This charming Christmasy corvid mugshot is the work of Rick Allen, at Kenspeckle Letterpress which he runs with his partner Marian Lansky. So lovely! These are just the seasonally appropriate jems*, check out their whole gorgeously engraved library of work.
Winter Homecoming
* That is a spelling mistake, obviously I meant gems, but the fact that I made such an outrageous error makes me laugh so I'm leaving it in. Truly.
Earth Magic
Beneath the Stars
Night Visitor
Lusten Fox
Sparks Flew
PS
What is this "Trapper's Daughter" and where do I find it? And why isn't it published somewhere with these fine illustrations:
The Trapper's Daughter Takes the Otter Slide - seriously where is this book??
The Trapper's Daughter & the Bear Who Couldn't Sleep
Winter is slow to arrive this year. October was basically September weather, all through November it felt like October, and now that it's December it only just feels like November. There was the sparest, lightest little dusting this morning, but it's gone already. We are stuck in the bleak pre-snow season of craggy branches and grey backdrops. It's dark by 4pm and still dark when the alarm shrieks. Delightfully melancholy, but more suited to post-Halloween than the advent of Christmas.
This semester was tough (hence my lack of luster here). Not because of workload - or rather not because of school workload. More due to work-workload. That's changing though, for better or worse, and I am job hunting for the first time in rather a long while. Equal parts thrill and terror, I tell you. Let's all hope that something lovely and fun comes along, part-time so I can stay at my favourite library too.
I feel all craggy and grey, like the weather. This busy semester has left me with little time for stretching my limbs and they're in danger of atrophy. I tried doing yoga the other day and I felt like one of those aged newcomers who only go to the first class and bend over, forever suspended, fingers never reaching toes. Stiff, sore and old. That's how I felt. Weird. If this is a preview, I don't approve.
(I couldn't decide which trailer I liked best... so you get both!)
Other Autumnal highlights include catching up with an old friend (how is it possible that we'd not spoken for six years? Six? Jeez.) and then there a was a brief dash to stay in a walled city. It's not far from here, but we don't go often. It was really nice, just for a couple of days, to play tourist and to eat scrumptious things. This spot is totally worth it, if ever you visit and feel like a treat. Also, just a block or so away, is this little chocolaterie which is what I imagine Willy Wonka's factory smells like. Go there just to breathe, seriously.
I came upon Ms Gustafsson's work at just the right time, I think. Summer has not yet given up the ghost but Autumn is on the verge of charging in with gusts of wind, ripe squash, and the yearly explosion of copper and crimson tree-tops. Not all of Nicole's work is autumnal but a lot seems to fit in with this, the best of all seasons.
All's Well at the Schoolhouse
The Conservatory
Blue Tree Books
Hare House (in the rain!)
Oh, the colours! They're so lovely. Trees growing in unlikely places, terrariums, lanterns, rain. I can't help but be smitten. I want to get all of her card-sets but I won't want to give any away.
