Sketchbook Today: paint

WALLs

Isn't a blank wall such a great canvas? I'm not promoting graffiti, because it's against the law and whatnot, but I do think there's a way to do it and be a little more subtle, and just as creative.

1, 2, 3: Urban Monochrome Paintings, from Fine Layered Arrangement.
4: the Toasters Bluff Buff, which I think is a genius idea, if I do say so myself. Go ahead and check it out. It's tough to find articles to this, but the previous one, and this one are pretty informative.

Knot You Again...

Wow, funny right?

Who likes this? I do. Rope pattern, courtesy of yours truly.

With our powers combined!!!

Okay, they didn't use my powers. But one day...
These amazing jewels and the photographs of them are the talents and craftsmanship of two great friends of mine. Take a look at both of their websites, they're truly amazing, hard working ladies.

Links to both of their websites, Lindsey Thorne's blog and Cindy Stayton's shop are in my sidebar, as well as...uhhh... well, click on their names in the beginning of this sentence. That's where they are. Couldn't figure out how to write that correctly.

Children's books

I was doing a little research on children's books, prepping for my first one, and found a book called The Enemy. I picked it up because I liked the type use on the cover. And then I read it. It's such a sweet little book. Most of the pages are white and pretty sparse, but in the middle there's a section during the night. It's a really great contrast. Anyways, not doing well at describing things this morning, take a look at the cover and nighttime page for yourself.

And then this one too. Ooooh little inchworm, if I was that flamingo I'da eaten you a long time ago.

Where oh where has my blogger been?

I've been on vacation.
I know, you might have thought the blog suddenly became too big for it's britches and was sold to a corporation to run. No, although it is INSANELY popular (my mom reads it now), the blog still fits quite well in it's britches. I've been out of town and didn't have a good plan to update while I was away. And honestly, wasn't sure anyone would check it while I was out. So I wasn't too concerned. Will be back Tuesday though.

So, this little filler post. What's a girl to do. This week's Spoonflower contest is Squids. And of course, you should all vote for me, of course, of course. But there are so many amazing entries this week. They are all unique, many different styles, variations on the themes, hilarious takes on the theme (squid? I mean, what are we supposed to do?), great techniques and colorways. This contest isn't the best time to bring up buying yardage, but I do believe Spoonflower is a great way to support small artists, and a small company. And, yes, your guest bathroom would look looovely with a squid theme.

Here are my favorite entries this week:

Jaana : love it when people use a simple layout for something intricate.

Sarah Childress : isn't type fun?

Alison Grenier : Hello Lilly Pulitzer

Magneetje : color! technique! layout! yowza!

Patty Sloniger : a very deep pattern.... pun.

Cody Scarborough : uuuuugh, soooo nice. can't wait to see more work like this.

And then, mine. This is the one you're supposed to love the most.

MORE PLEASE!

Color, that is.

1. MWM Graphics

2. Nathan Thomas Studios

3, 4, 9, 13. Denise Julia Reytan

5. Hvass&Hannibal

6, 8. Charlotte Taylor

7. Madeline Weinrib

10. Patrick Hruby

11. a photo from vacation

12. Recovering Lazyholic

Spoonflower contest of the week: Squid

The next Spoonflower contest is themed Squid. I originally had a great idea, it was going to be very nautical, technical and marine inspired. I was so excited. It was going to be smart. The giant squid.

I started to draw squids, thinking it should be pretty easy to get them technically correct, but lo and behold, all I could come up with were cute squids. So here they are. The contest doesn't start until next week (I'll post a link so you can all go vote for my design, of course), so you're not able to vote yet. But... today is my birthday! So I thought it was proper that I posted the birthday squid today. Happy Birthday. You go me.

Sketchbook Today: Word?

Alright, so the pants aren't really in keeping with the 'word' theme. But come on, what's a girl to do ? I thought it looked nice with the arrangement. Some oldies in here. I started sketchbook today hoping it would be whatever I drew the day of. Alas, I have drawn in my sketchbook a minimal amount of times since the first sketchbook today post. Oh well. I tried. The title is sticking though.

Oh, now aren't I excited?

Hoooray! 10th place on last week's Spoonflower competition! And wouldn't you know, I forgot to enter this week's competition. Garsh dang! Oh well, next week... the theme is Squid, it's a toughie!
Sometimes I wonder about this, because a lot of the better looking prints are not near the top 10. And there's not much of a prize (okay, there's no prize for 10th place), but I do like entering the contests and knowing that people like what I'm up to. Siiiigh (of relief), maybe things will all work out... What am I talking about, of course they'll work out.

Beet it!

I'm lacking words lately, so images and an ever-so-clever title is all you get.

Well hello there

A pelican. More or less. I take some artistic liberties when it comes to correct features, proportion, color, etc.

Great Inspiration from... the military?

My wonderful fiance was a member of the US Army for a long time, and has accumulated quite a collection of coins. I have no idea what these coins are for, where they came from, why he has them? But they remind me a little bit of POGS, of which I owned a stupendous collection, so I love them. I'm currently working on a patch/badge inspired project, so I went to his collection for inspiration. I was looking for layout, but came away happily surprised by the amazing color combos of the coins. Here are a few of my favorites to share:

 

And the phrases on them aren't bad either. The first coin? 'We strike like tropical lightning'. Hah, US Army, you are hiiiilarious.  Well, on that note, thank you servicepeople from all military branches, you are amazing because you do what you do. Good job.

SKETCHBOOK TODAY: female faces

I used to love to draw the female face, and I do still every now and then. But it seems that is much more of a hobby than a serious career choice, being that it is incredible hard to get those caricature gigs at the fair. There are so many different faces out there, I think portraiture is a great art, and if I knew how to realistically and accurately depict peoples' features, I might consider it a career. But since I'm not good at that, I'll just share a few here now. These are some of my favorites from past sketchbooks. Mostly from college, oldies but goodies, you know?

 Some of these sweet ladies forgot to wear appropriate dress to the sketch session.

 A little tribal, yes?

 I think these three are hilarious. I based a later project on them. Excuse my crude language, but they look like three little trashy girls. Maybe it's because they look slightly intoxicated?

This gal also cracks me up. I feel like I've seen her around somewhere, with her large glasses, faux hawk (I guess I've never actually written that word, is that how it's spelled?) and big ole danglers. She's quite a looker. If only she were wearing a shirt.

Paisley

A new Spoonflower competition! This time the theme was Paisley. There are some incredible submissions, so I suggest you go there and check them out! Drop a vote for me while you're at it?

A-mazing Letterheads

Do you have a letterhead? Yes? My, aren't you professional. Well I do not, so I found myself doing a little bit of research to see what the past has to offer. And holy crap, it has a ton to offer. Check out these absolutely amazing letterheads here, then... go to Letterheady (where all these came from). But don't go if you don't have a ton of time on your hands, because you'll be flippin through the pages of this website for a while.