it was a record year for rainfall - part I

I've decided to be proactive this week and instead of procrastinating and giving you a week of internet finds and random crap I think up late minute, I got off my bum and prepared posts revealing my sketchbook project! Hooray! As I explained on saturday, I was full of nothing but good intentions for this book and after a busy summer/fall/holiday I found myself doing a last minute scramble to get it ready on time! The Art House Co-op ended up changing the deadline from the 15th to the 18th but I decided to stick to the 15th (well 14th actually since the post office isn't open on weekends) to keep with my personal "get this blasted book done" goal. So even though my actual sketchbook has started it's journey across the united states I managed to take some pictures of it to share with all of you in case you can't make it to one of the sketchbook project gallery exhibitions. Let's take a look at part I (of III) of my sketchbook (with a little running commentary):

When I got the book in the mail my first reaction was "what kind of moleskine is this? It's thin, flimsy, and the pages are super see through! Ack!" so to help make my book a little more substantial (and make it stand out a smidge) fraser helped me mount some matte board on the cover. I figure the little rain cloud (inked and coloured in pencil crayon) sets the stage for my entire sketchbook and encourages anyone interested in super cute wide set eye smiles to pick it up and take a gander!


What fun! Onto the first page:


I thought I'd introduce myself a little further to let any sketchbook viewers get an idea of what they've got themselves into...


My solution to the awful see through pages? Use the back of the pages as a water gauge:


So sneaky! It also meant that I only had to draw things on 40 of the 80 pages (super sneaky) which turned out to be a fantastic idea since I was putting it all together a week before it was due! It also helped me develop the theme of my book. I started off with a low water level (and low water level drawings/story) which transitioned into wetter and rainier drawings as the book progressed. You will now see how my "sketchbook" turned into more of a "semi educational children's book" (but a cute one though):


A sneak peek at 78 year old kate - grey, walker, saggy, and fantastic bold accessories. I also enjoy little orange kitties!



Whee! Science is fun!


Kittens are fun too!


and robots and snails!





I really liked how the wet cat turned out (so much that I took a close up):




Go rain go! So what do you think so far? What's your favourite page? Do you think I could cut it as a children's book author (haha)? Stay tuned tomorrow for the next installment of pages...