Custom Work

The last month or so has kept me busy with some commissioned work. First up I did two really fun and super cute pieces for a young lady named Bella that is currently living in Europe and getting to see the world. Her room is being done over in a Parisian theme so I got the job of creating a few pieces of art to go on her newly painted walls. I did Bella in Paris at the Eiffel Tower and Bella and Lulu in Paris at the Arc de Triumph. Both were a big hit and are now currently for sale in my Etsy shop. I do plan on updating the colors in both pictures with French colors and Lulu will turn into a poodle so that there is a choice for my shoppers.


I just finished a wonderful watercolor for a good friend of mine. She had a wonderful picture of her niece and nephew that I then sketched out and painted in a large size of 18 X24 inches. It was a nice break to do a more realistic portrait piece. It's been a long time and it was very refreshing.
I did have loads of plans for getting some really cute pieces out for Easter to put in my Etsy shop, but time just didn't permit. I will still be doing them of course but they just didn't make it for Easter. The bright side is that they will be there in plenty of time for next year!

Another Chanel Victory

Yes, Lagerfeld has done it again. All in white, was he thinking of me?:) No, but he was keeping it clean and delicate. I really enjoyed his couture line but was saddened by the presence of pants/leggings. I just don't get putting pants into a couture line. Both Lagerfeld and Armani did it and it was very disappointing. Even though I think Armani was the worst offender, Lagerfeld could have held the delicate look with out the use of such an item. I know it's just one girls fight against all things pants. But even when I walked into Nordstrom to spend my Christmas gift cards, there was but one dress in about every department except for the special occasion dresses (which still had...you guessed PANTS) and the dresses they did have weren't worth looking at twice. I am so glad Anthropolgie understands then need to stay feminine. I refuse to dress as my husband does!! That said here are a few more images from the Chanel show I did like!!

There's a credit crunch, not a creative crunch!

I just love John Galliano. His show was a masterpiece all to itself. With huge influence from Monsieur Dior, and the a bit of Dutch. I am so in love with the courtier line for Spring. But when asked about the recession Gallian0 responded as always so eloquently and quotable "There's a credit crunch, not a creative crunch. Of course, everyone is being more careful with their discretionary purchases. I am. But it's our job to make people dream, and to provide the value in quality, cut, and imagination." And he has done his job so successfully, I know I'm dreaming! Here are just three of the amazing 39 dresses that were on display yesterday. And I love that there are NO pants!! I am still a firm believer that courtier for ladies should NOT include pants! Shame on you Armani!

2 Treasury's

I feel really honored, I am featured in two treasury's today! I have been very quiet with my art of late, letting ideas brew in my head and a bit in a journal. But my head and journal are both getting crowed so yesterday I started on a new piece. Its coming along quite nicely and I am hoping that if all goes well it should be up for sale by Monday. Its wonderful to know that my pieces from last year are still adored.

I'm On Another Blog!!

What a lovely Christmas present! Check out Filigree Garden blog and you will see my lovely "Finding Winter Cardinal" amongst some very talented artist. A big thank you to Liv for thinking of me and including my art!!!

Showcase

In all the rushing around over the last month, I had a few moments of sanity and reason and managed to book some slots on Etsy for some showcases.I figured that those who would buy on line for the holidays would do so before Thanksgiving. And I also thought that since everyone would be home on Thanksgiving, that they may do a bit of cyber shopping. I was right! I got loads of views and hearts, and I think a sale or two!! I still have one showcase left for the year on December 9th then it's back to the drawing board (literally!) for some new art for the new year.

Wedding

It's all finally over now. My first job doing stationery for a wedding. Don't know if I will ever do anything like it again. But it I learned a lot, and those that do it for a living...God bless them. What a load of work!!

I did all new art for the invites and had tight specifications as well as tons of revisions and new requests. I really wanted to get it right and really really wanted to make my sister in law and husband to be super happy with everything. In the end it took me over 100 hours of work to get the Save the Date cards, invitations, response cards, driving directions, map, escort cards, order of service, handkerchief cards, and table numbers done. I did all original art, all the layout and design, all the printing at home on my Epson R1800, all the cutting, trimming, and pasting and putting together. And in the end my sister in law was thrilled!! So I call that a success!

The invitation

My sister in law's middle name is Fern after her grandmother who passed away some years ago. So in honour of her grandmother who couldn't be there she wanted a fern illustration as a theme on the stationery, I spent hours pouring over the fern it went through loads of changes until I was happy (I think I am a harder client than anyone who actually hires me) I need to be happy even if my client was happy with the first sketch out. I did the final fern in Illustrator, and did each little leaf and stem just right until it looked great.

The Map

The map was by far the funnest piece to do. Since I know the area really well where they were getting married and I knew them very personally, it was fun putting in points of interest to them. I put in "Zoomies Yacht" which is were my sister in laws father has his boat moored. I also put in the Starbucks that my sister in law stops at every morning on her way to work in Little Italy, the Gaslamp Quarter where they love to go to dance, and Best Buy where my sister in law and her husband to be go every Sunday as an outing (they LOVE that place!!). I added a few more places of interest for those guest coming from out of town so they would have fun while in San Diego too.

The Order of Service and Hankie Card

The order of service was done twice, yes that means I double side printed, cut and folded 120 of these things which took 3 days to do to find out that someones name had been spelled wrong and had to do the whole lot over again. I wasn't thrilled, but wanted it to be right as I knew that if there was a mistake it would only make me look bad even though I was going off the information I was given to I was all to happy to do them over. The Hankie card was then attached to a antique lace handkerchief that was attached to the order of service and every lady and girl that came to the wedding was given an Order of Service with a hankie. I thought it was a lovely touch.

Escort Cards

This was quick and easy to print, cut and paste together. If the guest was having fillet Mignon with sea bass they got a blue card and if the guest was having chicken with shrimp they got an orange card. This made it easier on the servers to get the right food to the right guest.

Table Numbers

Finally the table numbers. Would you believe only days before the wedding I woke up in the middle of the night realizing that with out table numbers the escort cards would be no good! I thought only Brides woke up in the middle of the night with those kinds of last minute "OH my God I forgot about....." Well this time it was me. I made up the table numbers the next morning rushing to ... you guessed it the Paper Source to get the backing I needed.

On a Blog

It is always so wonderful when others find you and your art and like it so much that they want to share it with others. I am so delighted with every sale I get in my Etsy shop and thrilled every time someone adds one of my pieces to their treasury. Now one of my most treasured pieces has found a spot on Susan's blog. Check out Kiddlebug, a fun blog for moms. Finding Winter Cardinal is the image of the day for her blog on fun things to do with your kids this winter. Thank you Susan for making my art a part of your site!!

All About the O

I usually don't like to vent but can't seem to leave this one alone. I just love logos, especially good clean logos that send a quick message and provoke strong feelings. I also love reading about how a logo is created. The thought process and color choices and branding...its all very fascinating. But I have a bit of a rebuttal about Obama's logo. Yes, it's good design but am I the only one that thinks it looks like the Bank of America logo??
And then I came across the site of the people who did the logo and what they had to say about it. see here and was really disappointed. I am so fascinated by those who can do clean clear logos that have a real punch but to say "borrowing a trick from the Nike playbook. The shoe company’s famous swoosh means nothing," really is annoying! I did a lot of studding of logos while at art school and everyone knows that the "swoosh" in question is a wing from Nike the Greek goddess of strength, speed, and victory. So maybe those who did the work on the logo can do great clean design, borrowing more from a bank logo than anything else, but I would have rather they made educated statements in the process. Anyone who has read about art, propaganda, and government knows that a strong logos, slogans, and imagery can really be affective to any campaign so why not stick to that instead of Harley Davidson, or Nike. I would have loved to here about successes with great Swiss government billboards, or Russian military recruitment's that would have been much closer link to what Obama's campaign did than that of a shoe company.

Tuesday Book Review

This is one of my all time favorite books. This book was the inspiration for me to get my degree in graphic design and it was the book that inspired my move to London (oh how I miss London).

This book takes you through some of the most amazing fashion designers and how they paired up with the best graphic designers and the amazing package design, logos, and presentations that evolved by their unique unions.

It starts off with Antoni and Alison (which I love and my Emma has the most wonderful little dress by them) and how important packaging and predestination is for their clothing. How Giorgio Armani oversees the graphic prestiontation and identity of his fasion house from every logo, t-shirt label, and fragrance bottle. The thought provoking advertisments of Comme Des Garcons is amazing. The thrill of how John Galliano's logo and packaging was brought together so cleverly. Alexander McQueen and Paul Smith's logo redesings. And loads of other desingers and how they work with graphic artists to accomlish such wonderful and powerful fashion brands, like Vivenne Westwood, You Must Create, and Anna Sui to name just a few more.

Each fashion desinger has it's own section and story to tell. Most (with out much suprise) come out of Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design in London. The layout is clean with wonerful product shots and photography to help tell each story.

Even though my path has taken a huge change in direction from the original (be a graphic designer for a fashion house) this book is still a huge inspiration for me. There are loads of wonderful creative stories that will inspire anyone with an artistic mind.

My art will start taking new life once again, but with my love for fahion in the forfront and will poor out in each new illustration as I move forward. I have a lot to thank to this book. And hopefully soon I too will be back living in London where I belong with all things creative.