2014, IN REVIEW.

Happy New Year!

As I do every year, I've been going through notes, journals, and photos from the past 12 months and thinking about 'recaps' and 'what it all means'.  My portfolio didn't see a ton of additions, but there were some pretty significant pieces completed and exciting work done.  I moved out of a rotten apartment into an amazing one, which I get to share with an amazing person.  Conquered my first year at my day-job in Advertising, working inside a major Chicago landmark.  Drove through Indiana soooo many times as I travelled through the Midwest exploring, visiting, working.  

Worked very hard, and slept very little.  

.   .   .   .

I realized the other day that the best way to sum up 2014 is with a little black sketchbook that Max bought me for Christmas in '13.  I used it up from exactly January - December last year.  

Moving, day-jobbing, sewing, and a handful of other events kept me from completing as many large drawings and paintings as I would have liked last year.  But, for the first time in a very long time, I managed to always keep my sketchbook with me and always keep it going.  

Each page of this little Hobbit Moleskine has been scribbled and noted and doodled and worked on.

Here's the highlights and best-of's for 2014:

Early every year, February 1st, is Hourly Comic Day.  Last year, Max & I, along with a big handful of great friends, celebrated with a big day-long Drink & Draw, ending at the High Dive. 

We ate a lot of Tater Tots that day.  I have no regrets.

Later in the Spring, I started using the Sktchy app, which continues to be great for quick portraits and studies when there's no one with an interesting face around.

And then throughout the year, there's just a ton of these random sketches and things, usually done at a restaurant or pub.

Me and Max enjoy a good Drink & Draw so much, we started a group in Chicago:

Draw Until You Puke

Our first week-long marathon took us all over town, including a quick stop at the Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary show at Rotofugi

In July, I moved out of the Ukrainian Village (it was a sad day), and into a quiet neighborhood a bit further north.  I started taking a long, slow train ride to work - so drawing other commuters became a new pastime. 

There's a whole ton of these faces and sketches in here.  

Pages and pages of strangers.

In the Fall there was Inktober!  I also got a wicked cold, and did my best to keep up.

As the year wrapped up, I started shifting towards fiber, plush, sewing, and getting ready for Craft Fair madness.  These cactus monsters were a ton of fun to stitch up.

And finally, in December, we made the dumbest thing I'm proud of,

This Map Is Bullshit.

Max and I stayed up for, like, 48 hours passing a sketchbook back and forth, drawing and writing this stupid thing.  And it still makes me giggle every time I look at it.  

2014.

(You can see more of what's inside, here)

Cheers! 

To bigger and better, more work, and more adventure.  

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2015!

I cracked open my new, blank sketchbook this afternoon.  

After a very long and rainy winter walk, Max & I stopped into a pub for a beer and a cheeseburger, and spent a couple hours drawing.  

I'm going to keep sketching on this one, and finish it up tonight.  

xo.