From Humble Beginnings

This is a sketch i made last night using a .3 thick Pilot Hi-Tec C pen in black. i actually kinda like it just as it is...simple and quietly rhythmic.

But i wanted to test out some simple color variations and see what shook out. So i scanned the sketch into photoshop and messed around for a while....this is what i came out with in the end.


My art really always ends up being a self-portrait of sorts. It's interesting. Restrained lines, repeating and repeating, with only occasional variation, emanating from a happy core. Earthy undertones and bright, colorful surface. A psychologist would probably have a field day with me!

The Process of Creating a Boy

This is not a post about baby making.

This is a post showing the preliminary sketches i make before going on to ink, then finally to color. Below you can see the rough sketches i made when conceiving of 4 "Boy" words to go along with my girls' series in the same style.


I take these sketches to the lightbox and use them as a guide while i ink in some cleaner versions like this.


Once this is done (hey, that one measly sentence actually described an hour or so of work!), i scan the images and do any necessary cleanup in photoshop so that i can then add a colored background and overlay accents in white. In this case, i also ended up changing tire swing boy's verb to "soar." It just sounded more inspiring and action-y. The end results looked like this;



So tell me if seeing the process is interesting at all? Should i show you more posts like this in the future? i actually think it would be nice to occasionally "show the work" as my math-teacher mom would say.

i Wish, i Wish!

i made one more holiday card design, and i think i will use these for me. i already have lots of great wishes to fill in on cutie-pie's sign for each of my friends and family. What wishes would you make for your loved ones this holiday season?

These blank notecards with customizable fronts will be available in my etsy shop after this coming weekend. i need to print and pack them up. Should i use colored envelopes? or kraft? "i wish" for you all to share your thoughts.

Just In Time For Holiday Greetings

OK, so by "just in time" i really mean "by the skin of my teeth." But here is a series of blank notecards i designed with my two wonderful consignment shops in mind. Hello Bluebird, in West Reading and The Hodgepodgery, in Harrisburg will both be getting shipments of these cards over this coming weekend. The cards will also be available in my etsy shop. The art on the cards is a combo of hand-drawn and colored art and digital design. There will be 3 of each word per 12-pak (Peace. Hope. Happiness. Love.) and they'll be priced at $24/pk. The included envelopes will be Kraft brown to really drive home the idea of a handmade holiday! i hope the envelopes will encourage some fun addressing and doodling with gel pens, Crayolas, colored pencil and markers, because that's just about the craftiest, homemade envelope you could hope to receive in the mail this season, now isn't it?

A Day in My LIfe....as posted on HandmadeinPa.net

i was asked to document a Day in My Life for HandmadeInPa.net. The day i chose wasn't a super-typical one, but it sure was packed! Check it out!! And thank you to Michelle from Michabella Creations for recruiting me to participate in this great series!!

All Done Playing with My Blocks

Now that my charity art show is hung and i am free from it til the end of month when it comes down, i have more time to post some of the new works that were completed for it.
These 3.5" x 4" wood blocks complete a 6-piece set. i posted the first 2 a couple weeks back. it was quite freeing to do some small pieces like this because they took less time (individually) to complete than most of my work. i suppose some joy must have translated to the finished grouping, because the original has already sold and i am happy as pie about that.

The individual wood blocks were cut, sanded down using finer and finer grit sandpaper, decorated with acrylic, marker, pigment pen, gel pen and colored pencil, then waxed for a dull sheen. The sides are also painted in bright, vibrant hues. Each of the 6 pieces has a unique side "frame" color.

i hope they like their new home.

Beatles Said It First

i got this idea to do a series of Sidewalk Chalk inspired pieces on wood boards. i was gearing toward a very child-like feeling. (so unlike me, right?)...whimsical, very free-spirited. i had no real plan in mind when i started drawing. it was all very organic. i'm working on #2 now.
look for another post soon!