new pattern: pinwheel

this pattern is a little different than my usual-- more computer-y and less illustration-y. but i like it! it feels a bit like snowflakes to me, and i like that it feels like there's some movement to it. and i'm enjoying the bottom color combo, too, because it feels sort-of retro. the recolor tool in illustrator is one of my very favorite things, because i can easily change colors and get to combinations i wouldn't have in the beginning!

in unrelated news, i'm on my way to my second acupuncture treatment- hopefully i'll have good things to report, especially given my eye fiasco over the weekend!

jake watling

i'm a fan of jake watling's paintings (and in fact, i just became a fan of him on facebook, too!)- i love how you can sort-of make up your own story about whata's going on, and i just can't pass up anything with such fun, bright colors!

check out jake's work on his website, and if you are in the bay area, first of all you are lucky, and second of all you can see jake's work in a 2-person show with jared lindsay clark called enter/exit at swarm gallery in oakland beginning on february 20th.

and who doesn't love a painting that has an ice cream truck in it? it's so awesome!

animal growth chart

good morning, my lovelies! it's monday again! did you have a good weekend? mine started out by waking up with a swollen, itchy, red eye (the eczema is striking on my face now...), and i took a benadryl at ryan's suggestion, which turned out to be a bad idea. i've never taken benadryl before (like i said last week, i'm not really one for medicine), but i was desperate! so, about 20 minutes later, i felt like my body was going to sink through the floor and i was dizzy and couldn't stay awake. so i crawled back in bed, got up an hour later, moved to the couch, and slept for another hour. then i made ryan walk with me to the coffee shop down the street so i could get an americano to try to shock my system out of the benadryl haze. the picture of health, i tell you.
needless to say, i'm never taking benadryl ever again!

aaanyway, enough of that! my friend jennifer recently suggested i make a growth chart (she has 2 sweet little kiddos that are growing quickly!), so i decided to go for it! i feel like i could possibly get rather obsessed with making these. it was so fun! i'll have to get one printed out to see how it looks in real life. and if you have kiddos and are in need of a growth chart, maybe this is just the thing for you...!

i dream of paper lanterns

i dream of sending off paper lanterns full of wishes at my wedding, out over the ocean.....

jenny m- be happy now

gorgeous illusrtations by jenny of be happy now. i am picturing that fish painted as a huge mural on a child's bedroom wall. wouldn't that be fantastic?

blue q

while reading helen dardik's blog, orange you lucky, this morning, i clicked through to blue q, a company for which helen created the pattern on the bag above. (isn't it the cutest?)

not knowing anything about blue q, i decided to browse the website, and *oh my goodness*. i am so entertained! i'm totally on the same brain wave as far as their sense of humor goes-- i mean, look at that tin bank below! is that not the funniest thing you've ever seen?

and everything in their store is so crazy and funny, that i totally wish i worked with these people! i bet they have a ridiculous amount of fun every day.

i remember a few years ago i had a little holiday shindig for my family at my house in boulder, and i made these funny invitations with a drawing of jesus on the front (it was a joke, because i am so not religious, and neither is anyone in my family), and it made me giggle when i looked at it. everyone in my family thought it was funny, too, but my sister's boyfriend totally didn't get it and asked my sister if i had "gone religious." she said she laughed and laughed..... and then just told him i'm really weird. :) i don't mean to offend anyone-- i just really like jesus art, like that sparkle cream below. i think it's hilarious. i mean, lookin' good for jesus sparkle cream? come ON! that's just plain awesome!

anyway, you really should go visit this website- it's perfect for a friday morning when you should be working. :) (like me!)

make sure you browse the book section (you wil find the bad asses book and the 18 things you never knew you could do with a small stone book below, plus many other good ones). and also, please, if you don't do anything else, watch the advertising videos by clicking on the 'meet jack & jennessy' link on the right side of the homepage. i promise, they are insane, and you will laugh. or you'll just think i'm weird.

sarah horne

ok, i'm totally and completely falling over myself about sarah horne's work. it is *incredible*, and that's all there is to it.

please visit her website- it is marvelous and you will love it! sarah is also part of an awesome collective called gumbo illustration, and i need to go search the site immediately.

new painting: something will catch you

here is a new painting that i finished yesterday- it's called 'something will catch you', and it's about trust and having faith. one of my intentions for the new year was to transform worry into faith (faith in the universe, faith that i'll have everything i need), so this painting is sort-of in that vein.

i'm really into that pinky-peach color lately!

ona home

i discovered a shop i'd never heard of this morning called ona home, while browsing the rare device website and i think these card holders are just the cutest things ever.


ona home is based in lithuania, which makes me like it even more. i visited vilnius, lithuania briefly several years ago while traveling with a friend ( we were en route from talinn, estonia, to krakow, poland), and it was such an interesting city. it was very rainy, and i remember walking up a big hill to look over the entire city, and there was an onion-domed cathedral way off in the distance that i badly wanted to visit, but i had no idea what or where it was.

anyway, it makes me happy that ona home is based in lithuania. oh, the travel bug has struck this morning!!

new pattern: bianca

this pattern is called bianca, mostly because it's one of the names i suggested for our kitty when we got her, but ryan didn't like it. i'm a huge fan of the name, so i had to give it to something!

bad kitty

quick kitty update! please indulge me. :)
anika is doing very well and we love her *so much*!

yesterday she was particularly bad, though, and got into trouble all day-- the most exciting part of her trouble-making was last night when i went to pick her up and the bottom half of her was soaking wet. she developed a fun new trick yesterday, where she gets all the water out of her bowl and onto the kitchen floor, so i figured that's what happened. turned out, though, she had actually been playing in the toilet! so gross, right? so ryan had to give her a bath in the sink, and she was not happy with us. needless to stay, the toilets are staying closed from now on.

thankfully today she's off to a better start and has been quite good so far (knock on wood!)

tuesday moon

these floral pieces by tuesday moon are so lovely, yes?

i think a series of these beauties would look so fantastic in a living room with lots of white and dark wood. sometimes i wish i could get rid of everything i own and start over, with an unlimited budget- these would definitely be in the picture!

tuesday moon has a blog and a flickr page, too, in addition to the etsy shop. what fun wednesday morning oohing and ahhing!

tangled sky studio

encaustic is one of those mysterious mediums that i know nothing about, but i'm so intrigued by it. tangled sky studio seems to have mastered the encaustic technique-- her images are simply gorgeous! aren't those acorns above just adorable?


you can pick up your very own piece in the tangled sky studio etsy shop, and also see more of work and behind the scenes studio peeks on her blog. oh, and she's exhibiting at papernstitch this month, too!

new pattern: chinese lantern

i would like to learn more about flowers. do any of you know of a great book that will teach me about flowers and has fantastic photos as well? if so, please share!

this pattern is called 'chinese lantern', as the flowers, although not the correct color, are all drawings of chinese lanterns. it's making me want to make more floral patterns. stay tuned!

speaking of chinese things, this is totally unrelated to patterns, or even flowers, but i had acupuncture for the first time yesterday. i've been dealing with horrendous eczema for years, and i decided to give this i try. i don't like taking antibiotics or drugs, and i think western medicine focuses on covering up symptoms rather than getting to the root of problems and getting the body back into balance; i've heard wonderful things about acupuncture and identify much more with eastern medicine practices-- have any of you had any experience with it? i felt very sleepy all afternoon yesterday, but also deeply relaxed. it was really interesting! i'm excited to go back for round two next week. i'd love to hear your stories if you have them!

kareena zerefos

gorgeous work to start the day by sydney-based artist kareena zerefos. yes, i'm a fan.

a few links:

-visit her website here
-buy posters, prints, and cards here
-join her facebook group here

enjoy!

olivia agass

hello, olivia agass. i love your illustrations. i just wanted you to know that.

olivia's flickr photostream and blog are quite the inspiration, and she is also part of a collective called illustrator's elbow, which is made up of a group of illustrators from the university of brighton, where i desperately wish would've gone to college. why wasn't i born in england?

little bird designs

something about the visceral quality of hand-pulled linocuts is really appealing to me- i love that you can really feel the artist's hand in it, and that each print is slightly different. these linoprints by little bird designs exemplify those qualities that i love just perfectly.

i can't stop looking at them- i particularly love the print directly below, called 'if i ever say two words'. it feels very mysterious, and those colors are simply gorgeous. i'm hooked.

please visit little bird designs' etsy shop- there are many goodies to drool over!

new pattern: kelp

good morning, my dears! did you have a nice weekend? mine was of the unproductive variety- the kind where you're not exactly sure what you even did all weekend, but it certainly wasn't much work! i did manage to eek out this pattern, though- it's called 'kelp'.

i'm still trying to wake myself up this morning-- i think i'm in a bit of a food coma from all the chips and guac and artichoke dip i ate last night while watching (i mean "watching") the superbowl! i'm sure some of are right there with me, eh? :)