CAROUSEL on the hill

2011-03-21T16:54:00.000-07:00

NEW CARDS

My new business cards just arrived from moo. Here is a sample.

2011-03-04T14:10:00.000-08:00

LAYERS

These are two experimental ideas for illustration Friday for the topic Layers.

2011-03-02T15:32:00.000-08:00

My work at PET FOOD EXPRESS

It's fun walking everyday and seeing my illustrations of dogs and cats at the windows of Pet Food Express. The stores are all over the San Francisco/Bay Area and the images at the windows are over 5' tall. Very exciting project!

2011-01-06T14:29:00.000-08:00

LITTLE ICONS

2011-01-05T20:38:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year

Hi all, it's been a while since I posted. It has been such a busy time. Some creative... and some just busy. My new goal for the new year? Well to do a sketch or something creative every day. Just for fun. Simple. May all of you my friends have a creative and prosperous 2011... and happy drawing :-) .

2010-07-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

HAPPY DAYS

2010-07-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

JUNE

June has been such an exciting and busy month. Traveling from Berkeley to Crete, and from there to Sardinia to Corsica and back to Crete. So many places to see, full of inspiration everywhere. Here it is a book that I got in Bonifacio with watercolors by Christian Heinrich.

2010-06-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

SCHOOL PROJECT

I had been working on the THOUSAND OAKS school website for a while now, and these are two of my illustrations that we are using as the main theme. I enjoyed this project so much!

2010-05-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

Storybook puzzle blocks

I just saw this really fun idea for recycling old books at the MOTHER LODE. You can use old damaged picture books to make puzzle blocks. Here it is the tutorial if you would like to try it.

2010-04-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

AHEAD for Illustration Friday

I draw up and colored this illustration over the weekend for illustration friday. It was hard to decide on the color and intensity of the leafs because I wanted to keep the emphasis on the girls running. Can you guess what has happened in this story?

2010-04-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

Linked for IF.

2010-03-11T20:42:00.000-08:00

Today in San Francisco

It's been an amazing sunny day today. These are some shots that I took this morning.

2010-03-06T19:20:00.000-08:00

PRINT give away

This lovely print is to be given away at happy Doodleland. You can visit the happy Doodleland blog for more details. And by the way did I mention how much I love these little birds! They have so much character.

2010-03-05T16:25:00.000-08:00

HOUSES

For the past couple of days I have been working on some of my sketches that I did last summer. These three house illustrations are based on some of the sketches that I did in the village of Ligres in south of Crete. Still experimenting with styles and technics these days....

2010-03-01T13:38:00.001-08:00

PERSPECTIVE

Another artwork for illustration friday. No perspective on these houses...

2010-02-15T22:55:00.000-08:00

ADRIFT

This week's illustration, was pulled out of my archives. This is a story that I worked on a few years ago about a hedgehog adrift in the sky with a kite.

2010-02-06T00:32:00.001-08:00

MUDDY for Illustration Friday

This came from my archives but I think it works well for this week's topic.

2010-01-27T15:50:00.000-08:00

SUNSHINE please :-)
While I have been waiting for the sun to shine today I illustrated these versions of the same bird, as a series. I am thinking of experimenting with different drawings of birds to see how it looks. Meanwhile here are my todays drawings.

2010-01-26T14:05:00.000-08:00

TODAY
Another rainy day in Berkeley. Still beautiful thought, even with the cloudy sky.

2010-01-16T20:17:00.000-08:00

WILDERNESS for illustration Friday

2010-01-15T16:32:00.000-08:00

"J" is for Journalist

This is a letter that I did for Olivia a few weeks back.

2010-01-13T12:21:00.000-08:00

My office

2010-01-04T11:54:00.000-08:00

GIRL WITH RED BERET

I just love this drawing by Flora at Happy Doodleland you can see more of her work here or at her ETSY store.

2010-01-03T15:17:00.000-08:00

MORE LETTERS

Some letters are new, some revisited but I thought to post them anyway.

2010-01-03T14:58:00.000-08:00

Holidays

These holidays I took a long brake from my drawing and sketching. It felt too long anyway. Somehow days seemed very long without my pencils and brushes and I promised myself that I won't do it again.

So, for the 2010 I wish all of you a year full of creativity and health.

Happy 2010 my friends.

2009-11-14T16:14:00.000-08:00

UNBALANCED

This weeks topic for Illustration Friday is unbalanced. These are two versions of the same illustration.

2009-11-14T12:33:00.001-08:00

LETTER "N"

Here I am back on the drawing board with my pattern letters. Today I've made N is for Natalia.

2009-10-26T11:40:00.001-07:00

HOUSES

In Crete last summer I draw some little houses and villages, now I am working more on them in color.

2009-10-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

LETTER "I"

2009-10-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

2010 HOLIDAY CARD

My new holiday designs for moo.com are ready. I am so pleased. A bit different this year, the original sketches were done in Crete and all the coloring was done in California.

2009-10-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

Illustration Friday "Flying"

2009-09-08T15:51:00.001-07:00

Crete

2009-08-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

ROCKS

It's been too hot to do anything.... so I just painted a little rock that I found.

2009-07-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

SKETCHING IN CRETE

In the South of Crete the temperature reached the 115 F. It was amazing.

2009-06-05T14:19:00.000-07:00

BIRDS/School Project

It is the time of the year that we all put an extra effort to support our schools. This years class project was BIRDS. The 1st graders at my daughter's school draw some fantastic birds, which then I digitally colored and transfered them on cards and pillows. They were sold at the school silent auction. Here they are.

2009-01-22T08:38:00.000-08:00

PALE for Illustration Friday

Acrylic on wood

He just looked so pale....

2009-01-21T17:12:00.000-08:00

Specially from MOO 20% off, for my friends
Well these days I am working on my new designs for MOO and Moo as a thank you e-mailed me a coupon for my friends. So if you are new to moo and you would like to be creative and print you own designs/photos or even purchase ready made designs you can use this code 5C45AP for an extra 20% on one product. By the way the coupon expires on the 31st of January.

2009-01-21T09:14:00.000-08:00

2009 HOLIDAY CARD

This is the holiday card that we send this year. Maria Nikoleta and Natalia had a lot of fun and loughs when they posed for this photo shoot. Hours later, here they are looking at the fairies.

2008-11-05T17:34:00.000-08:00

VACANT for Illustration Friday

2008-10-14T22:33:00.000-07:00

STRINGS for illustration Friday
I haven't post in illustration Friday for a while now. I had almost forgotten how much fun it is to illustrate these topics. So here it is "strings".

2008-10-13T17:49:00.000-07:00

MOO HOLIDAY CARDS
I just realized that it has been a while since I posted. Well, fall is here and I had been working on my moo holiday cards. Here they are. If you would like to see more of them here is the link.

2008-09-14T21:59:00.000-07:00

Exciting times
Here we are back in Berkeley. But for anyone who is in the Bay Area these days there two must see exhibits. Chihuly at the de Young and Frida at MOMA. Both until the 28th of September. They are both very popular so it's a good idea to purchase tickets in advance. Enjoy.

2008-08-19T02:24:00.000-07:00

Change
Crete is an island that is changing constantly. I had leaved here most of my life and although I have tried to explore every little village and secret beach there are still many places that I haven't seen. It's an island full of surprises, with caves, monasteries, gorges, and beautiful beaches. Now, big Hotels, villas, and beach umbrellas have covered almost all the north side of the island, while the taverns and the ouzadika are changing into restaurants and snack bars. Sad? Yes very sad I must say. But surprisingly there are still places left that the fishermen take the fishnets out and the tavern's are serving home made food. I hope that this will not change, at least for while anyway.

2008-07-24T00:36:00.000-07:00

Submissions
Zeix is now accepting submissions for it's new line of design books. If you are interested check it out.

2008-07-14T00:56:00.000-07:00

FOGGY for Illustration Friday
One of my favorite things to do in San Francisco is to watch the fog coming into the city from the Pacific. Sometimes it comes with speed covering the golden gate bridge and in just a few minutes has gone all over the hills across the bay. From far away it looks like the city is inside a cloud. It's just beautiful.

2008-07-10T06:22:00.000-07:00

SOUR for Illustration Friday
"She left with sour feelings".

2008-06-30T23:33:00.000-07:00

FIERCE OF COLOR for IF

2008-06-26T23:50:00.001-07:00

Sunny Days

2008-06-17T23:43:00.000-07:00

HALLO CRETE :-)
Hi, after a 29 hour trip we made it to Crete and I am loving it! We are having a mini heatwave today and the sea is totally calm so far. Beautiful.

2008-06-09T17:37:00.000-07:00

FORGOTTEN for illustration Friday
Well I could not decide....

2008-06-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

Across the Bay
Today I decided to steal a couple of hours and go to San Francisco. I took BART ( I am a fun of the public transportation) to Powell street station and I went to Maido for some inspiration. I like Maido for it's papers. Lot's of goodies if you like origami and collages. If you are in San Francisco check it out. Then I rushed to SFMOMA because I thought that the Frida Kahlo exhibit was starting today. Unfortunately it starts next week so I will have to see it when I get back.

2008-05-30T15:46:00.000-07:00

BABY for Illustration Friday
These days I have not been able to post a lot for Illustration Friday. Everything seems to be so hectic over here. It's the time of the year that we are getting ready for the summer in Greece and I am trying to finish up all my projects before I go. This weeks topic BABY for illustration Friday was pretty easy I though. I used bright bold colors because a baby brings a lot of happiness and energy into the family. So here it is.

2008-05-22T14:34:00.000-07:00

Kid's play
Last Monday my daughter Maria Nikoleta (5) was off from school, so we decided to play photoshoot. She likes to play with my camera and to photograph everything around her. These are some shots that she took of me, the rest were of her Spongebob pen. I haven't altered them at all.

2008-05-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

WIDE for Illustration Friday

2008-05-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

ELECTRICITY for illustration Friday
It's a hot hot sunny day today in Berkeley. No fog, no clouds, just perfect. I think the birds outside were enjoying the day too. I thought to include them in my illustration for Electricity. Here they are sitting on the electrical wires.

2008-05-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

Free download and print gift-wrap
I just found this site gift-wrapit.com that you can free download and print wrapping paper and gift cards. Very easy and convenient. First you download the file, then you print from your printer and voila, now you can fold!

2008-04-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

Wrinkles for Illustration Friday
Somehow when I saw this week's topic wrinkles I thought of Snowwhite's stepmother. I could see her in front of her mirror trying to persuade herself that she is the fairest of them all, but deep inside she must had know that the mirror was not telling her the truth.
This is a work in progress illustration but I am posting it anyway.

2008-04-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

Posters
I just finished a series of posters for the school auction. I really had fun making them. I had only a couple of days two illustrate and design them so I sketched them and then colored them in illustrator.

2008-04-19T17:09:00.000-07:00

PRIMITIVE for Illustration Friday
This week's topic was not very inspiring for me, but because I did not illustrate lasts week's topic I thought to give it a shot. For inspiration I looked at my dictionary for primitive and I found PRIMITIVE CELLS so here it is.

2008-04-17T12:16:00.001-07:00

Spring Cleaning
Sometimes I just can let go of small things. This year's spring cleaning (which I started in January...) I just could not throw away some of my daughter's old t-shirts and socks. I try to recycle everything but these were just too worn out to be given away. So I got this idea from Paul's mom, and pieces of the old socks and t-shirts became little balls. By the way, my younger daughter loves to play with them.

2008-04-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

SAVE for Illustration Friday
For this weeks topic I thought of a little alien lost among the people. I thought of him scared and lost, not knowing how can he be saved. So here he is. Who can save the little alien?

2008-04-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

HOMAGE to my parents
I usually use my moleskin for collages and I don't post them, but this week is an exception because the topic for the Illustration Friday is Homage. This is a homage to my parents.

2008-04-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

Letterpress at the CENTER OF THE BOOK S.F.
I know I haven't been writing for a while but spring there are all these events happening that keeps us busy busy busy.
Last Sunday I took a letterpress class at the center of the book in San Francisco. We printed on tabletop platen presses. I really like these small presses because they are completely manual and you can print only limited editions. They do have their limitations thought but results are very good. Although I had taken letterpress classes before, I was completely taken with the typesetting. I found it so relaxing. I can't wait for my next class.

2008-03-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

The Art and Flair of Mary Blair
Last week week I saw the exhibit of Mary Blair's work in the Cartoon museum in San Francisco.
Her work is amazing. If you are in the area I recommend it.

2008-03-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

FORECAST: HEAVY SNOW
I thought to experiment with how many ideas I can develop using one form, in this case the crochet. I wanted to use the same crochet that I used before as a challenge. I thought of snow. Heavy snow... so here it is.

2008-03-07T15:57:00.000-08:00

Garden for IF
I know that I have been using the crochet flowers (made by Paul's grandmother a long long long time ago) a lot lately but I found them very appropriate for todays topic.

2008-03-06T17:29:00.000-08:00

New Alphabet letters
I just finished the letters B is for boy and G is for girl. Here they are.

2008-03-04T16:07:00.000-08:00

THE LEAP for IF
I haven't posted in Illustration Friday for a while now, so this is my entry for this week's topic.

2008-03-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

This is fun! MOO's having an Egg Hunt

Our friends at MOO have decided to have a bit of fun over the next two weeks by holding a worldwide Egg Hunt. They have hidden eggs in their products, their site, their friend's sites and in the 'Great Outdoors'. Each day there'll be new eggs to find, with clever clues appearing in their blog.

There are some great prizes to be won including MOO discounts and freebies, Flickr pro accounts, Blurb discounts and freebies, Etsy discounts or gift baskets, Timbuk2 discounts, Ponoko 'make' discounts, Styleshake dresses and Picnik premium accounts.

You can also play to win the 'Ultimate Egg Basket'. This contains a selection of wonderful goodies, including a digital SLR, a range of MOO's partner's prizes and a selection of English treats. There's also a very cute handmade bunny, crafted by Kim, one of the *real* people at MOO.

To take part, and to find out more, head over to http://www.moo.com/egghunt/

2008-02-17T16:10:00.000-08:00

Laurel tagged me for the peace and love meme. How nice. Now I am asking the following blogger friends to spread the word : Flora, Chrissy and Diana.

The rules are simple:

1. If you get tagged or not (and want to play along) , take some minutes to meditate about love and peace, pray for countries that are facing troubles, for those people you love and those you don’t /2. Write a post with links to blogs that you think would like to participate / 3. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.

2008-02-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

CHOOSE for IF
My idea for this weeks topic was that we can choose how we see life with the glass half full or half empty. I am not too happy with this illustration thought, so I might redo it. We 'll see.

2008-02-06T15:03:00.000-08:00

Peace
Today I was looking at my photos and I found this photo of my 2008 new year's promo cards and I thought to share it with you. Here it is.

2008-02-06T10:28:00.000-08:00

Love you award
I got the love you award from Flora at happy doodleland. Such a cute award! Thank you Flora.
There are so many artists/bloggers that I love their work that it is really hard to choose. Well I am sending the love award to diana, and Laurel.

2008-01-31T23:50:00.000-08:00

Spring mood
These days I have been working on some new designs for Easter. Here is a pick.

2008-01-28T16:47:00.000-08:00

Have you seen moo? Me, moo?
Have you seen moo? MOO is a little, very cool printing company located in UK, creating beautiful products. Now you can find cards, mini cards and really small stickers with my artwork at moo.com. In moo, they are always interested in new designers and illustrators so don't forget to visit their website.

2008-01-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

Make my day AWARD
I am very excited and happy that I got the "You make my day" award from Nicole at manualpaper Thank you Nicole :-)you definitely made my day. It is pretty rainy over here these days and the award really cheered me up.
Now I have to find five artists that make my day to pass the award. This is hard because there are so many artist's blogs that I like....
Here is how it works
1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make me think and/or make my day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Display the "You Make my Day Award" logo with a link to the post that I wrote. (Optional)
4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news.

My favorites are:
christineclemmensen
3ster
happydoodleland
imwithsully
claudinehellmuth

2008-01-25T15:12:00.000-08:00

Tales and Legends for IF
This is the old tale of the Lion and the mouse.

2008-01-18T16:20:00.000-08:00

It was just a plain blind date
And there she was. Just a plain woman, in a plain dress, drinking slowly a plain cup of coffee.

2008-01-16T13:59:00.000-08:00

Blue Deer and Red Fox by Clare Rojas
This book by Clare Rojas has beautiful illustrations and a great sad story about a deer and a fox. I saw it in book by its cover and it is a must have for me. You can find it in Giant Robot (here) or at the Giant Peach (here).

2008-01-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

STITCH for IF
When I read this weeks topic (stitch) for Illustration Friday I immediately thought the story of "The kings new clothes".

2008-01-02T10:12:00.000-08:00

Recycling Treasures
I can not crochet but when I saw these vintage dish rests that Maria had made I wish I could. These dish rests are bottle covers that have been crochet and stitched together. Good recycling idea.

2007-12-31T09:25:00.000-08:00

See you in 2008
Dear friends
As the 2007 is coming to an end, I would like to say to you a big thanks for all your comments and for visiting my blog. You all have given me a lot of inspiration and support. I also would like to wish you a happy 2008 full of health and creativity.
Best wishes
Aspa

2007-12-23T18:12:00.000-08:00

HORIZON for IF
"That quite afternoon she was gazing at the horizon not knowing that her peace would soon come to an end. She hadn't seen the crab aiming at her."
This is an acrylic 8'x5' painting that I did years ago, but I thought that it is very suited for this weeks Illustration Friday theme Horizon.

2007-12-20T12:33:00.000-08:00

BACKWARDS for IF
I am out of my scanner this week so I am uploading my initial sketch for the illustration Friday theme backwards.
"The two sisters decided that they could only face each other backwards"

2007-12-10T14:15:00.000-08:00

Princesses

this is the original photo

2007-12-07T14:56:00.000-08:00

Little Things for IF
Well he just had a bad day. Even the little things that usually made him happy could not cheer him up.

2007-12-03T22:59:00.000-08:00

Before & After
This week I was doodling with the halloween photos and I ended up with an illustration.
This is the original photo.

2007-11-27T19:32:00.000-08:00

Alphabet Pattern Series
I thought to make some letters with patterns so here are some of the ones I have been working on.

2007-11-13T21:02:00.000-08:00

Feast for the eyes
I always like to visit print&pattern blog because I see patterns and designs that I really like. This is one of them made by an Australian company called Urban Lily.

2007-11-09T10:09:00.000-08:00

SCALE for Illustration Friday
The musician could stop practising the scales.

2007-11-06T17:17:00.000-08:00

No time
Sorry for the lack of posting for the past few days but I have been very busy with the illustrations for my new book. It has been so much fun to work on it thought.

So, as it seems I won't have any time to post for this weeks topic for IF...

2007-11-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

Doodleland
There are so many interesting artists and websites these days. Have you seen the work of Flora at doodleland? I just love her illos and the color pallet that she uses. I specially like the illustrations on wood.

2007-10-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

TRICK OR TREAT! for IF
Happy Hallowenn everyone! Enjoy.

2007-10-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

GROW (IF)
Yesterday I was experimenting with ink instead of pencil and I came up with this illustration for IF. GROW boy GROW.

2007-10-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

"EXTREMES" for Illustration Friday (IF)
I though of extreme friendships for this week's topic.

2007-10-08T12:02:00.001-07:00

MOO mini cards
My moo mini cards arrived and I am really happy with the result. They are so tiny and fun! I still haven't decided what to do with them thought. Any suggestions?

2007-10-05T12:38:00.000-07:00

OPEN (your horizons) for Illustration Friday
This is based in an older illustration of mine, made with acrylic and gold leaf. Now it has being slightly digitally altered.

2007-10-03T08:41:00.001-07:00

Rough Cookie (Handmade Book by Mel Kadel)
These days I have been busy busy busy working on the illustrations for my book, but I could not resist posting about this handmade book Rough Cookie by Mel Kadel. The illustrations are beautiful. Limited edition of just 100 and the cover is silkscreened. The book by its cover website is a great place to discover little treasures like this one. You can find this book here.

2007-09-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

Lizzie Allen wallpaper design
I saw these wallpaper designs by Lizzie Allen at print+pattern blog. I found them absolutely stunning! Lizzie's work was showing at the royal festival hall shop and at 100% Design.

2007-09-24T12:57:00.000-07:00

JUGGLE for Illustration Friday