Friday Phrase

Today's Friday Phrase is something to remember this Black Friday - "Take It Slow".

Make Art That Sells (MATS) Part A Blog Hop/ MATS Review

As you can tell from previous posts I took the class Make Art That Sells Part A.  A few days after the class was over someone suggested doing a blog hop where every participant talks about their experience with the course.

Here is an overview of the projects I worked on:

Week One: Bolt Fabric:
This week our assignment was to create a bolt fabric collection using berries and vintage pyrex.  I challenged myself by embracing my love of cute things.  In this piece also wanted to play around with fun colors.  Previously I have been shy of creating cute items because I have a background in fine arts and creating simple cute things seems to contradict my education. I learned this week that I should listen to what my heart says and that it's just fine to create cute items - our teacher told us that cute things sell!

Week Two: Home Decor 

This week I wanted to do a more realistic approach to the assignment.  I thought home decor would be a good market for this approach. The assignment was to create a two to four plate collection about bromeliads.  I decided to include the scientific names of the plants as well.  I learned this week that I am comfortable doing both realistic and stylized cute items for decorative arts.  If I were to approach this assignment again I might go in a more vector/graphic direction.

Week Three: Children's Books

This week we were illustrate a cover for the Russian folktale The Language of the Birds.  I decided to change the setting of the story to being in New Zealand and have the birds be kiwi birds.  This week I challenged myself by going against the original setting of the story and also changing some character designs halfway through.

Week Four: Wall Art

This week our assignment was to create a piece of wall art for a 25-45 year old female that had at least one word and one flower.  After starting with one project I decided to go in a completely different direction.  I don't know why I chose a cactus, but it felt right.  I also found a great quote to accompany this desert plant. 

Week Five: Gift

This week was my biggest breakthrough in the class.  I challenged myself to work in a style and color palette that I'm not used to.  I'm also used to creating work that is bold and simple with not much detail.  Our assignment this week was to create a hyper lush zipper case (that was a reflection).  I started out creating simple objects and kept adding more and more details (which was something new for me).  It was a challenge, but I was pleasantly surprised with the final piece.  It is busy, but I think I balanced it out with some non-cluttered spaces. 

My overall impression:

I learned much from this course.  The assignments pushed me to try new approaches and subject material I never would have chosen for myself.  It felt good to try new things and stretch my artistic skills.  The most important thing I learned from this course was about how important it is to create well designed, detailed icons.  The community that also took this class is such a great resource as well.  We have a group on Facebook where we can ask each other questions, support each other, and more.  I would recommend this class if you're interested in learning more about how to market your artwork for various markets.



Today I'm sharing the blog hop with Eva Marion Seyffarth of Eva Twinkles Design and Illustration.

I'm so happy to share my blog hop day with Eva!  Her work is so great!  I love her use of color and texture.  I also love the process work that she does - from doodling to stamping and even paper cutting! It all inspires her beautiful final product.

Here is Eva's piece from week two of the course - love that texture and color!

You can find Eva's blog here: http://eva-marion-seyffarth.blogspot.de/

Her website is here: http://eva-twinkles.de/

Here is a list of everyone else participating in the blog hop:

Angie Sandy - http://www.angiesandy.com/blog
Katie Wood - http://www.katiewoodillustrations.blogspot.co.uk/
Anne Waters - http://annewatersdesign.com/blog/
Aisha Khan - www.aishaandherwork.blogspot.com
Linda Tordoff  - www.paintlovestudio.blogspot.co.uk
Martina Lenhardt - www.ma-len.blogspot.com
Melissa Doran - www.goradiate.ie
Jo Chambers - www.studiolegohead.blogspot.co.uk
Son Atwal - www.applekaur.com/blog
Bari J. - http://www.barij.typepad.com
Eva Marion Seyffarth - www.eva-marion-seyffarth.blogspot.de
Rachael Schafer - www.rachaelschaferdesigns.com
Danielle McDonald - http://reddogandjude.blogspot.com.au/
Renske de Kinkelder - www.renskedekinkelder.com
Jordan Vinograd Kim - http://www.foundandrewound.com/blog/
Emma Schonenbergh - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Emma-Schonenberg/175939639128136
Aileen Tu - http://aileentu.com/blog/
Sarah Ehlinger -  www.verysarie.com
Jen Burbridge -  www.madebyburbs.co.uk
Carolina Coto - www.carolinacotoart.com
Anna Whitford - www.rosanna-rossi.co.uk
Mary Tanana - http://www.barij.typepad.com
Jennifer Wambach - http://jennartdesigns.blogspot.com
Victoria Johnson - http://victoriajohnsondesignblog.blogspot.it
Nic Squirrell - http://nicsquirrell.blogspot.com
Melinda Hopkirk - www.crouchriverstudio.com
Jennifer Appel - http://www.jaillustration.com/
Wendy Brightbill - http://www.agirlandherbrush.wordpress.com
Andrea van Dalen - http://dreamkeeperfae.blogspot.nl/
Ohn Mar Win - http://illustrationsouljourney.blogspot.co.uk/
Jill Byers - http://jillbyers.blogspot.com
Sarah Gager - www.sarahgager.com
Angie Sandy - http://www.angiesandy.com/blog
Diane Neukirch - http://dianeneukirch.blogspot.com
Larisa Hernandez - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Larisa-Hernández/166215440228435
Kathy Weller - http://www.wellerwishes.blogspot.com
Kim Fleming -
Lisa Deighan - http://www.lisadeighan.com
Deb Trevitt - http://www.debtrevitt.com/blog/
Tara Lilly - http://taralillystudio.blogspot.com
Nicole Piar - http://www.ghostkittendesign.blogspot.com/
Stacy Peterson - http://stacypeterson.net/blog
Emily Dyer - http://www.emilydyer.com/blog
Antje MO (Martens-Oberwelland) - http://antje.art.com

What I'm Thankful For Blog Hop

Today I am participating in the "I Am Thankful For" Blog Hop.

I have so many things to be thankful for I can't possibly list them all here.  Today I will focus on two main things that I am very appreciative for.


First I'd like to thank my family, friends, and boyfriend for their love and support.  My freelance and design career would not have started without them.
They are all inspirations to my work.  I don't know where I would be without them.

Second, I'm thankful for Etsy, for being a platform where I can start my business.  I've enjoyed being able to create things that I love and I always feel joy when someone else buys my work.  I hope my work brings smiles to people's faces. My wish for the coming year is that my business will continue to grow.

I'm also thankful for hummus, my health, sunshine, warm cozy blankets, cute penguins, stuffed animals, nature hikes, dogs on the street, lacrosse, chocolate, and much more!

Friday Phrase

Today's Friday Phrase reminds us that "Life is Sweet".
Prints and products available in my Society6 store. Feel free to share this post (just make sure it links back here).

Cutie Pie Plushie Wins Honorable Mention at RISD NY Alumni Pie Contest

The RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) New York Alumni chapter had a gathering and contest last night.

The contest was to create a pie (either edible or artistic) for various prizes.  There were three categories : best presentation, best interpretation of a pie, and most unusual pie.  My "Cutie Pie" won honorable mention.  It was a lot of fun to get together and meet some other RISD alums as well as participate in an art contest.

I enjoyed making my pie plushie and am considering making other plushies to sell in an Etsy store.  It is made of recycled felt (from plastic bottles) and has a 100% polyester fill.

By pie entry in the contest.

The table of pies!

A photo of me and the other winners (with our pies!) will be in the next RISD alumni magazine, RISD XYZ.

Majestic Forest Collection

I have just completed my Majestic Forest Collection.  This collection was inspired by my love of the mountains and related imagery.

Friday Phrase

Happy Friday! Today's Friday Phrase reminds you to be happy (after all it is the weekend)!

Makes a great tote bag!

Available in my Society6 store!

KUER Hoodies

I'm so excited because I received the KUER hoodies I designed in the mail this week!  They turned out so nice and I can't wait to wear them while I work.

You can read about the design and contest in this blog post.

My package!

The sweatshirts together.  

It's so gratifying to see my design work become a physical product.

The blue/green colorway

The red/purple colorway

They also sent me a nice thank you note and other KUER goodies!

Thank you KUER!

Make Art That Sells (MATS) Week 5 - Gift

This past week was all about the gift market in my Make Art That Sells (MATS) class. Our assignment was to create a hyper-lush zipper case.  The image should also be a reflection.

We were prompted this week to examine our personal collections.  I started off sketching my collections of stuffed penguins and polar bears (mostly gifts from friends).

I tried making a design with these icons for a zipper case, but it didn't seem lush enough to me.  I deccided to go along with my Hawaiian collection.  I have a bedspread, bean bag, shopping bag, and more that are Hawaiian themed.  I knew I could get hyper lush with this theme.

A picture of my Hawaiian bedspread.

This week I pushed myself also trying a few new things.  I decided to try using a limited color palette with lots of pink (a color I don't use very much).  I also added gradients in my work and decided to play around with textures as well.  It definitely was a struggle at times, but I think the final product is worth it.  I am very happy with it and grew very much this week by pushing myself.

My initial sketch

The final products

Brooklyn Wayfarer's Ransom Show Opening

Last night, November 9th, I went to Brooklyn Wayfarer's Ransom show opening.  I have a piece in the show and it was exciting to see everyone's work.  Here is my past blog post about the show.

Every artist was given a word in a 300 word story.  They could render it however they wanted to as long as it was hangable on a wall and no larger than 8.5" x 11.  At the show all 300 words are placed on the wall in order and the note is revealed.

I don't want to give away the story that the words spelled, but I will say it's about a stolen Hawaiian orchid.  It was really exciting to see how everyone interpreted their word.  The wall of words was neat to see together as well.  Here are some photos of the opening.

One section of the ransom note.

More words.

My word was right in the middle, number 150 out of 300 words.

My piece was between the words "death" and "marriage".

Me and my word!  I can now say I've been part of an art show in New York!

The show is running through December 1st.  If you're in the area you should go see it!

Friday Phrase

Happy Friday! Today's Friday Phrase is a reminder to be confident that you can reach your dreams. Prints available in my society 6 store. Feel free to share this post (just make sure it links back here).

Childhood Christmas Cards Revisted

I decided to revisit my old Christmas cards I created when I was a child.  Every year since I was seven years old I created an original Christmas card drawing for my family.  I wanted to see how I would approach the same subject matter now that I am an experienced artist.

I did this piece when I was seven.

My new interpretation, this time the squirrel is skating. 

Available in my Etsy shop.

I don't remember how old I was when I made this card.

My new interpretation. This time the bells are more visible with color. 

Also available in my Etsy shop.

Make Art That Sells (MATS) Week 4 - Wall Art

This past week was wall art week in my Make Art That Sells (MATS) class.  We were assigned two colors, mine were orange and green.  Our assignment was to create a piece of collage wall art that had at least one word and one flower.

I started off the assignment focusing on a phrase, but I didn't feel like it was working.

I think I will revisit this piece again for one of my Friday Phrases.

I wasn't happy with the direction my piece was going so I decided to play around in Illustrator and drew an abstract cactus.

One thing lead to the next and before I knew it I had my final piece.

Prints available in my Society6 store.

This week is the gift market.  I'm really excited and can't wait to get my assignment tomorrow.