Kinnon Elliott Illustration

2012-01-27T17:55:00.003-05:00

Here's a logo design I finished before the holidays but plum forgot to post. The two versions are for two different marketing uses - blue for the t-shirts, orange/red for everything else. The Bellows is a volunteer-run theatre community resource-slash-mixer that hopefully gets going soon. This recent weather is keeping us all inside our dens like grumpy, grumpy badgers!

Sketchbook Project has been mailed!

2012-01-21T09:49:00.000-05:00

(Just in case you were worried.) Here are a few more pages from it....

Jillian Tamaki's FAQ Page is fantastic

2012-01-19T10:36:00.000-05:00

It seems funny to say that. I mean, her illustrations are brilliant, beautiful, evocative. (I just finished and loved reading Skim, a graphic novel of hers that came out in 2008) But her FAQ page - which is aimed at the inquisitive and eager student who is hungry for the "key" to an illustrator's success - is filled with thoughtful, commonsensical support and advice.

Take this, for example:

What does it take for a young illustrator to be successful today?
There are 2 main things, I think.
The first is my blunt opinion: you have to be good. Don't waste your time if you don't have the talent and/or motivation. No amount of promos, websites, mailers, new items in your portfolio will do you any good if the work is not up to snuff.
That said. You don’t need to be the Second Coming of illustration. You just have to be able to make something someone can use. Many people are tripped up by never putting their work out into the world because they are crippled by fear. Which doesn’t make sense because if you thought your chances of success were low before, they are most definitely ZERO now. But I suppose that’s the point. You can’t really “fail” if you never try… that’s a very common attitude.

It is well worth reading.

Jillian Tamaki's website is here. And her blog is here. Both are great, but on her blog you can see her experimenting with things outside of her usual "style," which is fascinating. Plus you can look at her quilts. (Quilts!)

In other news, I just learned about a (relatively) new and ostensibly fun lecture series here in Toronto called Nerd Nite - tonight's topics are (1) microchips and (2) how America's history was influenced by bars. It could be promising...? Anyone here in Toronto want to come with?

Whimsical Illusion

2012-01-18T09:21:00.002-05:00

I saw this post on Colossal and just loved it. (Though to be entirely honest it took a few minutes for me to realize exactly what I was looking at.) This is street art meets optical illusion - and I'm heartily for anything that helps adults feel like kids again - even if just for a moment.

This is in Paris (but of course) as part of an exhibition called In_Perceptions at Le 104.

Colossal has a wealth of beautiful images. Go look at them. Go!

Illustration Friday: Grounded

2012-01-12T16:49:00.001-05:00

Sketchbook Project Mail-by Date Draws Near...

2012-01-11T15:27:00.001-05:00

Yep, it's that time of year again, the Sketchbook Project's "you must have your sketchbook postmarked by this date in order for it to be included in our library" date. It's a few days away, and I've only got a few pages left to fill on my theme this year: Travel With Me.

Some may remember my submission last year. I thumbed through my old sketchbook just the other day (online! Because the Brooklyn Art Library is cool like that and every sketchbook has been digitized and uploaded and browseable) and I though, well, huh. It's so....monochromatic. Why oh why did I only draw in pencil?

So, this year, I'm breaking out the watercolours. I'm getting the pages sopping wet with colour. And I'm having a whole paintbox full of fun on these pages. And it is awesome.

(Also, I've already signed up for the 2012 Sketchbook Project Limited Edition - you know, the one where some of your sketchbook will be included in an art book they're creating. No big deal.)

Craft beer + good design = yes, please

2012-01-06T13:02:00.000-05:00

This website is great. It's for (if you can't tell already) the Austin Beerworks brewery, from the creative peeps behind the fantastic Helms Workshop and Source. It's clean, it's colourful, and the brewmasters' personalities shine through. You especially should see the "How Beer is Made" info-graphic that references unicorns and narwhals. (Really!).

Dear Austin Beerworks, will you please start delivering to Canada?

New website!

2012-01-05T12:05:00.000-05:00

I am thrilled to finally launch my new professional website: www.kinnonelliott.com It's been a long time coming - but in a way I don't think I could have done it any earlier. I was still working on finding a coherent, consistent style, and amassing a portfolio of work that I was really proud to showcase. And, slowly, it's coming together. (This quote rings truer and truer each day.)

This website is just the beginning for this new year: I also plan on leaving theatre behind. I've given myself one year after my final contract, which ends in April 2012. And after that...? We'll just have to see....

Illustration Friday: Highlight

2012-01-03T16:33:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T11:42:00.000-05:00

Happy Holidays

2011-12-29T10:39:00.000-05:00

Over the holidays I went to visit family and old friends in Ottawa, and had a really wonderful time. And one afternoon, one of those good, old friends (yes, we're old now) and I took four hours out of our jam-packed holiday schedules to make melted snowman cookies.

Sugar cookie base, royal icing, chocolate chips, microwaved marshmallows, coloured icing noses, faces, arms. Et voila.

Easy as...melted snow? Not quite. Did I mention that it took us four hours?

Mid-stage melted snowmen.

We thought we were really clever to mix the icing for the eyes/arms right in the ziplock bag, but it took us a lot longer than we thought it would.

But, in the end, we were happy with the results. My brother gave the sugar cookie base an "A +" and my 3-year old niece went nuts for the marshmallow head. Actually, that's all she ate off of the cookie. Ah, well.

This is some serious face application.

Happy Holidays!

This is food math. And honesty.

2011-12-06T23:47:00.001-05:00

Illustration Friday: Brigade

2011-12-05T16:00:00.001-05:00

Custom holiday cards for two very special clients

2011-12-02T08:43:00.001-05:00

Making custom cards has got to be one of my favourite things to do, and so it was really fun to work on this commission for the holidays. The clients (full disclosure: my parents) themselves are avid kayak enthusiasts, so it just seemed to fit. (However, when I suggested "Merry Kayakmas" for the inside, apparently my dad made a face. Weird, right? Right?? So, they remain blank.) These were done with the same digital collage technique as most of my illustrations, but since all of the textures have been reduced to a very small size, in some cases I think it looks almost like they've been painted. It's a neat effect, I think.

December Desktop

2011-12-01T08:39:00.001-05:00

I know I skipped November (by accident, I promise!) so here's an extra-magical one for December.

Illustration Friday: Vanity

2011-11-24T12:01:00.001-05:00

Illustration Friday: Silent (Take Two)

2011-11-17T12:17:00.001-05:00

Illustration Friday: Silent

2011-11-16T14:28:00.001-05:00

New Holiday Cards for sale

2011-11-09T11:48:00.000-05:00

I'm working in Winnipeg on a show here at the Manitoba Theatre Centre, and the city just had its first snowfall a few days ago. Okay, perhaps "snowdusting" would be more accurate, but still... I can see several rooftops from my hotel room that are still sporting snow like a layer of icing sugar. Perhaps it was this wintry weather that inspired me, because I just finished working on these new holiday cards and am happy to share them here with you! As with last year's cards, these are available in two sizes (4" x 6" and 5" x 7") and are fully customizable. The cards say "Happy Holidays" on the inside, but you could personalize them even further if you wished. Get them here at my Zazzle store!

Science can be beautiful

2011-10-30T19:48:00.005-04:00

Certainly Michael Chrisman's photograph of the Royal Ontario Museum's new powder diffractometer is. Apparently this machine used to see inside the atomic structures of crystals. Yup.

Read the whole Torontoist article about the ROM's Collections and Research Building (not the crystal) here.

Michael Chrisman's website has more beautiful images of empty rooms and places, if you're into that sort of thing. (I am).

Sometimes you just don't want to see what's right in front of you.

2011-10-26T16:01:00.001-04:00

Illustration Friday: Fuel

2011-10-25T16:55:00.000-04:00

Stacy & Tim's Wedding Invitations

2011-10-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

Here's a sneak peek at the invitation set I did for Stacy & Tim's wedding. Stacy approached me with the idea of a "carnival / circus" theme and I ran from there. Her colours were yellow and grey, with hints of surprise red. The whole set included an invitation, directions / accommodations card, menu, wedding favour, and thank you cards. This was such a fantastic and rewarding project, and I wish nothing but the best for that lovely couple!

Hungry Hungry Header!

2011-10-15T10:14:00.000-04:00

I am so excited to share this blog header that I just finished designing and illustrating for my friend Hilary. Her blog, Hungry Hungry Hilly, is a really enjoyable collection of new recipes she's tried at home (and most often tweaked - Hilary has been a low-G.I. devotee for a few years now) and restaurants she's tried here in Toronto or on vacation (check out her New York and St. John's, Newfoundland posts). For the header, Hilary wanted it to reflect the fact that she is no self-appointed "amateur gourmet" or food snob, but simply a big fan of cooking and eating FOOD. And also that she has a quirky one-eyed cat named Mr. Leo.

For the caricature, I traced a pencil sketch that I did of Hilary and Mr. Leo with a thin, black marker. I scanned the drawing into Photoshop to clean it and adjusted the contrast so that it would trace much more easily into Illustrator (make those whites whiter and blacks blacker!) Using the Live Trace function, I converted the jpeg into a vector drawing, and I decided to keep the sketchiness quality of the drawing by pushing up the threshold quite high (this meant, though, that I had a lot of cleaning up of jagged edges once the trace was done). I coloured the drawing in Illustrator, and added the scanned decorative paper in the background. The font is Ostrich Sans.

October Desktop Wallpaper

2011-10-01T11:37:00.002-04:00

Happy October! We're getting some truly blustery weather today, right on schedule for fall. Get out your scarves and peacoats, kick your way through crispy leaves and enjoy!

2011-09-24T10:11:00.005-04:00

I'm working right now on a wedding invitation suite for a really fantastic couple, and part of the invitation included a little hand-drawn caricature of the two of them. They liked it so much that they had their uncle make it into the large, free-standing item you see here. As my friend said, who sent me this photo, "ever wonder what one of your sketches looks like life-size?" Not anymore!

I'll post the whole invitation set in a couple of weeks. Congratulations to Stacy and Tim!

2011-09-05T15:44:00.001-04:00

Oh dear, it's not a good sign that the last entry I posted was the August desktop wallpaper. That means I've done nothing art-related in an entire month, which is slightly upsetting.

Hope you're all enjoying your long weekend, and here's a September wallpaper for your lovely desktops. Hopefully I'll be back before October!

August Desktop Wallpaper

2011-08-02T15:29:00.002-04:00

Must still be on long-weekend time: here it is, just a day late. Enjoy!

Getting Ready for the Market

2011-07-23T08:40:00.002-04:00

Well, here goes....I'm all set up now down at Arts Market, and doors open officially at 11am this (Saturday) morning. I'm excited, and realistic, and I'm looking forward to meeting everyone who comes into this incredibly fantastic space this weekend. And, hopefully, I'll also still have time to check out the Beaches Jazz Fest once I'm done!

If you're in the area (1114 Queen Street East), please come by and say hello - I would love to meet you. Hope you all have a splendid weekend!

Arts Market this weekend

2011-07-22T09:23:00.003-04:00

Hi guys! I just wanted to let you know that if you're in Toronto's East End this weekend, you should come check out the new Arts Market. It's being touted as Toronto's all-year-round artisan market, with all kinds of local crafts/art/clothing/jewelry for sale. And I'll be there this weekend, selling prints and cards! It's my first time doing something like this, so I'm very excited.

The Arts Market is located at 1114 Queen Street East (Queen & Pape) and it's open on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am - 7pm. Drop by and say hello!

2011-07-14T17:09:00.000-04:00

Treehouse

2011-07-12T17:21:00.002-04:00

The Shepherd

2011-07-11T13:54:00.002-04:00

I didn't realize how much I missed pen and ink...

Updated

2011-07-08T09:39:00.000-04:00

Is it cheesy to paint a drawing in Photoshop?

2011-07-07T17:34:00.001-04:00

I am completely undecided.

Life lessons from watercolour portraits

2011-07-07T09:26:00.004-04:00

I'm not normally a big fan of media where you can't fix your mistakes easily. Watercolours have to be the most precious of all of the colours: if you even look at your brush the wrong way, you'll have made a mark you can't erase. Some people think (an art teacher of mine included) that it's the mistakes that make the art special. I say that if you inadvertently get blue paint on your forearm and then make a big blue splotch on your paper riiiiight as you were putting the finishing touches on a fashion illustration that you were doing for the second time already because you didn't really like how the first one turned out, then that is indeed special. Very, very special.

That being said, however, with practice comes...not perfection, but at least more confidence. We have been doing portraits (from photographs) for the past two classes and although I initially balked at all of the steps involved (drawing the face onto a clean sheet of plain paper, fixing the proportions, outlining the shadows, covering the back with graphite, tracing onto the watercolour paper, fixing the lines, and THEN starting to paint - and I didn't even talk about preparing the watercolour paper) I see now that of course those steps are there to help you make fewer mistakes. The more patience you have with the structure and prep work for media like this means that your final product will be, inevitably, more satisfying. Though it won't necessarily guard against getting paint on your arm.

That can happen to anyone.

Right?

July Desktop Calendar

2011-06-30T11:25:00.002-04:00

I'm posting July's calendar a day early because tomorrow I'm flying off to Montreal for the weekend! Happy early July, Happy early Canada Day, and Happy early Birthday to my roomie. This weekend will be full of street festivals, good restaurants, outdoor art, and 24-hr poutine. I. Can't. Wait.

I'm having a bit of cloud brain today.

2011-06-28T16:53:00.002-04:00

Ryerson University Library

2011-06-27T14:11:00.004-04:00

Oh my old alma mater. Just after I graduated, Ryerson went on a pretty aggressive expansion and building campaign and has already added two brand-spanking-new glass & steel buildings to its downtown campus, with a third now under construction. Thankfully (unfortunately?) the brutalist library building near the corner of Yonge & Gould remains unchanged...

Looking for Love 2

2011-06-27T11:37:00.002-04:00

Looking For Love

2011-06-24T12:41:00.003-04:00

Illustration Friday: Launch

2011-06-23T11:30:00.003-04:00

I'm trying something new with this illustration: instead of colouring each scanned paper texture - I usually do it with the "Duotone" function in Photoshop - and then "cutting" out the shapes I need and pasting them into my illustration, this time I actually built the image using grayscaled textures only. Then, in their own separate layers, I added the colour in slightly off-register chunks. It gave me a lot more control over the final colours, and I could change my mind as the picture evolved. In the technique I've been using up until now, if I didn't like the colour I had chosen, I would have to go back to the original coloured paper sample, fix the tint, and cut out that same shape again.

Ceili Cottage

2011-06-20T15:02:00.000-04:00

Uno Prii Apartment Building

2011-06-16T11:13:00.001-04:00

Massey Hall

2011-06-15T14:50:00.001-04:00

OCAD - Sharp Centre

2011-06-14T15:17:00.001-04:00

Bridgepoint Health

2011-06-13T19:42:00.002-04:00

City Hall

2011-06-12T17:57:00.001-04:00

Scott Library - York University

2011-06-11T14:59:00.000-04:00

Toronto's TD Towers

2011-06-10T15:38:00.001-04:00

Illustration Friday: Shadows

2011-06-09T15:57:00.002-04:00

Union Station

2011-06-09T13:12:00.000-04:00

Another project from my Wednesday night class. This one used way more than just four colours...

You Can't Hurry Love No You Just Have To Wait

2011-06-09T11:50:00.002-04:00

My momma said...

Three Blue, Six Red

2011-06-09T09:09:00.002-04:00

Tracks of My Tears

2011-06-08T16:26:00.002-04:00

Picnic Club Logo

2011-06-08T12:34:00.004-04:00

It's possible that I'm obsessed with picnics. It's also possible that I'm not. I haven't decided either way. This post, however, might tip me more into the obsessed category, as this is the logo I just made for the picnic club that my girlfriends and I are getting together for the second summer in a row.

(Of course, what this actually means is that I am probably obsessed with logos).

And, why yes those ARE sporks, thanks for asking!

June Wallpaper

2011-06-03T13:37:00.002-04:00

My good friends Jenna and Jenn (yes, really) reminded me last night that I didn't do a June desktop wallpaper! Oh, the embarrassment! Sheepishly, I submit this for your June pleasure. NOW - go picnicking!

Ferret Lady

2011-06-03T11:20:00.002-04:00

Illustration Friday: Asleep

2011-06-02T10:57:00.002-04:00

"...I don't want a purpose

in your life

I want to be lost among

your thoughts

the way you listen to new york city

when you fall asleep." - Leonard Cohen

Comedy of Errors

2011-06-01T08:41:00.003-04:00

This was another fun poster project I worked on this Spring, for a great Shakespeare touring company called the Humber River Shakespeare Co. They bring a Shakespeare play to the parks and outdoor spaces along the Humber River each summer, and are amassing quite a following! The Artistic Director of the company wanted a poster that evoked the carnival side/freak shows of the early 20th century, and we had a lot of fun looking through old photographs of that era.

The illustration is a collage of a number of images that appear within the play, Comedy of Errors - ships, chains, gold, sorcery, time - all in the backdrop of the reflection, or "mirror" of two long-lost twins meeting again under fantastic circumstances. I sketched the illustration by hand, and then scanned it and traced it into Illustrator, where I added the colour and shading.

If you're near one of the many, many locations that the Humber River Shakespeare Co. will visit this summer, you should check out The Comedy of Errors - it's under the stars, and it should be magical!

You really should know Lianne Leeflang

2011-05-28T08:40:00.004-04:00

I have been a fan of poster art for I don't even know how long. Is it the mix of images and typography? Is it their graphic simplicity, their often hand-made feel? Is it that their images are (usually) conceptual and evocative rather than literal? Probably all of the above. Anyway you slice it, I like me some posters. Which is why I was so happy to stumble on Lianne Leeflang's work over at Illustration Friday.

Based near Rotterdam, Lianne is a freelance illustrative designer who specializes in book illustrations, patterns and prints. As a side project on her blog, she is illustrating a poster a week to the themes posted on Illustration Friday, and finds her inspiration in music: "Sometimes [I look] on gigposters.com, sometimes on youtube, to find a song or group...somewhat like the theme. That works great, since there is written a music tune to just about everything :)"

She sketches ideas by hand "with the particular tune playing the background", scans the images and colours them in Photoshop. She uses scanned paper textures as well, to give them the vintage-y look that I really love about them. Lianne also uses a secondhand book of fonts from the 1950s to inspire her typography on the poster.

Lianne has known for a long time that she wanted to make illustration her career: "From about since I was six years old...I was always making these little books, writing stories and illustrating every other page...I knew it wasn't going to be easy to make a living out of it...But I decided I still wanted to give it a shot." I wish her all the best, and I'm excited to see more of her posters up at her blog.

Thanks to Lianne for letting me share some of her work and telling me a little about how she creates her posters. Lianne's professional website is lianneleeflang.com. Take a look!

Cat Lady

2011-05-27T17:21:00.002-04:00

An astronaut's autobiography?

2011-05-26T14:43:00.001-04:00

Portrait of Sergio

2011-05-26T01:03:00.003-04:00

A sketch from my class tonight. First of all, that really was his name. And second of all, who knew you could have this much fun with pencil crayons??

Illustration Friday: Soaked

2011-05-24T19:29:00.002-04:00

Illustration Friday: Safari

2011-05-16T11:36:00.000-04:00

New painting

2011-05-13T15:57:00.004-04:00

I haven't done one of these in a while.

Pencil Crayons

2011-05-11T22:53:00.000-04:00

Forgive the terrible photo - I've just discovered that my brand new computer doesn't support my old scanner, going to have to fix that soon - but this is a still life exercise I did tonight in my Drawing class using pencil crayons. I really loved how you could burnish and blend the colours together. All of this was done using only a red, blue, yellow and white pencil crayon.

Possible promotional piece

2011-05-11T16:21:00.000-04:00

Trying out a new combination of things...comments welcomed and in fact encouraged!

It's gonna take a while. It's normal to take a while.

2011-05-11T10:36:00.003-04:00

Whenever I feel like it's just not happening, like my pieces just aren't cutting it today, I'm going to read this paragraph of wisdom over and over:

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

Thank you, Ira Glass.

(This has been reblogged a couple of times, but I first came across this on the lovely design blog mint)

Photo reference...

2011-05-10T23:08:00.001-04:00

...helped me with this one. Shadows - boo ya!

New Greeting Cards

2011-05-10T12:11:00.002-04:00

All of this warm(er) spring weather has inspired me to make four new illustrated greeting cards now for sale in my Zazzle store. They are blank inside, but as with all Zazzle products, they are customizable (so if you wanted to write, say, Happy Second Week Back At Work, Jenny, you totally could) and come in a couple of different sizes. Happy Spring!

Illustration Friday: Beginner

2011-05-09T14:42:00.001-04:00

Poster - Live from the Belly of a Whale

2011-05-06T12:41:00.002-04:00

This was a truly fun and creative project to work on. My friend Emily Pearlman is one-half of the genius behind MiCasa Theatre, a company that creates wonderful, whimsical, and slightly heartbreaking plays and, whenever possible, takes them on tour across the country. (One time they toured their show to people's living rooms!) Last summer I was lucky to catch their show Countries Shaped Like Stars when it was here in Toronto for Summerworks, and when I was in Ottawa last month I sort of maybe hounded her to let me do a poster for their newest show, Live From the Belly of a Whale. The way that Emily and her co-creator, Nicolas Di Gaetano, create theatre - using handmade, found objects, original music, collaboration - was the main inspiration for the poster image for this story of adventure, imagination, and loss.

If you're in Ottawa near the end of of June, make sure you drop by the Ottawa Fringe Festival and catch this play!

Somebody wise once told me

2011-05-04T23:05:00.002-04:00

(Thx, Avery!)

Illustration Friday: Lesson

2011-05-01T12:12:00.003-04:00

I'm in the middle of doing a poster project for a very fantastic and creative theatre company and I can't wait to show the results. In the mean time, I've been inspired to do this week's Illustration Friday post as another theatre poster for the absurdist play The Lesson.

May Desktop Wallpaper

2011-05-01T08:13:00.001-04:00

Even though it seems very cloudy and dreary in my neck of the woods, I have high hopes for the month of May. Come on, warmer weather!

Oops I did it again

2011-04-28T19:25:00.003-04:00

I signed up for The Sketchbook Project 2012. Yes, yes I did. Last year's sketchbook was a steep learning curve for me--I don't think I filled every single last page--but this year I'm determined. And for some extra motivation, I've learned that the tour is actually coming to TORONTO this year. (I've also heard that the quality of the sketchbooks has improved, which is great because I had a lot of issues with designs bleeding through to the next page in my last sketchbook.)

If anyone else out there is doing a Sketchbook, let me know so I can visit your book when the tour comes to my town!

Sonnenzimmer

2011-04-27T09:01:00.002-04:00

Just this morning I discovered this artist duo Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi, who create fabulous things under the name Sonnenzimmer in the Chicago area. Their posters are a nice antidote to cute whimsy, favouring instead blocks of colour and line that evoke landscapes and dreams. It looks like they do a lot of work for musicians (posters, album art, etc.) but also have a pretty solid catalogue of fine art. Chicago is lucky.

Illustration Friday: Bicycle

2011-04-22T11:38:00.002-04:00

It's Earth Day, and it's so nearly-but-not-quite spring that one can taste it. Your bike is getting antsy.

Illustration Friday: Journey

2011-04-21T15:10:00.001-04:00

The cookie collaboration

2011-04-21T09:40:00.007-04:00

Grabbing a cup of coffee and scrolling through the design/style/ inspiration/illustration blogs in my Google Reader has got to be one of my gosh-darn most favouritest things these days, especially since my theatre work has wrapped up for the spring and I'm off now until August. This project really tickled my fancy this morning: twenty internationally renowned designers were each given a fortune cookie and were tasked to create a typographical poster based on/inspired by the fortune within. Type! Posters! Cookies! And what is it called? Posters of Fortune, of course. It's an initiative by The Type Directors Club and proceeds from each poster will go to a scholarship fund for promising typography students. You can see more of the posters here. Enjoy!

[via designworklife]

Illustration Friday: Bottled

2011-04-12T12:00:00.001-04:00

Illustration Friday: Duet

2011-04-05T15:02:00.001-04:00

April First

2011-04-01T11:13:00.002-04:00

A little 1024 x 768 dose of April cheer for yer desktops.

Happy April!

Furniture Doodles

2011-03-26T21:16:00.003-04:00

Illustration Friday: Toy

2011-03-25T22:24:00.002-04:00

This IF post was inspired by my niece, who, though surrounded with toys, was obsessed with one small tube of chapstick. Sometimes the simplest things make the best toys!

Travel Diary: Day Twenty - Seville

2011-03-11T10:41:00.005-05:00

Recently I flew home from a 24-day solo trip to Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Seville, and Lisbon again. If you like, you can start from the beginning here.

Day Twenty - Seville

Inside Seville's Cathedral

Even though this is the farthest south I've been in Spain, today is by far the coldest I've experienced. And by cold, I mean 11 or 12 degrees, but still. I was spoiled by the sun and warmth of the other cities. This morning was a tour of the Cathedral and its Giralda tower. The tower itself I've seen depicted in illuminated manuscripts from maybe the 15th c., and again in paintings from the 18th. It gets around - or, more accurately, it's been a landmark for such a long time. When you climb the tower, it isn't steps you're climbing, but ramps. The guidebook tells me that this is because they used to ride horses up all 34 flights. That's all I could think as I huffed my way up there: Horses! Up here! Horses!

Giralda tower and orange trees

The Cathedral is huge - the largest in Spain, they say - with very ornate Catholic things that are probably very important to those who are Catholic. I liked the oval-shaped room the best, with its intricate ceiling. The ceilings here are incredible. They're like little prizes to reward you just for thinking to tilt your head upwards.

After the Cathedral I went back to Bar Europa for more great tapas: pork cheeks in a port wine sauce, and fluffy and scrumptious homemade partridge pate. Something was drizzled on the plate that looked like chocolate sauce but for all I know could have been some kind of high quality balsamic vinegar. Supertaster I am not. But it was delicious.

Then, off to find the Flamenco Museum. It's a little cheesy and not really worth the admission, but I bought the whole package and will go back tonight to see some actual flamenco. Fingers crossed it won't disappoint like the museum.

(Later)

Well, the flamenco certainly did not disappoint! The dancing was joyful, smoldering and incredibly sexy. The guitarist and singer were sweating just as much as our two dancers: Ana of the long, polka-dotted dress (why polka-dots?) and Oscar, who resembled a latin Orlando Bloom from his long-haired pirate days. Ana whipped her train to-and-fro, spun and stopped on her heels, snapped her fingers, clicked her tongue, scrunched her dress up around her (the better to see her feet, my dear) and stomped and STOMPED in impeccable time. Oscar made himself grow taller and taller, inclining his head to look down on us. Then his legs became a flurry of kicks every which way, a jump, a flourish, and forever stomping on and off and subtly, with a smirk, just around the beat, getting faster and faster, and the singer gets louder and louder and the guitar strums furiously until you think that poor, bending wooden floor (and their knees!) just can't take it any more and boom. Ole!

Have I mentioned the orange trees yet? There are orange trees here just sobbing with the weight of their fruit. And yet, there are hardly any oranges on the ground. What happens to all of these oranges? Where do they go?

(Later)

Tonight's tapas: a montedito (like a small panini) of smoked salmon and cheese, 3 pcs of jamon serrano, and shrimp on toast. One of my shrimps made a spectacular leap to freedom, bouncing off my sweater and both of my pant legs to the floor under the table, so I rationalized that I then deserved a dessert of a quince cheesecake tart. Quince! Just saying that name out loud makes me smile.

Oh! and I fixed my toilet tonight. Some magical knob on the wall needed a half-turn and voila. Plumbing badge earned!

Ah, bon?

2011-03-10T08:48:00.003-05:00

My friend Jenna has a wicked eye for style, and she's always up-to-date on trends and designers that cater to her particular love of sweet-Paris-via-indie-Toronto with a healthy dose of NYC. (Seriously, clothing swaps with Jenna are THE BEST). Anyway, she's just launched a new blog this year called Ah, Bon? that mixes and matches her fantastic clothing finds, inspiration, and some fabulous French things . When she asked me to help her out with the design of her blog header, I was tickled #CC0066 (that's pink, by the way). To see more of Ah, Bon?, click here.

Travel Diary: Day Nineteen - Seville

2011-03-09T09:00:00.005-05:00

Recently I flew home from a 24-day solo trip to Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Seville, and Lisbon again. If you like, you can start from the beginning here.

Day Nineteen - Seville

Lemon trees in the Alcazar gardens

I'm in my little cell, listening to kids play kick the can with a smushed coke can right outside my window, and I've given up all hope of a nap this afternoon. Seville has some of the most beautifully decorated buildings I have seen so far on the trip. They are usually covered in intricately painted tiles, or ornate carvings, or both; there is definitely some Arabic influence in the ornamentation, whether in the patterns of the tiles, or the shapes of the carved arches and towers. I was stunned at the beauty of the Alcazar.

Inside the Alcazar

The original palace was built some time in the 12th or 13th centuries, but it was heavily renovated, reconfigured, and added to for Isabella and Fernando in the 15th - 16th. Each room was covered - completely covered - in decorative tile, each courtyard sculpted beyond belief. It's hard to imagine it, somehow, as a home: a few plaques said such-and-such a room was perhaps the bedchamber, etc., but since everything is devoid of furniture it's very hard to see it.
Rooms in the Alcazar

Plaza del Toros

After Alcazar I headed to the Plaza del Toros and that was truly fascinating. The tour was all in Spanish, but I was able to understand quite a bit of it, thanks to our very expressive and gestural guide. From what I understand, bullfights happen there in the summers, and what I never knew was that it's not just the matador: they fight in teams. The matador is simply the first and last fighter of the event, and there are two other fighters who have 5-minute sets each. Before some regulations were passed in the early 20th century, many bulls and bullfighting teams would fight at the same time, and even dogs and cats were somehow involved. "Chaos!" said our guide.

She also said that since this bullring was opened, only 3 people - and only one of them was a matador - have been killed in the ring (it doesn't seem like a fair fight, exactly). And when the matador was killed, they not only killed the bull at fault, they also killed the bull's mother. Her lovely little head was actually mounted right there in the museum. It's a pretty grisly thing.

Posters for the annual bullfighting festival in April

I had a couple of less-than-spectacular meals today (Author's note: so less-than-spectacular in fact that I can't even remember them and hence no food illustrations this post. Sad face.) I find myself longing for Basque tapas and their easy-to-navigate, what-you-see-is-what-you-get deliciousness.

I am also longing for a toilet that works properly. Yes, this morning my toiled not longer flushed. Actually, to be more accurate, the tank no longer fills up with water (if it ever did). So, as I discovered, when you personally fill up the tank with about 25 little glasses of water from the sink, it actually will flush. If this is some karmic lesson on conserving water, I am not amused. But then again, it's really effective. (Some of you readers might, at this point, be wondering why I didn't alert the hostel staff as to my predicament. Short answer: I don't know. I thought about it, but then for some reason I convinced myself that it was fine and I would make do. Sigh.)

I think I'm starting to get a little tired of being on the road. My restaurant and transaction Spanish have improved quite a bit, but I'm starting to count down the days until my flight home. I'm sorry, Seville, it's not you, it's me. But something about this city does feel a little more touristy somehow. Maybe it's the part of town where I'm staying? I mean, Madrid and Barcelona were certainly touristy, but I was staying slightly out of their centres in those cities.

One thing I do love here, though, are all of the genuine Flamenco shops. Even in the El Corte Ingles department store there's a flamenco section on the kids' floor, and a shawl (mantilla?) and hair comb counter on the accessories floor. The dresses are so brightly patterned and ruffled and, well, beautiful. I also love seeing the older couples strolling home after their glass of wine, arm-in-arm, the wife in her fur coat. I see them and completely romanticize their lives. And then I wonder to myself if they've ever been to a bullfight.

March Wallpaper

2011-03-01T09:24:00.002-05:00

Haven't done one of these in a while. Happy March 1st, everyone.

Travel Diary - Day Eighteen - Trains to Seville

2011-02-26T10:33:00.005-05:00

Recently I flew home from a 24-day solo trip to Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Seville, and Lisbon again. If you like, you can start from the beginning here.

Day Eighteen - Train from Bilbao to Madrid; Train from Madrid to Seville

Again, the scenery. The scenery astounds. We rumbled along the side of a mountain: rock on one side and a basin of cloud on the other. The hills just drop away and we see the next of clouds so low, as if still asleep, gathered there. I've noticed that on this trip and from the bus to Bilbao that the terrain is much more green here in the north. The autoroute even seemed to take us through forests. Or was that the train to San Sebastian? Oy. The days blur.

But here are mountains of rock, mostly treed with what looks like a type of pine or fir. And deep, deep, green. I don't know why I've been so surprised to see fog here in the mornings. It seems to have burned off by now (by 10) but in the early a.m. it's thick, grey.

(Train to Seville)

I am in the party car! I am sitting beside a well-dressed older gentleman who is, thankfully, not a part of the party. But the rest of the car seems to be a group of well-off, very well made-up and clothed men and women between the ages of 35 - 55 and they all know each other. The sound of their many overlapping conversations is a fugue punctuated by grace notes of women's laughter, and since they're all speaking much too quickly for me to understand it's a little nice...a wash of language - impenetrable, or at least difficult to parse into individual speakers except for the odd, louder Ola! or Que tal?! that jumps out, up and over.

(A very small pint of beer = una canita)

Another thing that adds to the hubbub is that my car, car number 5, is right next to the bar car, car number 4. There was, as soon as the train started rolling, an unimaginable and unending stream of voyagers headed there for a little canita. I can't really see the size of the bar car from where I'm sitting, but it's starting to remind me of the ol' how many clowns can you fit into a volkswagen bit. NOT that these lovely Spanish folk resemble clowns in any way. Far too many of them are in heels.

The land got flat this morning around the 3rd hour of travel and flat it stays. We're in serious farm country now, and the soil is more exposed. You can see its terra cotta colour - some patches striped with crops, some patches just bare.

Have I mentioned that turtles live inside the Madrid Atocha train station? They were so still that at first I just thought they were statues. And then one of them moved its little flipper. The funny thing is that they perch themselves on top of other turtles, some perfectly centred - a little turtle podium - and others half-on, half-under others, some bigger, some very small, like a messy cheerleading pyramid. And every once in a while one would fall off a log. That killed a good 20 minutes of my 2-hour wait for the train.

(In Seville)

I don't know why this is, but I always, always turn the wrong way at the very first. I had an extremely hard time navigating my way to the hostel. But the best part was, after finally finding the hostel office and paying and getting the keys, they handed me a map and told to go find the pensione. Like, away from here. The very hostel that took me nearly an hour to find. The people at the front desk just waved vaguely to the left, so off to the left I went. Of course, it wasn't just "to the left" and the map they gave me was illegible (if you're going to print a web map, please check your resolution!) and the handy map I had downloaded to my iPod? The very street I needed to find, I realized later, was mislabeled as FIXME. Amazing!

The buildings in Seville are very ornate!

Anyway, I did finally find the room - lovely tilework, dimensions of a minumum-security prison cell - and went out into the night to eat Sevillian tapas. I was lucky to stumble across this fantastic little restaurant called Bar Europa. I figured that if a place has award-winning tapas, you should probably try them, and the Iberian ham croquettes, deer stew with apples, and hake with champagne sauce did not disappoint! Hello Seville!

Amazing tapas at Bar Europa

Travel Diary - Days Sixteen and Seventeen: Bilbao

2011-02-25T15:53:00.007-05:00

Recently I flew home from a 24-day solo trip to Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Seville, and Lisbon again. If you like, you can start from the beginning here.

Days Sixteen & Seventeen: Bilbao

After a quick and dirty bus trip through the rain & countryside, I got myself to Bilbao. It's not a beautiful city in the typical sense, and it's interesting how there's quite a mix of modern buildings in amongst the old. My hotel is also in an area that doesn't inspire me with confidence: A walk down the street took me through groups of young guys just standing around next to groups of policemen just standing around. Hm.

The old part of the city, however, is great, and I've actually had more interesting tapas here than in San Sebastian. Now, maybe I just didn't know where to go back there, but here at Berton, Cafe Bar Bilbao, and most of the places in Plaza Nueva have been interesting mixes of flavours, and very, very delicious.

Plaza Nueva

(Next Day)

I made it to the Guggenheim today, and it's actually smaller than I had imagined. The facade is just as amazing as I had hoped; the architecture in and out is fascinating. They have three good floors of exhibits that are far-reaching: a special exhibit of Dutch painting from the 1600s, contemporary photography, and selections from the Guggenheim collection which include paintings from the 50s and 60s (Rothko, Rauschenberg, Warhol, etc.). Just enough to see without feeling overtired, or bored, but just enough to justify the entry price.

The Guggie

But oh! The Guggenheim restaurant amazed me. I was lucky to get one of the last seats for their lunch bistro set menu, and it was by far the best 19 Euros I've spent: eggplant like I've never tasted eggplant, cod balls (descriptive, not anatomical) in some tomato or red pepper sauce, and orange creme caramel with some kind of orange foam. And I love the practice of opening the bottle of wine and just leaving it on the table. I'm trying not to abuse that privilege.

So, after floating out of that restaurant I moseyed over to the Museo des Belles Artes (free!) and saw some really fantastic Spanish painting from the 17th c. and later. Also an exhibit of Rouault - whom I had never heard of - but his colours, his fascination with pierrots and his Miserere series were all really eye-catching.

(Later)

After the art galleries I headed back into the old part of town, and to my complete surprise I got good at ordering pintxos! It all started to make sense. My transactional Spanish didn't make the servers cringe or look at me sideways and blink. Although it might have been healthier for me when I was inept, as I wolfed down more pintxos than I should have, and went to bed dreaming of things only an over-full stomach can conjure.

I joined Monday Artday!

2011-02-25T13:41:00.002-05:00

My interpretation of Automat by Edward Hopper

Not that I need more excuses to doodle and play around, but I recently joined the blog Monday Artday. It's similar in a way to Illustration Friday - you are given a challenge each week - but you here you have two weeks to complete it. And, unlike Illustration Friday, the challenges aren't always words. This week's challenge, for instance, was to remake a famous piece of art.

I've liked Edward Hopper for a long time - is it the melancholy? the existential big-city-ism? the colours? - so it was a lot of fun to recreate something in his style. And although I don't own anything quite like that beautiful cloche, I can sort of see myself in this one.

Travel Diary - Days Fourteen and Fifteen - San Sebastian

2011-02-24T11:45:00.005-05:00

Recently I flew home from a 24-day solo trip to Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Seville, and Lisbon again. If you like, you can start from the beginning here.

San Sebastian

I can't see much of the countryside this morning; at seven am the fog has not yet lifted. There was a short period at the beginning of the trip where we were zipping through mountain tunnels and POP - we'd emerge and there'd be this small cluster of houses perched on the side of the hill like so many mountain goats and then POP - we'd be back in the blackness of the tunnelpass. This happened two or three times in quick succession, and it reminded me of changing slides on a Viewmaster: click, mountain, click, black. I suppose that's dating myself.

My room in Plaza de la Constitucion

There's no better word for it: San Sebastian is lovely. It's on water, it's small (130,000), it has buildings that would be at home on any street in Paris, but you can walk across the city in an hour. I spent what I call the 'dead hours' - between 4 - 8pm, when I'm too tired to keep walking but it's much too early to eat (the restaurants are in fact closed) - in my bright little room overlooking Plaza de la Constitucion. The helpful historical plaque tells me that bullfights were once held in the square, and the balconies that ring it would be sold as prime viewing places. Their numbers are still there, though probably touched up regularly for the tourists. Mine is 116. I opened my shutters and sat barefoot on the tile, face upturned to recharge in the sun.

(Later)

Napping was a terrible idea. I dragged myself out of bed at 9pm and very unwillingly got dressed for dinner. But my mood was brightened considerably by the delicious pintxos I picked, and the txacoli too, a sort of citrus-y light sparkling wine that they pour, holding the bottle at head height and let fall through the air into the glass.

(Next day)

Jellyfish at the Aquarium

This morning I stuck my feet into the Bay of Biscay (oh, cold!). I also saw the aquarium and loved that scuba-men and -women were busy vacuuming the tanks. Scuba men have chores, too, apparently. Then I clambered up Monte Urgell to the castle and the giant statue of Christ at the top. Being so close to the ocean is truly marvelous and I often feel like I could just stare at the waves for hours. I could see myself coming here for a length of time to draw and paint. Places like Barcelona or Paris have almost too many distractions, but here I don't think there would be. Just the water, sand, and endless amounts of finger food. (Perfect!)

View from the castle on Monte Urgell

(That night)
Well I had a bit of a magical evening. At first, far away, I heard loud, rhythmic booms echoing around the stones, and so of course I started walking towards the noise.
The men of the town (and a very small number of women) were out in the nooks and crannies of the town, practicing their drumming for the Festival of San Sebastian. A man holding a curved sword stood in the centre of the ring and conducted the drummers with specific cues: downward thrust = BOOM, sword held sideways = rat-a-tat-tat. The next group I found was inside the gates of a church, and these folks had the brass and woodwind band with them. Middle-aged men as well as boys no older than eight were keeping perfect time. I was sad to know that I was missing the festival itself, but this was an unexpected and delightful behind-the-scenes peek.

Oh, then - deciding I had had enough pintxos for one day - I walked into an empty restaurant and had a truly wonderful meal. I have no idea why this restaurant wasn't packed - the goat cheese, honey & pine nut salad plus the tenderest lamb and these bread squares soaked in sweet milk and caramelized...oh, oh, oh, Yes.

Tonight - stuffed and happy. Tomorrow - off to Bilbao!

Playa de la Concha at night

Travel Diary - Day Thirteen

2011-02-21T11:29:00.004-05:00

Recently I flew home from a 24-day solo trip to Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Seville, and Lisbon again. If you like, you can start from the beginning here.

Day Thirteen - Final Day in Barcelona

It will be a bit sad saying goodbye to the comfortable apartment in Barcelona, but I'm also ready to move on. I would have liked to try more restaurants and bars, but I'm starting to get a bit money-conscious and it's not a heck of a lot of fun drinking at a bar by myself. There have been a few moments where I've thought how, with nothing to do, a life of leisure might just drain you. With every opportunity open to you - money the only object - how quickly you might get bored. Is that crazy?

Before I left on the trip, I was given the name of a restaurant in Barcelona - La Crema Canela - that I absolutely had to try, and I've saved it for my final lunch here. And it was definitely, definitely worth it. Inside, the restaurant is small, cozy, and a bit of a white-and-glass accented oasis. I luxuriated in their tomato & fresh mozzarella salad, grilled tuna, and a rich dessert of two small cakes.

I now just have a few small errands to run before my five-hour train trip north tomorrow towards more food, more sea (er, ocean I guess, technically) and more adventure!

Magazine Cover Illustration

2011-02-21T09:49:00.002-05:00

I was so thrilled to receive copies of the January 2011 issue Her Nashville Magazine - with my illustration on the cover! It was a very exciting project, and I had a great time working with the magazine's art director on the concept.

Illustration Friday: Layer

2011-02-20T15:55:00.001-05:00

My take on this week's topic. I imagined a complex, multi-layered piece of music and went from there...

Travel Diary - Day Twelve

2011-02-20T10:39:00.006-05:00

Recently I flew home from a 24-day solo trip to Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Seville, and Lisbon again. If you like, you can start from the beginning here.

Day Twelve - Barcelona - Half-way Point

(Baguette with chorizo and cheese)

I'm waiting for Ricardo to come home and show me how to use the laundry - I may zip out for a cafe con leche if he doesn't come soon - and I'm trying to decide how to spend my last two days here. I'm at that delicious / precarious point with the city where I don't feel pressure to go and see The Big Sights (cause I seen 'em) so I could just laze around eating bonbons, but precarious because the last thing I want to have happen is for me to get bored in this beautiful city.
(Herzog & De Meuron Forum Building)

Things that have made me smile today: the sun on my face as I sat down by the sea and drew people having their morning espressos. The big, big, big triangular building in the midst of an empty plaza. The man next to me on the metro who blew up a balloon and gave it to a fussy child. And then, anticipating its popping in the near future, gave the child's caregiver another balloon as emergency backup. The two guys popping and locking in the CCCB plaza, watching their reflections in the building's glass. Realizing that the squeaking installation hanging over the same courtyard was in fact a maze in the sky.

(Courtyard of the CCCB)

(Later)

Tonight's search for dinner led me half-way up a mountain and back down, both emotionally and physically. Ricardo gave me the name of his favourite tapas place in the city, but when I finally got there (I turned the wrong way three times) the gentleman behind the bar didn't speak English and my Spanish was not good enough. I tried to ask for a beer; he tried to ask for my reservation. He pointed at the room of empty tables (oh, the Spanish eat so late!) and said they were full. And so I left.

(Montjuic at night - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and its "Magic Fountain")

Two hours later (up and down the escalators of Montjuic and back to the Gothic quarter) I settled on a place that catered more to the English tourist, and the salty, oily tapas only partially satisfied.

Even octopus Galacian-style and sauteed mushrooms didn't really assuage my feeling of personal failure. The cinnamon milk fritters I had for dessert, however - delicate milk custard oh-so-lightly battered, deep-fried, and dusted with salt and cinnamon - were quite a bit more successful...

Travel Diary - Day Eleven and Twelve

2011-02-18T13:24:00.005-05:00

Recently I flew home from a 24-day solo trip to Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Seville, and Lisbon again. If you like, you can start from the beginning here.

Day Eleven and Twelve - Barcelona

This morning I started a little later and slower in pace than usual, wandering in and out of stores and markets in the La Ribera neighbourhood of Barcelona. Finally made it to MACBA, but while the permanent collection was great (a few John Cages! a few Duchamp illustrations!) the temporary exhibits didn't float my boat. There was one by a prolific artist whose name I have forgotten already (darn my leaky memory) that suffered the same fate as the Miro yesterday. He had inked on paper some truly marvelous little people-things, hundreds and hundreds of them scattered across the plane like so many ants dancing. And not just paper, but giant sheets of corrugated cardboard and canvas. But he did so many. How can the impact remain when you're seeing his 50th, his 70th drawing in a row? Perhaps it was in fact the cumulative effect the curators were going for.

Front Atrium in the MACBA

I ended my day with a trip to the aquarium (my brother texts his approval with the linguistically correct "I like aquaria too") and fantastic movator trip through their shark tunnel. Then home for an early supper and bed. I'm really taking it easy now. But I dreamed that for some unknown reason I cut my trip short and went home, and right in the middle of feeling supremely disappointed and sad, saying I don't know why I went home early, I woke up. A complicated but very effective way of making me appreciate how much time I still have here.

Shark tunnel movator!

Day Twelve began with another unwisely epic walk. Started up at the Hospital de Sant Pau, which is a beautiful complex of modernist buildings which are - surprise, surprise - under renovations and subsequently closed to the public. Then, meandered down back around La Sagrada Familia. "I'll look at the park that I missed" I thought. No, under construction, barrier-ed off. But eventually went along Diagonal and found a few more Gaudi houses and slipped into the Fondacio Antoni Tapies. I fell in love with this Spanish painter and his organic, earth-coloured canvases every time I saw his work in the larger galleries, and so a whole museum devoted to his art was such a treat.

I realized that on this trip I will have an opportunity to stick my feet into the waters on all 3 sides of the Iberian peninsula, so after FIVE pieces of tapas (whoops!) and a cafe con leche at the beautiful but run-down Placa Reial I went back down to the beach near me and stood in the surf. Fantastic.

Then, Ricardo gave me the name of a good seafood place called La Paradeta, behind the (closed) Mercat del Born and oh my goodness am I ever thankful. (In fact, I just remembered that I thanked him in a dream, too). I would never have gone in if I hadn't known about it, it's so unassuming from the streets, but you walk in and are immediately confronted with all. this. seafood.

You tell the guy what you want, and how much of it you want, and how you'd like it cooked. Then you pay, you get your number, bread, and wine, and you wait for the kitchen to call you up. And because different seafood obviously cooks at different rates, you might get called up a few times. I had an oyster (fresh), shrimp (grilled), what I can only describe as a small lobster (steamed) and, uh, sea snails? (?) I only know that when I saw them in their bowl at the front, I had no idea what they were. And so, I thought, "I'll have those."
I came home smelling of garlic and butter. And so, so happy.