Hollibobs NYC

This is such a ridiculously late post I'm a bit embarrassed. NY and Canada were bundles of fun in very different ways. Thanks so so much to everyone who gave me tips for places to visit. Swissmiss gave me loads of lovely advice and Rosemary Travale's google map was amazing - the KinoKuniya bookstore opposite Bryant Park was the best! I could have spent severe amounts of moolah there. I did buy a great inky brush pen which I'm still getting to grips with but I think it's big winner so far. I'll post up some tests later.
We ate well. Most of our plans were based around food. We had high hopes for Katz Deli and it was certainly an experience. I discovered I wasn't a big pastrami fan but it was a pretty cool place to eat. I still don't think my stomach's forgiven me though.

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We also drank copious amounts of extra shot iced caramel macchiatos and frappucinos to keep our little legs going. Pizza and bagels lived up to expectations. My big whinge is that you can't get everything bagels here.

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Our special birthday meal was at Sushi Yasuda which blew us away. We sat at the bar and got master Yasuda san himself and were slightly terrified and in complete bliss. We got the Staten Island ferry afterwards and talked about the sushi the whole time. What geeks!
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Pete also got his beloved Macbook Air after much deliberation and wrangling with the uninformed staff at the Apple store.


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I loved New York. We visited Kid Robot, Bronx Zoo, Top of the Rock, MOMA, lounged around Central Park and loads more and there was so much that we didn't get crammed in. There's a lot of fun to be had there methinks.

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Sesame Tree

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We're back! The jollies were super duper fun but I'll tell more about that later. We got some great news while we were away. The BBC have given us the page impressions stats of the Sesame Tree website and it looks like it's making a lot of people smile. Here's some figures to ponder over:

April 14,654 June 253,232 August 2,662,160 (wowees)

We worked so hard on all the illustration and animation and we're chuffed to bits that it's a big winner. Big thanks to the lovely folks at FRONT and BBC NI for collaborating on this.

Sail (Illustration Friday)

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This one's dedicated to my dear salty sea dog of a dad who could quite happily live on the sea and never touch land.
Completely off-topic, has anyone got any good tips for must-see things in New york? We're going on our jollies on the 23rd August and spending 4 days in New York and a fortnight or so with our lovely chums Shane and Alli in New Brunswick, Canada. I AM SO EXCITED.

Animation premiere

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If you happen to be passing through Galway at the weekend you might stumble upon the 20th annual Galway Film Fleadh. The festival promotes and screens some of the very best in new and classic Irish and world cinema. Including the premiere of an animation called A Wonderful Story we did a while ago which is finally seeing the light of day now.
It started life as a book written by our good friend and client, John Mooney. I did the illustration and design for it and John loved it so he asked me turn it into an animation. The books and dvds have just been released into schools as part of the NI curriculum.

The great thing is that the project donates all profits towards the prevention of suicide in Ireland.

I have to admit that I can't go to the screening because I'll just cringe so much at everyone looking at my work. Is that bad? My toes curl thinking about it. EEK! Its all very very exciting though and I'm so glad all the hard work is worth it. If you ask me very nicely I'll send you link to watch it online ;-)

Obsession





Pete showed this to me late night and we must have watched it 5 times in a row. Its now the afternoon after the night before and the obsession still hasn't passed. I told myself I wouldn't post videos on my blog but this has to be the exception. I think my VJ ambitions have been resurrected in one night - oh dear!

Birdses

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I made some felt birds for mother's day. They're a little bit useless and hang a bit wonkily but the mothers enjoyed them and I got an excuse to be crafty.

My Lovely Bag

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Look! My gorgeous Alli bag arrived in the post yesterday. Pete commissioned it for me for Christmas from our lovely chum Alli. I've been looking forward to this for a long time. Alli designed it specifically to carry my Powerbook which is great because its super soft on the straps which helps my tired shoulders and its super big and woolly so when I set it on my lap in the car it keeps my legs warm!

Alli and her hubbie Shane moved to Canada last year and we miss them muchly. Check out her blog and her Etsy site for brilliant present ideas.

Grow (Illustration Friday)

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Things have been so busy the past couple of weeks I haven't had time to do my IF posts. I was so chuffed to get the Pick of the Week for Juggle though :)

This was a commission I did for a lovely chap whom I greatly admire. He helped me have confidence in my abilities and has done so much to help me realise the dream of creating the company I always wanted. He even became a client of ours which was the biggest seal of approval we could have. This illustration was a present to his expecting partner.

Wedding (Illustration Friday)

I think weddings are great, especially if they're your own. This was our wedding invite from one and a half years ago. I still love it because it brings back so many fond memories. We had so much fun designing our wedding. I used our pattern to paint huge banners to hang at the front of the church and we plastered the place with candles and lanterns. Everyone we knew helped us decorate the church the night before.peteandheatherwed.jpg

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These are a couple of invites we've done for friends.

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Karys and I did so much wedding stationary design for friends that one day we decided to go for it and form Henry Pancake.

Bird Love

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Karys had a locket with nothing in it. People kept asking to see the contents which caused much disappointment when they peered inside. So I drew her beloved budgies (Smuggler and Bandit) for her and now they stay close to her heart at all times. Aww.

Budgie Battle

Karys (my best chum and one third of atto) got a new budgie to keep Smuggler (the blue one) happy. So far they're not getting along. This is what we imagine is happening when she's at work...

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Hopefully the budgie love will flow soon.

Crescent Arts Auction

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I was recently asked to take in an art auction alongside other local artists to raise funds for the Crescents Arts Centre. A place where I spent a lot of time learning how to draw. A bunch of art chums and I used to hop on the train after school, go to Botanic, eat cheesey chips in Maggie May's and then head to the Crescent for our life drawing classes. Fun times. Although bizarrely this seems to be frowned upon now.
I jumped at the chance to be a part of the Crescent's refurbishment. Until I got the sweats about the fact that this was an auction and there was a fair chance that my painting could be a complete flop alongside other proper artists. Yeeek!

I was so nervous during the bidding. Sweaty palms and everything. Thankfully my wee painting did well, and it raised a good few handy pounds for the mighty Crescent. I was so relieved. It was a big pride thing I know and I'm glad I made it with dignity intact and even a few proud pats on the back. Phew!

This was the official blurb btw "The painting tells a story about a melancholy character who is followed by a rain cloud. Despite the flourish of life he leaves in his wake, he can only see the desert in front of him"

Judith and Jamie are married :D

Judith (my fave wee sis-in-law) and Jamie (now my official big bro-in-law) are married. Happy times :)
This is the decoration I did for the church. Bajillions of hand cut butterflies pinned to the blackout curtain. I think it looked great. judithjamie.jpg
Here's the happy couple ...
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