Hi There

Just a quick Friday afternoon hello. Hello! My hopes for finishing my new illustration and having prints ready for today were a little too...optimistic, let's say. I'm actually still painting the background as we speak. And badly, too. It's so weird, some days you just don't have it in you. But I'm trying, and I have promised myself to get this thing done by tonight. Tonight! Scanning and proofing and color-correcting are a whole other story. Probably a weekend story.

BUT! I did get one other project done that I'm pretty into. The feathers are finally finished and packaged and actually posted in the shop. The "Lucky Feathers" as I call them these days are available in two styles, one plain white and the other "dipped" in silver. I poked holes and put a piece of twine through them so they are ready to hang, as I did here on my mantle.


And they come in a cute package, too! A sweet little gift, I think. I'm actually sending one as a gift to someone, somewhere, whose name I dare not speak, to avoid ruining the surprise just in case they are reading this.


Back to work I go. Later!

Hi!

Hi. Hello. Just here to check in, say some things, maybe. It's Tuesday again. Seems like I visit most on Tuesdays. And it's a good Tuesday, even though it started with an unfortunate kitchen accident, which has slowed down a lot of my progress today. Actually, the day started with a very delicious strawberry and banana soy smoothie, but was then interrupted by an unfortunate slicing of one of my fingers while cleaning the blender blade. Nothing too, too bloody, but definitely annoying. But you don't want to hear about all that!


On to the progress. I've been working on the new illustration and it kinda went somewhere I wasn't really planning, but I'm happy so far. It involves a lot of lines! Hours of lines. My hand hurts just looking at it now. So far it's still just colored pencil and the drawing isn't mounted to a background yet, but once I cook something up and attach it all, prints won't be far behind. I'm hoping to have some shop-ready by Friday. Fingers crossed.


And speaking of the shop, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's been giving so much love to the Ruffles Note Set. It's made appearances in several lovely places, like here, here and here, and I like that. It's nice. These cards are a personal favorite and a true labor of love, as I (ridiculously) cut each of those squiggly little edges by hand. I realize there's technology out there that could spare me from such insanity, but I don't own it. And as you might have guessed from the obsessive line drawing above, I'm inclined towards the tedious. What can I do?


Last but not least, a nod to things I like today.

Smoothie: like
Smoothie aftermath: not so much
New Order: like (always like)
Tulips in winter: like! especially from Trader Joe's for $4.99


All for now. Bye!

P.S. Congratulations to Johnny who has his first class tonight after winning a scholarship to the Harvard Extension School! My little scholar. I'm so proud.

Happy Obama Day

Hope everyone is enjoying this especially wonderful Tuesday. Besides absorbing almost 5 hours of nonstop political coverage and shedding the occasional happy tear, I've also been trying to work.


I've been fooling around with these feathers for a bit now and I'm still not sure what the end result will be, but I do like them. They're the same design as the feathers used in my Feather Note Set, and are made of recycled chipboard, one of my favorite things ever. They measure about 9 in. long and are about 3 in. at their widest. I made three different versions- one drawn with white ink, one gold, one silver, and a few of them have been "dipped" in gold and silver. They look pretty cute hung with string in a little bunch or in a glass vase and maybe, just maybe they'll show up in my shop.


Also! This is a new illustration I'm working on. All I have done so far is some colored pencil stuff but the finished piece will be a mix of acrylic, cut paper and drawing.


And last but not least, I'll finally be posting a Feather Notepad in the shop, which I've had done for awhile but never had any decent photos of. These are handbound pads with ten perforated sheets of paper. The feathers are printed in peach, chocolate and turquoise ink on recycled paper. And there's chipboard involved, too!


That's all for now. Enjoy the rest of the day.

Two New Things

Aanndd, it's freezing. Absolutely frigid. In fact, the coldest day Boston has seen in 5 years, says the weatherman. And I, like a fool, just walked for over an hour in it to get some errands done. In the last stretch of my journey I really started to wonder if I would make it. And how sad it would be if I lost all of my fingers to frostbite. I'm sure over time I could probably teach myself to paint with my toes, but cut paper? I dunno.

All is well, though! Errands are run and fingers are intact, typing comfortably as we speak. So on to the two new things.


These are A7 size foldover cards printed with the For Weak Women and Taken the World Over illustrations. They're on recycled soft white cardstock and paired with gray envelopes. Insides are blank, as I prefer cards to be. These guys are available in my shop and as of today at Magpie, in Somerville, MA thanks to a harrowing journey that almost cost me some extremities. If I sell a few it will have all been worth it.

It's Tuesday

That's all I could muster for a title this morning, sorry. Not that it's not gonna be a totally great day, though! I'm just a little sleepy at the moment.

Anyway, on to the breaking news. I'd like to share a new cut paper piece I recently made. I haven't made one of these guys in a little while but it was for a custom order and I like how it turned out.


It's all cut paper on illustration board, measuring about 5" x 7", I think. Just realized I never gave it a title. Something to think about. I'm still getting used to the solid color background here because I usually try to use something with a pattern or a visible texture as the "wallpaper" in these collages, but my customer was looking for aqua and this color was just so pretty that I had to use it. And I think the fancypants floor ends up striking the right balance anyway.


Also! The Paper Apartment goods are now available at Magpie in Somerville, MA! For those of you in the Boston area who don't already know, but I bet you do, Magpie is a fantastic shop carrying a range of great stuff by indie designers/crafters and local artists. I'm really, really excited to be working with them. My art prints, notesets, notepads and single cards are all for sale, so if you're in Davis Sq. please stop by and take a look. And if you can't do that you should at least check out their cute website. C'mon now.

Back At It

Making stuff, that is. As you might have heard, the holidays are over and now it is time for everyone to get back to work. It's time to start making stuff that no one will ever buy because according to the experts no one is buying anything ever again! I guess we'll have to wait and see about all that but for now I've got the day off and the weather outside is gross so I'm spending my time doing what I like best. Sweeping is not on that list but I did some of that, too.

As far as new goods go, I just finished up some postcard packs, which should be in the shop tomorrow. Final packaging decisions still need to be made, but as of now the packs consist of 8 postcards inkjet printed on recycled, soft white cardstock with either the Lengthening or Nesting illustration on the front. I like. I also have a few new illustrations that will soon be available as prints and my first notebooks are coming together as well. Busy busy.


I'd also like to share one of my favorite Christmas gifts this year. It's a book, you see, called Illustration Play, and if you're into work that uses paper cutting, embroidery or any other kind of semi-unconventional media, (like blood!) you will drool over this book. I especially enjoy this book as a not-so-superfan of digital illustration, because the work they profile here contains none of the above. No offense to anyone, anywhere. But anyway, good gift! Go, Johnny.

I'd also like to take a minute to mention a few things I enjoyed today. Thank you to Nantucket Nectars, Glasvegas, edamame and a hot pile of clean laundry. Bye for now.