Hi friends,
It’s been a rough week. But also a good one.
It’s been rough because my hubby and I both came down with some variation of what my mother would have called “the crud” early in the week. Congestion, cough, some aches. Nothing serious, but just icky enough to be disruptive, especially at night. We’re both much better now.
This minor illness just happened to coincide with our aging dog’s increasing inability to “hold it.” It’s been like having a new puppy in the house, having to get up two or three times in the middle of the night to let him out.
Last night was particularly disruptive, so when I rolled out of bed an hour later than usual this morning, I barely knew what day it was. But it was delightfully cool outside, so I decided to mosey about the garden and pick some herbs, letting the crisp early autumn air refresh my senses.
Then I realized that it was Monday morning and I hadn’t planned a newsletter!
I’ve had a lot of moments like that this past week.
But it’s also been a good week. Despite being ill and sleep deprived and stressed about the dog (or perhaps because of that), I spent much of my working hours focused on an illustration spread that I’ve been working on for months.1 It’s finally ready to be painted! It’s a scene from my interpretation of Hansel and Gretel.
If you’ve been reading my newsletter for a while, you probably know of my fondness for block printing. This illustration was done with a series of small block prints that were scanned into the computer and arranged digitally using Procreate. I’m very pleased with how it’s turning out, and I can’t wait to start adding color! This is a big step in building my illustration portfolio.
Also this past week (yesterday, to be precise), we celebrated Hobbit Day and my daughter and son-in-law’s birthdays with our annual Hobbit-themed birthday feast. I spent Saturday baking, and on Sunday afternoon my son and I made a beef Wellington2 for our contribution to the feast. I was supposed to make a “Lemon One Ring Cake,” as is tradition, but I forgot! I guess making the beef Wellington took up all the useful space in my brain.
But it was a good feast with most of my favorite people, half of them under the age of four. It was glorious chaos reminiscent of The Unexpected Party in the beginning of The Hobbit. If you know, you know.
Do you observe Hobbit Day in your household?
Normally one spread wouldn’t take me months, but much of that time has been me figuring out my process. And learning Procreate.
Because of the price of beef these days, we opted to try this “But Cheaper” beef Wellington recipe using an eye of round roast instead of a beef tenderloin, which we’ve done in the past. It was delicious, but the beef wasn’t nearly as tender, so it was challenging to slice it in such a way that everything held together.
I'm so sorry to hear you've been unwell, but wonderful that you're on the mend and were able to celebrate Hobbit Day! It looks and sounds like a great time <3 Also, your illustration is looking AMAZING!
We try to, but this year we had too many other things going on!