Dancing with Daffodils

When I open my front door I step into a cloud of purple fragrance. It is sweet and intoxicating. At my feet the bees are getting drunk on the nectar from the hyacinths. My window boxes are an open bar with an infinite tab.

I love to see the bees waltz, bourrée, and fox trot around the hyacinths, muscari and daffodils.

Sometimes, when I'm stuck in my studio with a fog of thoughts and worries clouding my senses, I think I hear the flowers knocking on the door, wanting me to come out to play.

So, the other day I did.

I drew a fairy, and she and I cavorted with the spring flowers for an afternoon.

Daily Drawings

In January I resolved to do daily drawings. I purchased a new moleskine sketchbook (small enough to carry in my hand-bag, but still large enough to hold big ideas), and set out to experiment, play and have fun.

I haven’t managed to draw every day, but I draw most days, and I consider that a success.

The thing with being an illustrator is that I

do

draw every day, but most of the time the drawings are for other people. They fulfil a brief. They need to be vetted by editors and art directors. They get sent back for changes. I love my work, but sometimes I crave the freedom to experiment.

So daily drawings are a way for me to let my creative soul soar.

Here are a few..... 

I'll keep posting more on either a weekly or monthly basis.  

Do you have a daily discipline that makes you happy? It doesn't have to be drawing, it could be journalling, or yoga, or cooking delicious dinners.... There are so many ways to ignite our creative hearts.  

Sketches from Namibia

In February we made the long trek to Johannesburg and Namibia to celebrate my sister-in-law's wedding.  We frolicked in the sandy desert and I enjoyed sketching the out-of-this-world scenery.

If you like these sketchbook pages, please feel free to share on Facebook, Pin on Pinterest or Tweet to all your friends!

What have you been up to in the past month?

The seasons are changing from gloomy winter to glittering spring and we're gradually settling into our new little house. I'm so grateful for the feeling of new beginnings; new home, new ideas, new routines, new excitement for life!

Here are some pages from my sketchbook. 

{Packing....} 

{Enduring a 12 hour over-night flight with a 14 month old baby girl....}

And Some Photos of Johannesburg....

Some Photos of Namibia

{From the air}

{Sand and sea forever}

{I got my Dad's watch repaired at a friend's antique watch shop. My Dad would have been thrilled that his watch travelled all the way to Namibia to be repaired. He loved Africa.}

{My niece and nephews playing on the dunes}

{The wedding car}

{In the town of Swakopmund}

A hand painted iPhone wallpaper and more daily drawings

My Christmas gift this year was upgrading my iphone4 to an iPhone6. I've never been much of a technology snob, but this small change has revolutionised my smart phone experience. The camera is crystal clear, maybe even nicer than my fancy dslr in some ways. 

However, the one thing the new phone didn't have was my favourite "cloudy cosmos" wallpaper. 

So I decided to paint my own! 

Sunset on the winter solstice above the roofs of west London. 

The view from our kitchen window 

Sketching on regent street 

Winter solstice sunset and more daily drawings

It's dark and cold, the time when we all crave the light the most. Yesterday, on Winter Solstice Eve, the sunset was merely a faint glow of light above the Victorian rooftops of West London. 

When the year is the darkest, I have to keep reminding myself to keep my inner light shining brightly. 

What do you do to protect the light in these dark months? I read, write and draw. They are the triumvirate of all things good for me. 

(If you like the drawings, feel free to pin, share on facebook, or otherwise appreciate them!)

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! 

Daily drawings for advent

I am challenging myself to do daily drawings in my tiny moleskine sketchbook for the advent season.  Who knows? If I find it inspiring enough I might even continue into the New Year.

Here are the first few pages...

If you like them, please pin on pinterest, or share on Facebook or Twitter!

I hope you all have a wonderful, lovely Holiday Season.

My New Writing Routine: Take Two

 

My mom stayed with us for a month and helped to look after Little M while I tackled a few creative projects that were gathering dust in the corner. I had the liberty write and draw freely and exuberantly.

I finished the dummy for a new book for Penguin Random House South Africa. And I made headway on two personal projects that I had been bursting to start. One has completely changed shape after a transformative weekend retreat at Gladstone's Library; the other is plodding along at a slow pace, but I'm very happy with its progress. 

So... success all around.  

But it's interesting to notice how success "feels" versus how you "thought" success would look when you were imagining it.  

This is how success looked... 

I didn't write 500 words per day.

Not even close. But if you consider that a picture might be worth a 1000 words, then I didn't do so badly. 

I managed to close the door and turn off the internet.

 But I ended up sleeping most of that time. I'm convincing myself that sleep can be as restorative and inspiring as drawing and writing.

I wanted to page through the dictionary.

 I did look up a few words words (asperity, restive, adumbration...) but otherwise the tome gathered dust on the floor beside my bedside table.  Perhaps I'll open it more now? One can only live in hope. 

I hoped to read with reckless joy.

 And I did.  This isn't a difficult resolution to make because it's what I always do anyway.

And finally. I wanted to feel proud of anything I could accomplish,

even if it was less than I had hoped for, because being a stay-at-home/working mom is tough. Yes it is.  No question.  And I'm so proud of the small steps I've taken this month. 

Going Forward

This month of rest and creativity has given me a lot of courage. 

To all you readers who might be stay-at-home/working moms... it can be done.

It takes 3 minutes to sterilize Little M's bottles in the microwave.  I often pop them in, and then quickly do a few chores in the kitchen.  I wash a few dishes. I wipe the counters. I fold laundry.

It's amazing what one can accomplish in 3 minutes.  I can do anything for 3 minutes, even the things I think are impossible, like sitting down to write or draw.  (Someone, someday, will be able to run a 3 minute mile, even that's not impossible.)

Sometimes, when Little M is fractious and I'm exhausted, I divide my day into innumerable 3 minute parcels. That way things don't feel overwhelming.

I write for three minutes; I draw for three minutes.

I thread those little moments together like beads on a string, and suddenly I've accomplish more than I thought I could.

I'm not sure how I'll manage now that my mom has returned to Canada, but I saw a scintilla of light glimmering in the fog of confusion and exhaustion. 

It must be possible....

It is possible. 

The key is to realize that there's no way of knowing how to do it until you're in the middle of it, muddling your way through. 

I'm just going to start and hope for the best. And hopefully I'll find inspiration, energy and a bit of luck along the way. 

Adventures.... at Gladstone's Library in North Wales

I spent two days working in the grand theology room at Gladstone’s Library.  I desperately needed some peace, quiet and rest after 10 strenuous months of motherhood. My mom and M looked after baby while I burrowed into hibernation in North Wales.

I set up my computer, my notebooks, and all my other resources (pens, paper) and hoped that both motivation and inspiration would be close at hand.  The library reminded me, nostalgically, of my studying days; sitting in the Warburg with piles of books, trying to sift through citations and notes to discover some clear ideas about art history.

Like panning for gold.

It felt similar being at Gladstone's Library. I wasn't actually there for the books, but for the "bookish" atmosphere.  I wanted to sit quietly in a place inspired by, and completely passionate about, books.

So there I was; with all my supplies; ready to work; but with no idea what I should be doing.

I revelled in the quiet, dusty smell of old books, with their tooled bindings and leather covers. I heard the hushed whispers of other studious folk. Their fingers tapped their computer keys (were they more inspired that I was?). They shuffled papers. Every so often quiet sighs of contentment or frustration echoed in the vaulted hall.

I sat in solitude and silence for 2 days, and this is what I learned...

  1. It’s so much easier to “want” to write a story than to actually write it. I could feel the emotions of the story running in an undercurrent, through me, like an invisible river. But I was having difficulty becoming quiet enough to plumb the depths. 
  2. You will be compulsively driven to work or read at Gladstone's Library... because there isn't much else to do. If you wanted to procrastinate: you could walk up the hill to Hawarden Castle and back; you could have a coffee at the Gallery Cafe or a glass of wine at one of the two local pubs; you could stare at photos of houses for sale in the windows at the two estate agents on the high street (so much more affordable than London!); or you could read the names of all the departed souls on the gravestones at St. Deiniol's chapel. That pretty much exhausted my (very creative) efforts at procrastination. And then I gratefully returned to the library, my stack of notebooks, and my thoughts. 
  3. Time stretches. And stretches. And stretches. Solitude and silence made each hour feel three times longer than at home. (There's a lesson in this about and nature of time and chronos vs kairos, but I'll think about that later...)
  4. I work best amidst a little commotion. The washing machine spin cycle; builders erecting scaffolding across the road; groceries being delivered; they all create a feeling of time being very precious. If I tell myself I have an hour before Little M wakes up from her morning nap and I need to finish "x," I often accomplish far more than I could have expected. This made me confident about returning home with a renewed sense of purpose and an enthusiasm to work in the midst of our busy household. 
  5. Gladstone's library is a bibliophile's dream. It is the only "residential" library in the UK; which means it is a simple hotel housed within an amazing library. It has a bar, a cafe serving very good food, a chapel, and books, books, books. The bedrooms are basic, but have everything you might need, except a TV (...which is in one of the lounges. The assumption is that you didn't come to the library in order to lie in bed and watch telly). And it is amazingly affordable! I would return in a heartbeat. It's the perfect place to both "get away from it all" and gain a bit of inspiration.  

My stay at Gladstone's library was everything I wanted it to be. I had solitude and rest in spades. I read. I wrote. I fleshed out the idea for a new story. I planned. I imagined. I daydreamed. 

In the end, I left refreshed and rejuvenated, and eager to return home and bury my head in Little M's curls.

Fancy your own quiet weekend amongst the books at Gladstone's Library?

Check out their website here

. 

*  *  * 

And finally... 

Did you enjoy this post?

 Feel free to pin the photos, heart the post on bloglovin, tweet it, or share it on Facebook. And, make sure you subscribe or follow along to get even more weekly inspiration and follow along in my creative journey. 

See you next week!

{Heaven in the Library}

{The Bar}

{The Gorgeousness!}

{Time to Read}

{The view from the graveyard}

{The Library Garden}

{Classical music on the radio in my bedroom}

How I write: my new writing routine

My mom arrives this week; I’m excited and nervous.

I’m excited because I haven’t seen her for half a year, and I can’t wait to sit at the kitchen table chatting about not-much-in-particular, with Little M crawling underfoot and clinging to our knees.

I’m nervous because it means I have to start working.

I have two rather important projects that need time, energy and creative spirit. So far I haven’t been able to concentrate on them, and having my mom around means I’ll have live-in nanny for a month. So… no more excuses.

What I’ve realized is that, in order to succeed as a stay-at-home/working mom, I need to completely re-imagine my writing life.

My old writing life

I used to stumble out of bed just before M left for work. I kissed him goodbye, made a cup of decaf (always and only decaf), opened the curtains just enough to let a shaft of light in (but not to much to pierce the morning dream-state), crawled back under the covers, pulled my laptop onto my knees and started writing. Or, if I had pressing illustration work to finish, I would hunch over my paintings at the kitchen table, still in my pyjamas and with my decaf in hand, to complete the day’s quota of illustrations. In the afternoon I would switch, either writing or illustrating depending on which I had done in the morning.

The new routine

This is no longer possible; my mornings are unrecognizable.

Now, I jump out of bed at 7 am sharp while M is still in the shower. I fetch Little M, who is often already awake and playing with her stuffies in her cot. I change her diaper (usually poopy), make breakfast, pour her bottle. I try to coax spoonsful of porridge or fruit into her mouth. Meanwhile, I jump up to brew my cup of decaf in between her complaints at not being able to wield the spoon herself, and wiping mush off the floor.

I roll out the yoga mat and attempt a few serene sun salutations and other stretches while Little M climbs under, over and through. She touches my face while I’m in downward dog, she fiddles with my pony tail or climbs over my legs while I’m practising the splits, and she sits underneath me while I’m in the bridge, making getting down very challenging.

Then, I re-roll the yoga mat and open my computer and dayplanner to focus at the tasks at hand.

Little M roars around on her hands and knees, trying to explore any undiscovered corner or piece of fuzz on the floor. She bangs empty water bottles against the fridge. She watches the sudsy laundry revolving around in our front loading washing machine. She pulls her books off her bookshelf and pages through them, examining each page to see if any new characters arrived over night. (This means I need to read her a story, of course).

I take a deep breath and make another cup of decaf. Sometimes I clean something. Little M watches with fascination, thinking my scrubbing and spraying is some sort of game.

By 9 am Little M is ready for her morning nap. I snuggle her into her blankets and deposit her gently into her cot. I close the curtains and sneak out the door.

Finally. An hour and a half to write/draw/think/read/try to be creative.

And all I want to do is make another cup of decaf and stare at the victorian rooftops and swaying plane trees out our window. The hurly-burly morning has exhausted me.

Novelist Roxana Robinson wrote a poetic article about her morning writing routine in the New Yorker in 2013. She talks about how, if she answered emails or looked at the news, the delicate membrane of her early morning imagination would be pierced. She wants to keep the mysterious and limitless post-sleep dreamlike state alive as long as possible.

I can’t do that any more. I have to try to recapture that penumbral state hours later.

The new writing guidelines

So, for the next month, while I have a little extra help at home, I’m planning to adopt a few writing principles to help me through this transition…

1.

Write and draw daily.

Even if it’s one line or one tiny gesture with the pencil. The ultimate goal is 500 words of either fiction or journalling every day and 2-3 spreads, sketched (even roughly).

2.

Close the door. Turn off the internet.

I need to give myself permission to seek solitude. Little M will be fine with my mom. The internet won’t collapse without my attention.

3.

Page through the dictionary.

Words are our resources, we need to know how to use them wisely.

4.

Read everything else with reckless joy.

(Fiction, poetry, self-help; it all inspires)

5.

Feel proud of what I am able to accomplish, even if it is less than my (probably) impossible expectations.

Being a stay-at-home/working mom is challenging… and amazing.

*  *  *

For this post I was deeply indebted the post my good friend Ayla wrote on her blog.

Check it out here

When is a bookshelf not just a bookshelf? {Life in a London Flat}

{So tall it doesn't fit in the picture}

When is a bookshelf not just a bookshelf?

When it is a rainbow. 

When it is a home for all the books previously stores in dusty boxes in the attic. 

When it is an invocation. 

I have been dreaming about this bookshelf for several months now. I visualized it in all it's rainbow glory. I knew exactly how I was going to arrange the books. I knew how it would look when I was lying on the couch, admiring it. 

With all things, though, the actual reality of getting it was more complicated and more hilarious than I could have ever imagined.  

Our good friend

Anne van Mansvelt,

a master woodworker, designed and installed the shelves.  To make sure they were perfect, he built the whole unit in his workshop beforehand. When he arrived and placed it on our front step I was blown away. 

It was beautiful.  

It was so beautiful and sooooo tall. 

There was no way it was going to fit up the steep, narrow, Victorian staircase leading to our flat door. We tried and got catastrophically stuck trying to manoeuvre around the first landing. 

Being Dutch, Anne's first thought was to haul it up through the windows. In Amsterdam all the tall narrow houses have winches hanging in the eaves, perfect for moving heavy furniture in and out of the windows. 

Our flat is very high up on the third floor (second floor to Brits), and we don't have any winches.  There was no way the bookshelf could come up via the front. However, after a complete inspection, we realized that our bedroom window in the back overlooks the flat roof of our ground floor neighbour's bedroom. 

That was the solution! 

It's not every day you find yourself pulling a bookshelf through your downstairs neighbour's flat, into their garden, up onto their roof, and then through your own bedroom window. After that the installation went as planned. But what an adventure! 

Whew!

Now that the bookshelf is there it feels like an invocation. An act of calling upon the creative spirit for strength and inspiration. 

We have brought all the books down from the attic and organized them beautifully on the shelves. We are finally treating all of our books with the respect they deserve. They have an honoured place in our home. 

This, then, is a turning point. I am ready to continue this journey in writing and illustrating. 

There are some objects that acquire layers of meaning beyond their basic function. This bookshelf is one of them. 

{copies of Magic at the Museum, signed, and ready to be delivered to Somerset House}

Not so daily sketches

It's murphy's law that the minute you proclaim to the universe (or the internet, that's the same thing, right?) that you're ready to start working, you get steamrolled by the worst head cold you've had in months.  

I'm lying on the couch drinking tea and blowing my nose while Little M sorts through our recycling in the kitchen. She is judiciously taking all the bottles, boxes, papers and containers out of the Westminster City recycling bags and scattering them on the kitchen floor. 

I don't mind, as long as she's quiet and playing independently and doesn't mind that I've been rendered horizontal. 

So, rather than pushing myself forwards, I'm taking a step back and reviewing where I am and where I want to go. I'm paging through my sketchbooks, and leafing through my journals. 

I used the last page in my teeny-tiny moleskine sketchbook the other day.  Here are a few selections from the past few weeks. I'm not sketching every day, but I'm sketching regularly, which is good enough. Don't you think?

Hopefully I will get over this dreadful lurgy soon. 

What were you up to this week

? Please let me know in the comments. 

*  *  * 

And finally...

Did you like the drawings in this post?

Feel free to pin them, heart them on bloglovin, tweet them, or share them on Facebook. And, make sure you subscribe or follow along to get even more weekly inspiration and follow along in my creative journey. 

See you next week! 

{This was the last page.}

Cheers! A little celebration and Inspiration

{Photo taken at Beluga in Cape Town}

I have decided that my maternity leave is officially over. It's difficult to make "official" proclamations when you work for yourself (who's keeping track of whether or not you clock in at your desk?), but I have to tell someone, so I'm telling you, dear readers. 

I've had a long hiatus full of soul-searching, self-doubt, moments of happy inspiration, and lots of cuddles with Little M.  

She is now 9 months old.... which also means that I have been a mother for 9 months. I think it's time to transform from a nesting, stay-at-home mom into a working mom (who also happens to work from home). 

I have no idea how I'm going to make this work. Motherhood and my passion for making books sometimes feel like two diametrically opposing forces pushing me in different directions.  One tells me to savour each moment and not work too hard, and the other tells me to sharpen my pencils and get creating because the seconds are rushing by faster than we can count them. 

But, this week I signed a contract to illustrate two children's picture books.  

Now I have no choice but to stick my head into my sketchbooks. I can't wait to get back to drawing, because a part of me will never feel whole unless I'm creating a book and telling a story, in some way. 

So, cheers! Let's celebrate! Raise a glass ... to new books! ... to 9 month birthdays.  And to venturing bravely into uncharted territories. 

Here's a little inspiration from the books I've been reading this week: 

On babies: 

"A baby is a wishing well.  We walk by every day and throw our pennies in. Most are bright and shiny, full of smiles and possibility. Some are tarnished with bad memories, unlucky genes. Others have been hiding under the couch cushions all these years, just waiting for someone to dig them out. A baby is a wishing well. Everyone puts their hopes, their fears, their pasts, their two cents in." Elizabeth Bard from 

Picnic in Provence.

On divine intervention: 

"I learned that to simply ask a blessing on one's circumstances, whatever they are, is somehow to improve them, and to tap some mysterious source of energy and joy. I came upon one of the most ancient and universal truths -- that to affirm and claim God's help even before it is given, is to receive it." Marjorie Holmes. 

Window Boxes: Life in a London Flat

There’s something about lavender that lifts the mood. It’s not just its clean, fresh, fragrance (reminiscent of sea spray, loamy earth and clean sheets), but also the way the purple flowers bob and sway, conducting silent symphonies in the breeze.

In Cape Town we had a lavender garden in our front courtyard. There was a thick, high stone garden wall facing the road (as you must, in South Africa), with a heavy wooden door set in its centre. From the street it didn’t look like much, but once you entered, you were beguiled by a tiny courtyard garden planted mounds of lavender.

I miss that garden. I miss sitting on the stoop and watching the bees dance from flower to flower as the unseen traffic raced down the hill on the other side of the wall.

So, as a birthday surprise for my husband, I planted window boxes on the sills of our London flat. I ordered one box for each front window and filled them with lavender, petunias and ivy.  Now, when I sit on the couch and gaze out the window, I not only see the rows of Victorian terraced houses and plane trees, but also the bobbing lavender, the delicate ruffles of the petunia petals, and the occasional bee who has lucked out and found our tiny oasis.

The window boxes give a new dimension to the flat: there is now an inside

and

an outside. When the evening sun pours through the windows the lavender throws dancing shadows on the white walls. When we open the windows we can smell the sweet petunias in the warm summer air.

All that in a space 18 cm wide.

It's a miracle.

Be inspired

Favourite Quotes 

Judith of Pretty Words Please

. The more you kiss or hug babies or young children, the happier they will be when they grow up. {That sounds like a wonderful plan to me!}

Virginia Woolf

. I decided to go to London, for the sake of hearing the Strand roar, which I think one does want, after a day or two of Richmond.  {This is particularly appropriate after recent conversations of where we would move to if we left central London.}

Kate di Camillo

.  Poetry. He liked the word -- its smallness, its density, the way it rose up at the end as if it had wings.

Poetry

.

D. H. Lawrence

. We ought to dance with rapture that we might be alive ... and part of the living, incarnate cosmos.

What has inspired you this month? 

Hatching New Beginnings

{The crystal egg cup}

Happiest of Easter Weekends to all my wonderful readers! 

I hope you find your golden egg under the rosebush, and contemplate lots of new beginnings. 

We will be relaxing in our lovely London flat, taking long walks in the park to admire the daffodils, and spending evenings watching movies or hosting dinner for friends. 

See you next week! 

On Being and Embracing

How are you doing with your efforts to be inspired by your word (or resolutions) for 2015?  It's the end of March, and I'm checking in to assess my efforts to embrace this year.

MARCH

It's funny.

I'm sitting on the couch while Little M watches her classical music mobile in her cot, and, try as I might, I can hardly remember anything that's happened in the past 30 days.

Did we return from Austria in February, or was it March? I know I had a birthday at some point. I got an illustrating job, thus ending my maternity leave... but aside from those big events, the month is a blur of naps, bottles, and walks, all littered with pencil and eraser shavings.

The only way I can remember anything is if I write it down, which is why I'm designing a new day planner, as well as trying to keep a daily journal. (more to come on both)

As long as I'm getting enough rest (naps are essential), and eating well (meal plans and online grocery delivery are my saving graces right now), I feel like I can handle just about anything.

I'm also trying to embrace the help of random strangers. People in London are amazingly compassionate and helpful when they see moms stranded with strollers at the top or bottom of long staircases in train or tube stations.

Thank-you London!

Embracing "Being"

One idea that has really struck home these past few months is that we are all unique, special and valuable just because we are, and not because of what we do. Too often I judge myself by what I have accomplished (or not), and I forget that my personal worth shouldn't be so closely tied to my successes and failures.

Little M is a miracle just because she is.  It's her being, her is-ness, that makes her amazing.  She plays; she smiles; she drinks; she poos; she sleeps (sometimes); and each day her personality becomes clearer, like a form materializing in a thick mist.  By the world's standards, none of those activities are particularly valuable, and yet, she is a miracle.

You and I were once miraculous babies. We have let the sparkle of that miracle wear off and become a distant memory, but it isn't gone.

You might be sitting there in your bathrobe, sipping a coffee, steeling yourself for your day, and all around you the latent glow of your inexplicable is-ness is shining for anyone who might take the time to notice. You are you and nobody else!

 That's amazing. I am. He is. She is. We are. We can conjugate a verb and define one of the biggest mysteries of life.

So, I'm trying to embrace a new understanding of my self-worth, as well as everyone else's worth. We are all here, zooming through the vast galaxy on a tiny planet populated with miracles. Think about it for a minute. It will change your day.

{Nerd alert: this is a very simplified discussion of ontology, the study of the nature of being, becoming and existence. Ontology is one of my favourite words, both for how it sounds and what it means.}

APRIL

Just this weekend we booked tickets to spend some time with M's family in Cape Town. We're both excited and a little nervous about the new adventure, as it will mean taking our first long-haul flight with Little M.

So, in the coming month you can expect some posts about planning and calendars, about journaling, and about our trip to Cape Town!

How was your month? Are you thinking about your word or your resolutions regularly? Have you experienced any milestones that you think helped you grow as a person? Please share in the comments! 

Did you like this post? Then be sure to share it with your friends to keep the conversation going! Pin, share or tweet! Yay! 

A week of skiing in Zell am See, Austria

There are few places in the world where I can feel my heartbeat slow the moment I arrive. Zell am See was one of those place for me.  

It is a tiny, quaint town on the edge of a cold, glassy lake. It is nestled between forested and snowy mountains on all sides. Clouds gathered and dispersed between the peaks like ancient Chinese calligraphy paintings, bringing intermittent snow or sun depending on their moods. Church bells echoed between the steep gables of the medieval chalets, and people clomped up and down the cobbled streets in their ski boots with looks of anticipation and excitement on their faces. 

As I walked through the narrow medieval alleys, I took deep breaths of sweet mountain air that made my toes tingle.  

Zell am See is about 1 hour from Salzburg and the perfect destination for both skiers and non-skiers.  {which is why we chose it, because I was going to spend the week looking after Little M and relaxing}

I had intended for this to be an encyclopedic post all about all the things to see and do in the Zell am See area. However, I've been completely defeated by a lethal combination of illustration workload and Little M's teething. So, I'll rather make some observations in list form...

Thoughts on our stay in Zell am See (or skip these and just look at the pictures...)

1.

We stayed at the Grand Hotel, as they had all inclusive meals.

We didn't want the extra stress of having to go to restaurants with our little four month old baby. Their food and service were excellent. Included in the price were breakfast, an après ski snack in the bar/lounge, and dinner.  They accommodated us with our baby in every way they could. 

2.

For non-skiers, there is a lovely walking path that circles the lake.

Should one want to make the full circuit, one could walk for 10km.  I did almost daily walks to the small village of Schüttdorf and back. I watched the ducks and swans paddle in the open water between ice sheets, and trace clumsy footsteps across the snow. 

3.

For skiers.

You can walk to the main lift station in Zell am See, which is 5 minutes from the town centre, or take regular buses to various other lift points.  If you want a bit of an outing, there is the nearby Kitzsteinhorn glacier, with offers amazing skiing at high altitudes. 

4.

Food.

The food at our hotel was classic and tasty, but not excellent. There were three set menus to choose from, always including a vegetarian option.  After a few days we realized that we could mix and match choices from the various set menus, which gave us a huge selection of dishes to choose from. Austrians seem obsessed with putting knödel in everything.

Dumplings here, dumplings there, dumpling dumplings everywhere.

I was incredulous when the evening menu at our hotel listed tiramisu with dumplings (how was that even possible?). 

5.

It was surprisingly difficult to find a good cup of coffee.

In the most popular tourist cafe in town, right on the town square, I ordered a decaf cappuccino and was served a very weak instant coffee topped with fake whipped cream.  My husband's hot chocolate was similarly dire. At last, we found

Café Seegasse

, that served amazing coffees and cakes (though receiving friendly service was a bit hit and miss). 

Travels to other German Speaking destinations:

Sketching in Berlin

Summer Sunday Sketches in Steinbach

A wonderful weekend Wedding in Windhoek, Namibia

Christmas in Namibia

Adventures in Salzburg

Zell am See

{The mountains peek between the rooftops}

St Hippolyte's church zell am see

{St Hippolyte's Church, which houses some gorgeous medieval frescoes}

The Grand Hotel Zell am See

{The Grand Hotel}

{Beautiful ornaments in the festive Friday market}

Zell am See

{View from our hotel room at night}

Zell am See

{The lake in a blizzard, and duck footprints on the bottom right}

Zell am See

{Medieval windows}

Zell am See

{The city square}

Zell am See

{Swans in love}

Zell am See

{Mountain top experiences}

Pick a card... any card {Business Cards for Illustrators}

{The Queen of Puppies}

My current business cards are designed to look like a playing card (see below).  One of my dreams for the past few years has been to design a second set of business cards so that I can fan them out in my hand with a flourish and say, "Pick a card, any card."

I never got around to it because I was always too "busy." Too many deadlines and other urgent tasks got in the way. It took having a baby, taking a self-imposed maternity leave, and then feeling bored during her nap times to get them designed and painted.

I normally print my business cards with

moo.com

.  It would be cheaper to go to a local printing shop to get them printed, but then I would have to print 500 (which is the usual minimum), and I would be buried under stacks of my cards for years to come.  With Moo prints I can print small runs, which allows me the flexibility to change my designs quite frequently.

Plus, their paper quality is amazing, and they give lots of nifty options, such as the sleek rounded corners which I love so much.

These past few weeks I've been busy trying to re-imagine my life and career with a little one in tow. I sit on the couch with Little M, answer emails, fiddle with photoshop, and ask her, "what do you think about this?" or "what should mommy do with that?" She stares at me with wide eyes and a knowing smile, and I'm sure she would have sage advice to share, if she could only talk. Perhaps she'll become my most valued business advisor in time.

Sometimes it feels like things have reached a state of stasis; the impulse to create pulls me one way, and the impulse to slow down and savour motherhood pulls me the other. I decided that the one way to conquer the inertia was to design a new business card. Doing a little makeover gives my portfolio new energy. Suddenly I'm excited to contact people and send images into the void.

{The current Queen of Kittens, soon to be joined by the above design!}

Be inspired

 {Bloom through the gloom}

Favourite Quotes 

Sylvia Plath.

I wonder why I don't go to bed and go to sleep. But then it would be tomorrow, so I decide that no matter how tired, no matter how incoherent I am, I can skip one hour more of sleep and

live

. If I did not have this time to be myself, to write here, to be alone, I would somehow, inexplicably, lose a part of my integrity. {The Unabridged Journals, page 83}

Tony Robbins

. Energy comes from having a mission, not eating or sleeping. It comes from something you're being pulled by, not something you're pushing on.... If you're pulled, if there's something you want to serve that's greater than yourself, something that excites you, something you're made for, then there's a level of energy that most people would never dream of. We all have that, but most of us don't connect to it.

Erin Boyle.

 When it comes to sleep and babies, we're all just fumbling along. We care for our fabulous, feisty little humans the best way we know how. In one bedroom, or two bedrooms, or no bedrooms at all, sleep after a baby is different than sleep before a baby. But then, so is breathing. So is the way your heart beats in your chest.

Melissa Jeffcott.

 So if you are on the other side of forty and think blogging is just for twenty something long legged green smoothie toting yoga goddesses, or wine guzzling toddler taming sleep deprived mamas in their thirties, think again.

{

Can you guess the theme?

Leave your guess in the comments and some way for me to direct message you (either email or twitter name), and I'll send you an exclusive 15% off code for

my etsy shop

! I can't reduce the price much more, as the quality of my prints is so high! Here's a clue: the theme is 5 letters, starting with S.}

For Little M

I'm spending a lot of time singing the chorus of "And I will always love you" to keep her happy.  I'm chanelling

the gentleness of the original Dolly Parton

, rather than the flamboyance of Whitney Houston. 

When I'm out of entertainment ideas, we watch

these black and white videos for infants

with achingly beautiful designs. They are part art installation and part pacifier, and would be just at home in Tate Modern as in my living room.   

On the Blog

For those of you who are regular visitors, you might have noticed that I've done a little housekeeping. I redesigned my blog with the help of the lovely Suzana of

This Girl Design

. I struggle with writing html and css code, so buying a template to work with was the perfect answer. Suzana installed it within days and was so lovely to work with. Once the template was installed, it was easy enough for me to modify aspects of the design to suit my style.

I've organized all my past posts into the categories which you see on the top of the right-hand column. Have some time? Go exploring!

And, I've decided to open up the whole right-hand column to blog banner swaps and advertising. If you want your blog, shop or brand to be featured on my blog, just jump over

HERE

and book a slot. The first 5 people booking a spot can use code WELCOME! to get 50% off. It's a bargain!

What has inspired you this month?