WILDBRIDE collaboration

And continuing with the trend of rather late recaps of projects, here's another gem of a collaboration. Probably one of the highlights of 2016!

About this time last year, one of my favorite bloggers/Instagrammers, Liz Morrow, put out a request for contributions towards swag bags for her upcoming WILDBRIDE Retreats! I've been following her blog for years. Seriously, I remember finding her blog 4 years ago when I was working in my friend's yogurt shop and just devouring every post when I had down time (in between fro-yos). Roadtripping across the country in a vintage RV? Hard not to love her. 

Fast forward a month or so and I get a response from Liz about making some custom watercolor prints for all the retreat participants. An absolute dream collaboration! 

Liz's retreats were meandering from the Oregon coast to the California Redwood forests, then down to Joshua Tree and over to Sedona, Arizona. We decided to do a one-of-a-kind print for each gal in each retreat. A different watercolor for each retreat location and a different quote over-layed on top of it. I also found a longer quote that I fell in love with that became small one-of-a-kind prints on top of watercolored paper. 

These first 2 photos are mine but the bottom two are by Liz (who is a fantastic photographer). The retreats look like they were pretty incredible, with a rather impressive swag bag! Pop on over to the WILDBRIDE blog to read more about Liz's retreats and all the amazing swag! 

hello again hustle & bustle

Hello again. I've been back for two weeks three weeks almost a month (I've been trying and failing to write this post for that long...whoops). Honestly, it doesn't even feel like this summer ever happened. It's like this chunk in my recent memory is just misplaced...something has been forgotten. I've been carrying Quarto around with me to show family and friends what I did this summer and this sadly seems the only way to remind myself it actually happened. Everything has returned to the normal groove so quickly, it's like I never left. Oofah. 

I started my lessons with Arts Outreach my second week back and everything else has just been a blur of adjusting, car shopping, catching up, cleaning up and working. I may have been silent here on the blog but it has been a flurry of activity in the Art Bubble ever since I landed! Here's a little peek at what I have been creating these past few weeks. Surprisingly it has been a lot of illustrations for wedding invitations! SO fun! I still have a few more projects to share as well. And the new Fall line (and Holiday line!) will be making an appearance soon! 

My friend Dhvani commissioned me to make some watercolors and a map for her wedding invitations. This was the first time I watercolored a map...I may be a little addicted. It was pretty fun. Any other takers for watercolor maps?

This series of three watercolors was for a sweet lady named Karens. She had such a pretty vision for her invitations! The large watercolor of the country garden will be the background behind a laser cut gate sleeve. I can't wait to see the final invitations for both of these sweet ladies! 

Venice Beach sketches

I spent a couple days last week down in the odd but awesome Venice Beach. I LOVE Venice Beach. I've loved it since I was little. Yes, it is filthy. Yes, it is crowded. Yes, the parking is terrible. BUT! It's at the beach, it's surrounded by good food, it's eclectic in every way, everyone (I swear, EVERYONE) has succulents in their front yards, and there are canals. The canals are my favorite part of Venice. I could spend all day cruising up and down them sketching and shopping for my dream house. One day...

1. Every time I visit Venice, I always try to sketch at Cafe Collage. It's right on the corner by the famous Venice sign. Plus they have pretty tasty coffee. 

2. I was lucky enough to be there on a Friday for the Venice Farmer's Market. I got my tasty pastry and cruised the canals for an early morning sketch. 

3. I sketched this my first night back in town at the Canal Club. 

4. A quick sketch of the coastline from the Venice Pier

5. Watercoloring the canals, right around the corner from my dream house! 

6. A little souvenir from the beach, inside and out

7. One of my favorite restaurants down there is C & O Trattoria. We used to always go there when I was little. Tasty Italian food in a very entertaining space. 

And a couple photos too...

Have you been to Venice Beach before? Do you like it or hate it?

A Surprise for Henry

I really love my clients! It's always fun to get a new email or message on Etsy with a truly unique request...every one seems more challenging and cuter than the last. I swear my clients always have the best ideas for books or albums, and this newest book is no exception. 

A good friend of ours wanted a custom children's book for her niece's little boy who is about to become a big brother. Through the entire pregnancy, he's been saying that there's not a baby in his mom's belly...he heard some stomach growls and was convinced there was a baby lion inside! Over time he has also thought there has been baby monkey or elephant too. Cute, right? Amazing prompt for a story? Most definitely! 

The lion page is my favorite from the whole book! There's a couple more photos of this sweet book on chelseawardart if you're curious.

The New York triplets

Hello 2014! Seeing as it is now January, it is probably safe to share the rest of my holiday commissions. These triplets were a beast to finish but I loved the results (and luckily the sweet lady that commissioned them did too!). 

I was contacted by Pamela back in December, who wanted a photo album to give to her daughter for her New York trip memorabilia. In order to make room for future New York visits, the project quickly evolved into three albums! Throughout the albums there are illustrations of iconic New York monuments and other little bits of the city, including pink Magnolia blossoms to tie all three albums together! 

There are more iconic spaces on the backs of the albums too. Everything from the Public Library lions and Central Park, to the entry buttons from the Metropolitan Museum and Playbills. It has been years since I last visited that city so it was a fun challenge to recreate all these famous sights in watercolor! There are some more photos of the triplets on my website too. 

Paige & Lola

Okay, I thought I had enough willpower to wait until 2014 to share all these new projects but I really just can't... So I would like to introduce you to Paige and Lola, my newest custom children's book commission! 

I was contacted by Paige's aunt via Etsy a while back and she asked for a custom book about the future adventures of her adorable baby niece Paige and Lola, the family's English Bulldog. It was such a sweet project, writing stories about potential adventures is always fun! I'm a sucker for cute kiddos too. Here's a peek at Paige and Lola's adventures, and there are a few more photos on my website. We will see if I can manage to wait until 2014 to share the other two latest commissions. 

Adventures with Grandma & Grandpa!

At last, here are some photos of my second custom photo album commission. I reaaaally love how this one turned out. We were going for a sort of 'cottage-y' look this time, very different from Curren's nautical album. I did light washes on the cover with my widest brush to achieve the wood grain look. I bound the album with a coptic stitch and then covered the spine with lace. All throughout the book there are freehand illustrations of flowers, then the two little grand-kiddos on the title page!

Edit: Getting married soon and need a guest book? Or would you like your own custom photo album? I just re-listed a commission for one in my Etsy shop! 

a day in the sketchy life

The topic for the Blog Every Day Challenge today is: a day in the life, including photos throughout your typical day! 

I like this days topic a lot, but it is a little impossible for me to show a typical day. Some days are insanely boring...others are filled with crafting and rushing to meet deadlines and filling orders...others are dedicated to prep work and teaching and trying not to go insane. Some days can be really terrible...then others like today are awesome! 

Today I got to go to the gym, I had 2 orders on Etsy (one for my little sketchy notions buttons that I just listed this morning!), my students behaved and cranked out some awesome screen-prints and I had some time for a little thrifting because it was pay day! Now, did I document any of that? Gulp...no... I would have loved to snap some photos of the kiddos printing but having only 30 minutes to supervise and try to instruct nine middle schoolers screen-printing is HARD! Plus my phone would have been covered in 5 different colors of ink so negatory on the photos every hour today. I had every intention of doing a photo an hour this past Saturday at the art market, but after hour 3 of sitting around with nothing happening in the very pretty parking lot, I gave up on that idea. 

Plus, I'm not sure how interesting most of my day would be to any of you out there. It really is impossible to give you an accurate look at a typical day, because the only predictable thing about my days is how random they can be! One minute I'm watercoloring and putting together a contributor DIY post, the next I'm homeschooling and proof-reading depositions. So instead, I'll give a glimpse at some highlights from the past week! 

This one is from the morning of the market. I couldn't sleep so I was up before 6 and was able to admire the morning fog

6:59 am leaving for the market! 

Remember when I mentioned I was in a cell phone photo show at the C Gallery? My Lucca Chess Men and the Piazza San Michelle after a storm both made it into the show!

It's been about 4 years since I first went to Italy to study abroad. I've been looking through old photos and making some small watercolors for a sketching event I'll be at this weekend! These are of Florence, Venice and the Pantheon in Rome. 

Packaging up my little button! It is en-route to its new home now...

Even more little watercolors! Siena, Rome and two of Castiglion Fiorentino.

Edit: not sure how I managed to forget this last  photo but I had to make sure I shared it! 

White Peach Tart! 

to market!

Saturday was exhausting! I was up til 11 the night before inventorying everything, packing it all up and even fitting in a couple more mini illustrations. Then I couldn't sleep so I was up before 5:45 am...slowly packed up, made some nice photos of the morning fog and hit the road at 6:58! I was the 2nd person to arrive for claiming spots so I managed to snag a nice shady one near the front next to some lovely people! 

Overall, the market did not go very well. There wasn't as much foot traffic as everyone had hoped for the day before Mother's Day. I was really disappointed, I still am a bit. I knew it was a small market but I still hoped it would be a profitable day. But it was a fun day with great weather and I made some new artsy friends. Plus, I got to finally use all the ideas/things I've been making for displaying all my goodies! Including a lazy susan... 

After the show, I zoomed up to the C Gallery where the Cell Phone Photography show was opening! Two of my photos made it in...but I'll share those another time... Also on the very bright side, I have a fully stocked inventory of goods for the Etsy shop! I'll probably make some photos sometime today and spend the rest of the day lazing about, sipping Thai tea and listing all the new stuff. I'm also contemplating a mini SALE in the shop to give me a sales boost after the meager results of the market so stay tuned for that...

There were over 20 vendors at the market, with a good assortment of creations

My little booth! With a hand stamped table cloth and a butcher paper bunting banner

All the long scraps from making business cards were finally put to use as backgrounds in whiteboard frames! I reused some old woven baskets and spruced up some tiny berry baskets too. 

So. Many. Things. Overall the inventory wasn't too necessary with keeping track of sales (unfortunately) but it was very useful in making sure I still had everything with me! I love that big mum in the little green vase towards the top right

This weird looking thing is a lazy susan serving contraption my mum got for Christmas! It worked PERFECTLY to display my Pearl Snap Earrings! Plus it twirled...and had a lovely vase of flowers in the middle. This was probably my favorite part of the whole booth!

Mini mini illustrations...I cranked these two bitties out the night before the market!