practicing gratitude...

Look at this beauty I just bought from the Vol25 Etsy shop!! It is printed on this super cool textured canvas paper.  I love everything about it - the color, the type treatment and of course the message.  Gratitude is something I am recommitting myself to practicing daily.  I mean let's be honest folks, the past few years have been exciting times for growth, as well as super trying at times.  I am grateful for every bump I have encountered in both my business and personal life because each episode is an opportunity for  me to learn and grow.  Being truly grateful for this very moment in time whether picture perfect or difficult, has a real grounding effect and makes me remember what is truly important in my life.  Happy weekend all...

artist interview - jessica durrant...

Um...yeah, it is possible that Jessica Durrant is secretly using me as her muse.  I mean, this is the way I actually see myself, don't you?  Ha!  Well a girl can dream right?  I stumbled upon the amazing work of Jessica Durrant this past year on Pingg.  Her work is so dreamy you really want to be that girl!  Now I am lucky enough to have first hand insight on this amazing artist not only through this interview, but live and in person. Jessica and I now live in the same city, and I must say she is every bit as lovely as the images she creates.  Enjoy, revel, dream. Once she has taken your breath away, don't forget to swing by her etsy shop for even more eye candy!

What three to five words would you use to describe your work?

Balanced, imaginative, flowing, elegant.



What inspires you?

So many things inspire my work: fashion design, urban scenery, Frank Gehry's architecture, Japanese fashion illustration-Ohgushi in particular, indie music, people, nature and things I see in everyday life.

What was your first job?  When/how did you know you wanted a career in art?

My first job in the art field was at my University's art gallery. Being surrounded by artwork for a job was such an inspiring and fun thing to do. I love how being in a museum or gallery ignites conversation and thought.  I knew I always wanted to keep art in my life, whether it be working on the arts administrative side of things, teaching art courses, or selling my own work. After graduating and moving from Phoenix, to Philly to now Atlanta, I've been able to dabble in a little of each of those fields. I always knew as a kid, that I wanted to grow up and sell my artwork.

Finish this sentence.  I could eat___________ all day.

I could eat bread and cheese all day.

Design books/blogs you can't live without

I love Advanced Fashion Drawing by Bill Donovoan, and my favorite fashion blog is leblogdebetty.com.  She's the prettiest French girl who puts together awesome outfits, stuff I want to paint.

What do you do when you are not doing art?

I enjoy spending time outdoors, walking my boston terrier Chloe. I also love to travel, any chance I can go to Europe I take it. I find so much inspiration every time I have gone there.

Name one thing about you that would shock the outside world.

I grew up in Las Vegas, but was not raised in a casino.

Finish this sentence.  If I could time travel, I would arrive...

I would arrive in Rome during the Roman Empire age. I would die to see the Colosseum and the Roman Forum at its height.
What's next?

Keep on creating!

find me on etsy too (and a treat to celebrate!)...

Hi all! Can you believe January is almost over already??  CRAZY!  Well after years (literally) of inner debate, I have decided to open an etsy shop.  It is small for now, and will grow organically over time.  Part of my plan for this year is to begin exploring different sides of my creative voice.  I have always loved the etsy community, and thought I would give it a try.  Pop over and check it out will you?  So...how about a sale to get things started?  Use the code NewAdventures to get 20% off thru Tuesday at midnight! My online shop here has everything available on etsy as well, AND includes my photos (easier b/c of all the different sizes).

artist interview - jessica swift (the artist formerly known as jessica gonacha)...

Today we are checking in with the fab Jessica Swift (the artist formerly known as Jessica Gonacha)! She let's us in on her colorful, quirky, and sometimes morbid imagination.  And imagination is something that is never in short supply for Jess!  Her illustrations and fun patterns are sure to brighten your day!  On top of all her talent, I am lucky enough to call her friend!  :D

what three to five words would you use to describe your work?

playful, colorful, youthful, quirky, fun

what inspires you?

Nature mostly. And fashion! I get really inspired when I'm out walking through my neighborhood-- I get my best ideas when I'm walking. I can find inspiration all over the place, really: a color combination on a sign, the shape of a leaf, something I read in a book.... I'm always on the lookout!

what was your first job?  when/how did you know you wanted a career in art?

Ha ha, I was a piano duster. I'm not kidding! I worked at Swalley's Music in Boulder, CO when I was 15, and my only duty was to dust the pianos. It was excellent. Luckily I eventually acquired other duties. :) I first knew that I wanted a career in art when I was about 4 years old and I told my parents I wanted to be an artist. The next time I knew was when I was 23, I got into my first juried art show, quit my waitressing job, did smashingly well at the show, and didn't look back. From that moment forward I was making my living as a working artist.

finish this sentence.  I could eat ___ all day.

grapes

design books/blogs you can't live without

Blogs: Print & Pattern, Design Seeds (my new fave!), Geninne's Art Blog

Design books: Olle Eksell, Japanese/Indian/Islamic pattern books, 4000 Flower & Plant Motifs: A Sourcebook, Like I Give a Frock,20th Century Pattern Design

what do you do when you are not doing art?

Sleep! And spend time with my husband, read books, cook, go to the gym, walk around my neighborhood, watch movies, play with my 2 cats....

name one thing about you that would shock the outside world.

I never learned to read. (Ha ha- TOTALLY kidding-- that's a Wayne's World reference! I can read. Really. I'm actually quite smart.) So, one shocking thing: I have an intensely morbid imagination. Like, I always picture bad things happening. For example, I'll be cutting some vegetables, and I imagine slicing my fingers off by accident. Or I'll be walking up a flight of stairs and imagine tripping on a step, falling on my face, and knocking my front teeth out. Things like this pop into my head all the time! It's very weird. It happens to my sister, too. But I'm a happy person, I swear!

finish this sentence.  If I could time travel, I would arrive...

In Impressionist France to hang out with Claude Monet, Mary Cassatt, Paul Gauguin, and all the other brilliant artists of the time. The first place I'd go would be Monet's garden, straight to the bridge in this painting:http://uofugeron.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/monet-japanese-bridge.jpg

what's next?

Surtex!! I'll be exhibiting at Surtex (just like Khristian!) from May 16-18, 2010, so hopefully after that I'll be working on some cool projects with some cool companies and people. Other than that, I have some products in the works that I can't share yet, but rest assured that they are going to be awesome. They'll be available on my website in the next few months. Stay tuned!

Jessica Swift (formerly Jessica Gonacha) is a full-time artist, illustrator, and pattern designer in Atlanta, GA. She is addicted to unusual color combinations and is inspired by rainy days. Jessica went to Ithaca College in upstate New York, where she earned a BFA in painting, and she dreams of one day owning a houseboat in Amsterdam. Growing up in Boulder, CO, Jessica's passion for color and pattern was kindled when she was just a wee girl, and she nurtured that love by decorating every surface she could find. She does the same thing today, just a more grown up version!

Where to find Jess...

My website

My etsy shop

A list of shops that carry my work

Twitter

Facebook

Flickr

artist interview - inkling prints...

SWOON!!  We have all fallen in love with etsy great Inkling Prints.  Designer Kiran was kind enough to give us the scoop on what inspires her, where she's been, and where she going...

Hi, I'm Kiran and I started Inkling Prints in July last year. I used to spend time doodling in my sketch books, not knowing what to do with my doodles. Then one day, I was browsing through Amazon and I came across a book by Lotta Jansdotter. I ordered it immediately! It arrived one beautiful spring morning. I was sat on the sofa, by the window, with the sun streaming in and I was totally inspired to create my own hand printed items. After months of researching and experimenting with different paints and fabrics, I finally opened my Etsy shop in November 2009.

what three to five words would you use to describe your work?
bold, colourful, simple

what inspires you?
I was born and lived in Singapore til 5 years ago when I moved to England. The colours, the vibrancy, the intricacy and detail that you find in almost everything there has inspired me. After moving to England, I realised I was also very much drawn to nature. I love looking at all the different flowers, plants and trees. And then waiting eagerly in winter for spring when everything is fresh, green and colourful again.
what was your first job? when/how did you know you wanted a career in art?
My first job was as a graphic/product designer at a shop designing stationary for children. We had a little office at the back of the shop and I designed all sorts of things from posters to t-shirts to trimmers to hang on walls. It was good fun as I also got to meet my young customers sometimes.
My late dad used to draw with me. He very much encouraged and supported me throughout art school, staying up late with me to finish off projects, encouraging me and believing that I could do it.

finish this sentence. I could eat___ all day.
waffles with ice-cream

design books/blogs you can't live without
Books: Lotta Jansdotter -  How to Print with Anything and Lena Corwin - Printing by Hand
Blogs: http://jezzeblog.blogspot.com/ and http://camillaengman.blogspot.com/

what do you do when you are not doing art?
I'm running around the house chasing my 2 year old daughter Jill, with my one hand pulling my hair out, the other hand trying to grab her and screaming 'Nooooo!!', all at the the same time and finally tripping over the dog and falling.

name one thing about you that would shock the outside world.
When I was young, I found a can in my dad's tools cupboard. It had a cute elephant on it. I went into the cupboard, shut the door, opened the can and found this yellow gooo in it. I sniffed it. Wow! I was caught by my parents and warned, never to sniff glue again. I was only 7. So, I wasn't punished. Maybe that's why my brain is slightly messed up now - I'm so totally disorganised! :P

finish this sentence. If I could time travel, I would arrive...
In the 1940's to meet my husband's grandmother Tirzah Ravilious, who was a brilliant artist. Her husband was a war artist and she had to cope with being a mum to 3 kids. But she also produced such beautiful art in her short lifetime. I'd like to know what inspired her.

what's next?
New designs. Prints on paper. New studio space. Hopefully, somewhere which will give me enough space to print and lots of space to store my products. In the meanwhile, I am trying to
concentrate on photographing all my work and also launching my own website.

artist interview - pawling print...

Janet & Trisha Snyder are the sister duo behind Pawling Print Studio.  These newcomers have burst onto the handmade scene with their gorgeous prints and patterns for the home.  The recent grads opened their etsy shop this past fall.  The inspiration for the studio name is drawn from their grandfather who shared his love of photography and painting when the two were young.

what three to five words would you use to describe your work?

Clean, Simple, Graphic

what inspires you?

Janet:  White space

Trisha:  Travel.  We lived in Singapore when we were younger and our parents took every opportunity we had to visit places they knew we'd never make it to once we moved back to the states.  I love the different smells and sounds.  I love people watching and busy marketplaces.  I love all of the time and skill that went into ornamenting old architecture and I love local handicrafts.

what was your first job?  when/how did you know you wanted a career in art?

Janet:  I knew I wanted to be an artist after a brief stint as an engineering major in college.  My freshman chemistry course had me running to an art advisor.  I had many different jobs while I was in school, but haven’t snagged one since graduation in the current job market.  In many ways, I like to consider what I am doing right now my first job.   It is the first time I feel independent and responsible for what I am doing.

Trisha:  My first job was as an ice cream scooper at Andersen’s of Denmark and my first design job was as an intern architect at a small design/build firm in New Jersey.  Art actually scares me.  For me, I am the least creative when I have complete freedom.  I prefer the challenge of solving a very specific problem in a beautiful and efficient way, which is probably why I went to architecture school and why I love the Arts and Crafts movement so much.  I think I'm much better suited for design than for art.



finish this sentence.  I could eat___________ all day.

Janet:  I will eat a whole bag of Xochitl corn chips if there is salsa or guacamole present.

Trisha:  Tacos!!

design books/blogs you can't live without

The Grammar of Ornament by Owen Jones

of paper and things

simple + pretty

living with white

swissmiss

we love typography

what do you do when you are not doing art?

Janet:  Make lists.  My lists include everything from doing laundry to learning Spanish.

Trisha:  Clean.  I am Little Miss Tidy.

name one thing about you that would shock the outside world.

Janet:  I will eat and enjoy almost anything that is put in front of me (really, I challenge you), but recently discovered I don’t like watermelon.

Trisha:  I was in version 2.0 of the Great Singapore Workout, a government propaganda video to promote exercise.

finish this sentence.  If I could time travel, I would arrive...

Janet:  I like to think I would make a pretty awesome MGM dancer in a 1940s/50s musical.

Trisha:  I’d like to study under Anni Albers, but I'm about 60 years too late for that.

what's next?

Hopefully lots!  We are launching our linen line this month.  The first products that will be in the shop are handmade tea towels and throw pillows, with placemats and napkins to follow.  We just purchased a flash dryer to speed things up.  Heat setting all of our items is definitely the most time consuming and least fun part of our job right now.  We'd like to spend that time experimenting with color and new patterns instead!  We'd also like to expand our paper line to include blank journals, art prints, and wrapping paper.  And on the business side of things, we would like to pursue some wholesale orders and get our own website up and running.

artist i love - jesse breytenbach...

This week's feature artist comes to us (virtually of course) all the way from Cape Town. Jesse Breytenbach has a host of goodies in her etsy shop including wonderful fabrics, tea towels and lovely ornaments just in time for the holidays. She has been kind enough to share a bit of herself with us today. Enjoy!what three to five words would you use to describe your work?

graphic, detailed, precise

what inspires you?
It's hard to say exactly; sometimes it's just the light in a room, sometimes it's a scrap of fabric. Sometimes it's a need to know how something is put together that makes me want to draw it. Knitting inspires me to draw as well - the textures and patterns just make me want to make something, urgently.

what was your first job? when/how did you know you wanted a career in art?
My first job was with a new publisher, illustrating educational books. The authors were new to the whole thing as well, so we all just learned as we went along. I remember looking at illustrations in magazines when I was little, and realising that someone had drawn those. That was the first time it occurred to me that it might be possible to draw for a living!

what media do you work with?
Pen and ink, and linocut prints.

design books/blogs you can't live without
I love http://printsy.blogspot.com/ for the variety of work that gets shown there. And I pretty much can't live without knitting sites;http://www.twistcollective.com/collection/ is one of my favourites.

what do you do when you are not doing art?
I knit and read. I've been trying to garden, but mostly that just involves throwing water over anything that sprouts and seeing what survives.

name one thing about you that would shock the outside world.
Often, far too often, I get back into bed after my morning coffee. Twenty minutes later, I'm ready to start the day again properly.

what city in the world best describes you?
It would probably be a small city, one that only technically qualifies as a city. A place where you could walk anywhere you needed to get to, where strange and sometimes scary things lurk around most corners, a place that looks peaceful and quaint until you've lived there for a while, and discovered that everything is exactly what it seems and that that's constantly slightly unsettling.... oh, wait! I've just described the town where I grew up!

what's next?
I'm hoping to find enough time in the next few months to work on a comic I've written; new prints in various stages that need to be finished; prints on clothing, that I'm really excited about; and possibly, if I can get it to work, a drawing project that will involve as many other bloggers as I can convince to take part.

etsy finds - kellyssima...

Kellyssima is one of my new followers on twitter, and now I am thrilled to have found her! Originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil Kelly is now creating her line in Austin, TX. Her work has a sweet vintage feel with a slight modern edge. I am just falling in love. To top it off these product shots are fantastic, and your pieces will come in this delightful little package. Perfectly prepped for exquisite gift-giving! Well done Kelly!

etsy finds- stephanie corfee...

I noticed Stephanie Corfee recently over on Daisy Jane's etsy ticker. Oh my! It was an instant party for my eyes! I adore the use of all of this COLOR! Stop by her shop and check out her blog for downloadable art you can color up as you like.

all images are copyright stephanie corfee and may not be used without the artist's permission.

etsy - lucie summers...

Lucie Summers is fabulous UK artist who screens her artwork onto fabric, journals and wall art to name a few. Her designs are fresh and whimsical and are sure to delight your eye as they have mine! Be sure to pop by her etsy shop and for more Lucie, stop by her blog.

Her journals come lined or unlined at your request - love this feature!

Super soft hand screened, fair trade certified organic fabrics.

Such a great idea! Lucie has screened outlines to her alphabet for you to color, ink, and applique, etc. as you wish. It's pretty great just framed up as is too. Great addition to a kid's room.

etsy - yaelfran...

Yaelfran works out of her Buenos Aires studio creating the wonderful digital archival prints all ready for framing. I am just in love with the use of vibrant color and simple shapes. So cute! I especially love her take on the alphabet print - so fresh. Visit her shop here.

etsy finds - umbrella prints

Great hand screened fabrics in the umbrella prints shop! Also, stop by their new site.

etsy finds - avie

such a cute idea - adhesive return address labels! love!

Darling announcements and perfect pocket sized website cards.

Great prints and colors make the paper products in the shop of Avie irresistible!

etsy finds - tuesday mourning

Great glicee prints in the Tuesday Mourning shop.

Etsy find: Leen the Graphics Queen...

Wonderful wall decals from Leen the Graphics Queen. You can find a large catalog of decals and more about Leen here.