Ennui

I call this one "Ennui." I was just doodling, trying to get an idea out of my head that has been in there for about a year now (no success) and this came out. I was about to go ahead and scan/digitally color, but all of a sudden got seized by the desire to break out my magic markers for old time's sake. The not-so-new challenge was fun: having to pick just the right color and stay with it whether it ends up looking good or not, no erasing, and of course the horrendous texture you get when strokes overlap. Magic markers are the bane of any art school teacher's existence for just this reason, but I like to think of the overlapping ink quirk as adding texture. You can really feel the artist's presence in this picture, ha.

I am listening (and have been listening to) this horrible online radio station to get my insatiable Christmas carol fix. It really is god-awful though. I long for my mom's Time-Life Christmas Classics and the Muppet Christmas Carol and Raffi. Here I am subjected to just the worst butcherings of Christmas classics, complete with cheesy electric piano a la some unwatchable Nick Jr. show, as well as over-the-top religious anthems that belong in a soundtrack to some sort of horrible Judd Apatow holiday production. My other favorite is when the carols start as this quiet, pretty song and then segue into a horrible 80s rock version, like "just kidding! We're not really that lame, we're just not over the synthesizers of two decades ago yet!"

Anyway, enough of my unrelated ranting.

Season's Greetings!

Here is a holiday card I designed for Richmond-based business Khem Precision Machinery. They will be distributing it to their clients. (The fine folks at KPM are being kind enough to let me include my website address on the background for my own promotional purposes, and for this I am eternally grateful). For the first time, I am using overnightprints.com, which some friends in the field recommended for their speediness and decent quality output. I am just nervous because I cannot get a proof of this; they are just printing 40 cards straight up. But from all the online views it looks good, layout-wise. I lost some color when I converted it to CMYK--the blue sky was a bit brighter. I probably should have worked in that format from the beginning. Well, now I know for next time.

Still Keepin' Busy

So I don't really have anything visual to put up here. I have a lot going on right now though. I successfully campaigned Carytown the other day, everyone I visited was very friendly and many were interested. Also I have been working on some ideas for a 2-panel mural at Sin'e Irish Pub in Shockhoe Slip. They are looking for something Irish-themed. As they have many other beautiful murals and art throughout their pub, I am honored they have chosen me to contribute.

Also in the works are several Christmas presents I am making for friends and family. Which unfortunately means I cannot post images on here yet, just in case there are some snoops.

Maybe later I'll post my thumbnails for the Sin'e project. Who knows. As a general rule my thumbnails aren't very pretty to look at (I like to think the finished art is!), so I'm reluctant.

Thank You Note!

Here is a thank you note I made for my boyfriend's sister (who brought me back some lovely anklets from India). This note is done with watercolor and blue Micron pen. I'm not too excited about how the scan turned out...tried to make it a little better in PS. Watercolor is hard to scan.