new painting: love your neighbor

one more quick post before i play hooky for the rest of the afternoon with ryan-- i just can't create one more thing today. i need to recharge my brain in some way besides staying in my house. geez! there's been so much work lately, i haven't had a chance to let my brain think of anything else, and there's been no room for new ideas. and i am in need of some new ideas.

so. ryan and i are going fruit picking in dacula, georgia! (we'll be dropping off the recycling on the way, so it's not a completely frivolous trip! goodness, i couldn't play complete hooky, could i?) i'll take my camera and try to get some good pics.

have a great long weekend and i'll see you next week!

p.s. this new piece is 6x8", acrylic, india ink, and linoleum block printing on wood, called 'love your neighbor'

lydia bradbury

oh lord, do i ever love these drawings by lydia bradbury. (incidentally, i also love the name lydia-- that's what i'm going to name a daughter if i ever have one!)


see more of lydia's work here and here. i promise, it'll get you though the rest of your friday work day. it's that good.

cornelia o'donovan

this is the most fantastic work i've seen all morning! my new favorite artist for today is definitely cornelia o'donovan. she lives in london and seems to be in the know with folks like marcus oakley and craig atkinson. sigh. jealous.

the image above was turned into a poster for don't panic!, and 80,000 copies were printed. 80,000! that's a lot of posters.

cornelia has the full range of places where her work can be seen: blog, flickr, website.

yana kapeli

i must have shopping on the brain or something-- 2 posts on clothing in a week? totally unlike me.

but i received an email from fashion designer yana kapeli showing me her gorgeous line of clothing, and i couldn't resist posting about it.

i would totally wear all these clothes. they are casual and unique, and i think you could dress them up or down quite easily.

you can see all of yana's designs in her etsy shop-- she lives in israel, and wouldn't you love to own a piece of clothing from israel? i'm already picturing myself in that empire tunic above. amazing.

thanks to yana for introducing me to your gorgeous work!!

the painting is finished!

well, i finished the painting just in time-- i have to leave to take it to gregg irby fine art in 30 minutes! life is a whirlwind these days. :)

i've decided to call it 'flights of fancy'-- i'm not really sure why, but it just hit me and stuck in my head, which is usually how my paintings' titles come about.

and here is a detail of the painting, just for fun:

i hope you are all having a marvelous thursday so far!

nie nie blog silent auctions

i just heard a terrible piece of news from melisa at the lil beethat i thought you all might be interested in--

there’s a fellow blogger named stephanie who writes the nie nie dialogues. stephanie and her husband were recently involved in a plane crash and now 80% of her body is covered in burns. they have four small children.

there are tons of bloggers that are holding silent auctions with all proceeds to be donated to the recovery fund for stephanie and her husband, which will go directly toward helping pay their medical bills and costs of keeping their home up and running.

you can see a list of all the silent auctions going on over at designmom.com and allmediocre.com. and WOW, there are so many people participating. it's incredible to see people come together to help a fellow blogger in need. this blogging community is so moving, i swear.

and you can get info on how the auctions work right here.

you can also add a donate button on your blog (like the one you see on the right sidebar), so people can donate directly to help this family in need. you can get the code right here.

this just broke my heart to read-- i can't even begin to imagine how their family will be forever changed. please help if you can.

thanks, friends. and have a safe, happy thursday. :)

v is for violet etsy shop

i seriously love this octopus. i mean, LOVE it. (and xander, i'm sure you'll love it, too, my sea-creature loving e-friend!) and if you think that's cute, how about the shrimp sushi plush below? oh my goodness, the cuteness is overwhelming!

i'm really considering buying that octopus to put on my desk.... i better hop to it, or one of you reading this post might fall in love with it, too, and snap it up before i do!

be sure to check out v is for violet's etsy shop, because there is more cuteness to be had!

sneak peek at a new painting

i thought you guys might like a peek at a painting i'm working on to take to gregg irby fine art tomorrow-- which means i have to finish it by tomorrow! eek!

any thoughts on a title?

i'll post a pic once it's complete,too!

new pattern: 'amoebae'

oh, pattern making. i think this has been my true love since i was a little girl. i used to make posters with big bubble letters for each holiday and then fill each letter with a different hand-drawn pattern. my family always wondered how i came up with new patterns on each poster, and it's funny to me that i'm sort-of doing the same thing now!

i truly think we are supposed to do what we were happiest doing as children for our whole lives-- i've always loved creating patterns for surfaces. i feel so lucky that i get to use my childhood passion every day.

yay!

ice men

isn't this amazing? i came across these melting ice men on fffound, and clicked through to see where it came from-- these photographs were taken by flickr member lemoox, but the ice men were created by brazilian artist nele azevedo.

i didn't find much information about nele azevedo when i googled him, but this installation was done in october 2006, and you can see more photos of the installation right here. i think this is just brilliant!

new print in the etsy shop!

hi friends-
just a quick note to let you know i just added a print of this lovely painting to my etsy shop, and i'll be adding more new pieces over the next couple of days.

just in case you've maybe had your eye on one of them!

nursery paintings = finito!

sometimes i marvel at my incredible photography skills. really. aren't you impressed with how professional i made these look??!?

ha ha, i'm obviously joking-- but here is a shot of all 4 nursery paintings together (as requested by cindy!), covered in resin and ready to be boxed up and shipped off. yay!

i may have some prints of these available soon if i can get a decent photograph. geez!

lula magazine

i'm a big fan of zooey deschanel. i think she's just adorable and her voice is to die for.
so i was happy to see her in lula magazine when i checked out the magazine online this morning. who knows-- i'm probably totally out of the loop (read: uncool) for never checking out this magazine, but it is gorgeous! i'm hooked.

these are some of my favorite images from flipping through the magazine-- you can flip through all the issues on their website, and you can subscribe right here.

ruth cross

i don't normally post about clothing (because i'm about the most un-fashiony person you could imagine!), but these pieces by ruth cross are really catching my eye and adding to my longing for fall and crisp, cool weather. fall is my favorite.

and this chair and cozy tea set just make me want to snuggle up with a cup of tea and a knitting project while it's all blustery outside!

too bad fall doesn't seem to roll around until november-ish here in georgia... i've got a ways to go. although it is RAINY again today, and i'm totally loving it.

and isn't this bag fantastic? i'd need a whole new wardrobe to go with it. but it is so, so lovely!

2009 calendar REVEALED!

i am so, so excited to show you all this project-- a calendar is something i've been wanting to do, literally, for years, and i finally did it. i spent all day yesterday lovingly creating each calendar page from some of the patterns i've created, and i'm so pleased with the results.

they are 8.5x14" and printed on recycled cover stock.

i'll be taking these with me to renegade in a few weeks, and i'll also have them for sale in my etsy shop-- i'm going to start a pre-order soon, and i'll keep you posted. i feel like it's a liiiiittle bit early to start thinking about actually buying a 2009 calendar, so i'm going to wait a little longer-- maybe until it's at least september! the calendar onslaught will hit the blogosphere soon anyway, so i'll just plant o join in this year. (YAY!)

hope you love it!

the poster list

i received an email from adam at the poster list this morning telling me about their latest poster (pictured above.) isn't it awesome? totally fun and a great twist on the ever-popular 'keep calm and carry on' poster.

all their posters are printed with 100% vegetable ink on organic acid free
paper, and they're having a sweet sale-- this week and next all posters are 2 for $20-- what a steal!! and good for the earth! even better.

thanks, adam!

custom stationary

i've been working on a really fun project for a client recently that i am excited to share with you-- custom stationary.

i created 4 different designs and printed 15 of each card, and they turned out so nicely that i'm thinking of making some for myself now-- i like the idea of sending out personalized cards as thank yous to clients or as part of a press kit or something.

i would love to design more of these sets--perhaps i should put some in the etsy shop with the name customizable. what do you think?

and on an unrelated note, it is raining. a lot. and it rained all night last night. it hasn't rained here in a while, so it's much needed, and i looooooove rainy days. this is a good monday so far!

caitlin shearer

happy monday, friends! i hope you all had a good weekend.
my weekend was full of creating (that's much better than calling it 'work'!)-- hand-printing pillow covers to take to renegade, covering paintings with resin, finishing some custom stationary for a client (to be posted this morning), making a *super special* project that i'm totally in love with that i will be revealing this afternoon after i make some finishing touches, and trying to make some progress on the zillion projects i have going on at the moment!

these wonderful pieces, though, to start the morning, are by caitlin shearer in australia, and i think they are just fantastic. i love the moody women and the stories that seem to be lurking behind them, and i especially want to know about the 'i love you, kirsten dunst' piece below! genius.

caitlin's prints are for sale in her etsy shop, and her flickr page is delightful! check it out, peeps. i'm serious.

{originally via platinum blonde life}

jimin park = gorgeous jewelry

i'm head over heels for these gorgeous pieces of jewelry by jimin park right now. i'm furiously trying ot figure out how to create a website for someone (why do i agree to do these things that i don't know how to do and then get all stressed about it??!?), and i took a little bloglines break-- i spied these on dear ada and couldn't resist sharing. she originally spied them on design milk.

LOVE.

[p.s.-- if anyone uses illustrator + dreamweaver to build websites and you have some advice for me, please do let me know! you can email me right here.)