San Diego Zoo sketchlings

The amount of sketches I did in comparison to the amount of animals we saw at the famed San Diego Zoo! What an amazing place, if I lived anywhere around there I would SO get an annual pass to draw it up!

I [stupidly] forgot my pencil pack back at the house when we left, so I bought a nice ol' HB San Diego zoo pencil and used that.....aaaaahhh, the quality lead that comes in those pencils, lemme tell ya.


I can't wait to spend some quality sketching time this summer at the ol' Winnipeg zoo!

Finished Sheridan? I'm goin' to Disneyland!

Moi rarin' to get going, Tom & Jerry in tow!

Tams is right behind me on her suped up motorcycle!

Tams and I have been planning a grad road trip celebration for what feels like EONS, and now it's almost upon us!!

These last few weeks have been INSANE with getting the film complete, finishing exams, portfolio and other classes, getting prepped for Industry Day, packing up my Oakville life and moving it all temporarily back to Winnipeg...so we are in need of some good ol' fashioned fun in the sun!

We don't have a definite timeline [more like, until the money runs out!], but we plan to see & do as much as we can, maybe visit some studios along the way, I'll paint as much as possible - and most of all, CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES, c'mon! :)

Here's our planned route, if anyone has any suggestions or tips, feel free to leave comments!

Winnipeg > Sioux Falls, South Dakota [Mount Rushmore] > Flaming Gorge, Wyoming > Moab, Utah [Arches National Park] > Flagstaff, Arizona [Grand Canyon] > Anaheim, California [Disneyland!] > San Diego, California > San Francisco, California [Redwood National Park] > Portland, Oregon > Seattle, Washington > Billings, Montana > Fargo, North Dakota > back home to Winnipeg

We leave Wednesday morning, I can't wait!! I'll post sketches along the way!

Ottawa Animation Fest 07!

We just got back tonight from a fun-filled weekend adventure at the Ottawa Internationl Animation Festival! It was my first time there, both for seeing the city and attending the festival. Ottawa was really beautiful and funky, it reminded me of a combo between Toronto, Winnipeg and New York City. Lovely!

And the festival was great!! I really lucked out, this year they were doing a 4-part tribute to the awesomeness of UPA animation, which is my FAV... so I got to screen a lot of Mr. Magoo that I had never seen before! Another major highlight was the Disney workshop where we got to meet and greet with the directors/animators who worked on the new Goofy short. Crazy cool.

In between all the walking and screening, I found some time to do some sketchin'... see above.

Here are a couple pics – good times at the festival!

A super cool chalk artist dude. We gave props.

Alysia and I outside the first venue on Friday night.

Tams in front of some shwanky parliament buildings, it was near one of the major screening venues.

Me being attacked by a giant spider. A typically normal day at the animation festival.

Road Trip Findings

So... currently Tams and I are up to our eyelashes in boxes 'n things at the new digs here in the land o' Oakville, but I needed to take a blog break and share with the 5 of you out there who read this on a sorta-regular basis, some interesting findings on our road trip from Winnipeg to Oakville.

First off, just 'cause I love it and it makes me smile, here's a pic of my crazy family taken the day before I left to return to school....

....dontcha love how Mom is the only "sane" looking one?

And now, for some findings during our recent road trip...

Firstly, signs. I welcome any comments on the following!

So, this route is getting rather familiar to us, even though the 23 hour trek never gets shorter! The roads are better since we go through the States, however, this time I kept asking out loud, "WHAT ARE PASTIES??!!!" Throughout the US, [I think we mostly hit Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin], we saw signs for them EVERYwhere. Did they forget the "r" or what?????

Ah, Rita. Well, we noticed this sign "Pray for Rita" in Wisconsin during the first time we drove this route. We marked it on the map, and since check that it still stands. And not only does it stand, but every year there is a bigger, more professional sign in its' place!! Who IS Rita, and what should we be praying for??? I am willing, but I would like a tad more info!

Secondly, nature jazz.

Well, the upside to getting up so early that you are on the road by 6 AM – watching the sunrises! I think this was taken around 6:30ish am. Pertty.

Ya know, fog can be kinda scary sometimes! Somehow we ran into majorly thick patches of fog, [this was taken soon after the aforementioned sunrise], and the windshield fogged up so thick we couldn't even see for a few seconds! Ah, lovely when you're going 75 miles an hour on a highway. But the pic turned out cool!

Thirdly in our findings, tunes.

Since it's fun to radio-surf [a new term I just coined, you are free to use it at your leisure] during a cross-country trip, ya never know what will come through the airwaves! Sometimes, interesting polka-rap, or country [hey, I like Rascall Flatts! less twang....], or fidy-cent and his buddies, or elevator classical......

BUT, sometimes there's a gem that pops up and you're like, "Oh! Who's that! I love that!!" That happened when we first heard a new groovy guitar-driven ditty by up-and-comer chickie Colbie Caillat called "Bubbly". Check out that link to her site, you can sample some of her tunes. I love it!!!

I heard it again last night when we were in Oakville, so I blared it in the car, rolled down the windows and let the fresh air help me greet a new school year.

And now, the boxes are calling.

Grand Forks Fun

Popsicle Patti - I am fascinated with the many shapes of people in this world!

Angry Abby - she did NOT like her job at McD's.... but then again, who could blame her?

So this weekend myself, Tams, Jayms and Julie took a weekend jaunt down across the border to the lovely little city of Grand Forks.

What do 4 chicks do for a weekend there, you ask? [Well, if you were from Wpg, you wouldn't ask...] To SHOP, of course! And, of course, laugh about ridiculous things and drink a lot of fun coffees. Sounds good to me!

Here's a couple of my fav sketches we spotted down there - thanks Jayms for your expert eye picking these ones out!