a group meeting where everyone was handing out cards. I really didn't want to give mine out because it just was so dated (in my mind!) So here's a work in progress-artwork based on those lovely "jewels" from my Paula image. I'm sure there will be more versions to come!

Paula

Another wonderful book by Isabel Allende-I just love this woman! An image of her daughter, Paula, who falls into a coma after suffering from a rare illness. This memoir was intended to be a series of letters for her daughter to read when she woke up, but also a peak into the very interesting life of Isabel growing up in Chile.

Resurfacing

Welcome to my inaugural post on my very own blog! This is a place for sharing my creative experiments as well as any ongoing projects.

Neverwhere
One of my latest little endeavors is using my book club to unharness some book illustrating exercises. I started back in March 2008 with a science fiction book entitled "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman. This was a book that was so outside my realm of reading choices, but I actually really enjoyed it! The story is basically about a girl named Door who lives in the "underground streets" of London who meets Richard from "above" Very creepy, but yummy visual stuff!!

History of Love
Oh, this was just a lovely story by Nicole Krauss. One of my favorites so far in book club with a very complex storytelling style. It's a story of Alma, both a young girl in New York and a woman who lived in Poland during the German occupation, with a parallel story of an old man named Leo Gursky who writes a book about his lost love. Just fabulously rich and full of vibrant imagination.