December 16, 2005

A piece of art? Sure, a piece of cake.

In the last few weeks, I've been super busy swamped with some consulting work, and I didn't draw a bit. Unless you count the doodles of people getting killed with a sledgehammer.

Oh wait, maybe that was in my head.

So, in a desparate need to feel creative again, I made a teddy bear:



A teddy bear cake, that is!

So here it is, my grand artwork for the holiday. It was yummy!

October 21, 2005

happy things in the mail

When I moved back to Los Angeles a couple of months ago, I left behind my job as an art teacher. I really loved it, and I feel like the little kids I taught actually taught me so much about art. I mainly taught ages 3-6. So it was part teaching art, and part surrogate mommy. :)

Anyway, I got the most wonderful thing in the mail. My supervisor sent me a bunch of pictures on a CD from the summer art camp I taught. All of my students were about 6. I'm not going to post any faces, but I want to share the art.

We hung up all their art on the wall as they finished:


This is a painting a student of mine did using Google map satellite pictures:


I loved how this turned out. The kids created life-size stuffed toys. They all turned out kinda creepy. Tim Burton would be proud. :)



We actually used the stuffed toys in a mini-film that we created that week, titled "Attack of the Stuffed Toys!" They wrote and designed the film. Remember, they're six. ;)

I've been a bad blogger

I haven't updated anything in awhile. Let's just say the past few weeks have had some ups and downs, and very little sketching. I profusely apologize! I will be doing the Illo friday this week, plus I have a few more ideas up my sleeves... Until then, enjoy this old drawing. Kinda how I've been feeling lately!

September 25, 2005

Illustration Friday: Fresh



My first Illo Friday! I did this Oooolllld school style, scissors and glue! I've gotta learn Photoshop for collage!

September 24, 2005

while I'm on a roll...




These are some observation drawings I did a little bit ago at an outdoor mall in Pasadena.

a traffic school story of woe and regret





Yeah so I had to spend 8 hours of my life at traffic school today. Which is bad. But, what is good, was there was PLENTY of time for doodling! Meet the cast of characters:







Aaahhh, what a day. Now I remember why I was a bit more productive with doodling and cartooning in college. ;)

The room was dark and people were kind of hard to see, but it killed some time.

September 18, 2005

So sweet!



I came across this little comic this morning, and all I had to say was... awwwww!!!!
click here!

September 16, 2005

Ethan and I are trying to work out everyday and eat better and all that fun stuff. So what does this mean? Last night I dreamt about donuts. Donuts. I dreamt we were in line at a cafe, hungry, and Ethan ordered some string cheese and a diet coke and I wanted a donut. But I knew I couldn't have it, because it would ruin my diet.

That is sad, people. I can't even eat donuts in my dreams.

The same dream had me driving all over LA looking for my lost sunglasses and asking my brother to paint some wall art for me which he then needed help on.

I think sometimes the reason I don't wake up very easily in the morning is because my dreams aren't very far from my living reality. Except my brother wouldn't paint wall art for me. That was sorta weird.

September 14, 2005

It's impossible to have both a laptop and a lap dog.

Doing yoga is hard. Especially at home. With a dog and a cat. Meditation my ass.

Rock concerts were not designed for short people.

There are too many tall Decemberist fans.

September 13, 2005

photoshop fun


Just having some fun with Photoshop.

September 11, 2005

one more for the evening



Might do more to it later... but done for now.

September 10, 2005

Girl heads

Okay the thing is I'm obsessed with drawing girl heads. I found these from a hairstyle magazine. There are so many heads in there I like, I may just have to draw all of them!

Here are a few:





These were done with colored pencil and prismacolor.

September 9, 2005

Here's the thing about Natasha

So here it is: she just doesn't make her own plans for the day.

Her plan is... "Where's Mommy? I must sit next to her."

"Mommy is getting up to go to the bathroom? I will follow."

"Oh, the kitchen! Maybe Mommy will get me a snack. No? Okay, then a part of my body must me touching a part of her body. Sit, Mom, I need a lap!"

And occasionally...

"Oh the fat cat is still lurking. I will attack her!"

And then Snooper's all...

"Come and GET me then, you smelly twit-bean!" (Writhing on the floor ensues.)

And then Natasha's all, "You're going down, Furball!"

And then there's running and meowing and barking and sliding into walls and crashes and things falling off of shelves and desks and tables.

And then Snooper stares at her half-full food bowl and stares at me like, "Feed me, biatch!" And I feed her and retreat to whatever I was doing and Natasha's all:

"Where's mommy? I must sit next to her."

September 7, 2005

old comics of mine







So I did a comic strip for awhile, and I'm toying with the idea of ressurecting this character in a new strip. But I want to archive some of these strips here first.

September 4, 2005

The inner workings of my brain



This is an old illustration of mine, the characters in it sort of resemble the characters in my first film.

September 3, 2005

more old stuff





Old life drawings... new stuff soon!

August 27, 2005

first post


This is an older sketch, but to get a jumpstart I'll post it anyway. I drew this guy in a caricature class.

I've seen a lot of great sketch blogs pop up in recent weeks. Great work! You all motivated me to start one, so thanks. :)

April 21, 2005

All Ethans Are The Same.

All Ethans Are The Same.
by Amy Haber Kaplan


I should know. I'm married to one.
Ethan was born in between 1971-1979. He didn't like soccer, but played as a child. His mother has the pictures. When Ethan was bar mitzvahed, his suit was too big for him. In high school, the other students thought Ethan listened to weird music. He went to college and met other people like him in his art/film/music/media program. Ethan is, or always wishes to be, a documentary filmmaker. Ethan can sometimes be too smart for his own good. Ethan sometimes doesn't brush his hair, but that's okay, that's what Ethans do.

If you are an Ethan and this is totally wrong, feel free to correct me. I'm only speaking from experience here.

March 4, 2005

I received a business card from one of my students today. She's apparently the future president/CEO of Greystone Television and Film. She's three. She likes jewels and pjs. She misses her blue shoes that she lost in NYC whilst looking at dinosaur bones.

January 14, 2005

safe and sound... sort of

After a 7 hour trek across California, we made it to Fullerton. Natasha is hyper and biting my legs. I took my pill and I'm seeing double. Ethan is bleeding from a facial wound -- bad shaving incident. We have to get up in 4 hours to go to the airport. New York here we come!

January 12, 2005

Ugg

I thought I'd out myself. I'm so ashamed. So ugly, these shoes are. Blasphemous. And yet, so comfortable. And I will NOT conform to teacher-wear, and I WILL wear heels to work. So, I wear Uggs at home.

At first they were just slippers. Because it was really cold outside. Then, maybe I'd go the drugstore in them, maybe some grocery shopping. Tonight, I went to the mall. In my uggs.

Oh, and they're not real Uggs. They are knock off uggs. I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse.

Tomorrow I teach and then drive 14,000 miles or so to get to the airport. If you don't hear from me or Ethan, we've been kidnapped by country folk near abouts Palmdale. We'll send Natasha for help.

Desperate PTA Moms

I must clarify: kids draw weird things sometimes. I let them draw whatever they want, unless it has excessive murderous tendencies. Then maybe I'll try to steer them in another direction. But for the most part, creativity should not be squandered. Let kids be kids.

That's fine, right? Today I went into the school to make up a few classes that I will miss because I'm going to New York this weekend. As I left for the day, one the more prominent pta moms on campus recognized me, smiled hello, and went to help set up the bake sale. I think it's a weekly bake sale, and that could be dangerous for my jeans. Self control. Sorry, tangent. So, I walked by the sale to see what delicious sugary goodies I could treat myself to. I settled on a donut. While normally 75 cents, I was excited to learn that my teacher discount got me a 33% discount. I shelled out two quarters for the baked good.

"You know," the mom said as she helped the other moms put out brownies and lemon cake, "you had my son in your class yesterday!"

"Oh, really? How wonderful."

January 7, 2005

Tales from the Art Teacher

Today at work one of my younger students pointed to a color wheel by my supplies. "You know what that looks like?" he asks.

"It's a color wheel," I say.

"Yes, but you know what it LOOKS like?"

"What?"

"A star of david!"

"Oh, look, so it does."

"You should be Jewish. Then you would know."

"Well, actually, I am."

"You're Jewish?"

"Yep."

"And you didn't see that it was a star of david?"

"I guess not!"

"Well, that's okay. You can't be expected to know everything."