It’s been a bit quiet around here. I’ve been working on a new website for Calobee Doodles and that’s taken up much of my limited free time and concentration. Before Ellie, I could sit down and crank out a layout like this in a day, but now I have to do everything in 15-minute spurts. Ellie has much more important business to attend to, like singing infinite rounds of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” and ensuring that every square inch of our living room floor is covered with Duplos at all times.

There had been little progress on the photography front until Saturday, when I met up with an interested modeling volunteer. The hardest part is finding people to pose for me, especially this time of year when the university has cleared out. But now we have a shoot tentatively scheduled for next Sunday, so I’m poring over my notes and trying to decide where to begin.

I think I’m going to try to go back to doing one shoot per month. When I originally set that goal a couple years ago, I produced a lot of work and felt really good about it, and it gave me plenty of time to prep for each shoot and still keep up with the rest of my crazy life.

And on that note, it’s back to the Duplo minefield!

I am just now getting around to listing some of the new photos from last month in the Sixhours shop. I’ll be adding a few more sizes and variations in the coming days. Of course, you’re always welcome to convo me if you’d like a specific size!

And in Calobee Doodles news, I have a 16×20 poster of numbers & fruits that needs a home. It’s an extra from a shipping mix-up. It’s all boxed and ready to go, and I’ll even ship it for free! Head over to the shop to purchase if you’re interested.

For those who didn’t see it at Calobee Doodles, there’s a new free desktop wallpaper up for the month of May! Click below:

It’s been a good week for business. This morning my shops were on the front page of Etsy, thanks to an excellent Maine treasury curated by atelierfrost. Prior to that, my “rescue” doodle was the Pick of the Week at Illustration Friday, one of my Firefox Personas is currently featured on the front page of the official Personas Web site, and to top it all off, I have a photo in the brand new Regretsy book.

Obviously I’m excited about the excellent press, but there’s nothing like a one-year-old to keep you grounded and living in the moment. Ellie doesn’t care about my self-perceived success, as long as I can still read “Hop on Pop” and sing “Itsy Bitsy Spider,” (both of which I’ve done, endlessly, this weekend). It’s hard to tend to an inflated ego when you’re scraping two-day-old banana off the floor, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’ve also been exhausted all week. Sometimes it seems like I can’t catch my breath with everything that needs to be done, and there’s always something new to add to the list. Thankfully, Tim and I managed to carve out a couple hours for a night out on Saturday. We decided to see Date Night with the idea we could use a few good laughs, and the movie totally delivered on that promise.  Steve Carrel and Tiny Fey have excellent on-screen chemistry.

We also hung out with Danielle, who got me off my ass when all I wanted to do was sit and stare at my computer until my brain melted and leaked out my ears.  Thanks to her, I had the excellent good fortune to try beer-battered asparagus (OMG so yummy) and lemon cake with pudding and berries. I am absolutely stuffed.

Tonight, I’m going to turn in early and try to catch up on sleep. Tomorrow starts another busy week!

I’ve been participating in Illustration Friday over at the Calobee Doodles blog, and I’m enjoying it immensely. It’s keeps me motivated to doodle at least one thing every week. Follow me there if you’re into that sort of thing!

We’re spending the weekend at my folks, but before we left, we tried to get some photos of Elspeth and I. Looking at her baby album now, you’d think she was motherless. But it was the end of a long day for all of us, Elspeth was restless and cranky and wanted nothing to do with this particular photo shoot. So here I am with my daughter, in the one picture that worked from a whole series of blurry, poorly lit and pouty (Elspeth, not me) photos. Many thanks to Tim for putting up with us!

I probably jinxed myself by writing my sick post so early in the season, but I spent the weekend sleeping and cuddling with my new friend, the toilet. The toilet isn’t all that cuddly, actually, but I didn’t have much choice in the matter. I think the bathtub is jealous of our new, special relationship, but I can’t say I’m all that thrilled about it. The toilet is kinda clingy and co-dependent, and I’ve seen far too much of him in the last two months.

And no, I’m not pregnant! I’m just unlucky enough to have the pleasure of two stomach viruses in two months. Yay, me. At least the toilet’s getting some action.

Before The Sick fell upon me yet again, I worked up this little woodlands doodle. I freely admit to tracing from a photograph the deer you see in the distance, because I got frustrated when my version looked like hunchback aliens with tentacles for legs. I was reminded why I don’t draw for real–like with pen and paper–because I suck at it! Yes, I’m an illustrator who’s totally dependent on Illustrator. There’s a reason I use the word “doodles” instead of “drawings” or “illustrations,” and Attack of the Killer Alien Deer from Outer Space is one of them. Frolic away, little woodsy creatures, knowing you’re safe from my poor non-existent hand-eye coordination!

(Crosspost coming through!  Apologies if you’re seeing this twice.)

It’s that time again! I’ll admit this one isn’t particularly inspired, but March is not exactly an inspired month in Maine. It’s rainy. It’s gray. It’s not particularly warm when you factor in 40 mph winds. I’ll have something more exciting to offer come April, I’m sure. Until then, here you go:

Just a quick note to say the Calobee Doodles shop has been updated with lots of new stuff, and I’m writing about them in the Calobee Doodles blog.

We’ve had a rather lazy weekend here… lots of playing with Miss Ellie (and by “playing” I mean “reading the same three baby books over and over and over”–at least it makes her happy), some Wii, and more doodling on my part. The rainy, overcast weather is starting to get to me, but at least it’s relatively warm!

And the mania subsides… hopefully not for good. I finally reached a point last night where all I wanted to do is collapse into bed super early and sleep. I decided this is a good time to start writing, pricing, researching, and all the other mundane things involved in running an online shop.

In the meantime, here are the fruits of the week’s labor:

Some of these are new, some old, some repurposed. I’m starting three new sections in my shop that I’m excited about–three new sections means three new products!

Last weekend was a whirlwind of creative energy. So many ideas! So many new things I want to try! I’m blaming the strangely warm weather we’ve had this February. It’s pulled me out of my winter funk and straight into spring mania (I don’t have the heart to tell my muse it’s not really spring yet).

First things first–I got new glasses on Friday, and I am in love with them. They are purple and just geeky enough to be “me.” I tried to get a self-portrait but I am so out of practice I couldn’t do their awesomeness justice, so I’ll have to wait until Tim can help me. In the meantime, these are my new frames–I think “spiffy” is the appropriate word here.

Second, I’ve been doodling like mad since last Wednesday, and I’m ordering no less than 15 test prints from my printer this week (!!!)  That’s an insane amount of new work for me. I wrote about the new “numbers” colorways (above), and I took a few minutes to put up a new banner in the Calobee Doodles shop. There are several new prints and products coming soon, too! And I’ve been chipping away at custom orders amidst everything else, so all in all, I’m kind of floored by my own productivity. Where did this crazy-high-energy person come from? Can I keep her?

Finally, on Sunday we hung out with our long-lost friend Danielle and played lots of Wii. Tim picked up Super Mario Bros., which brought me back to my childhood–I spent many hours watching my brother play Super Nintendo, all the while yelling at him to go left, right, go back and get that coin, you missed a pipe, etc. I’m not only a backseat driver–I’m a backseat gamer. I can’t boss Tim around like I used to my bro, but it’s not for lack of trying.

All this fun and I didn’t even have to leave the house! Now, I must keep up with this productive streak and get back to work.