Abigail Halpin's Blog

So after 15 years (!) in this spot of the internet, I'm getting ready to make a couple changes. I'll be keeping the same domain and email, but I'm migrating over to a different host. And with that, there's lots I'm excited about. My portfolio and blog will get a shiny new makeover and things will be far more accessible and look a whole ton spiffier.
Also, I'll be selling illustrated goods in a new shop that'll be integrated into the site, which I'm really happy about. I started out selling on...

The latest issue of Taproot Magazine is out, including my cover illustration! There's some terrific articles in this issue and I'm itching to knit the included shawl pattern. Random asides, I have a braided rug like the one pictured (made by my grandmother), own a plaid winter jacket as shown (albeit grey), but have regrettably never lived anywhere with a fireplace (life goals). 
And here's a list of stores where you can find Taproot. Personally, I've bought mine in the past at FOLK...

 Happy Valentine's Day!
Here's a free Valentine printable:
:: Download Here ::
Free for personal, classroom and library use only, please. Abigail Halpin, © 2018

I've decided winter 2018 is going to be slow. I usually jump into the new year with guns blazing and a million ideas at hand. But this year I'm shifting gears. I decided January would be about completing old projects, finishing what I start and settling into a quieter, less frenetic time of year.
So in keeping with that, I've pulled out this quilt. I've been working on it since high school and this is the year it'll get done, fingers crossed. I'm only a few rows away from having it large enou...

Christmas was splendid and New Year's was lovely. I ate an inappropriate amount of cookies and wore pajamas until noon, so basically the holidays were a home run in my book. But it's back to work this week, although I did sneak in this sketch of Alice White as a warmup today. I burned through Granite Flats over the holidays and basically now all I want to draw are cold war spies and technicolor dresses.
I went back this week to look at previous year's posts, resolutions from the past. Some I m...

 Happy holidays! Below is a link to some gift tags I made, inspired by the Snow Maiden folktale.
:: Download Here ::
You'll need a PDF reader to open these. Before printing, I recommend adjusting your printer settings so that it's at its highest output quality (especially if you choose to run these on card stock). Feel free to print as many as you like for personal or educational use. Enjoy!
And a belated Happy Hanukkah, a very Merry Christmas and a season of peace and joy to you and yours!...

Something I picked back up this month, to work on during Open Studios. Speaking of which, the weekend turned out splendidly and it was wonderful to connect with so many delightful visitors. If you came out, many thanks!
An assortment of things:
* I finally have Sketches and Sundries available for purchase! It's been reformatted for paperback and can be found over here.
* I'm slowly adding prints, original artwork and what have you to my Etsy shop. I've just received a new batch of tea towel fabr...

So here's what's what about prints, tea towels, books and what have you:
* If you're local, I'll be participating in the Artists of Salmon Falls Fall Open Studios next weekend, November 18-19. I'll have prints, original artwork, tea towels (the above design), embroideries, books and an assortment of other goods. The mills open studios are a terrific event and if that's not enough of a come on, Rollinsford is also home to the splendid Black Bean Cafe and North Country Hard Cider, or you ca...

I'm excited to share Fort Building Time is out!
Written by Megan Wagner Lloyd and published by the nice folks at Knopf Books for Young Readers, the story was a delight to illustrate. And many thanks to editor Julia Maguire and Nicole Gastonguay, for top notch art direction!

And to celebrate, I'm giving away a copy of Fort Building Time. Here's the details:

1. Leave on a comment on this post any time between now and 11:59 PM EST November 7 to be entered.

2. Open to residents of the United Sta...

Thank you Blurb Books for sponsoring this post!
It's no secret that I love sketchbooks. A lot. And as someone who's been keeping a regular sketchbook since high school, I have stacks of the things around. A few months back, I decided to put together a book of my sketchbooks, to have handy in one volume a smattering of all those drawings. So when Blurb recently offered me a chance to create my own book through them, I immediately jumped at the opportunity to make the sketchbook idea a reality....