graphic novels

nine cool things on a tuesday

~ jama ~ 24 Comments

“October is the treasure of the year,/And all the months pay bounty to her store . . . ” ~ Paul Laurence Dunbar

1. Happy October!! Surely the prettiest fall month. Poland-based artist Asia Spettel’s cozy “cottagecore” paintings are the perfect way to celebrate the season.

I couldn’t find any information online about her other than she works mainly in acrylics and enjoys imagining herself in the scenes she paints.

Personally, I wouldn’t mind sitting on that porch sipping tea and nibbling on cake, or hanging out in this lakeside kitchen with soup bubbling on the stove, a plate of cinnamon rolls and a copy of Wuthering Heights on the table. My kind of place! It’s so much fun studying all the details.

Don’t you love the beautiful rustic colors and the animals that wander through her pictures (fox is my favorite)? Of course her table settings, filled with fruit and baked treats, are what caught my eye in the first place. 🙂 In these crazy times, Asia’s work provides much needed comfort and solace.

You can purchase originals, prints, and postcards featuring Asia’s work at her Etsy Shop. Other places to enjoy her online: FB Page and Instagram.

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nine cool things on a tuesday

~ jama ~ 12 Comments

1. Happy February! We’re celebrating the month of love with some of Lee White’s Valentine’s Day prints and cards.

You may be familiar with Lee’s work as a children’s book illustrator (Kate, Who Tamed the Wind; The Maine Coon’s Haiku, I Lived on Butterfly Hill). He’s also done commercial projects for clients such as Disney, Verizon, National Geographic and Marks & Spencer, and teaches painting via The Society of Visual Storytelling, an online art school for artists of all skill levels.

Lee works mainly in watercolor, but likes to include other media such as ink, colored pencil and collage.

To see more of his work or to purchase prints and cards, visit Lee’s Official Website and Etsy Shop. 

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Celebrating Susan Branch’s Latest Books with Tasty Words, Pics, and Potato Chip Cookies

~ jama ~ 53 Comments

“Never let anyone tell you magic doesn’t exist or that fairies aren’t real. It isn’t cynicism that will change the world. Do your best to believe in yourself, and even if you don’t, keep trying to and never give up. If all else fails, use your imagination and pretend.” ~ Susan Branch (Martha’s Vineyard: Isle of Dreams)

Though I’ve been a Susan Branch fan for decades, until I read her 3-part illustrated memoir I knew only a little about her personal life or how she started painting, writing, and publishing.

It was love at first sight when I discovered her greeting cards, calendars and illustrated cookbooks back in the late 80’s — I just couldn’t get enough of her beautiful handwritten recipes and inspirational quotes, the cozy, quaint watercolors of old fashioned baskets, bowls, and quilts, those scrumptious fruits, veggies, cakes and pies. Oh, the checkered floors! The Laura Ashley hats and exquisite floral borders! That iconic vintage stove! I wanted to inhabit the world of her homemade books; they were charming, unique, and most important, personal.

You may remember how much I adored A Fine Romance: Falling in Love with the English Countryside (review here). It convinced me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Susan was even more of a kindred spirit with her love of Beatrix Potter, the Yorkshire Dales, afternoon tea, the Cotswolds, Emma Bridgewater, and the Queen!

But it wasn’t until I read the prequels to A Fine Romance — The Fairy Tale Girl and Martha’s Vineyard: Isle of Dreams  (both based on her diaries) — that I gained a true appreciation for how this self-taught artist built her career from scratch, how the first seeds were actually planted in childhood, and how she’s been able to effectively elevate the various facets of homemaking (cooking, sewing, gardening, interior decorating) to a fine art.

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sara varon’s bake sale brownies

~ jama ~ 17 Comments

Oh my, but I do love Sara Varon’s Bake Sale!  And recently I made the brownies featured in it. *dies*☺

Such a lovely, feel-good story about friendship. This toothsome graphic novel is just quirky enough — a few squiggly degrees to the left of center — to avoid being cloying, overly sentimental, or cutesy, something that can easily happen when your main character is a pink cupcake in a town populated with walking food.

So, Cupcake is living the sweet life — bakes delectable treats at his own Sweet Tooth Bakery and plays drums in a cool band with his best friend Eggplant. Despite having won blue ribbons for Best Fruit Pie, Fluffiest Cake and Most Perfect Cookie, Cupcake gets into a baking rut.

Just so happens Eggplant is planning a trip to Turkey to visit his Aunt Aubergine, who is business partners with Turkish Delight, the greatest pastry chef in the world and Cupcake’s culinary idol.

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