coming soon!

I have quite a few projects going right now and I couldn't be more pleased. One thing I've been meaning to do is update my Etsy Shop with new postcards, greeting cards, and other paper goodies! I'm busy photographing all of my new products and I hope to get them up in my shop pretty soon.

Here is a small preview of a floral postcard set.. Peonies, Anemones, Tulips, oh my!

ships in a bottle

Thinking of filling my Etsy Shop with hand-built and painted clay pieces. It's been a few years since I did any hand building, but I really like it! I forgot how much fun it is. This is a piece based on a quick doodle I did the other day. Someone on instagram suggested it would make a cute plate.. so here we are!

surfer chick

If I had a surfboard I'd like to do this. Preferably in some clear blue ocean water with colorful coral and tropical fish. As it happens, I don't own a surfboard, I can't surf, and I'm not in tropical paradise, but I can dream and I can draw.

florals

I've been drawing flowers like crazy lately. Some are for orders and some are for fun because I just love flowers.

Other than obsessing over flowers, I've been job hunting and working on a makeover for my Etsy Shop. I want it to have more of a wedding focus. I think this idea might have something to do with the fact that soooo many of my friends are getting married these days and many of them have asked me to design or illustrate things for their weddings. Working on these projects for my friends has made me realize that I really like designing for weddings.

Then there's that job hunting thing. While I really like working freelance, I do miss working on a team! I'm ready to get back into a 9-5 (or whatever it might be) job with a commute and co-workers. If I can find a graphic design job that includes illustration I would be so thrilled. Or an illustration job that includes graphic design! I'm not picky.

sketchbook on tumblr

I started uploading all of my sketchbook drawings to tumblr. I like having all my drawings in one place because in real life they are in about 6 different books!

congratulations, friends

Water color illustration for my dear friends Cait and Adam. I love them and they just got engaged over the weekend! I'm so happy!

us

a quick illustration of us.. just because. hand drawn/ type set in photoshop.

split complimentary Christmas colors

This year's Christmas card! I drew each of these little icons by hand and scanned them into Photoshop to handle the rest. Originally, I made the entire card dark green, but I just finished a class in color theory- I had to apply some of my new knowledge, hence the split complimentary colors. I love graphic design. Merry Christmas!

iPhone Case Designs

iPhone Cases! I turned my illustrations into iPhone cases! They're available through Society 6.

hand lettered quote

I drew this for Merry and Lenin as part of their wedding gift.. coincidentally, it was also the reason I was running so late for their wedding. (we made it!)

Whales

New watercolor illustrations. I've been obsessed with whales for the past few days after seeing "Frozen Planet" on the Discovery Channel. I just want to paint them all day long. I think Belugas will be next.

(prints are here)

new

I decided that I need an illustration portfolio. I think it's what I really want to pursue. "think" being the operative word. over the past year and a half i've dabbled in everything from illustration to jewelry to pottery to print making. I think it was a good experiment and now I really feel that illustration is where I want to focus my energy. it feels a bit like a weight off my shoulders.. to at least know what path I want to take instead of having so many optional paths on the table. (of course this doesn't mean that I will quit all the other forms of art I enjoy all together. that would be silly!)

my new portfolio is still being compiled, but i think it will be ready to share soon! For now, just the homepage and some new things I've finished. Finn the Duck Tolling Retriever, Sonny the Golden Retriever, and "The Night Circus" tent as I imagine it.. before they make a movie out of that book. Have you read it? I liked it a lot.

p.s. just rediscovered Norah Jones' album, "The Fall."  It is SO good. AHH. So glad I'm listening to it again.

florida in illustrations

(2/28: happy birthday alexi!)

sketch

My sketchbook has been getting a lot of action lately. I'm really into pet portraits right now. I've whipped up 3 in the past 2 days and I can't wait to send them off to their new owners. (Except for the portrait of Boo above.. that is mine, of course!)

Speaking of Boo..these little monsters have been running a muck. Boo is loving that his 2 fluffy little girlfriends have been over to visit. I'm puppysitting them right now. It's so cute to watch them all play together.

new work and process

"Reading Nook" - Pencil on7 x7in Bristol

process:

I was happily surprised to find a bunch of images on my iPhone of the progress of my newest drawing. I really don't even remember snapping them, but they pretty much show my thought process and the order in which I added each element.

The layout for this image came to me as I drew. I knew I wanted to draw wallpaper, but other than that, my pencil told me what to do. The painting above the fireplace took the most thought. I couldn't think of what to put there since it would only be the bottom half of an image. Finally, after much deliberation I drew the sun setting behind a forest. Human faces are my biggest challenge, so I always save those for last.

I'm really happy with the way this drawing came out. I haven't spent this much time on one piece in a while and it felt good.. to really work on something.

a collection of natural things

3b pencil on bristol

This was my Wednesday evening. 

Time for Modern Family (yesss!) and since I recorded it I can speed through the obnoxious commercials (yesss! again)

us

black & white acrylic on 12x16in canvas

This was one of the Christmas presents I made for Matthew. Our trip to Yosemite on canvas.

Christmas Eve painting

I used this photo to wish you a Merry Christmas Eve. I loved it so much I decided to paint it. Here is what I came up with:

Marissa, Boo the reindeer and I. black acrylic on 8.5x11 canvas

I'm going to start offering custom paintings like this in my Etsy Shop soon. As soon as I finish a few big orders and have a bit more time to devote to painting. I do miss it though!

Pumpkin Art

Today Matt and I did our first ever art project together (in our 2+ years!).. pumpkin carving! Actually, he's pretty lucky this was our first project because a long time ago I had this brilliant idea to try painting with him and not just painting, but finger painting. That idea never came to fruition and it's a good thing because apparently Matt hated finger painting as a child. Who knew? He didn't like to get his hands dirty.. I'm still laughing about that one, Matt! When I was little you couldn't keep my hands out of paint.. or dirt for that matter.. and I hated washing my hands.

I spent the morning searching for block printing ink online after realizing I have a ton of inks, but none of the colors I need for a new product I'm working on- of course. Then we drove out to Hicks Nursery and glanced at some petting zoo type animals, walked through the Christmas themed sections, and searched for round pumpkins. Seriously.. finding round pumpkins around here is no easy task, but we managed. 

I'm so proud of him.. his golf course pumpkin came out great- he's such an artist!

We baked the seeds too.. added some olive oil, salt, cayenne pepper, honey, and cinnamon.. fantastic.

p.s. Matt really baked the seeds on his own. I tried to bake them from my first "house" pumpkin last night and.. fail. Burned. All of them.. completely black. Cooking and I are not friends.

ps.s ok, who noticed that my dog is winking at you in the black and white photo up there? 5 points if you noticed!

Teacups

This weekend was mostly gloomy as far as the weather goes. I was fairly productive really productive (I made so many teacup related things).. drawing teacups, carving stamps for printing, updating my Etsy Shop with some new prints, totes and notebooks, playing with Boo, dreaming up new ideas and whatnot.

I think I'm going through something of a teacup phase. It must have started last week when I went for a cup of tea instead of my regular coffee. I like tea. Especially when it's served in a fancy teacup.

I'm also going through a sketchbook phase. I am really bad at keeping up with sketchbooks. I use 1 or 2 pages and than forget about it. I really love the idea of filling one with all of my thoughts and drawings, it's just really hard to do!

Do any of you keep a sketchbook? Do you share your drawings on your blog? I'd love to see!