Adventures in illustration!

Zip-a-dee-do-dah!

2008-12-11T08:01:00.000-08:00

Zip-a-dee-ay! My oh my what a wonderful day! (This song has been stuck in my head all morning....read on to find out why.)

After a long blogging hiatus, I've returned! As usual, school was to blame for my absence. I was running on about 4 hours of sleep per day, and generally too busy for anything other than work, school, and freaking out. My very last class of the fall semester is tonight. My projects are completed and all that's left is to present them. Hallelujah! *Clicks heels together in the air*

Other good news today? I'm featured in an Etsy treasury! Check out my Snow Penguin print in the lower left hand corner. A big thank-you to AceQuimby for choosing my print for her treasury.

A little while back, I was also featured in a blog. Another big thank-you to Across The Pond. Her shop is lovely, by the way. You should definitely check it out. I'm totally in love with her Czech glass button cocktail ring...and also her antique clock hand earrings. I'll post pics later if I get permission from the seller.

Anyway, I have a lot of things to talk about so you can pretty much expect me back here. That is, until spring semester starts up again, anyway...

It's November 4

2008-11-04T05:10:00.000-08:00

What are you doing sitting around reading this blog? If you're not registered already, some states (including mine) let you register at the polls. Go vote!

(Then you can come back and read blogs. Lol)

Success!

2008-10-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

Imagine you're hearing the theme song to Rocky.

Do any of you remember the huge business card project I did for school last spring? How all of my homework from that semester disappeared along with my teacher? That included all 300 artist business cards I collected for my final project. Originally, he said all our work would be returned to the Continuing Ed office two weeks after our class was done. Four weeks after the semester finished up, I took a day off from work to commute into the city and pick everything up. Nothing was there. Concerned, I wrote to my teacher. He wasn't even in town but promised he'd deliver it soon after he returned. Then I never heard from him again. And the work never appeared in the school office.

Fast forward to this semester. Apparently, several of my fellow students were also concerned about the disappearance of their entire semester's worth of work. One of my classmates even exchanged e-mails with the head of the Continuing Ed department about it. Still no word.

This weekend, I attended the Fort Point Open Studios. I know my teacher is involved in that, so I tried to track him down at the show. No luck.

That is...until last night. A different classmate informed me that all our work was now waiting for us in the continuing ed office. He had picked his up two weeks ago! Two of us (myself and the girl who had written to the Continuing Ed department head) raced down before class began last night and made an inquiry at the front desk. The woman was really nice and showed us to a back storage room. There was the entire semester's worth of work for our entire class neatly packaged! We enthusiastically began scooping everything up (including the projects of fellow students who were upstairs) while cheering "Woo-hoo!". This caused the continuing ed lady to exclaim, "I feel like Santa Claus!" I laughed and said, "I feel like you're Santa Claus, too!"

My Rolodex with all those beautiful artist business cards is now back in my hands. I plan on posting those long-ago promised pictures of it this weekend. Yeay!!!

Logos...

2008-10-21T08:04:00.001-07:00

...are really, really hard to do well. We're currently in the middle of a branding project for one of my classes. I've been working on a logo design due Thursday and...Oh. My. God. So many decisions to make! Logos may look deceptively simple, but I can't think of anything more difficult to accomplish than the appearance of simplicity. Wish me luck!

My life in a hamster wheel

2008-10-20T09:51:00.000-07:00

Ever feel like this? I do.

This weekend, I took a much needed break to attend the Fort Point Open Studios. Fort Point is a community of live-in studio spaces for artists. My friend Jen was one of the artists who opened their home/studio up for people to view and purchase her work. My husband and I couldn't stay very long (he had to work later that afternoon), but it was nice to stroll around and see what other artists are working on. Plus, I bought this awesome print from Jen. I love her work.

It made me really miss illustration life and creating my own paintings (in fact, I have 3 mail art pieces that have been sitting in my studio for over a week, waiting to be finished up and mailed out. Sorry MAA. I'll get on it, I promise!). School has absorbed every ounce of free time I have. In fact, spending that single day on something other than homework threw my entire weekend into turmoil. Now, I'm really far behind on the huge list of things I need to get done for classes Wed/Thurs. I somehow have to find time to do all of them in the little time I have after work. This is why having a life is absolutely not an option while I'm in school. I should've known I'd pay dearly for a second of down-time.

To compound my troubles, I have officially upgraded my old PC with clunky 100 year old design programs to a new Mac with new programs. Sounds fantastic, right? Not so much. My new Mac can't read any of the homework I previously created on my PC. That typography project I've been working on for the past 3 weeks? Yeah. I had to re-do that last night. And...come to find out, my scanner is not compatible with my new Mac. The scanner company has zero drives available for it. I have to get a new scanner. Of course, I find this out by trying to use my scanner for homework. I can always order a new one, but in the meantime what the heck am I supposed to do this week? Looks like I'll either have to head over to my mother's house or try to sneak a scan at work.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Mac. It's a beautiful piece of equipment. I just wish I'd been able to afford it this summer when I could've a) had time to figure out how to work the thing b) had time to update my scanner and other equipment and c) had not started massive projects on my PC then had to switch over. I could continue to complain about how busy/miserable I am, but I think I should wrap it up now.

Hedgehog Update:

I got so many wonderful caring e-mails on my last post regarding our beloved hedgehog's terminal cancer...so I thought I should keep all of you updated on his health. Baxter has been accepting his pain medicine. Or...he did for the first couple days. The vet flavored it with honey and he was really enthusiastic about lapping it up (he even tried biting the dropper!). This Saturday was a different story. He wouldn't take any of it. His swollen foot is still awkwardly rolling under him, and he just seemed like he couldn't get comfortable on my lap. He kept poking his head out of his little sleeping bag and looking at me confusedly, then going back in to sniff and circle around like a dog trying to find a good spot to lie down. Poor baby. I think this week, we'll switch over to his winter fleece-lined sleeping bag since it's been getting cold here already. Maybe I'll buy more crickets, drip the medicine on them, and see if Baxter will accept it that way.

Hedgie Hospice

2008-10-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

We found out from our vet tonight that our beloved 3 year old hedgehog, Baxter McPrickles has bone cancer. I saw the x-rays and it was devastating. The doc gave us the animal equivalent of ibuprofen for him and sent him on home with us. There's nothing we can do about it except keep an eye on him and make sure he's comfortable.

He's been his usual hedgie self - running in his wheel and eating like a pig. The only things that tipped us off were some skin issues...and last night we noticed his left front leg was very swollen and he was limping. I was hoping it was nothing more than a minor injury and that we could put some sort of tiny cast on him for a while (maybe give him a teeny crutch? Haha). Come to find out, that's where the cancer is.

As much as I tried to keep a stiff upper lip in the vet's office, I have to admit I wasn't successful. My heart is broken.

Since Baxter is Honeydew Studio's mascot, I thought I should let you guys know. Keep my little friend in your thoughts. This is going to be rough going for a while.

Mail Artists Association

2008-10-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

The Mail Artists Association is getting along swimmingly! We even have new mail art posted on our brand-new Flickr group. Here are some pieces that I've sent out recently. You might recognize a few of the images. I've been using my 21 Day Challenge doodles to spin off into tiny paintings. See, that challenge was good for something! (Don't worry, I'm only posting artwork that has already reached its destination. I won't ruin the surprise!) This one went to sparklerama:

This one went to AlwaysAmy:

This one went to LaMiaDesigns:

In return, sparklerama sent me this:

I thought it was rather ingenious that she sent me mail art in a cd case. She just put the mailing label on the inside, taped it shut and away it went! Inside the cd case were to little envelopes full of goodies (also pictured above). The next thing I received was this lovely fabric brooch from LaMiaDesigns:
Little did she know that one of my favorite fall outfits involves a t-shirt and jeans with a blazer over the top. I usually pin a fun brooch to the lapel of the blazer. What fun! (And perfect timing!)

And last but not least was this adorable fairy bookmark from Tamarasherbes. Now I don't have to dog-ear my Typography text book!

I'm working on three new pieces to send out this week. I wish I had more time to work on this group than I do. (Too bad I have to work full-time and am attending night classes...darn homework. Haha!) I have so many ideas. Including how I can recruit a few new members. And I still have to create an avatar for our group. Anyway, I hope everyone is having fun. And if you're not yet involved in the group (but want to be) just send me an e-mail at honeydewstudio@gmail.com

As soon as we have enough newbies, I'll send out an updated member address list to our group.

Soooo....sleepy...

2008-10-09T10:41:00.001-07:00

Yaaaawn!!!

This is how I feel today. My class ran over last night. This means that (with the commute) by the time I got home, it was 11:30 at night. AaaaAaand...I still had some final bits of homework to complete and print up for tonight's class. Which means I got a grand total of about 4-5 hours of sleep last night. I got about the same amount on Tuesday night. I am exhausted. This working/school thing is going to be the end of me. The only way I even survive the drive home is by singing REALLY loudly in my car to my iPod and having a snack.

On a happier note, a couple envelopes were waiting for me when I got home yesterday. One an Etsy order I've been waiting for, and the other was a mail art piece (SO adorable - I'll make sure to post it soon). That kind of mail really does make everything better. It's the best, it really is.

I'm so glad I started up the Mail Artists group. I already have some new ideas for it. Someone suggested a blog link exchange -- which would be good. I was also thinking that after a while, we could come up with "themes" every month for our mail exchanges. Let me know if you have any other creative ideas!

That's all for now. I think I'm off to heat up my leftover coffee from this morning. Hey - desperate times call for desperate measures!

Quick Blog

2008-10-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

Illustration from "David Goes to School" by David Shannon

Just wanted to write a quick blog since I haven't been writing very regularly as of late. Most of you already know this but for any new readers -- I have a full-time job and am working towards an additional degree in graphic design. I attend evening classes two nights a week which are an hour commute away from my house (sometimes it takes as long as 1.5 - 2 hours with traffic).

I feel like I've been struggling through classes so far this year. I try really hard not to vent my complaints on here, but I am really frustrated right now with school. So, if I drop off for a while just know I'm tackling my homework...or my brain hurts. Lol.

In more positive news, the Mail Artists group I put together is up and running! Everyone received their little letter packet and is gearing up to start mailing mini art pieces to other members. This weekend I sent two pieces out, myself. If you'd like to spy on what we're up to, you can take a peek at our Flickr group. We just barely started mailing each other, so there's not a lot of work posted yet. Stay tuned!

Music and jewelry

2008-10-06T06:28:00.000-07:00

I've talked about musician Ryan Love, in the past. This year he released a self-produced record, Life in Orbit (which is available both on his website and through iTunes). For full disclosure, he does happen to be my best friend. But honestly, I wouldn't promote him on my blog just for that reason. I'm writing about him for the same reason I've posted about fellow artists, illustrators, or Etsy sellers here before -- he's talented.

That said, I have new Ryan news that I thought was worthy of a blog-mention.

This week, he came up with an idea which I find really creative and interesting. Instead of selling the usual band t-shirts and buttons to help promote his album, he'll be releasing a jewelry line for both men and women. Each piece will be created by Ryan and will thematically match one song on the album.

He's a creative jack-of-all trades and his jewelry designs are lovely. Of course, I can speak from personal experience, since he blew me away this past week by presenting me with 3 pieces of hand-made jewelry of his own design for my birthday. I would describe the set (it was a necklace with matching earrings and bracelet) but I think it's better detailed in Ryan's own words:

"It features champagne Swarovski crystals with freshwater pearls hanging on an adjustable (and interchangeable), chocolate-satin ribbon with matching earrings and a bracelet running on a trio of silver chains."

The strands if pearls themselves run from your typical white pearl to a cafe-au-lait color. Gorgeous! This set coordinates with the 8th song on his album "I Do". His jewelry line will be released in 2009, so sign up for his mailing list to stay posted. Keep an eye out for it...I'm trying to get him to sell the line on Etsy!!! (o:

This Past Weekend...

2008-09-30T06:38:00.001-07:00

...was my birthday weekend! It was one of those landmark b-days too. *Gulp!*

*Not my actual birthday cake.

I took Friday off of work to relax, but wound up running a crazy amount of errands instead. This included taking my hedgehog to the vet, picking up packages at FedEx, and paying a visit to the post office (to name a few).

To all my Mail Artists out there - I sent out letters to everyone interested in participating and included the addresses of everyone in our group. You should be getting them over the course of this week. If you don't get anything by next week, just send me an e-mail at honeydewstudio@gmail.com

I also sold 2 items from my Etsy shop on my birthday! Woo-hoo! Goodbye Cabbee and Tap Dancing Squirrel. Enjoy your new homes!

I had to hit the post office to mail those out. Does anyone else have weird postal workers in their area? Nice. The guy who was shipping out my packages caught sight of my Honeydew Studio logo on the label and started chanting "Honeydew honeydew honeydew!" ...for the entire time I was standing there. I was like, "Er...that's right." and he kept going so I said, "If you keep that up, I'll turn back into a pumpkin." As I turned my back to walk out, I heard, "Honeydew honeydew honeydew!" Honestly, where does the post office find these people? At least he was cheery, I suppose.

I really want to make more items for the Christmas season. With school, I don't know if I'll have time to actually create anything or not but it's a hope. What should I start with? More bee ornaments for the holidays? More original illustrations? I don't know. What do you want to see?

I spoke too soon!

2008-09-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

Wow. Just. Wow.

I posted that previous blog WAY too soon! I guess the folks who are on the Etsy forums in the evening are way more enthusiastic than the daytime forum people. My Etsy convo mail box as well as my gmail account has been bombarded. They are now full of e-mails from people wanting to participate in mail art! We gave quite the list of participants now!

I am so excited. I expect to be sending out a list of addresses to everyone who e-mailed me no later than Friday. So if you want to be a part of this, make sure you send me an e-mail or a convo before September 26!!! Then the fun part can begin. (o:

If there are any stragglers out there who are still interested in sending/receiving mail art, and would like to be added to my address list, please feel free to e-mail me at: honeydewstudio@gmail.com

Still going...

2008-09-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

I'm back from NY and exhausted. I've got a pile of homework that I clearly haven't been working on all weekend and it was back to work today after arriving home last night. Ugh. (But I had fun!)

I'm still collecting addresses from people who want to participate in mail art. Ideally, I'd like at least a dozen names on the list before I send it out to everyone. LOTS of people seem interested, but only about half of those people have contacted me to participate.

Why?

Lord knows this is the antithesis to junk mail. It's a total artist-to-artist correspondance. It only costs 42 cents to mail an envelope. Don't you want tiny fun art to arrive in your mailbox? Or is it more that you're worried you won't have any time to make some yourself and send it out?

I totally understand that. Though I was able to mail one piece out rather quickly, I've been SWAMPED with school work and have been struggling to finish up another piece. Maybe if I get into doing them regularly, it will become second nature.

Or maybe I've tapped out my resources. I've been posting on Etsy about it, but my thread gets buried in 4 seconds. I've posted on here about it, but I'm pretty sure I only have about 20 readers (oh but how I love you guys who actually visit me!) I even posted on MySpace. But that can be such a black hole.

Any suggestions where else to turn for people who might be interested? Should I resort to a "Tell your friends! Tell your grandma!" type of outreach? Haha!

TGIF!

2008-09-19T06:53:00.000-07:00

I'm heading out of state for the weekend to see friends who I haven't seen in ages. I'm hoping that when I come back, I'll find that a bunch of people are really interested in exchanging mail art and have subsequently e-mailed me with their addresses. (Please? Pretty please? It's fun, I promise!)
I'm aiming for at least a dozen people on this list to start off with. I'm almost halfway there! Help me out by participating!!!

In other news, Etsy was on CNN today. Woohoo! Click on the link below th read:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/09/18/craft.revival/index.html

Snail mail, anyone?

2008-09-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking about creating a mail art list for artists and craftspeople to connect and have a fun correspondence with each other. After getting feedback from my other blog posts, and having discussions with fellow artists and Etsians, there seems to be some genuine interest in participating in something like that. Everyone loves mail, right? Especially when it's not a bill!

However, with me being in school, commuting, plus working full time -- I certainly don't have the time required to run or coordinate anything, let alone a group!

Instead, I was thinking that what I could do was collect addresses from interested parties, compile them in a big list, and send them out to everyone. That way people could choose random names off the list of people, and start mailing little fun postcards, collages, doodles, tiny paintings (or whatever) to fellow artists all over.

If you aren't sure what mail art is, please click on this link. The options for what you send are wide open since the definition of art is pretty broad. The only rule that I absolutely want to stick to is that if you receive something, you should definitely send a little piece of art back to that person in return. Participate! Really, it's only fair. You can't just sit back and get cool art in the mail without sending any in return.

What do you think? Does anyone want to participate? Maybe I should put a deadline on submitting your address so the group doesn't get out-of-control huge. What do you think? Does that sound good? I'm completely open to any suggestions. I've never tried to put together anything like this before.

If you're interested (or have any suggestions) please e-mail me at honeydewstudio@gmail.com or you can just write me with your snail-mail address. Let's see where this goes!

A blog about not blogging

2008-09-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

My brain is mush right now, which is why I'm posting so much later in the day than usual. I try really hard to avoid complaining and negativity on this blog, but since this rant is sort of art and design related....

I have my evening classes tonight and tomorrow, and am not feeling so confident in the homework projects I'm about to present. Worse yet, I don't feel like I've been getting any helpful feedback or direction so far in my classes. I'm pretty disappointed. Which might have led to the aforementioned lack of confidence.

Maybe the upcoming weeks will prove me wrong - maybe it'll be great,...maybe I'll get a lot out of it. But I'm feeling like this is going to be a lOOoooOoong semester.

Last night, I had to wrestle with giant printing fiasco (why does 11x17 seem like a reasonable presentation size to teachers??? I do not live anywhere near my school, so I can't "pop into" the computer lab.) I've tried copy stores, and that is a hot mess and a waste of money. The only other people I know who can print that large are my parents. My dad is a self-taught photographer and has a great big printer for his photos. So, last night I was up with my poor mother at my parents' house until 12:30-12:45 trying to figure out why red on the computer screen was printing up as brown on the printer. Sigh.

Eventually, my mother figured it out. Everything is all set now...except my mood. Wish me luck tonight. I'll need it (that, and a bucket of coffee!).

You Know You're an Icon When...

2008-09-16T05:06:00.000-07:00

For one of my homework assignments this week, I decided to make the point that the Mona Lisa long ago surpassed being a mere portrait. I did this, in part, by stenciling the word "recycle" over the image. It has passed into history as an artistic icon. I'd also say it is officially in the realm of symbol and metaphor...that people all over the world use time and time again. You know how to tell if your work has reached this level?

You know your painting is more than a painting when....

Lego's has built a representation of it,

Miss Piggy...

Lisa Simpson ...

The Far Side cartoons ...

Kim Possible ...

and Madame Tussuad's have all imitated it. And that's not even the tip of the iceberg! I used probably about 100 images of interpretations, parodies, recreations, and reinventions of the Mona Lisa for my project. And there's so many more out there. It's infinite.

I have my BFA in illustration and have quite a few years of art history under my belt. I know all the Mona Lisa history and even some of her "secrets", and I'm still not really sure why it is so popular.

I studied for a winter in France. I went to the Louvre. There were other paintings by Da Vinci that I found much more interesting hanging right outside the door to the gallery that the Mona Lisa was in. Yet, the crowd was so thick around this small portrait that you could barely get through. I might get some backlash for this, but....though it was nice to see it in person, I wasn't super impressed. I wanted to go look at Da Vinci's ginormous painting of Saint Anne, Mary, and Jesus outside in the long gallery:

Gorgeous, right? And no one was standing in front of it except me with my sketchbook. Sigh. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the Mona Lisa. It's just that people miss out on a lot of fabulous work when they narrow their view on art history down to a couple paintings. What are your favorite (non-iconic) paintings?

Banksy and Other Anonymous Art

2008-09-13T05:48:00.000-07:00

Whenever my husband and I travel overseas, we love taking pictures not only of the local markets and scenic bits, but of the local graffiti and ads on the street. This summer, we were in London. We were strolling around, taking a shortcut to Speaker's Corner when I spotted this piece of graffiti next to a CCTV camera:

I just thought that was brilliant. A little piece of guerrilla art can easily make my day. I halted the whole family so that I could take a picture.

Fast forward to my graphic design class last week. We had this assignment where we had to pick one word from a list, and set it with a picture so that it gave you another message than either the word or the picture could do alone. As our teacher said "1+1=3". Anyway, long story short, one of my pieces involved my word stenciled graffiti-like onto the page. The comment was made by a couple classmates that it reminded them of Banksy. I scribbled the name in my notebook to look up when I got home.

As it turns out, I'm already very familiar with his work...I am just horrible with remembering names. In fact, the aformentioned graffiti I saw in London this summer was actually a piece by Banksy. (This part I didn't know.) The pieces that I did recognize were these:

As I searched online, I continued to find more photos of Banksy pieces. I'm totally in love:

This blog could easily become the length of a thesis if I started to talk about guerrilla artists or anonymous public art. I recommend that you check out the Banksy links I posted above. There's also loads of stuff online to look at if the topic in general interests you . I don't know about you, but it inspires me.

Even a small piece of guerrilla art is still something. For example, the same night someone mentioned Banksy to me in class - I found a small anonymous typewritten note taped to the inside of a stall in the women's room at my college. It said, "What was the last thing that made you cry laughing?" Simple, but I found myself actually wondering about that. It took me out of my life for a second.

Another favorite public art project of mine is The Lemon Project - invented by Heather, a fellow Etsy seller. You can read all about on her blog. Make sure you read parts 1-3. It still makes me smile. Thoughts?

That's Disheartening

2008-09-12T06:55:00.000-07:00

Some of you have heard some of this story already, so I apologize in advance.

In July of 2007, I was taped for an episode of HGTV's That's Clever. (National exposure for my work = very exciting, non?) I was told to e-mail them in the spring of 2008 for an air date. I did...and was provided with an episode number, but no date. I was told to contact them again in the fall.

This month, I wrote once again to the woman with whom I'd been conversing...and the e-mail bounced back to me! I've since been combing the internet trying to find out what's going on. Is the show canceled? There's absolutely no sign of it on HGTV's daily show schedule, though it's still on the website as an "active" show.

Today I had a tiny breakthrough when I found this blog by a fellow That's Clever participant*.

There's a little something you should know...I was taped for the 500 series. The 400 series is set to air in January of '09??? Assuming they'll even air the 500 series, that means I can probably expect my episode to air sometime in 2010? Oh. My. God. That's three years after the taping. Who knows if I'll even be doing the same type of projects by then? I guess exposure 3 years late is better than none at all. I really hope the show doesn't get canceled before my episode airs. I have to admit, I'm a little bummed.

*Thanks so much to Jama for posting the above linked blog, and also for answering my question so fast!

Mail Art

2008-09-11T07:02:00.000-07:00

The image above is one of Ray Johnson's mail art pieces.

For the past year, I've been interested in ATCs (artist trading cards). I even spoke with a fellow Etsian who referred me to the ATC group that she participates in. The problem is that with school, I don't have too much time to create and trade mini works of art, as much as I'd love to.

As I mentioned a couple blogs ago, I recently saw the documentary How To Draw a Bunny which reignited my interest in mail art. Though at the time I didn't know it had a name, I used to do this my friends. I don't think I could keep up with ATCs right now, but I do think I might be able to send out the occasional mail art piece.

Much to my delight, I found a thread on the Etsy forums posted by sparklerama who had also recently seen (and been inspired by) How to Draw a Bunny. We're making plans to send each other some mail art. I'm pretty excited about the prospect.

I'm wondering if anyone out there is involved in an organized mail art group? I've been able to find ATC groups, but just started wondering about mail art. If not, I wonder if it would be possible to get some sort of mail art group together. How would that work? Would you have to send a piece to each person in the group all at once? Or do we all take turns sending one piece to a different person each time? If anyone can enlighten me, I'd be interested to hear it. (o:

Recycled Couture

2008-09-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

I was searching the internet this weekend -- looking for images I could use in a homework assignment when I ran across these photos (above and below). As usual, I'm a bit behind the times as these creations made their debut last year - but I figured they were still worth posting.

These gowns are all made out of recycled material. The colorful dress above is created from cans and (I think) boxes. The first dress below is newspaper. The final dress is recycled jeans...which makes sense since all of these gowns were designed by Gary Harvey, who was formerly the Creative Director for Levi's.

My best friend from college and former roommate does work like this. I thought she was the only nut making ballgowns from candy wrappers. That is, until I saw these! I'll have to post some pictures of the dresses she made on another post.

In the meantime, to see more recycled couture, click here.

Featured again!

2008-09-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

I was notified yesterday that my little panda illustration made it to a treasury created by Lancerika. Click here to check it out!!!

Year 2, Semester 1, Day 1

2008-09-05T05:59:00.000-07:00

I had my first class of the fall semester last night. It's Graphic Design 1. So far, so good.

For some reason, I'm not as afraid of a graphic design class as I was of typography last semester. Maybe it's because my teacher for this class is exactly my age. He graduated from Mass Art the same year I graduated from RISD...which is a little weird. But since I clearly haven't made a name for myself in my own field after all these years, maybe he can help me break into his. /o:

In any case, he seemed to be speaking about design on a level I can understand. It seems like all of the principles I learned from being an illustration major can be applied in a different format to graphic design. Good design is good design, right? I'm still nervous about Intermediate Typeography next week. Something about type still makes me vaguely nervous. Guess I'm going to have to get over that, huh?

In a little aside - we all had to get new IDs last night since the college changed its logo and ID format. I got a new photo too since the last one was wretched. I have to say, the new one isn't much better. I'm pretty sure that even supermodels look like crap in their school IDs and licences, but is it really necessary for me to look like Popeye in mine?

Hahaha! Oh well. Happy Friday, everyone!

How to Draw A Bunny

2008-09-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

My best friend lives on the opposite side of the country, but was home for a visit almost the entire month of August. For some reason we did a lot of Olympics-watching together, and filled in the gaps between events with movies he rented from Netflix.

One of these was the documentary How To Draw A Bunny. It's about the life of artist Ray Johnson. We might be a little behind the times since the documentary was released in 2002 and we're just getting around to watching it now. So, if this film is old news to you - you can just skip this entire blog. (Or at least scroll down to the end!)

Ray Johnson was a collage artist in the Pop Art movement. He hung around with the likes of Warhol, Christo, Chuck Close, etc. I won't get into details of his life since you really should see the documentary for yourself. But I will say my favorite thing about him is that he was the founding father of Mail Art - which I think is just brilliant.

When I first got to college, my best friends and I (the above mentioned pal included) would send each other the most crazy items of snail mail. I once opened a envelope and what looked like nearly 4 ounces of glitter poured out onto my floor. I received letters that had been cut up into puzzle pieces that I had to put back together in order to read. In return, I would rip funny fliers down from posts around town, photocopy photos and draw on them, or illustrate comic strips about my day and mail them off.

Of course, we were no Ray Johnson...

The documentary made me simultaneously sad and inspired. Sad because I feel like I don't have time to work on my own creative projects anymore. Not even the small ones like sending your friend a collage through the mail. In fact, e-mail has taken over any fun correspondence at all. I was inspired because Ray Johnson lived his art. It seemed like everything he did had an artistic purpose...even his death. The Mail Art thing was just one amazing piece of it.

After my best friend went back home to the West Coast, I started putting a fun little envelope together for him. I hope I can get it into the mail soon. I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with it...especially once school starts up again tomorrow, but it's certainly worth a shot. Kind of like the 21 Day Challenge I did this summer.

If you're looking for a little inspiration, I would recommend this documentary. But be forewarned - there's a lot of very brief jazz drumming interludes between interviews with artists. For no good reason. It's fun and artsy for about 25 minutes. After that, I was ready to poke out my own eyes. If you enjoy incessant jazz drumming, you'll love it! (o:

Anyway, I'm looking for recommendations for other inspirational artsy documentaries. (Just so you know, I've already seen Helvetica). (o;

Labor Day Blues

2008-08-29T06:07:00.000-07:00

Labor Day weekend.

Having a 3 days off is normally a great thing, but this year's Labor Day weekend sort of filled me with dread. For me (and many other people, I'm sure) this weekend was the demarcation line between summer and the start of the school year.

I work in the office at a school. Technically I've been "back" to work at my normal job for the last two weeks (admin staff has to be back two weeks before the teachers return). Teachers come back this week and start meeting with parents and kids. That means my office will be thrown into utter noise and chaos all over again. And for me, this also means that the evening classes that I've been taking to work towards my graphic design degree also start again this week.

Gulp.

I'll be working full time plus taking two classes (and starting the long commute to school again). I took one class during spring semester, but I took two last fall semester and haven't forgotten what it was like. I had no life to speak of at all and the stress levels were enormous. Be prepared to hear about it a lot on this blog, since it consumes my life once I'm in the middle of it.

Speaking of school - my teacher from last semester never returned our projects this summer...in spite of me showing up in person to the school and then e-mailing him. Can you believe it??? I had something like 300-plus artist business cards that I collected for my final project and several other good pieces. I hope I run into him in the halls this semester. )o:<

Anyway, I have two days before the hammer falls and I start classes again. My goal is to be entirely organized by then. Since I started earlier this summer, I'm already well on my way there. I even accomplished my goal of painting the living room and dining room this weekend. Woo-hoo!

Anyone else have a crazy year that's about to start up post-Labor Day?

Children's books from around the world

2008-08-28T04:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, so maybe not around the whole world. Let's say...maybe...two countries.

I love children's books. I mean, it's obvious, right? I'm a member of The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and I'm sure you've all seen my work by now. If not, just look to the right and click on my Etsy shop there.

Anyway, the only things keeping me from buying a ridiculous pile of illustrated children's books and dragging them home are 1) I have no room. I already have bookshelves stuffed with my "grown-up" literature and 2) I have no kids. I suppose #2 doesn't matter that much, but it's nice to have an excuse to be lurking in the children's book section. Just wait until my niece or nephew is born in the spring. With an aunt like me, that kid better like to read!

I've visited about 8 European countries now. I love buying books and music from places I visit. But up until this past trip, it never occurred to me to buy children's literature while I was traveling. I found it difficult to forget about children's books in England however, especially when there's Paddington Bear memorabilia everywhere you go. I saw some stuffed Paddington bears at the Tower of London. Seriously. Beheading, the Crowned Jewels, and Paddington Bear.

I know you can buy Paddington books in the States, but I caved and bought one in London (probably for twice the price). How could I resist clutching a newly-purchased Paddington bear book under my arm - especially when I'd just been standing in Paddington Station?
The next book I bought was in Norway. Luckily for me, they had an edition printed in English (that's what the British flag in the corner of the book means). I probably would've bought a copy even if it was in Norwegian.
Norway (and most of Scandinavia, actually) loves their trolls. And really, fairy tales felt intrinsic to the Norwegian landscape. There were all these evergreen trees and little mustard-colored houses springing up on rocky shores. I believed there just might be trolls in the mountains. Or a witch in the woods who lived in a house made of gingerbread and candy.

I'm now wondering what great little children's books I missed in Italy, France, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, etc...

Anyone else hoard children's books? What are your favorites?

The Museum of Bad Art

2008-08-27T06:15:00.000-07:00

I spend a lot of time on here talking about really wonderful artists, illustrators, and craftspeople. Sometimes, to better define a thing, you must take a look at its opposite. And by this, I mean bad art. Ahem. Take, for example:

Acrylic on canvas by Sarah Irani, 1995
24"x30"
Donated by the artist

"The flesh tones bring to mind the top shelf liqueurs of a border bistro. With an astonishing emphasis on facial bone structure, the artist flirts with caricature and captures features of Mamma's face which remind us of a Presidential candidate. The upright marionettish pose of the babe hints that the early bond between mother and child is as formal as it is familiar. Good old fashioned parental respect is at the center of this celebration of color and contour." -MOBA

Both the painting and the review above are from The Museum of Bad Art.

Yes. Oh yes, The Museum of Bad Art (otherwise known as MOBA) is a real place. It's located in the basement of the Dedham Community Theater in Dedham, MA. I've been dying to go for years, but still haven't made the trip. If you live nowhere near MA, you can visit them online. There are samples of the collection, information about the museum, and even an online shop. You can even buy their Museum of Bad Art coffee table book which (you better believe) is going on my Christmas list this year.

Often times, what is "good art" can be totally subjective. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and all of that. You might ask - by those standards, how can one can even define bad art? I have a handy tool for you. The Museum of Bad Art's submission guidelines are a good start. They read as follows:

All submitted work must be original works of art (no reproductions). The pieces that we look for would never hang in a museum or commercial gallery, yet they have some quality that draws you to them -- or perhaps grabs you by the throat and won't let go. As a rule we do not accept:

•Works painted on velvet
•Paint-by-number
•Any of the well known kitschy motifs (dogs playing cards, big eyed kids and all that) unless they break new ground in a startling way.

Much of the works in the museum have been found on the side of the road next to trash bins, discovered in flea markets, inherited with a house, or donated directly by the proud bad artists themselves. The museum reviews and "critiques" each work almost like a classical museum would. The only difference being the outcome is hilarious.

If you get offended at people poking fun at well-intentioned (albeit completely unskilled) art, I suggest you don't visit the site. However, for those a bit more lighthearted, go take a peek. You wind up kind of loving each painting for it's badness. I know it always gives me a smile. Enjoy!

Hi, my name is Honeydew...

2008-08-26T06:10:00.000-07:00

...and I'm an Etsy addict.

It's no secret that I tend to buy more things from Etsy than I sell. It feels like the ratio is 10:1 most of the time, and that especially goes for this month! I've been on a handmade-item shopping spree, no doubt. Most of it is valid (I had a baby shower gifts to buy! etc) But some of it was simply my own "must-haves". I figured I share my purchases with you today.

My slew of recent Etsy purchases started off innocently enough. My sister and brother-in-law are already planning out their giant Halloween bash. Halloween is my most favorite holiday. There's no pressure to buy anyone gifts, you get to dress up funny, and there's excessive amounts of candy involved. Really, what's there not to love? Their party theme this year is "'80s Prom". Since you can never be too prepared, I've already found (and nabbed) my ensemble - all thanks to Etsy Vintage. Take a look at this purple dress from Iron Horse Vintage and tell me it doesn't take you back to the days of big hair and Pretty In Pink:
I am going to rock that dress. Eat your heart out, Molly Ringwald. If anyone has a suggestion for '80s outfits for my husband, please send me a link or leave me a comment! As a funny aside - I actually saw this exact dress in an '80s flashback moment during the movie Bam Bam and Celeste. I had just received the dress in the mail, and it was sitting on the couch next to me during the movie. Freaky!

Moving on...

The next Etsy purchase was entirely necessary. I had a baby shower to attend this past Saturday. I'm friends with both the mommy and daddy-to-be. They have decided not to find out what the sex of the baby is until the day Baby M actually arrives in this world. This lead me on a quest for unisex onesies. Daddy-to-be is the lead singer in a local cover band...how perfect is this little onesie from Fun 2 Wear 2 ? Entirely appropriate and way too cute:

I also found this onesie in Fun 2 Wear 2's shop. It cracked me up, so of course I had to buy it too:This month I've been on a mission to have my house absolutely perfect before I start night classes again on September 4. I don't want the stress of working full time, homework, school, and my commute to be added to the stress of an unorganized, unfinished home. This has meant fixing things we've been putting off fixing, patching things that need patching, painting things that need painting, and generally a whole lotta extreme cleaning. (I got down with a toothbrush to clean, folks. I honestly did.) Anyway, one of the things I'm doing is painting and decorating my living room. We had plans to do this when we moved in three years ago. It just never happened. I was browsing through Etsy for decor items I could add to the soon-to-be-newly-painted walls when I came across this gorgeousness from Copper Leaf Studios:

They are even more lovely in person, let me tell you! I can't wait to hang them. I just need to get the walls finished first.

And last but not least, there's the much-needed purchases I made for Baxter McPrickles, my hedgehog. It was Baxter's birthday this month on the 20th. He turned 3 years old. The poor little guy has not been having an easy time, however. Even though we are very attentive hedgie parents, he somehow managed to get his first (and hopefully only) case of mites. I suspect it may have been from when we left on vacation, and he stayed with a friend who has two little dogs. Either that or they came in from outside since we sometimes leave the door open near his cage when it's warm. In any case, his skin is flaking off and (much to my absolute horror) his quills have been falling out. He has an appointment with the vet today, which I'm sure he won't be happy about. I'm going to toss out many of the items from his cage, including the felt blanket he likes to sleep underneath. Instead, I bought him two new sleeping bags from ellencho. He won't get to use them until he is all medicated and healing, but they've arrived and are waiting for him. Here's the winter sleeping bag:

And here's the summer one. (I picked the pattern purely because I knew my husband would love it, and it would get a laugh.)

Ellen is the only person I've been able to find who makes these. Our breeder gave us a critter sleeping bag when she sent baby Baxter home with us, but that one has been loved to bits. I was so happy to find Ellen's shop on Etsy. There's nothing a hedgehog loves more than snuggling under cozy layers in his house. Happy birthday, Baxter!

Hopefully that'll be the end of my crazy Etsy shopping for a while...at least until Christmas! (o;

Sketches: Denmark

2008-07-25T04:50:00.000-07:00

Hi.

Remember me?

I know I've fallen off the face of this blog, but I have really good reasons, I swear! Since I got back home from my adventures in Europe, I've been working two jobs all summer. Then, my best friend came home from across the country and is visiting all month. In addition to that, everyone I know suddenly decided to get married and/or produce a baby. This has left me with exactly zero free personal time. My weekends are booked with things that end in "shower" (baby or bridal, take your pick) in addition to the weddings. The hubby and I have also been trying to fix up the house before I start my evening classes again on September 4th. (That alone is kind of making me freak out.) The cherry on the top? I sprained my ankle last week.

Now that I have my excuses and stories out of the way, I'm just going to finish posting the sketches I promised to post a month ago. Sorry.

This will (mostly) conclude the sketches from my travel sketchbook. All of the following were created while touring Hamlet's Castle, Elsinore, in Denmark: This was a sketch of a recreation of the Queen's wedding gown. She was only 14 or so when she got married.

Don't worry, my sister took a photo of the above painting without flash. Though, I'm afraid I can't say the same for some of the other tourists.

I have a few more sketches to post, but this blog has been waiting long enough. I'll get through the rest of my stories and sketches in forthcoming posts.

So...how've you been? (o;

Sketches: The Netherlands and Norway

2008-07-24T04:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the irregular blogging. Aside from having to juggle two different summer jobs the second I returned, I also seem to have come down with a nasty cold. Ugh. In any case, that's not going to stop me from sharing a few more sketches with you from my travels.This sketch is all I had time for in Amsterdam at the Van Gough Museum. It's a detail from his Emperor Moth painting.

This is a view off the balcony of our cruise ship as we were about to dock in Norway. Below is a photograph:An ancient carving from the Viking museum (my sketch and then the photo):

That's it for this morning. Tomorrow I'll post images from Denmark. In the meantime, have a happy Thursday! (o:

Sketches from England

2008-07-22T04:26:00.000-07:00

I figured I'd spend this week sharing a bit of the sketch book I kept while traveling. I'll post a little each day. Today's doodles are from the England portion of my vacation.

We spent a little time at London's National Gallery, and I managed to do a few quick sketches. Keep in mind, they're nothing much. We didn't spend a lot of time in the museum, so I had to work fast! A few of them are no more than gesture drawings. That said, here we go: This was a detail from the Degas painting "La Coiffure". (Click on the highlighted links to see the actual paintings I stood in front of.) Me trying to capture even a mere detail of a Caravaggio in 2 minutes is sort of a laugh-riot. This gesture drawing is kind of sad. Especially when you look at the original. Poor Saint John the Baptist. Oh well. I did what I could in the time allotted.

A quick gesture from a Honthorst painting of Saint Sebastian.

My husband - waiting for the bus. (o:
Tomorrow I'll post some of my sketches from The Netherlands and possibly Norway.

I'm baaaack!

2008-07-20T04:08:00.000-07:00

I'm home from my 10 day vacation with my husband, parents, sister, and brother-in-law. We went to England, The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. I am very jet lagged and now trying desperately to get back on track with exercise, sleep, and resuming a normal diet. Traveling and eating out every day is fun, but it can really take a toll on you.

I'm sure you guys will be happy to hear that I actually got a bit of sketching done on my vacation. Most of it is really quick gesture drawings. We were on a lot of coordinated tours, and were mostly rushed from site to site. On one hand, I am so lucky to even have the opportunity to see some of these places and works of art. On the other hand, it absolutely broke my heart to have a mere 45 minutes in the (very crowded) Van Gough museum or have to go running past a wall full of Rembrandts in order to meet the bus. Oh well. The point is that it was a good trip. I'll start posting images from my sketch book this week as soon as I can. I'll be working two jobs this summer, but I'm hoping I'll be able to find some time to blog regularly.

I am a little bit frazzled with all I have to get done this week, so I was happy to come home to find a message from my friend Karen telling me that my Iggy Inferno plush character had been featured in Etsy's Storque Spotlight. It's nice to see that even when I'm not able to maintain my site for a small period of time, people are still finding my work. (o:

Anyway, I feel like I need to do a lot of catching up. If any of you have news or updates for me from the last 10 days, please post! I'll be anxious to read them.

21 Day Challenge: Day 20

2008-07-08T05:21:00.000-07:00

Oh Captain Ahab...don't get mad.

This Challenge is winding down! I only have one day left. I'm not sure if a mere 21 days has ingrained a habit in me or not. I guess we'll have to wait and see. I have an uneasy feeling that I could just as easily go back to not drawing every evening. The real challenge, I suppose, will be after this project is officially done. Then I'll have to keep up the daily sketching on my own with no days to count down and no goal. It does feel good to create something every night, though. Even if it's just something silly.

I'll try to post my last drawing tonight. I'm leaving for a long awaited (and much anticipated) 10 day vacation bright and early tomorrow morning. I need it. Try not to miss me too much! (o;

21 Day Challenge: Day 19

2008-07-07T05:18:00.000-07:00

I picked up my husband's copy of Fahrenheit 451 this weekend. It was never assigned to me as required reading in either high school or college, but it interested me. I've already made it though a large portion of the book. I suppose I could've waited until my flight this week, and read it on the plane...but it's too late for that! The book is not that long, and I'm a voracious reader. I'm sure I'll be finished the whole thing by tonight.

One of the images they mention more than once is the badge the firemen have sewn onto their uniforms. It's an image of a fiery salamander. I figured I'd sketch it last night. I wanted to keep developing sketches until I can get it into a sort of cool graphic symbol, but after I drew the little guy above it was time for bed. Maybe that's a project for another time.

Lately, I've been in the mood to read books set in a dystopian future. The classics are always the best. 1984 and A Brave New World were both high school or college assignments, so I've read those. I also read A Handmaid's Tale (any woman's nightmare!!!) in college as well as A Clockwork Orange and several others. At the time, I was taking a class called "New Visions of the Apocalypse". It was very cool. Anyway, if you have other reading suggestions along these lines, I'm open!

21 Day Challenge: Day 18

2008-07-06T06:15:00.000-07:00

This is pretty much how I was feeling last night. Three day weekend or not, I've been up way too early every day. Forget sleeping in...I have too much stuff to do!

Yesterday was spent running around doing errands. Once we got home, I spent the rest of the night doing laundry and trying to decide what to bring on our trip next week. I have a really bad habit of over-packing and I'm trying to avoid that this time (if at all possible).

Honestly, this vacation can't come soon enough!

Oh, here's a little extra doodle I drew last night too. I think this star is a bit dismayed that he's falling:

21 Day Challenge: Days 16 and 17

2008-07-05T05:06:00.000-07:00

No, I haven't given up on this challenge. I've been keeping up with it! But, this weekend has been so insanely busy that I just didn't have time yesterday to scan in and post the sketch from day 16 for you guys. It's a little late, but here it is:
I hope that seahorse is traveling someplace to get that suitcase redrawn! And here's last night's sketch:

We were out last night celebrating the 4th with some good friends. By the time we got home, I was absolutely exhausted. I drew that chicken and the weird little cat/dog creature and promptly fell asleep on my sketchbook. (Don't worry, I don't think the chicken is in danger).

Hope you all had a Happy 4th of July!

21 Day Challenge: Day 15

2008-07-03T05:53:00.000-07:00

Yep. A duck in a hat is just about all I could muster up last night.

The hubs and I are booked solid this weekend with various social events, and I have no idea when I'm supposed to shop, do laundry, and pack for our upcoming vacation. I think a "To Do" list may be in order. I lived off of one giant list during the period preceeding our wedding. It was my lifeline and nothing felt more satisfying than crossing something off of the list. After our wedding, I promptly abandoned that notebook. It just may be time to start a new one. That is, if I can even remember everything that I need to do!

21 Day Challenge: Day 14

2008-07-02T05:16:00.000-07:00

Pack rat!

I confess, I am a pack rat. I hang onto everything. Half the stuff I've hung onto has been collected with the excuse, "I could turn this into a really cool art project!" Then it's totally forgotten. Sometimes it's a really good idea to plow through your junk piles and do some serious sorting out. And by "sorting" I mean throwing away, donating, and/or recycling.

I spent the majority of last night cleaning and organizing my house and realized this might be a continual summer-long project. I barely hit the tip of the iceberg by cleaning up the bedroom. After only one evening, I have more than one garbage bag of clothes that will be donated to the Salvation Army. I dug through all my drawers and closet, tried things on, and found myself saying, "Ew! Why have I been holding onto these things again???" If you can pinpoint the year the fad happened, you're probably holding on to it for sentimental reasons and it's time to ditch the item. I also answered the question I've been asking myself all month: "How can I have a closet full of clothes yet nothing to wear?" Well...only about half of my wardrobe is wearable. 1/4 of it fits funny or doesn't fit at all. The other 1/4 is too hideous to wear in public. And the shoes...ooooh. Don't even get me started. (I have a little shoe obsession...ahem.)

The above sketch was inspired by last night's closet misadventures--even a pack rat can reach her limit sometimes. Time to box it up and ship it out! Next stop: my studio! (Though, it's about 150 degrees up there plus humidity, so who knows when I'll get a chance to tackle that mess.)

21 Day Challenge: Day 13

2008-07-01T05:22:00.000-07:00

It's the magical candy deer!

Yeah...I don't know what's wrong with me either. Lol. It sort of has a llama face but again, I sometimes need reference photos in front of me when I draw animals. I haven't been using them for this project and this drawing is a case in point.

In other news, I had my SCBWI meeting last night. As usual, it was good. We got to meet our newest member and everything. Hopefully I can get the blog links to our other members (besides me, Gina, and Vita, of course) so I can post them for you.

Other than that, I'm just gearing up for my upcoming vacation and counting down the days! Really, it can't come fast enough. Sigh.

21 Day Challenge: Day 12

2008-06-30T05:19:00.000-07:00

I switched gears on this one. It's a sketch of one of Degas' ballerina drawings. I'm thinking maybe I should try my hand at drawing from master works for a while...I'm so rusty! Maybe not as a part of the 21 Day Challenge, just in general. Sorry there's no new characters today, but I'll probably get that started back up on those for the next one.

I've got an SCBWI meeting tonight, so I'll keep you posted with any new news. (o:

21 Day Challenge: Day 11

2008-06-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

...sleeping with the fishes?

I was up really late last night having a movie-a-thon with my husband, and was SO tired by the time I remembered I hadn't done my daily drawing. I managed to crank this sleepy fishy out before bed, though. I made a commitment after all! I wonder if this challenge is going to change my daily pattern or not. I guess we'll find out in 10 more days...

21 Day Challenge: Day 10

2008-06-28T05:16:00.000-07:00

It's a bird, it's a plane...it's Super Frog! Able to leap from a lily pad in a single bound.

That's all I've got this morning, folks. I'm up waaaay to early on a Saturday. My only plans for the day are to finish my giant cup of coffee, and clean the house. Which, seeing as how the weather has been nothing but thunder storms lately, is probably just fine. Hope you're all having a more interesting weekend.

21 Day Challenge: Day 9

2008-06-27T05:14:00.000-07:00

Ants can carry 10-20 times their body weight. They're strong! This one has an olde timey moustache. (o:

In other news, the awards ceremony went alright last night. The mayor was there, a state senator, and a couple local celebs (one newspaper cartoonist and one newspaper columnist). There were a couple short speeches, the awards were handed out (complete with embarrassing pictures taken with the mayor and our art), and then a raffle at the end. I got my award for 3rd place in the adult professional category (it was a cash prize--yeay!) and was happy to see fellow SCBWI member, Jane, receive the Governor's Choice Award. Then my parents treated me to dinner...which I followed with a vigorous work-out. (Hey, I'm on va-k in 2 weeks and want to fit into my cocktail dresses!). All in all, not a bad night. (o:

Hope you're having a happy Friday!

Updates!

2008-06-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

12:30 p.m.

My two submissions to the National Art Awards are now on their website online! To check them out, and to see the other entries(including my dad's), follow this link.

The (much better photographed) painting of my grandparents is #4 on the first page. The piece I won a prize for is #12 and it's on page 2. My dad's photos are numbers 15and 16 on the same page. I'll probably post more later tonight after the awards ceremony!

21 Day Challenge: Day 8

2008-06-26T05:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've always had a serious problem drawing monkeys without a reference photo or a live monkey in front of me. I don't know why, but my imagination just cannot concoct a decent monkey. But, Sarah requested a monkey sketch for today, and I am more than willing to oblige. This one is talking on a banana phone. That cracks me up. It doesn't take much sometimes, honestly.

In other news, my awards ceremony for the National Arts Program is today! I'll be collecting my 3rd place award in the professional "works on paper" category this afternoon. It's taking place at Manchester's City Hall at 4 p.m. if anyone is interested. My husband works late, so the only people showing up for me so far are my parents. The two people you can always count on to cheer for you are your folks. Haha! Aw.

21 Day Challenge: Day 7

2008-06-25T05:18:00.000-07:00

Bend it like...Flipper?

This sketch was all thanks to my husband. I was sort of at a loss last night and asked him, "What should I draw?" He predictably named his favorite animal, the dolphin. (Then again, what should I expect from an Aquarius, really?) My next question was, "What should the dolphin be doing?" His answer was, "Um...playing soccer?" He's on a recreational soccer team, and had a pretty heavy game last night. He got banged up quite a bit, but he scored a goal, and his team won (for once). So, in honor of him, this is what you get for a Wednesday doodle. Who knows? I just might start taking requests! (o:

21 Day Challenge: Day 6

2008-06-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

Looks like someone's umbrella broke! Poor puppy.

I snagged my first Etsy Treasury yesterday morning. I spent some time working on it and was proud of the collection of favorites I put together.

Around quarter of 6 last night, I got home from my aerobics class, logged onto my computer and found out my treasury made it to the front page of Etsy!!! I was so thrilled, but since I was home alone all I could do was shout about it in the forums and then call my mom. I was ecstatic! Then I felt like a dork. Hey, it's the small things that make me psyched. What can I say? AspenSpa was kind enough to take a screen shot of my 15 minutes of fame (you can click on the picture to enlarge):

Thank you, AspenSpa!

21 Day Challenge: Day 5

2008-06-23T05:08:00.000-07:00

Trust me, this is what I'd much rather be doing today than heading off to work in these thunderstorms. I just want to lounge around my house drinking coffee and listening to NPR. (Minus the scarf, of course!) But a girl's got to make a living. Sigh.

In other news, legendary comedian George Carlin passed away this weekend at the age of 71.

He's one of my and my husband's favorite comedians, and we've attended several of his shows. In fact, the very first Christmas presents I bought for my husband the first year we were together were tickets to a George Carlin show. We've seen him several times since then. So, we're bummed today. RIP, George. Thanks for all the laughs.

21 Day Challenge: Day 4

2008-06-22T06:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was shuffling through my studio (which is a disaster area) and somehow managed to impale myself with my art supplies. I guess there was a nice sharp pencil somewhere on my floor that was just looking for the opportunity to drive itself through my sock and into the soft arch of my foot. I am now suffering from medium-deep puncture wound. I washed and scrubbed it out (ouch!) for 20 minutes, but that hole is really skinny and I'm positive there's some nice little graphite shading at the bottom of the wound. I think I just tattooed myself. At least the pencil tip didn't break off inside my foot, I guess.
)o:
This happened the same week that my husband suffered his own foot injury on his recreational soccer team. He and a teammate both jumped for the ball, and the teammate's cleat landed squarely on my husband's little toe...which now looks like a bright purple mini-sausage. It's nasty. So, this sketch is what you get today:

I liked using a bunny for a couple reasons. The first being the big feet, and the second because it reminded me of the Paris Metro Bunny:

Back when I was still in college, I spent a month in France taking two courses over RISD's wintersession. While sitting on the metro with my sketchbook in my lap, I noticed this infamous warning sign to keep your hands away from the doors as they're closing. The bunny was cute, yet at the same time - he's getting injured! It's kind of horrible. A combo of sweet and mean will apparently catch my attention. I entertained myself for the remainder of the stops by drawing him.

Anyway, the lesson of this weekend is that cleanliness is a virtue. There's a mess in my studio that needs to be tackled ASAP...otherwise it's going to come and get me! Now, where did I put those Band-aids?

21 Day Challenge: Day 3

2008-06-21T05:02:00.001-07:00

I aaaalmost skipped this drawing exercise last night. Almost. My husband and I ordered a pizza and watched two movies in a row. This is after I'd worked all day then hit my aerobics class. Phew! That's a late night for me! I was really tired and just wanted to go to bed. Then, I felt bad. How can you form a habit if you're already ditching out on day 3??? So, I did this quick sloppy doodle of the newest addition to my studio:

It's a giant stuffed octopus I bought from Deelind on Etsy. I've had my eye on it since I joined the site. I finally caved in and bought it when she made a note that the fabric was discontinued, and she only had a limited amount left in stock. *Gasp!* She was nice enough to send him to me this week before she goes abroad for most of the summer. I think he looks right at home in my studio, wouldn't you say?

P.S. This is my 100th blog post! Woo-hoo!

21 Day Challenge: Day 2

2008-06-20T03:52:00.000-07:00

I did this quick little sketch last night. I was trying to capture a little gesture from memory that my hedgehog makes when he's running about sniffing things. I used a teeny bit of color in this one. A while back, a friend of mine gave me a set of what looks like crayons or oil pastels. It comes with this paintbrush looking thing that has a hollow interior so you can fill it up with water. Once you "color" with the crayon/pastels, you can run the brush over your marks to wet it and it turns into a sort of watercolor. Pretty cool.

Before I forget, I wanted to update all of you on the Case of The Missing Class Work. My teacher from this past semester wrote me back regarding the failure to find any of my projects in the Continuing Ed office (which is where he promised they would be a week or two after the semester ended) when I went to Boston this weekend. Apparently he's off on a trip somewhere, and hasn't even dropped them off yet. It's a little frustrating that I didn't know that before I took a day off of work to pick everything up. But thanks to our trip to Blue Ginger, the day was not a complete wash. I'm just glad that my 15 weeks of work isn't lost in some sort of office abyss.

Happy Friday!

21 Day Challenge: Day 1

2008-06-19T04:59:00.000-07:00

Supposedly it takes 21 days to instill a habit. I've decided to take on the 21 Day Challenge and draw for 15 minutes each and every day for 21 days. I don't have any grand plans or even a theme. My goal right now is just to make myself draw something (anything) every single day. Last night was technically Day One since I drew right before bed. I just didn't have time to upload anything until this morning.
Since I had an elaborate dinner at Blue Ginger this week, and then my coworker brought in donuts yesterday (my weakness)--I was inspired to draw a fat happy piggy enjoying a frosted donut.
If you'd like to join me in this challenge, drop me a line. I'll post links to your blog under a "21 Day Challenge" catagory. It won't exist until I hear back from folks, and you've got to post your sketches in order for me to link to you. Come join me! Really, I could use some company. (o; Here are the results of my first day:

Not much, but it's a start!

What next?

2008-06-18T05:57:00.000-07:00

In typical Libra fashion, I'm having a hard time deciding what creative project to work on next. I'm good with a commission and a deadline, but if I don't have either, I tend to freeze up. It would be soooo easy for me to waste my summer, I'm afraid. But since you guys are so good at giving me a motivational kick in the pants, I figured I'd reach out for suggestions.

Should I create more items for my Etsy shop or potential art fairs? Should I create more bee ornaments? More stuffed animals? More little illustrations? Should I brainstorm new products? Or should I work on some "serious" paintings? My children's illustration portfolio? Arg.

Maybe I should take the advice of my SCBWI crit group, and just start with the "21 Day Challenge". (I think it was Anne Marie who put the challenge to me at our last meeting...? I know Gina's been working on this. She posted the results of her exercise on her blog, which you can check out here.) From what I can gather the challenge is to make the time to draw for 15 minutes every single day, for 21 days--no excuses. Maybe it'll jump start my creative process. I hope. /o:

Blue Ginger

2008-06-17T06:20:00.000-07:00

I took my very last personal day off of work yesterday to make the drive to my college and pick up all my work from the whole semester. As some of you might remember, my teacher held everything and told us he'd drop it off at the school a week or two after class finished. We could "swing by" the Continuing Ed office to pick it up. (They're supposed to hang onto it for up to one year.) However, me "swinging by" entails a one hour, 15 minute ride...if I hit no traffic. I certainly was in no mood to drive down, turn around, and drive back up. I figured I'd make a day of it and hang around the City, so the hubby also took the day off as did hubby's friend, T.

Once we arrived, I made my way to the office. The folks at the front desk pointed to a very small pile in the corner and told me that's where all the left over spring semester projects were. It didn't take very much digging for me to realize that there was NOTHING from my class in there. Plus, everything was labeled "Drawing for Communication" and not "Typography". I inquired again at the front desk where the typography class work was. The guy looked at me blankly, and said, "Everything we have is in that pile." Grrrr. I left empty-handed and angry. My teacher better still have my semester's worth of work. I will be furious if the 300 artist business cards I collected have been lost in the black hole that is Mass Art. Not to mention all the layouts and logotypes I busted my butt creating all semester. Fifteen weeks of work. Gone. (Yes, I e-mailed my teacher this morning about it. Cross your fingers that he can provide me with some sort of explanation.)

T., hubs, and I decided to make our way to the Museum of Fine Art since we were already at that end of town. We got there only to find that it closed at 5:00 on Mondays. ARG! Boston = a total bust.

The next half of this blog is rather uncharacteristic of me, in that I'm going to blab for a loooong time about food...because I had the most amazing meal EVER last night. So, if you're not interested, I give you permission to cut out now.

The three of us had reservations for 7 at Blue Ginger in Wellesley, and decided to head over early.

T. works there, and was taking me and the hubby to the restaurant as a wedding/anniversary gift. We hit rush-hour traffic and wound up arriving around 6-6:30.

Blue Ginger is owned and run by celebrity chef, Ming Tsai. He used to host the Emmy Award-winning show East Meets West on the Food Network, he was on Iron Chef, and he now hosts Ming's Quest on the Fine Living Network as well as Simply Ming on PBS.

T. gave us a tour, and introduced us to everyone. We sat at the bar where the boys ordered beer and I ordered a Fuji Apple Martini. Mmmm. We figured we'd get some crab Rangoon to munch on while we waited. They brought us both the Rangoon AND an order of shrimp sticks--with a wink to T. And thus began our 4 hour, 6 course dinner. You heard me correctly.

When we were seated at our table for dinner, we ordered a bottle of wine and a couple appetisers--calamari and an order of foie gras-Shiitake shumai (on T.'s recommendation). We munched on our little bread/cracker basket while we waited. Then, they brought us our appetizers...and a little bonus...an order of muscles in a lovely sauce with grape tomatoes. Oh. My. God. SooOOoo good.

Minutes later, the waitress comes back with a little "amuse bouche" (a little taster) which was some sort of chicken dumpling. One each. I could see they were absolutely spoiling us because T. had brought us as his guests. Clearly, we had an "in". Lol.

We turn around at our table, and who is actually working at the restaurant that night but Ming himself! T. introduced us, and a few minutes later, Ming pops over to our table to chat a little and to give each of us a "butter taster". It was a little marinated piece of butterfish and two pieces of sushi. Everything was so light and flavorful...I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it was. Plus, since T. is one of the cooks he was able to explain to us what was in each dish and what the different textures were.

Ming also came over to make sure everything was up to par. I was laughing later with my husband about it. Like, who are we? We're nobody! We ate at Bugaboo Creek last week! This place is far above and beyond our standards. Yet he treated us like we were important, and made sure we enjoyed our meal.

Then dinner came. And a second bottle of wine. I had a gorgeous curried pasta with Asian vegetables and coconut shrimp which I could barely make a dent in because by then, I'd been grazing for THREE HOURS. Dinner got boxed up and carried home with me. But it didn't stop us from ordering coffees and one dessert to split. I think we ordered a sesame macadamia caramel nut tart. They brought us FOUR desserts off the menu. And the tart had a delicate lemon cookie leaning against it with "Happy Anniversary" scripted in a frosting on the front and a little candle burning on the side. I was so contented, I thought I was going to die.

The kicker? With T.'s employee discount, pretty much all that we owed at the end were tips to the waitstaff. Just to give you an idea of how insane that is, our two bottles of wine alone (not counting a single scrap of food or our pre-dinner cocktails) would've come out to about $110... so you can only imagine what a full dinner of that caliber would've cost us sans T's hospitality.

My hubby and I couldn't stop talking about how amazing the food was or how fabulous the service was...even after we got home! I was convinced I was going to die of food happiness in my sleep because I'm pretty sure they don't feed you that well unless you're heading to the gallows. Lol. For any of you who ever find yourself in Wellesley MA with some money to burn, go to Blue Ginger! The decor, the staff, and the food are all fantastic. I cannot reccomend it highly enough.

A big enormous THANK YOU to T. for the amazing culinary experience, good company, and a lovely time all around. *Hugs*

Outcome of the contest I entered....

2008-06-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

UPDATE:

I got a call on Friday while I was at work. It was a woman from the art contest I entered. I won third place in the professional category...for my woodblock print that I did 8 years ago. NOT the portrait I stayed up all night painting this week. I knew I shouldn't have painted on the glass - it really detracted from all the work I did on the portrait. I was trying to be innovative and creative. By the time I figured out that it wasn't working in my favor, it too late to buy a new frame. Oh well. You live, you learn. I still think it's worth experimenting.

In any event, this particular contest is really traditional. You won't see anything really avante guarde or innovative. Most of the awards go to still lifes or pretty landscapes. Yep. "Pretty landscapes" is the major recurring theme. Aaaand which of my pieces won a prize? You got it. The pretty landscape. LOL. However, there is a silver lining to this mini-fiasco...at least my dad's father's day present is finished. He can re-frame it however he likes. Hopefully without that stupid glass in front of it. Sigh.

The awards ceremony is next Thursday at 4:00 at City Hall. (o:

Note to self: start painting for next year's contest NOW. Lol.

Hello...? crickets

2008-06-11T18:16:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I finally posted pics of my painting and...not a single comment from the peanut gallery. )o: I hope you guys aren't going by the "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." mantra. I would love some feedback. Even if it's just a critique on what I could've/should've done.

On a happier note, I was featured in yet another treasury!

And profiled (interview and all) in a lovely blog by fellow Etsian, Princess Tiffany's Creations. Read it here!

Painting Pics

2008-06-11T15:08:00.001-07:00

Just a quick disclaimer: these photos stink. I was taking them at 2:30 in the morning after I'd been hovering over this thing all day. I'll get "real" snapshots when I get this painting back in August. But for now, here you go. The first image is just of the portrait portion of the painting. At this point, it was probably about 50% completed:

Those are Edith Piaf lyrics around the edge. It says, "Si un jour la vie t'arrache a moi/ si tu meurs, que tu sois loin de moi/ peu m'importe, si tu m'aimes car moi je mourrai aussi...Nous aurons pour nous l'eternite dans le bleu de toute l'immensite/ dans le ciel, plus de problemes/ Mon Amour, crois-tu qu'on s'aime? Dieu reunit ceux qui s'aiment!"
I don't know how to type the accents over the letters in Blogger, so you'll just have to imagine I put them there.

The next sloppy picture is of the finished product. Please pretend you can't see all those godforsaken smudges on the glass...or my poor husband forced to hold this thing while I take pictures with his camera that I kidnapped:

The portrait based on a photo taken of my grandparents at their 50th wedding anniversary. You can't really see the drawing on the glass in the above photo, but that portion is based on my grandparents' wedding portrait from 1940.

I know this pic is completely blurry, but you can see the line drawing a bit better without the flash.

So that's it, folks. That's what I've been slaving over all week. I hope you're not disappointed. I'm still not sure what I think of my own work. I like the portrait part of it, but the rest...uhhhhhhh. Either that painting on the glass is a tiny bit edgy and unique, or it's a hot mess. I really don't think there's an in between. This morning, I was definitely leaning towards "hot mess". Then again, I hate every single thing I do for a little while after I finish it. Maybe in two days I'll love it again like I did while I was working on it.

I wish I had the time to post pics on my blog before it was due, ask my readers' for critiques, and then submit it to the contest. But, as we all know, I am the reigning Queen of Procrastination Land and seriously lack in all kinds of time management skills...so that wasn't going to happen.

Instead, let's do the next best thing and be Monday morning quarterbacks - what should I have done? Leave the portrait as-is? Or do you like the glass painting thing? Either way, it's going to belong to my dad after this is over (those are his parents), and he can do with it what he likes.

Oh! I just remembered...I wanted to show you my poor neglected second entry into the contest. It's a semi-abstracted ukiyo-e woodblock print that I did years ago after a trip to France. It's a view from a path on Monte Sainte Victoire. That's the mountain that Cezanne painted over and over and over...

Now...what do I want to work on next? (o:

Done.

2008-06-11T05:53:00.000-07:00

I did it! I finished my painting!

I started working at 8 a.m. yesterday morning and wasn't done (and in bed) until 2:30 a.m. this morning. I swear, I think I'm the slowest painter on the planet.

I might've mentioned this before, but the painting I was working on is a portrait of my grandparents on their 50th anniversary matted and framed. Along the edge of the mat are some of the lyrics to the Edith Piaf Song "Hymne a L'amour". (My fam is French Canadian). On the glass in white, I painted an outline of the portrait of them on their wedding day.

While I'm painting, I zone out in a major way. My brain is just on an entirely different plane. Yesterday was no different. I swear, I'd work a little bit, look up and the clock said two hours had passed! This happened all day.

I was really happy with the thing while I was working on it, but wasn't so thrilled with it when I finished. This always happens to me. When I'm in the middle of something, I'm rockin' and rollin' and feel like, "I'm awesome!" But by the time it's a finished product, I hate it. After all was said and done, I showed the finished painting to my husband. I was like, "Is the painting on the glass obscuring all the work I did on the portrait?" He shrugged and said, "Kind of." Great. Now I don't want to show it to anyone. Too late for that now.

This morning before work, I dropped off my two pieces with the contest people. I was also dropping off two photos for my dad. (He entered too.) The group of people who were tagging and collecting the work were cheery and laid-back. There was open ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the various pieces of artwork coming in. (Don't worry, these folks are not the judges.) From the little I saw, it seems that there may be stiffer competition this year than there was the last time I entered two years ago. Of course, they've opened the contest up quite a bit since then.

The woman helping me enter and tag all the work I brought in finally got around to tagging my painting. I had the artwork part facing me so that she could sticker the back. She asked, "Can I see?" I turned my painting around, and felt the heat creeping up to my face. I was totally embarrassed! What the heck??? One of the other ladies helping tag items said, "That's interesting. How did you come up with that?" I just shrugged and stammered out an explanation of what it was and that it was supposed to be a Father's Day gift for my dad last year but that I just finished it this month. (I didn't mention anything about being up til the wee hours of this morning!) After everything was stickered, they told me the date of the awards ceremony and wished me luck before I high-tailed it outta there!

I was so confident before, but now I'm having doubts I'll win anything this year. (Two years ago, I got second place in the Professional category.) I suppose even if I don't get anything, my work will be hanging up in City Hall for the whole summer. *Shrug*

I didn't get a chance this morning to upload pics so I'll try to do that when I get home tonight. If my studio isn't suffocatingly hot, of course. (I haven't been able to venture up there for 3 days now!!!)

There is an awards ceremony on Thursday, June 26 at 4 p.m. at City Hall in Manchester. The show will be up from that date until early August for those of you who want to stop in. I'll give more detailed info in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'll be waiting for some sort of phone call over the next two weeks. Last time, I got a message on my answering machine saying they were pleased to announce I won something (no mention of what, however) and inviting me to the awards ceremony. I'll be waiting! Lol.

Down to the wire!

2008-06-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to update you guys really quick. I took a personal day off of work today so I could finish my painting and turn it in for judging tomorrow. It's 8 a.m. and I'm feeling fairly confident that I can get this thing done today. I'll be back with pics and an update when I'm done. Wish me luck!

Transparency

2008-06-09T06:25:00.001-07:00

Either my readers are incredibly astute judges of character, or I'm completely transparent. The following was my favorite comment received on my blog this weekend (I've left out the name just in case this person wasn't interested in being mentioned!) This cracked me up:

reader: Honeydew-congrats to your friend-but get painting!!! The deadline is looming, and there is a piece of work waiting to tell it's story... :)
Cheering you on!

Oh man. You have me pegged, that's for sure! From now on, I'm going to leave it up to you guys to give me the much-needed kick in the pants. In regards to the aforementioned as-of-yet-unfinished painting (which has a Wednesday drop-off due date) this is how my weekend broke down:

Friday: when I got home, I immediately went to my studio. I decided to stop working on the portrait part of my piece for a little bit and work on one of the other 3 layers instead. I painted some lyrics to an Edith Piaf song around the edge of my mat. I decided to play the song while working. Bad. Idea. Ok, playing a heartbreaking Edith Piaf song while hovering over a painting of your deceased French grandparents is not a wise idea. I spent half of my evening sobbing before I decided it was time for bed.

Saturday: got up early to work in my studio. I finished painting the edge of the mat while (wisely) choosing to listen to NPR's morning programming. Car Talk and Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me! are much happier choices than Edith Piaf. I also got some work done on the portrait portion of the painting. Work actually lasted into the afternoon--even though by then I was absolutely sweltering. My studio is in the loft. Imagine working in an attic with two skylights in the middle of the summer, and you get the idea. I stopped painting when I received a dinner invitation from my mom. Dinner with my mother and family friends turned into a chit-chat with everyone in her living room until 10 at night.

When I got home, I found out that my best friend had finished his album and his website (which I blogged about below). This led to a flurry of e-mailing and messaging with him. While online I, of course, logged onto Etsy. I was shocked to find that my hearts and views had exploded. I had no idea why, so I asked around in the forums. People said that one of my plush characters had been on the front page for a long time on Saturday. OMG. It's been a mini-fantasy of mine to someday make it to the front page...and I missed it!!! I suppose I can't live my entire life on Etsy, though. (Just most of it. Haha!) I was psyched though. Looks like there were good vibes for both Ryan and I on Saturday.

But...so much for finishing the painting that evening.

Sunday: tried to hit the studio again in the morning. I sat miserably in a puddle of sweat totally unable to function, let alone paint. Once the hubby woke up, I forced him to take the air conditioners out of the closet and put them to use. One goes in our kitchen/living room area and the other goes in our bedroom. I moved my painting and supplies from The Inferno to downstairs at the kitchen table. The hubs left to go hang out with one of his buddies, I watched tv, painted for a teeny bit, got lonely, and then called my sister. We had dinner, a bottle of chilled pino grigio, and watched a movie over her place. (Hey, can you blame me? The girl has central air!) Buuuut...I'm still not done my painting.

This is why I'm thinking I'll need to take a day off tomorrow. It's no big deal. I have 2 personal days that I have to use up before the end of June, otherwise I lose them. And I've got a lot to do. I still have to finish the portrait portion of my painting. The mat is at least 95% done. Then, there will be a painting on the glass of the frame. Which I haven't even started yet. Ahem.

I can do it! Really! I swear, it'll be done by Wednesday. Just watch me. (o;

Tough Love

2008-06-07T19:38:00.000-07:00

I just had to jump online and blog while I'm still feeling all mushy and proud.

Since I've blogged about my best friend before (once here and once here), I figured this post wouldn't be 100% out of the blue.

I found out tonight that his album is done - music, cover art and all. It will be available June 23 on his website. No, I didn't wind up doing the cover art. And thank goodness. First, I had way too much school going on to stop and create something worthy of his music. Second, Ryan and I think too much alike. Sometimes you need an artist whose brain can take a fresh look at you and come up with something cool. Like this:

It definitely has my stamp of approval. (I'm so glad I didn't do the art cuz I certainly wouldn't have come up with that!) I also found out that Ryan got his own website up and running...by himself! I've been meaning to get my own website up and running for the past oh...I dunno...5 or 6 years now. Eeep. Hopefully, he'll provide me with the necessary inspiration. Anyway, check his website out here. You can hear some of his tunes on there too. One of them is "my" song. And no, I won't tell which one. It's mine! :oP You really can't beat having a song written for you. Anyone else have a best friend that cool?

Ryan and I have been friends for a dozen or so years now, so we've been through a lot together. We're both in artistic fields, so we've faced a lot of similar struggles. His success feels like a success for me too (don't worry, honey, I'm not stealing your thunder!). I guess what I'm trying to say is right now, I'm feeling so proud of him for finally achieving so many of his goals. (Trust me folks, I've been listening to the trials and tribulations of this process for years!) Even though we live on opposite coasts now, I'll always be his biggest cheerleader.

Congrats, Ry. (o: (Eat it up while you can, I'll be back to my usual self tomorrow. LOL.)

Still painting...

2008-06-03T16:54:00.000-07:00

I know I've disappeared for a bit. Apologies to those of you who actually read this thing. I'm under a bit of a crunch right now, as I have to finish that painting for the contest I entered. And you know me, I'm the Queen of Procrastination! Next Wednesday is the date I have to drop everything off for the judging. I would say I'm barely 50% finished. Eeep!
I've also decided to submit a Ukiyo-e woodblock print of Mont Sainte Victoire I created a while back. (At least that one is done. Ha!)

I won't be posting any pictures of my half-finished painting. I hate showing people my work when it's half-finished. Unless, of course, those people are other artists helping me with feedback or a critique. It's kind of like going into a dressing room. You really only need your sister or your best friend in there with you to tell you that yes, your butt looks big in those pants--don't buy them. For everyone else, though, it feels like I'm standing in front of strangers in my underwear. That's just unnessesary.

Most of the time I have a very specific concept in mind, and I find it impossible to explain it. I end up feeling like a babbling fool in front of the bare-bones of a painting. You certainly can't get the message from what's coming out of my mouth, and since the painting isn't finished - you aren't getting my message from that either. I don't want to wind up looking like one of those "crazy artists". Soooo...you'll have to wait until my painting is complete to see pictures. If I did my job successfully, you'll "get it" by looking at it and I'll save myself the embarassment of having to explain it to you. Really, this particular piece isn't that "deep", but it does have 3 distinctly different elements incorporated into it. What I can tell you is that my painting is based off of these two photos of my grandparents:

The top one is of them on their wedding day, and the bottom one was them on their 50th wedding anniversary. (The 1980s just barely finished up - hence the shoulder pads and big glasses.) Stay tuned...(o;

What are your favorite artist websites?

2008-05-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

I realize I haven't blogged all week. My husband and I spent the Memorial Day weekend on a mini-getaway to a gorgeous bed and breakfast to celebrate our one-year anniversary. I haven't really gotten out of vacation-mode since then. (Hence the slacking off.) In fact, it's to the point where I'm thinking about taking a personal day tomorrow and not coming in to work. The weather is beautiful, and I can't deal with being stuck at the keyboard right now.

That said, a few computer-related things do need to get done. Specifically, my personal website. I've been paying my brother-in-law (who is a graphic and web designer) to host my site for the past several years, but we haven't actually created it. I only have the summer before my insane school/work schedule gets going again, so I need to do it soon.

This is where you come in. I want to look at the personal websites of your favorite illustrators. You know, it'll usually be "their name dot com". Some examples are: Keri Smith's, Tomie DiPaola's, or Jan Brett's sites. I want to look at illustrator sites in particular, because I need some inspiration. What are the basic ingrediants to a sucessful site?
Anyway, I look forward to taking a peek at everyone's choices. Thanks for your help!

Illustration Friday: Worry

2008-05-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

Aren't you a bit worried about this kitty's fate? Me too!

Tag! I'm It!

2008-05-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

First, a little game. I got tagged today by Gina. So, here are the rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.*
3. Find the fifth sentence.**
4. Post the next three sentences, so if my math is correct that’d be sentences six, seven and eight.
5. Tag five people and post a comment to the blogger who tagged you.

Here's mine: "Trade books have become part of the curriculum because we hope they will interest children and help them become literate in the full sense of the word. Given this goal, it is important to let the trade books be as interesting as they can be. It is important not to ruin the power of trade books by turning them into nothing more than material fore exercises, mere sources of information on topics or for teaching moral lessons."

Meh. I'm at work (at a literacy-based school), so whaddya expect? Lol. I don't have time to tag others right now, so I'll have to get to that part later. Thanks for the little brain-break, Gina! (o:

In other news, I got a ton encouragement from everyone yesterday regarding entering that local art contest in two weeks. So much so, in fact, that last night I went back to work on my long-abandoned painting. I only had an hour to work on it before bed, but you'd be surprised how far you can get with a mere 60 minutes. I feel pretty good about it (so far). I'll try desperately to get it done in time for the competition. Thank you for all the support and feedback. I'll keep you all posted!

For some reason...

2008-05-21T05:53:00.000-07:00

I'm a nervous wreck! Let me give you a little background first:

Two years ago, I submitted a painting to an annual art contest, and won second place in the professional category. (Cash prizes, folks! Woo-hoo!) I didn't submit last year because I had no finished and framed artwork to enter. This year, the contest is going on again (I just found out today) and I really want to enter. The problem? The deadline to turn in the registration form is June 9.

I kinda sorta have something to submit this year. It's a painting I started working on last summer that was put on hold (I was interrupted by 4 commissions, and then school), so it's still not finished. I have a lot of work to do on it, as it was going to be a rather complicated piece. I am absolutely DYING to submit something this year!!! The question is - can I finish a rather complex piece in 2 weeks?!?! What if I send in my registration form, but then can't complete the piece I said I was submitting???

Anyone care to help me with a solution to this dilemma? Or should I just start painting my butt off and pray? (C'mon guys, tell me I'm nuts or cheer me on! I need one or the other. Lol.)

SCBWI

2008-05-20T04:57:00.000-07:00

Creatively speaking, the first few years after I graduated art school were terrible. I was desperately trying to find my way in my field, and doing temp work for barely any pay in the meantime...just to survive. I felt so isolated from other artists - all my art school friends were miles and miles away. I was sorely lacking any feeling of community. Not to mention a solid critique. Your family looking over your painting and stating, "That's nice." is simply not going to cut it. I needed solid criticism and suggestions from another artist's eye. But the art pulse in NH felt to me as if it had flat lined. Dead. I couldn't find "the scene" or any scene, for that matter. I started to wonder if I was the only artist in the entire state. You might as well have dropped me off in the desert.

Even back then, I was an avid National Public Radio junkie. NHPR was on all the time. In the car, in the house. I honestly don't think I could live without the radio on. I'm still that way. (If anything, I've just gotten worse!) One night, on the very long drive home from another miserable day of temp work, I was listening to the (now retired) NHPR show "On The Front Porch" and heard an interview with the illustrator John Stadler:

Of course any interview with any illustrator was going to grab my attention and keep it. And here was a published children's book illustrator...IN MY STATE! During the interview he stated, "In New Hampshire and Vermont, there must be the highest per capita children's book population in the world. We have picnics three times a day, then we feel much better and we go back to work." In the interview, he went on to say that he couldn't leave his house without bumping into a fellow illustrator or children's book writer. WHAT???? I thought my head was going to explode. Where was this "close and supportive community"? Have they been hiding from me all this time? Finding them out felt like a search for a faerie village.

I got home, ran into the house, logged onto John Stadler's website where I found his e-mail address. And I e-mailed him. Oh yes I did. I don't remember exactly what I wrote but it was probably along the lines of, "I heard you on NHPR and you said there was a huge illustration community in the state...where oh WHERE??? HELP!!!" (I probably said it less crazy, but that was my point none the less.) To my surprise, he e-mailed me back promptly. He was really nice, and directed me to the Society of Children's book Writers and Illustrators.

Through their website, I found a local SCBWI children's book illustrators critique group near my house. I signed up to join the SCBWI, paid my dues, and was off. Our crit group meets up approximately once a month. It's been a part of my life ever since. Though certainly not as big or prevalent as in NYC or Boston - yes, Virginia, there is an arts community in NH.

We have some great people in our little group. Some published, some not (like me!). Though I can't talk about them all individually, I have previously mentioned Gina Perry. (She's the one whose gallery show I recently attended.)

Illustrator and children's book author, Lita Judge is also a member of our SCBWI branch. Lita's career has really taken off. She has published several books, been interviewed for tv and various other publications, and basically works 24/7. Though she's unable to attend meetings these days, she is always supportive and helpful with any questions that our group has about publishing or illustrating full time. At one of the last meetings I attended, our group went to see her read from her book One Thousand Tracings at Barnes and Nobles. Here are a couple of her book covers:

I haven't been attending the SCBWI meetings very regularly over the past year. Last year, the run up to my wedding was madness, so I missed quite a few meetings. This year, I started attending night classes and that was insanity. Going anywhere would mean homework got neglected for 2 seconds, and that was pretty much out of the question. School is finally over for the summer, so at last I get to attend tonight's SCBWI meeting. (Hooray!) I'll keep you posted on how it goes. (o:

"Free" time?

2008-05-19T06:05:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I completed the final class of spring semester last Tuesday. It's amazing how wonderful free time feels after you haven't had any in a year. The funny part is that I couldn't even use my newfound time to relax. I feel like I now have to play "catch up". I was SO productive on Saturday. I was up early, getting estimates for things that needed fixing in the house, writing out bills, doing errands, cleaning my studio, and generally being overly productive. I've also been able to kick my work-out schedule up a notch now that I actually have time to make it to the classes. Aaaaand, I got a chance to make a few phonecalls and even went out on Friday night to catch up with close friends who've been neglected.

My schedule over the next few days isn't any better. Tonight the hubby and I have to catch up with my sister-in-law who is visiting from Florida and my MIL who is about to head back down. Tomorrow, I have a long-awaited SCBWI meeting. Wednesday, I have a hair cut appointment...etc.

Oh, and I forgot to mention...no sooner do I finish classes for the summer, but I get an e-mail from my college saying that I need to register for fall courses by June 2. Ugh!

I'll finally get to unwined (I'm hoping) this coming weekend. My husband and I are taking off to a bed and breakfast for a couple nights to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. I think we're both counting down the days. Sigh...

When it rains, it pours

2008-05-16T10:01:00.001-07:00

I suppose I also could have titled this blog "zero to sixty", "all or nothing", or any other cliche you'd like.

The point is that within the last week, I seem to have received a mimi-avalanche of exposure online. Today I got an e-mail notifying me that I was included in yet another treasury. This time, it's Beeda Kahlo who is making an appearance:
Keep your fingers crossed for me that this one makes it to the front page. Really, that's my biggest Etsy dream (second only to the dream of oodles of sales, of course). Lol.

Happy Friday!!!

Blogs, School, and Helvetica (the movie)

2008-05-15T06:56:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to yet another lovely piece of news. Fellow Etsy seller DecMeadow has featured me on her blog! Read her lovely feature of me here.

I had my last typography class of the semester on Tuesday. (Phew!) It was pretty laid-back and even involved cookies. The only issue I'm having now is that our teacher collected our projects. In fact, he still has ALL our projects from the entire year. He'll be returning them all to the Continuing Ed office by the end of the month (after he grades us) for people to drop in and pick them up.

The only problem with that is I can't "drop by" since I don't live in the City. I live an hour away. More than an hour away, if you factor in traffic. Sigh. The office will supposedly hold student work for up to a year, but I don't want to take that chance. Especially not with potential portfolio pieces. But I'm also not going to drive all the way down there just to grab my work and drive all the way back home either. I'm thinking I'll have to take a personal day off of work next month (hopefully I can convince the hubby to play hooky with me) and make a day of it. I have a couple RISD pals down there who I haven't seen in ages anyway.

The result of me not having my final project in my possession is that I can't take photos of it to post on here. It came out well, but it's not really the impressive masterpiece I expected it to be, so I suppose it's no big deal. The challenge of organizing and arranging 250 business cards was a real obstacle to overcome. I tried and tried to avoid going the Rolodex route. I even recruited my mom (who has some experience with amateur book-binding) to help me brainstorm. In the end, the only way out of my self-inflicted mess was to use a Rolodex. Someone has already stared down (and solved) the "too many business cards" problem, and their solution clearly is the best one. I did create a front and back book "cover" for the Rolodex (hand-painted and everything!). I categorized, alphabetized, and slid each card into a clear plastic Rolodex sleeve before putting them in. So, if you can imagine that, you can probably live without pics for a little while longer.

Now that I have an iota of free time before the fall semester, I plan on getting my studio in shape (you literally can't take one step in there without putting your foot down on some randomly scattered art supply or project). I'm praying that I'll have time to finish a couple paintings I started last year and work on some new ideas I have brewing. I'll be working two jobs this summer though, so we'll see if this is a pipe dream or not. (o:

I've already started to relax a little bit. Last night, the husband and I had a "dinner and a movie" date. (The stay-in-the-house kind, not the go-out kind.) I made a massive pan of my ever-popular healthy (or...healthier, anyway) lasagna and we settled in to watch...Helvetica. That's right. My husband voluntarily watched a documentary about graphic design and typography. I swear, I didn't tie him to the chair or anything! He even tolerated me whooping every time a famous graphic designer (or even a term I learned this semester) came on the screen. Not to mention all the laughing I did at design jokes. Though, my behavior might have had a teeny bit to do with the 2 or 3 glasses of Chianti I had. *Ahem* Anyway, Chianti or no, I enjoyed the film. I especially enjoyed my non-artist non-designer husband watching it with me. Then again, I've watched an awful lot of sports with him. I regularly hear him cheering (or swearing) at the tv from 3 floors above. He probably knows that he owes me.
Next up? Basquiat. (It's already in our Netflix queue. Shhhhh...don't tell my husband!) (o:

Hot off the Press!

2008-05-13T06:12:00.000-07:00

Once again, this will be a short post. My last class of the semester is tonight, and aside from hitting a couple snags, my business card project is just about finished. (Keep an eye out for pics later this week!)
I still haven't had a chance to post pictures or blog about the gallery exhibit I attended on Friday, so I figured the least I could do is post some links for you. First, here's Gina's blog about her first show. There was also an article feature about her in today's Portsmouth Herald. Congrats, Gina! Here's wishing you continued exposure and success! (o:

Treasury

2008-05-12T06:23:00.001-07:00

I wasn't quick enough posting this, but I was in yet another treasury over the weekend. This one featured my newest hedgehog illustration:

That treasury has since expired, so unfortunately I can't link you to it. But that's the third treasury in 2 days that I was featured in! None of them made it to Etsy's front page, but I'm hoping someday one will.
I do have lots to blog about - the gallery exhibit this past Friday, my final project, and tomorrow's last class (for this semester, anyway), etc. However, I can't seem to find the time to create a lengthy post at the moment. I am sooo busy! I promise a more in-depth blog a bit later...possibly on Wednesday. For now, it's back to work! /o:

Starting off on a Good Foot!

2008-05-09T06:17:00.000-07:00

My Friday has gotten off to a great start! I opened my e-mail this morning to discover that I won a giveaway hosted by Deckled Edge Bindery. She was holding the contest to celebrate her 100th Etsy sale. All you had to do was drop her a line on her blog, she would collect everyone's comments and pull a name from a hat. As it turns out, that name was mine! I won one of her beautiful little handmade sketchbooks. I'm so excited! Just look at this gorgeousness:

I also received a second e-mail this morning from someone interested in having me create a commissioned piece for them. *Cheers quietly to self.*

THEN, I discovered I'm included in yet another treasury this week! This one was created by EllieDee and features my Pollinator bumble bee ornament:

I expect that today's awesomeness will continue into this evening. Directly after work, I'll be picking up my sister and driving out to see the first gallery show of fellow SCBWI member (and fantastic illustrator), Gina Perry:

This all follows on the heels of a fabulous night out with my husband last night. We had dinner at our absolute favorite little Italian restaurant, and then went to see Iron Man. We had great dinner conversation, and continued our discussions long after we got home. We've been together for so long, but somehow we never fail to still find something to gab about. Haha!
Anyway, here's hoping for an equally fabulous weekend. Cheers!

I'm in an Etsy Treasury!

2008-05-08T06:02:00.000-07:00

My Madame Meow plush character made it into an Etsy treasury this morning!

Go take a peek! Everything in this treasury is NH-Made. It was put together by a member of our Street Team, Sweet Lollipop Shop. (Yes, she actually makes yummy lollipops...that isn't just the name of her shop! Lol.)

Small World

2008-05-07T07:12:00.000-07:00

Last night was my second to last typography class of the semester. By next week, that journal of artist business cards will be done, and I will post pics of it on here for your viewing pleasure. (Or displeasure, depending on how it goes...lol.)

Aside from presenting our final 3 page magainze layout/spread, we had a guest speaker -- the talented graphic designer, Wing Ngan, of Ink Design. He's done graphic design for MIT, Harvard, and Houghton Mifflin to name a few. He's also been featured in loads of graphic design magazines. But what caught me by surprise was that he's an Etsy seller. Really. Go look. He sells adorable little gocco prints. I didn't say anything about my own shop (even though he was sitting right next to me). I just stashed the knowledge away and hearted him when I got home. Haha!

I have done both printmaking and silkscreening in the past, but had no idea gocco existed. They're teeny little silkscreening machines from Japan. Now that I know they exist, I MUST have one. Alas, they're a bit expensive and I don't have the funds at the moment. But it is the newest item on my wish list. Maybe I'll make a bunch of sales at once, and then have some spare cash to spurge on printmaking supplies. Hey - I can dream, right? (o;

Dirty Little Secret

2008-05-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

Well...ok, so maybe it isn't secret OR dirty, but I realized I never ever mention the fact that I have a second (non-Etsy) online shop.

Admittedly, I sort of ignore it. It was the first shop I ever opened, and I almost shut it down due to lack of sales. Almost as if the shop sensed this, I've suddenly been scoring occasional sales from it. Largely, it's been people buying items with my hedgehog and honeydew image on it. The original painting isn't for sale on Etsy since it's an important part of my business logo. Cafepress, however, is the perfect place for me to offer a print or reproduction. It seems people are happy to buy buttons, stickers, magnets, or anything else with Baxter's cute little face on it...which is great! So, I figured I'd give that shop a little TLC today, and admit its existence in my blog. Here it is:

http://www.cafepress.com/honeydewstudio

Cafepress works a lot differently than Etsy. Everything on Etsy is hand-made by me. I'm 100% responsible for the creation, packaging, and mailing out of my items. Cafepress however, is not about handmade. It's much more about commercial items--buttons, t-shirts, mugs, etc. On Cafepress, all I do is upload my artwork and choose the products on which I want my art to appear. Cafepress does all the work with the actual printing and shipping, etc. I get a small percentage of what the item costs. It's not really a bad deal if you're lazy and want to make a little money. People who like your work, but maybe can't afford an original, can always nab an inexpensive keepsake from Cafepress instead. There are really cute buttons, stickers, and t-shirts etc.

I did a lot of work on that shop this weekend, and it still needs more attention. I plan on revisiting (and revamping) the rest of it later this week. Let me know what you think!

Tiny Personal Goals

2008-05-01T18:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's important to set mini goals for yourself. They may not mean a whole lot, but you have something to strive towards. Not to mention that it feels great when you acheive whatever marker you set for yourself. Yesterday I reached one of my mini-goals. My Etsy shop finally recieved 200 hearts...and then went over that! (For those of you unfamiliar with Etsy or what this means, click here.)

I've never been one to go begging on the Etsy forums for hearts. That's fine for some people, but that's not me. I like the idea that my shop was just hanging out, someone stumbled on it and said to themselves, "Hey, this is pretty cool. I'm going to bookmark it." I just quietly promoted, networked, talked a lot to people on the forums, and kept posting my work. It's not a major accomplishment or anything (200 hearts is nothing to some sellers) but I'm still proud! Especially seeing as how the first year that my shop was open, I only had 23 hearts...for the entire year. It was only after I started promoting myself and going on the forums that I noticed my hearts were going up. Woo-hoo! Here's hoping for a year of even more learning and growth. (o:

Etsy Success Story

2008-05-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

I'll admit it...I'm on the Etsy forums most of the day. On one hand, I should probably log off and get some other things done. It is a really easy way to procrastinate. But on the other hand, I don't really think it's a waste of my time. I've learned so much by talking to other sellers about their experiences. I revamped my shop, gotten help with homework (I received the most artist business cards from Etsy folks), I've networked and increased my hearts 10 fold. (For those of you who are non-Etsians, "hearts" are a way for people to say, "Hey, love your shop!" and bookmark it in their Favorites.)

Anyway, that said, there was a great thread in the forum yesterday regarding Etsy's top (non-supplies) seller, The Black Apple. Her work is wildly popular - she's even been on the Martha Stewart Show.

I was chatting in that forum for a while but then finally logged off my computer to go work out. When I returned, I saw that The Black Apple herself had stopped by the thread to answer questions and to talk. Which, as far as Etsians are concerned, is the shop equivalent to having an A-list celebrity drop into a fan site. Everyone (me included) just thought that was really generous and nice of her to take time out of her very busy schedule to answer our questions. We can only dream of achieving the level of success her shop has gained. (I'll just have to cross my fingers that anthropomorphized animals become a massive hit someday...lol).

If you missed the thread, go check out the link I posted above. There's some great info in there!

Poll

2008-04-30T05:48:00.000-07:00

Which animals should I do more illustrations of? ( polls)

I was just notified by one of my readers that I entirely forgot to list forest animals (bears, deer, fox, wolf, etc). Please notify me in my comments section if you'd prefer forest animals. (Thanks Erin!)

The Culmination of my Quest

2008-04-28T15:54:00.000-07:00

Some of you might remember my Quest for The Perfect Travel Sketchbook blog from a few weeks back. I just wanted to give you guys an update. Thanks to my mom, my search is over. Look what she nabbed for me!

It's cute. It's portable. It's got built-in pencil holders! I'm in heaven. Mom, you're the best.

*Someday when I'm a billionaire, I'll upgrade and tote this beauty between my apartment in Paris and my small luxury home in Florence:

(thank you, Jennysbooks, for giving me a dream...) Lol.

Upcoming Art Shows

2008-04-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are in the area, I wanted to let you know about two upcoming shows at local galleries:

The first is an exhibit of the work of children's illustrators. It will be running for a month at Kennedy Studios in Portsmouth NH. Some of the artists exhibiting include Teri Wiedner, Robert Squier, and David McPhail...as well as our very own Gina Perry! She's a fabulous illustrator, member of my SCBWI crit group, and author behind The Pineapple Diaries. The opening is May 9th. I'll post further details as I get them.

The second gallery opening features fellow Etsy member, Scott Bulger. It's a solo exhibition of his photography at the Jill Coldren-Wilson Gallery on the campus of the Kimball-Jenkins School of Art in Concord, NH. The Artist Reception will also be on Friday, May 9, from 5:00 - 8:00 PM.

If you're free that Friday, attend a show (or two!) and support your local artists. (o:

Productive Procrastination

2008-04-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

I was busy with little projects this weekend. Basically, I've been procrastinating doing my homework (what else is new?). But at least it was a productive kind of procrastination! Check it out:Move over, Fred Astaire! It's the Tap Dancing Squirrel!

She's got sass and attitude (sassitude?), but why not? She is the Queen after all.

Sometimes it's ok to play with your food. This panda has decided to play us a song on a bamboo flute. If he gets hungry, he can eat it later...

Karate Koala. Need I say more?

All of these are for sale on my Etsy shop. I'm still in the process of posting them on my site, but bear with me...everything will be up by the end of the weekend.

Yes, yes, I know it's a van Gough...but does it match the duvet?

2008-04-24T05:09:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time (the summer after I graduated from college) in a land far far away (ok, so it was Cape Cod and that's only 2.5 hours away) I worked at a gallery. I thought I would take the summer to "find myself" while selling some art to the summer tourists and figuring out in what career direction to go with my oh-so-valuable illustration degree (the answer, as it turns out, was Office Space -- schlepping in Corporate America for many years while, with the exception of a few hard-to-come-by freelancing gigs, hardly using my expensive education at all. But I digress...)

I had mixed feelings about the "art" sold at this gallery. I won't get into it too much because the gallery would be easily identifiable and otherwise it was a great summer experience. Anyway, my summer job was located on the main street in one of the most touristy Cape towns ever. The clientele was obviously mostly of the tourist assortment, which makes for interesting characters every now and again.

Often, people would come in looking for something to match a specific room in their house. Sometimes they'd bring fabric swatches. On one particularly memorable occasion, two little old ladies dragged in an entire couch cushion (in an enormous hideous floral print) and held it up next to a framed painting! Keep in mind, I was freshly graduated from a highly respectable art college. I was full of pride, and was a little bit of an art snob. Watching those two ladies struggle with a cushion through the gallery made me mortified in a way I can't even describe.

Down the street from my job, there was an adorable little gift shop. They sold Fred Babb t-shirts. All summer long, I wanted to buy the one that said "Good art won't match your sofa".
I don't think they would've appreciated me wearing it to work, however. Especially as the owner of my gallery was making quite a cushy living doing exactly that. So I never bought it.

Fast forward to the present - I have since bought (and have decorated) a home of my own. Though I have never dragged a swatch OR a cushion into a store, admittedly much of the art in my house matches each room's color scheme. Or at least the "theme" of the room. But the wall decor in those rooms was intended as just that. Wall decor. You can find this stuff in the "home decor" area of any little home goods shop. It's certainly not fine art. Especially as all of them are reproductions.

However, I do own a couple original pieces. One small painting by my friend Jen, and the other - an original drawing by Angus Oblong (the illustrator of Creepy Susie and the animated show The Oblongs). Now, these particular pieces don't match anything. And I don't care. Unlike the stuff I bought at the chain home goods stores, that's not the point in owning them. I do think there's a significant difference. If you own an original work of art, and it just so happens to coordinate with one of your rooms, that's cool. But I don't think you should be buying fine art pieces simply because they match your coffee table.

In my own freelancing life, I've been commissioned to do pieces with a theme. This includes either a specific subject, or less frequently, a color. (IE - "She has a pink floral theme for the baby room") To me, those are still fine art. I'm not in the home decor business. No swatches, matching of image to duvet cover, or nit-picking of colors were involved in those commissions. Just a theme, and creative licence.

If you specialize in home decor or interior designing, that's one thing. Your whole job is to design items specifically for a room. That's not what I'm talking about. For a fine artist (or illustrator) to put their heart and soul into a work of art, then to have a couch cushion dragged in next to it in order to judge it's value...well, I still shudder.

It it just me? Do you guys think "Well, a sale is still a sale. Whether I match their sofa or not." Do you think that sort of mentality (on the part of the customer) lowers the artistic value of your work? Am I wrong? Anyone else have feelings on this? I'd be curious to hear back from you guys. Leave a comment for me! (o;

P.S. Especially since I may still buy that Fred Babb t-shirt after all...

Cruel Intentions

2008-04-22T19:41:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a couple days because I was off on an extended weekend. It involved a 6 hour car trip (approx. 12 hours round trip) to attend my grandmother's memorial mass. She passed away last spring shortly before my wedding. I saw a lot of family I hadn't seen in ages. It was exhausting, but nice.

I returned home on Monday to find a brand new comment on a pretty old post awaiting my approval. I denied the comment. I figured it was only fair to tell you guys why, and to establish a few rules for etiquette in my Comments section.

First, my statement of purpose: let me say that I started this blog as a way to talk about being an artist and everything that entails (the good, the bad, and the ugly). I wanted to explore all kinds of art forms, including crafting. I wanted it to be a means of supporting and connecting with other artists and craftspeople. Being surrounded by a great community of creative people is invaluable. Whether it's online or in a group you meet up with once a month (shout-out to SCBWI! I miss you guys and promise to be back at meetings in June). I think it's important. As artists, we support, inspire, and sometimes even commiserate with each other.

I LOVE hearing from my readers. Nothing makes me happier than to get lots of feedback and commentary on one of my posts. Even if you have a differing opinion from me, I'll be glad to put your comments up here. Being open minded and hearing different views is what it's all about. You can't expect to expand your horizons without taking a look at other options and ways of seeing the world.

That said, in some cases I do draw the line. If you intend to post a negative comment on my blog about anyone (that includes myself as well as the artists and sellers I feature) you'd better stick to the following rules:

a) have some solid facts to back up any accusations. Go ahead and include those facts within the text of your commentary.

b) attach your name (or at least your Blogger name) to aforementioned commentary so people can reply.

If you wouldn't say it to someone's face, then don't post it. If you're not willing to take credit for your comment, don't post it. It's that simple. There are real people behind these keyboards with real feelings and reputations to protect. There will be no hit-and-run smearing on this blog. Nasty comments with "anonymous" attached WILL NOT GET POSTED. If it won't fly on the Etsy forums, it's not going to fly in here, honey.

I don't expect this blog to always be sunshine, rainbows, and cupcakes (though the cupcakes would be nice!) But I do expect some common decency and respect for others. I don't think those boundaries are too difficult to follow.

*gets off soapbox and goes to bed*

The Art of the Comic Strip

2008-04-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

Did you miss me? (o;

I realize that this Thursday (almost Friday) post is insanely late, but it's been a madhouse at work recently. Then again, it always is this time of year...but, coupled with everything else going on in my life right now, I can barely keep up!

I thought I'd give myself (and everyone else) a little break and post some comic strips.

But first...allow me to digress into a mini-discussion about cartooning. At two different points in my freelance illustration life, I was hired to create comic strips for 2 different companies as part of their advertising campaigns. I can tell you from experience that comic strips are definitely an art form that should get some serious respect. That stuff isn't easy! (Also...I make one miserable excuse for a comic strip artist. Really. Don't ask me to do them anymore. The outcome is just sad.)

Anyway, I go through phases where I can get a bit obsessive with one thing. I will read/watch/devour or otherwise drown myself in that topic until I'm ready to move on. That goes for comic strips too. There's been many I've enjoyed, but I'll just give you a few examples. In high school I adored Calvin and Hobbes. Currently, I'm eating up the Get Fuzzy compilations. (Loooove!) Between those, there was period immediately following my college graduation where I became a worker bee in The Hive. We're talking corporate cubical life for barely any money, here. Basically, I was Dawn from The Office:

Or if you watch the American version, I would be Pam:Yep. That looks pretty familiar. And they were both artists who were clearly NOT working in their field. See what I mean...? Sigh.

Guess what was my favorite comic strip at that time? You got it...Dilbert! When you start identifying a little TOO much with Dilbert, I think you might have a problem. But, for your amusement (and sympathy), here are a couple comic strips I collected during that era of my life:

Panel #1 was what made me tear this one out of the newspaper. Tells you a little how I was feeling back then, huh?

This is just sad and true. And hysterically funny. I hope no one ever says that to me!!!

I gotta give props to Scott Adams for taking jabs at the establishment for the amusement of all working stiffs. You gotta laugh at your predicament or else it'll take you down. I'd also like to note that one of my all-time favorite quotes about art came from Scott Adams. I'll leave it as the last word of today's blog:

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." -Scott Adams

Confidence

2008-04-16T06:08:00.000-07:00

Last night's crit on my brochure layout went better than expected! I'm starting to feel a little confident about my design skills, and certainly more confident in my ability to learn quickly. We have only 3 major projects left and 4 weeks until the end of the semester. Yikes! After that's all done, the hubby and I are going on a weekend getaway for our first anniversary. So, at least I have something to look forward to at the end of my trials and tribulations!

In other good news, I made a sale yesterday! That was a pleasant surprise since sales are rare for me these days. I haven't had time to promote my shop or make any new items for a while, so it has been really stagnant. Lately, I've mostly used Etsy to buy from other artists and chat. My poor shop has sat there waiting for me to find time to pay attention to it. People seem to be liking my teeny little inexpensive drawings, though. Maybe I'll make some more this summer.

Other than that....when I can, I've been working on organizing my studio. Along with some little plastic tubs, I bought one of these from Target last week:

Note the signature "honeydew" color scheme? Yeah, I'm a sucker for that color. I saw a VW Bug on the road this morning in the same color and I was like, "Hmmm...." as my head filled with daydreams of driving around in one with Honeydew Studio stickers all over the back. I don't even particularly care about VW Bugs. I think it was just the color that nabbed me. Lol. Oh God.

Anyway, I want more bins, but all that our local Target had in stock was the one I bought. I even went back a few days ago, but alas - still out of stock. I'm thinking about buying more online. The only problem is that you must buy 2 at a time online, and it gets pricey with the shipping etc.

That's about all that's going on today. I hope it's as gorgeous outside in your neck of the woods as it is in mine!

Paul Rand

2008-04-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

In class a couple weeks ago, our teacher made us each pull a name from an envelope. Those slips of paper had the names of various graphic designers on them. Our newest ongoing assignment is to create a magazine spread for whichever designer we got.

I pulled Paul Rand. He's the one who designed the logos for UPS, IBM, ABC, and Enron (to name a few). It was a lucky draw, because I feel like I "get" Rand's work. It's modernist, simple, and witty.

Paul Rand passed away in 1996, but remains one of America's biggest names in graphic design. What I didn't know about him until my research this week, was that he designed a few children's books with his wife, Ann Rand. As an illustrator (who has been focused largely on the children's market in the past few years) this interested me. Take a look at some of his book covers:

The above cover is the french translation for Rand's book, I Know a Lot of Things. I mean, how adorable! That book (in any language) seems to be a collector's item now. The starting prices that I saw online were $40 and up.

The top two images are covers, and the lower images is a spread from one of the books. I think it's just gorgeous.

You know, it's funny...until this Typography class I didn't think about the people behind the designs we see every day. I guess in my mind, there were big corporations collaborating together and churning out logos and type like factories. I never thought of individual designers sitting behind their desks, brainstorming over letterforms and what way would best brand a company. Now I not only understand that many logos can be attributed to specific designers, like Rand, but I am starting to recognize and appreciate individuals and their work. It's sort of like a door opened up and I've discovered there's a whole other wing in this house that I haven't explored.

I still don't know if I'll ever be a good designer, myself (I still very much have an illustrator's brain). But I do feel like I'm learning and progressing by leaps and bounds. We'll see how I feel after the crit on my brochure layout tonight. I honestly have NO IDEA if it's good or bad. Usually I have some sort of inkling before class. Today? Nothing. I'm sure you'll hear about it either way. In the meantime, go look up Paul Rand online. You'd be surprised how many well-known easily recognizable logos are attributed to him.

The Actual Honeydew Studio

2008-04-14T05:50:00.000-07:00

I practically live in my studio. It's where I paint, sew, and do my homework. It's where all my art supplies are stashed, as well as my favorite books. I would post pictures, but it's currently also a disaster area. (And anyway, the whole nation will get to see it on HGTV in the 500 series of That's Clever.)

It may be a mess, but it's mine. We moved into our place nearly 3 years ago, and it was the first time I'd ever had a room JUST for my artwork. In my studio's past incarnation, it was a little girl's bedroom. On our arrival it was covered in a too-sweet shade of lavender paint, complete with pink carpet. Then I took over. I slapped a can or two worth of Behr paint in a shade called "honeydew" and moved my stuff on in. (My shop and blog name aren't so mysterious anymore, huh? Lol.) You've never seen a more gorgeous paint color than when the morning sunlight brightens that room. I spend more time there than anywhere else in the house.

The only problem is that it's on the top floor. That's fine for most of the year, but when the humid New England summer finally hits it's unbearable. Especially since all I have are two skylights in the ceiling which aren't air-conditioner friendly OR that helpful with any sort of ventilation.

Last summer, I had 4 commissioned paintings to complete. Could I work comfortably on my drafting table? Of course not. I had to abandon my studio for a TV tray in the living room where at least we had an air conditioner. I've put fans up there; I bought a massive dehumidifier. I've even tried aiming an air conditioner up the stairs. To no avail. You feel like you're trying to fight your way out of scorching hot (damp) plastic wrap up there. It's a sauna. You're guaranteed to be sitting in a puddle of sweat after even so much as a 5 minute venture up those stairs.
In the last couple years, we seem to have gone straight from winter into summer with no real spring to speak of. I'm hoping that, this year, I'll actually have a break before summer kicks in. All I want is some studio time after my classes end and before it becomes impossible to work up there. That's not too much to ask, is it?
It's a love/hate thing. I adore my studio. I hate that it's sort of a seasonal room. What's your working space like?

The Cure for Insomnia

2008-04-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

Eureka! I've found it! May I present to you the first drug-free cure for insomnia:

It's my copy of Typographic Design: Form and Communication.
Oh. My. God. I thought I'd reached the pinnacle of all dry, boring textbooks when I took an Architectural Theory class in my undergrad. I have to say that this book is in a close race for second in the category of Most Boring Reading Material EVER.

I have a lot of reading to finish up by next week for class. I thought I could plow through it last night. I made myself a ginormous cup of coffee, propped myself up on pillows, and sat on my bed to do some reading at 8 o'clock. Every two pages, I dozed off! This was sort of aggrivating seeing as how I didn't even feel very tired...plus I was pumped up on caffeine! Unreal.

I was literally swearing at the book last night. The writing is pretentious. It's like these guys are getting paid by the word. They'll take up 4 lines text and pack it full of 10 cent words to say something that could've been said in one easily digestable sentence. It's not like the concepts are beyond me, it's not even that the vocabulary is beyond me, it's just that I find the writing obnoxious. By the time I've finished reading their phrasing, my brain has shut itself down and I've slipped into a coma.

So, if any of you are having trouble falling asleep at night, put down the Lunesta and head to your local bookstore for the cure!

The Quest

2008-04-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

When most people go shopping, they see something they like, decide they want it, then buy it. This is the normal pattern of things. I, unfortunately, don't shop like a normal person. I get an idea in my head of a very specific item I want and then start hunting for it. I'm really picky, and won't spend money until the item for sale matches the item in my head. Sometimes this takes weeks. I will recruit friends to keep an eye out if I have to. I call these searches my "Quests". Past Quests have included "The Quest For The Perfect Flat Open-Toe Wedding Shoe", "The Quest for The Perfect B&W Polka dot Retro Dress", and "The Quest for a Semi-Metallic Not-Sparkly Sort of Neutral Eye Shadow". It may have taken ages, but I eventually found each one of these things.

That said, I have a new Quest. And I'm recruiting you guys to help me. This most recent Quest has been spurred on by the fact I'll be doing some overseas traveling this summer, and want to bring a sketchbook along. Of course, I don't want just any sketchbook. That would be too easy.

A couple years ago, I bought a present for a friend that was some sort of leather-bound sketchbook. When you opened the flap, there were slots inside the cover for a set of colored pencils. I've decided that I need a not-too-small not-too-big sketchbook with some sort of pocket or slots for art supplies. Of course, I can no longer find aforementioned sketchbook at the place I bought it. So, I need to find a different one. A collection of pencils, an eraser, and a pencil sharpener would probably be what I'm toting around. In the past, I've carried an easily portable sketchbook and an entire pencil case. That's sort of cumbersome, especially if you're trying to draw on the move. I really don't want to have to dig all of that out of my bag while standing in front of something sketch-worthy. I want to be able to pull the pencil right out of a slot in the actual sketchbook. It has to be big enough for significant drawing, but small enough for me to comfortably carry around several countries.

I started looking online yesterday. I found a bunch of sketch folios. These seem like a good idea if a) I wanted to carry a whole other bag around or b) I just needed to go sit in a field and draw, but didn't plan on moving for most of the day. It's a little bit too big. I also found a "compact portable" sketch folio, but that was too small. (Do I sound like the Goldilocks of Art Supplies yet?) I sort of like this sketchbook cover. I like that it's refillable. However, it's too expensive and I would like a little more organization that just a big pouch on the front.
Then...while browsing on Etsy and I came across a masterpiece:

It's (very fittingly) called The Artist Dream Sketchbook and is made by jennysbooks. Let me just post part of jennysbook's own description of this gorgeousness so you can know why I'm drooling. She says,

"This is a very hefty sketchbook. . . about 10" x 8.25" x 2.75"
My husband (also an artist) designed this style for himself and he loves it.
Your book will be custom made for you - I have included pictures of five different such sketchbooks that we have made."

"Your choice of motifs will be burned into the solid wood front cover by hand. The back cover is actually a box with a barrel-hinged lid that holds all your artist pencils, pens and even eraser. Both covers are dyed and sealed with a tung oil finish. The extra thick back cover makes a superbly stable surface to draw on. The book body includes approximately 360 pages of quality drawing paper plus a sheet of tracing paper between most pages. It is bound extra carefully and strong for lots of use. The spine is Kangaroo or goat leather and is topped off with furniture nails."

I want it!!! Except, it's also $350. And rightly so -- that sketchbook is a work of art in itself. If I owned it, I would never draw in it. Ever. My thumbnail sketches are completely intelligible to any eye but mine. I wouldn't want to put my scribbles in that book. That book deserves Da Vinci-level drawings. However, not drawing in a sketchbook sort of defeats its purpose. But jennybooks, just so you know, if given $350 of Etsy Bucks, that sketchbook would be mine!
In the real world I could never afford it, so alas - my affair with this sketchbook shall remain in only in my mind. Sigh.

Anyway, back to The Quest. I do realize I could hire someone on Etsy Alchemy to do this for me. However, that defeats the point of a quest. You'd be missing the point...I'm sure this item already exists somewhere in the real world. (Plus, hiring someone to make something from scratch for you can get pricey.) If you guys can direct me to the not-too-small not-too-big organized-with-pockets-or-slots-for-art-supplies sketchbook of my dreams (that I could afford and order online), I'd be forever grateful. (o:

The Grid is a system, Neo.

2008-04-09T06:36:00.000-07:00

It seems I wasn't the only one in Typography class last night who didn't "get" the whole grid layout concept. After a 5 minute explanation from the teacher, I felt like I had an inkling of understanding. Even though I don't feel completely secure in my knowledge, going from having NO clue to at least SOME clue was huge. I felt like I could suddenly see the Matrix.

For those of you (like me) who are coming from a non-graphic design background, I'll try to explain. Imagine blueprints for a house you're going to build. You've got the square footage, the rooms are all drawn out, and that's the plan. Once the house is built, you are free to renovate and knock down walls if you want. A grid is sort of like a blueprint in the world of page layout. You set your margins, number of columns and their width etc -- then you build your design on top of those standards. That's how I understood it, anyway.

Our prof. said the explanation of grid layout was all in our book. Okaaaay. Granted, I'm not yet 100% done with the reading. However, I read the stuff about grids and to me, it was jibberish. That Typography book is as dry as toast. I fell asleep on top of it at 5 o'clock in the afternoon the other day! I'm a firm believer in going back over the reading material in class - even if it's just a quick overview to see if anyone has questions. Which, clearly, we all did. I learn much better by seeing and doing. Looking over a magazine with the teacher and having him point out the underlying grid patterns helped my brain immensely. I have a starting point now. Now maybe I can make heads or tails of the next two layout assignments. At least I know I'm learning something, right?
Five more weeks of class before summer va-k. (o:

You know what day it is

2008-04-08T06:15:00.000-07:00

It's typography Tuesday! I have my class tonight. That means I usually have nothing to talk about except school this time of the week. (Sorry!)

But, on a positive note -- I sort of feel like Super Woman today.

I finished my logotype project and am pretty proud of how it turned out. I illustrated the honeydew shaped "O" for an image on the letterhead and the back of the business card. I kind of love it. (I'll post newer pics soon).

I also finished up the first portion of my brochure layout assignment. I'm not so proud of that one, but at least it's done. I'll be honest in saying I had ZERO idea what I was doing last night. Brochure layout...whaaa? You might as well have told me to write a paper in Russian. I just can't seem to get the concept of a grid down in my brain. I know what hierarchy is, but ugh. It's just not working out. Even if my samples are abysmal (which I'm pretty sure they are) I'm not super worried. I seem to be learning really fast and I'm sure the crit will set me on the right path.

Other than that, we have a quiz tonight and I have no idea what we're expected to know. The only thing he told us for sure we'd be quizzed on are hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes. Well, I know what those are. Let's cross our fingers that's the only thing on this quiz. Especially since I didn't finish some of the reading I was supposed to do (gulp!).

After all of that, I somehow found the time to make a semi-complicated stew at the last minute and throw it into the slow-cooker overnight. Usually my poor hubby can forget about a home- cooked meal until Wednesday. Granted, I was still cooking at midnight last night, but at least we have dinner for the first half of the week.

Full time work, plus homework, plus commuting, plus school, and I still manage to be one mean cook? Seriously, where's my cape? (o;

Featured Artist: Amy L. Rawson

2008-04-04T06:05:00.000-07:00

I'm in love...

...with Amy L. Rawson's sculpture pieces!

I discovered Amy's work through her Etsy shop, Draig Athar Designs. Though the majority of her shop consists of cute little felted plushies and wool batts, what caught my attention were the 4 sculptures she had for sale. They were gorgeously crafted, and I couldn't help but notice that each piece had a story behind it. (It must be my illustration background, because I adore when a work of art is attached to a tale.)

Though I've featured artists on this blog before, I've never had the opportunity to post a Q and A. Amy was kind enough to take the time to answer a pile of questions I e-mailed to her. That said, I'd like to present Honeydew Studios' first Featured Artist interview!

Honeydew Studio: Where does your inspiration come from?

Amy L. Rawson: My art doll sculptures are often inspired by myths, legends, folk tales, as you've noticed.

HS: How do you find these stories?

ALR: Usually once I have the theme to start from, I just browse the internet or dig through books until I find a story that sparks my interest. Someone once told me that good art should do one of two things: capture an emotion, or tell a story. I guess I just end up telling stories more often.

HS: What is it about a particular story that will make you want to create a piece based on it?

ALR: This is something that started almost by chance for me, to be honest! I've always loved myths and legends, but I didn't start sculpting them until one day when I was at a loss for what to work on next. I had an urge to sculpt but no ideas ready to go. Well, I have a deck of animal cards, it's called an animal oracle. It's something like a tarot deck, but I don't much use it for that. I just liked the animal artwork, heh. When I couldn't think of an idea to work on, I pulled out the animal deck and drew a card at random. It was the Crane. I decided to use that as a starting point, so I went browsing through books and webpages for stories about cranes. That's how the Crane Woman sculpture was born. That method of idea generation was so much fun, I kept doing it.
I found I quite liked anthropomorphic art, too, so the animal cards were perfect. Drawing the Seal card led me to the myth of the Selchie. Drawing the Raven card grew into my Hugin and Munin sculpture. The Wolf card gave birth to La Loba, and so on! I like art challenges, when the topic of themes is provided by an outside source, whether it be a group challenge theme or one identified at random by my deck of animal cards. My sculpture of Farmer John came from a group challenge theme of 'pumpkins' and led me to meeting a very talented singer/songwriter, Peter Mayer, who wrote a song about pumpkins who were nervous about becoming jack-o-lanterns. Another group challenge theme of 'emotions' is where Worry and Fear came from.

HS: What's your process? Do you sketch your ideas first?

ALR: I do sketch my ideas first, usually as a guide to construction because my sculptures involve a lot of different media and stages until they are finished. I may have some of my sketches somewhere online if you want pics. I don't usually make models first, though sometimes I will photograph people in the poses I'm aiming for, to use as a reference. I did that with the Kappa - I made my sister squat down like the Kappa is, for lots of photos, heh.

HS: Do you create a model or a mock-up? What materials do you use?

ALR: I use lots of different materials, that's the glory of doll art. Generally, my sculptures have a wire armature with hard-sculpted extremities (head, hands, feet) in either polymer clay, epoxy clay, or paperclay, and then painted. I create some sort of soft body, either wrapped and stuffed or needle felted. Then the clothing and embellishments can be anything - fabric, fur, leather, feathers, beads, lace, you name it. I have drawers full of little objects that I gather over time and save until they turn out to be exactly what I need for some particular project.

To see more of Amy's work, head on over to her website. Once there, you can read her bio and see much more of her sculpture work as well as her beautifully realistic oil paintings.

Life. Unplugged.

2008-04-03T06:12:00.000-07:00

I think I need to unplug myself.

I don't watch a whole lot of TV. It's not that. Aside from the Daily Show, there's nothing I watch regularly. I have never even heard of some of the shows my coworkers discuss at lunch (I'm about to come off snotty, but oh well. More than half of it is total garbage! How do these things even make it on the air???) No, my problem is the computer. I'm starting to feel that it's a giant black hole sucking up all my time.

Unfortunately, the majority of that can't be helped. I have to be on the computer for my job. I also have to do my homework for typography class on the computer. (Helloooo Adobe!) But when I have a minute of free time between those two things, I'm endlessly answering lengthy e-mails, browsing online, or doing something in Etsy. (Anyone else addicted to the Etsy Forums? OMG. I'm awful!) Plus, being online feeds into my tendency to procrastinate. Hours slip by me unnoticed. There are clear warning signs that carpel tunnel is in my future. I don't even need a crystal ball to tell me that. This can't be good.

One night last year, my internet went down so I shut my computer off for the evening. Suddenly, I seemed to have LOADS of time. The amount of things I could get done in an hour was staggering.

I've decided to start weaning myself off of my internet dependency by reading more. Technically, it shouldn't be too hard. My hubby and I are a couple of bibliophiles. We have geeked it out on many a date to Barnes and Nobles. We read aloud to each other before bed each night. (I know, I know. Most of my friends have threatened to puke when I tell them that.) At any given time, there are a dozen books I want to buy. On top of that, I have probably 2 dozen books laying around the house that I haven't gotten around to reading or finishing yet. I think I'm going to start working on the pile.

In my artwork, a major source of inspiration for me is fairy tales, folklore, and mythology. I did A LOT of work based around those things in college. I have read more stories than is reasonable. One of my bookshelves is dedicated to fairy tales and myths from all over the world. I have a fabulous book that I started reading ages ago but never finished. I've picked it up again this week and wonder why I ever put it down in the first place. It's called Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art by Lewis Hyde. It's really well-written. How can that not be right up my alley?

After this semester is over, and I adjust to spending only 75% of my time on the computer (rather than 99%) I think I'll undertake a massive organizational overhaul of my house. And get back to painting. It's been almost a year since I had a pile of ongoing paintings.
Plus, not to jinx anything, but the smallest signs of spring are starting to show up. That means I won't be cooped up in the house much longer. Hopefully the Internet withdrawals won't be too bad. Wish me luck! (o;

Honey-do homework

2008-04-02T06:04:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd finally show you guys one of the projects I've been working on for class. This is my *brand new* Honeydew Studio logo. Last week in class, my logo samples went down like the Titanic. This week, I ditched everything and started from scratch. After busting my butt, e-mailing back and forth with my teacher, and discussing it at length with my brother-in-law (who is a professional graphic designer) I came up with this resolution:

That pic is kind of a crappy copy. Sorry. I don't know how well you can see it, but there are little seeds inside the "O" to represent a honeydew melon. I'm thinking about saturating my greens a little more since they don't show up real well on white paper. Especially the "o"s. I want them to be a bit closer to lime green. The other half of the project for this week was to design two samples each of letterhead, a business card, and an envelope. Since I spent so much time on the logo itself, I had to crank the rest of the project out last minute. After seeing everyone's professional-looking work hanging up on the wall during class last night, I was completely ashamed to show my cobbled and glued together mess. I could barely hear all the nice things people had to say about my logo, because I was so appalled at my stationery set. Thankfully, some of my ideas were at least shining through my horrid craftsmanship, and I was able to come away with a plan for next week. I'm eager to get to work on it.

I feel a lot better today. I suppose this cycle of stress and anxiety will continue every week until I'm done the program. (Ugh.) I only have one class this semester, and am starting to wonder how I survived two classes last semester. In the fall, I'll be back to taking 2 courses again. I am not looking forward to it. At least my blog readers will get a whole summer reprieve from me whining about school before I turn spastic again. Haha!
Anyway I'm motivated enough to start working on this week's assignments immediately. I hope I can get it done, get a head start on project #2, and have time enough to enjoy myself this weekend. (I am attending a Margret Cho show with the fabulous Ms. Sarah of The Pink Shoe Diaries.) And maybe...just maybe...I can start sketching cover art idea for Ryan's Life in Orbit album. (I hear you cheering, Ryan. But don't get your hopes up too much! Lol.)

Life in Orbit (album art)

2008-04-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

I am on Day Two of having a horrible week, but I'm determined not to keep complaining on my blog. (Even though not a single thing has been going right for me since yesterday). *Deep breath*. For my own mental health as well as yours, I'm moving on!

As I've mentioned in a previous blog - my best friend, Ryan, is a musician out on the West Coast. (That's a picture of him above...with a light bulb in his mouth. Yeah. I don't know either.) After years of talking about it, he's finally put together an album. He's not on a record label or anything - this is entirely a self-produced (and funded) effort. That said, it needs album art...free album art. Or as my brother-in-law would say, his budget is "free 99." Haha! Maybe it's funnier if you say it out loud. Sigh...

Anyway, the art part (and the free-for-best-friends part) is where I come in, apparently. He's been busy laying on the guilt real thick in order to get me to work something up for him before mid-April. As you are well aware, I have (what seems like) 100 difficult ongoing projects for my Typography class in addition to a full-time job. I have to pencil in dates with my own husband. Spare time is a luxury I don't have right now. Even though I'd normally love to do it, I'm afraid it just might not be possible at the moment. Though, I really really want to.

Just because I haven't had a chance to physically work up even so much as a rough draft for him doesn't mean I haven't been sketching things out in the back of my mind.
Since his album is titled "Life in Orbit", we have ourselves a readily accessible theme. I've been daydreaming of little 1950's stylized outer space illustrations, semi-cartoony rocket ships, and a retro color palate. Inside my head, little stars have been shooting around the Milky Way. I've been thinking about font.
Turns out Ryan has been thinking the same thing. He sent me samples of the style of album art he'd like. He sent me an e-mail and attached a lot of vintage outer space images. Granted, we've been friends since high school so it's probably not surprising that we're on the same page. But having the same vision as your client (paying client or not) is really helpful and makes me want to get to work. I love the idea of collaboration between musicians and visual arts. I'm just afraid my schedule is too much of a nightmare right now.

*Side note to Ry: What's with the random April deadline? If you'd just be patient and wait until this summer, I could so totally get it done! I'd have all kinds of time, and it would be fabulous. Why you gotta make this difficult? (o;

In the meantime, here are a few links for your listening pleasure: You can go take a peek at Ryan's music and pics on his MySpace page. He's also collaborated with his friend and fellow musician, Celene, on a project called Undercover Love. It's their strange and comical take on a variety of cover songs. Enjoy!

Misery Monday

2008-03-31T06:28:00.001-07:00

What's that saying..."If you don't have anything nice to blog about, don't blog at all"? Or something like that. Sorry everyone, but I won't be following that rule of thumb today. For everyone's sake, I'll try to keep this venting session down to a minimum.

Over the week, I was very diligent and spent quite a bit of time on my 3 different typography projects. Somehow, all my hard work has NOT paid off. I have found myself facing a ton of work to finish up before class tomorrow. So much, in fact, that I almost feel as if I should've called in "sick" to work today. I didn't. What I am skipping today is the gym and grocery shopping (even though we have no food in the house). I'm going straight home after work.

All elements seem to be conspiring against me. Last night I planned to have at least one project done, but I had major issues with printing. Then, at midnight (the icing on the cake) my black ink cartridge completely ran out. There's more complications: I had to retrace my steps and re-design my logo from last week's failed assignment. That set me back on the second half of that project. I'm concerned the time constraints are going to make the rest of my efforts unsuccessful as well.

I remember being this stressed out (and more) in undergrad. But at least back then I was in school full-time and it was my main focus. Being a grown-up working full time and being in school is a whole other ball of wax. I am so cranky today. Anyone else having a miserable Monday morning?
P.S. For a happy post with lots of pictures, scroll down for yesterday's blog!

Currier Museum of Art: Grand Reopening

2008-03-30T06:11:00.000-07:00

As I blogged earlier this week, today is the grand reopening of the Currier Museum of Art. The museum has been closed for over a year and a half due to its expansion and renovation efforts. (You can also read more about it here in the Hippo Press.)
I attended with my sister and brother-in-law. We arrived just in time to see the last several minutes of the ribbon-cutting ceremony. I took a few pictures and thought I'd give you a sneak peek into my day:

This was the view from one of the side streets leading up to the museum. The first thing you can see is sculpture piece newly acquired by the museum. It's titled "Origins"; the artist is Mark di Suvero. That statue stands in the Currier's new plaza area. (There's now parking in front as well.)

Closer...

...closest! This was taken at the base of the sculpture.

Some of the media covering the ribbon cutting.

A few of the costumed musicians playing for the ribbon cutting. Within the museum, there were even a few actors dressed up in period costume as the artists of the time. One was even strolling around complete with brush and palate!

This is the new Winter Garden Cafe. Previously, this area was the front of the museum. I remember seeing, from the street, those lovely 1930's mosaic murals and the columns flanking the doors. Now they are enclosed within a lovely glassed in area with galleries on either side. I have to say, I'm rather glad the murals are protected from the weather now. I'm not sure how well you can see them in my picture, but you can get a feel for the new cafe.

In fact, here's a map of the new layout. It was in the little booklets the museum staff handed to us as we entered.

Here is one of the many activities going on over there today. These gals had a table where they were making balloon sculptures based on the Mark di Suvarno piece I posted above. Cute, non? And a great way to get the children involved.

There were quite a few families at the grand opening today. In the European art gallery, I heard an adult ask a little girl (who couldn't have been much older than 6 or 7) which painting was her favorite. She pointed to "A Knock at the Door" by Laura Alma-Tadema(1897). "What do you like about it?" the adult asked. "I like her dress. I think she hears somebody knocking." said the little girl. Awww! What a great way to get kids interested and involved with art. I hope I can do the same someday when I have children.

I didn't take any photos of the 2D artwork within the museum. I have a few reasons for this. First and foremost, flash photography is not allowed. It's very damaging to paintings, drawings, printmaking pieces etc. Think about how old some of these works of art are. They're being protected by particular museum lighting and climate. The only way I can explain it is - think about what happens to a bumper sticker stuck in the back window of your car all summer. Eventually over time, it gets bleached. Repetitive flash photography can aid in the disintegration of some of the pigments in these works. I cringe every time I see a big flash in a museum.

It is fine however, to take personal non-flash photographs, but I choose not to do that either. My argument is this - you're at the museum to see art "in person". If you wanted to see a photo of it, there are art photographers who have done a much better job than you at documenting the work. Why bother going to the museum at all? Just buy a book or find a picture on the web. (Personally, I like to find little postcards in the giftshop on the way out).

Hang on a second while I climb back down off my soapbox. Ah. That's better.

That said, I am gung-ho for bringing your sketchbook. As an artist, there's so much to learn from sketching master works. One of these days, I'm going to pick a quiet evening to hang out, wander around, and draw. I would encourage anyone interested in art to do the same...even if you don't think you're much of an artist! You might be happily surprised. Inspiration can come from a wide variety of sources. I had a great time today and felt like I'd recharged my creative batteries a little.

If you live in the area, you should definitely take a trip to see all the new changes in the museum - especially since this first week is free admission. Woo-hoo!

Illustration Friday: Homage

2008-03-29T05:22:00.001-07:00

This is yet another previously created illustration that I felt was appropriate for this week's topic. (I swear, someday I'll do it properly and create a new illustration specifically for the topic du jour). In the meantime, there's this. The little boy is painting a portion of Picasso's "Woman Seated in a Chair" which is in the collection at The Currier Museum of Art. This was my sneaky little homage to the first Picasso painting I ever saw. I blogged about it and the museum this past week. Enjoy!

P.S. This is my 50th post!!! *does a little dance*

Merry Christmas! Wait. Whaaaa...?

2008-03-28T05:18:00.000-07:00

Oh sorry, I was having a dream where there was a raging snow storm going on outside and...AAAAAACK!

It's no dream! This is the scene I work up to this morning. I wish I could animate this photo to show you how heavy and fast it was coming down. Welcome to "spring" in New England. One of my favorite old jokes about the area is that we have 4 seasons - Almost Winter, Winter, More Winter, and Construction. I believe we're currently in the "More Winter" stage. Last year we had two April blizzards.
Since I work for a school district, this means it's a day off for me. Yep. I wish I could tell you I'm going to do something marvelous and creative with my day. But what I plan on doing is chipping away at my typography homework. Sorry to disappoint you. Trust me, I'd much rather be finishing that painting for my dad or trying my hand at some ATCs.
Since I have the time this morning (and a big cup of coffee which I have the ability to refill) I'm going to do something a little different in my blog today. I woke up to find that I've been tagged by DivaDea to write 7 random facts about myself. I'm not about to let a fellow Etsian down, so here we go. First, the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as their blogs. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Get it? Got it? Good. Here's my seven:

1. Hi, I'm Nicole, and I'm an NPR addict. I'm serious. There is no such thing as silence in my house. The radio is on ALL THE TIME. I started listening to it in college because, one summer, my friend had an internship at NPR in Washington D.C. and I missed her. Now I can't stop. On the upside, I'm more informed about the news than I've ever been in my entire life.

2. My husband has been friends with my sister (and best friends with my brother-in-law) since high school. Even though we grew up right down the street from each other and attended the same church on that street - we never met once. Not until after I had graduated from college.

3. I love seafood, but hate scallops. I keep thinking I should like them so I keep trying them, and still hate ‘em every single time. I think it may be a texture thing.

4. My favorite flowers are lilacs. In the house I grew up in, there was 2 giant bushes of them below my bedroom window. One purple, one white.

5. I used to have a canary named Beck. His name had meaning on several levels. Like the singer Beck, my canary was blonde & could sing. “Bec” in French means “beak” and can also mean to give “a little kiss”. As in “a peck on the cheek”. I thought I was terribly clever.

6. When I was a kid, I took dancing lessons. I tap danced for 8 years. (Sometimes I still kind of miss it!)

7. I often drink tea or some other hot beverage while I’m painting. There’s been many occasions where I’ve almost drank out of the water cup I was washing my brushes out in. (Haven’t yet. Though, I have washed my brushes off in hot chocolate by mistake.)

That's it! It might not be 7 people, but here's a couple gals who I plan on tagging: Sarah at Pink Shoe Diaries, Gina at Pineapple Diary and Pat's Motorcycle Travels blog.
Enjoy!