Painting Progress

A few paintings in progress on gessoed paper, each 16" x 12." I've been working small on paper to invoke kind of a "book-like" feel, but the idea is not really developed yet so not working the best on paper. My next move is to leave some white space of the raw paper around the edges, working with thinned acrylic (imitating watercolor) so gesso isn't needed on the front side. I'll also be starting some larger pieces on masonite.

This last piece is the only one that's 100% finished. I'm calling it "Pyramids I."

"Java"

I've already posted a photo of "Java" when it was very near completion, but just realized I never got around to putting up the final piece. It was one of the paintings I'd sent to Mathisons and thought I would have a perfect scanned image of......well, so much for that. I gave up. I could call them for the tenth time and ask to have the disk mailed again but I just don't know if it's worth trying to work with them in the future or not. I'm well aware of how awful I am at photographing my work and am super frustrated with trying to figure out what to do about scanning the work, or even having it professionally photographed. I'm still dying to have prints of my paintings made to sell but I didn't anticipate what an incredible hassle it would be to make it happen! I'm considering starting on some very small works on paper (anything under standard scanner size), then scanning them myself and seeing if I can get the color correction looking good enough to be sell-worthy.

Anyway, I finished up this piece early last semester (Spring '09). It's one of my more decorative paintings, not exploring deep issues in art by any means, but pleasant and interesting to look at I think (hopefully). And was fun to make...self-indulgent even.

I mock my own decorative paintings all the time, telling people I only make them to sell, etc. But the truth is I actually do enjoy the process of creating somewhat shallow, yet beautiful pieces. I can't do too many or I get bored with them quickly, but when the mood strikes to make one, I allow it. I think they serve as mini-vacations from my more serious work. And if they can make others happy by decorating their walls with, all the better!

Poster + Postcard

A poster and matching postcard for Valiant Vineyards:

Poster is 11" x 17."

Postcard is 4 1/4" x 6."

A New Semester

The fall '09 semester is in full force and already I'm overwhelmed with the number of things on my to-do list. An unexpectedly long and painful recovery from my wisdom teeth removal in August, as well as moving from Sioux Falls to our new rental in Vermillion set me back at least a full month on miscellaneous projects I had in the works. Now my focus has shifted to a heavy homework load and my design job at Valiant Vineyards. My first assignment for them has come and gone and I'm pleased with the results:

Poster size is 11" x 17" on gloss paper that really brings out the depth of the colors. Love purples and reds on glossy paper...beautifully rich. A larger picture of it can be viewed on my website.

I keep promising Giclee prints of a handful of my paintings, and keep having to disappoint. It's been delay after delay after delay. I couldn't find any print shops around Sioux Falls with scanners large enough, so I went through Mathisons who have a large-scale scanner in their Fargo branch that can go up to 6 ft or something like that. But, even though the paintings are only on about 1/2" canvas stretchers, they ended up being too THICK for the scanner. Then I had to wait for them to come back to South Dakota and then figure out what to do next. A lady at the SF Mathisons said she could try scanning the paintings in portions, then piecing them back together and doing color correction in Photoshop. That took quite some time. I went to SF last week to pick up the disk with the final files and was thrilled to finally have it in my possession...only to discover when I got home that it was the wrong disk! Yes, the watercolors of woodland creatures reading storybooks and children playing are lovely, but not exactly what I was expecting. UGH. So now the correct disk should be en route to Vermillion via USPS, but with my luck so far I'm sure the mail truck will overturn or get struck by lightning or something on the way here. Cross your fingers...

The first painting critique for the semester is this Thursday, so I'm off to paint!

New Header

I've finally made a decision on my gray bird identity issues and am sticking with my original vision with the Java finches. So, as you can see above, the new blog header is finished! Working with web colors is a headache. I really need to learn more about how to go about getting my Illustrator creations into jpg form for web use without them looking weird. I haven't quite figured out the "right" way to do it yet. Either the colors end up looking muted or the whole image looks ever so slightly blurry...just enough to annoy me.

Overall I don't think it turned out too bad though. Javas are so fun to draw, although it's difficult to get the size and shape of the beak just right. I think I'm going to use the same header for my Etsy shop, just change the "blog" bubble to "@ etsy" or something like that.

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow I hope to make progress on my business card but I also need to work on cleaning up the apartment badly!

Is it really July??

Ugh, what an awful job I've done keeping up with posting. Planning a wedding turned out to be complete insanity, no matter how much help I had or how simple I tried to keep it. I don't know if I've completely recovered even a month afterward! Thank you cards just went out a few days ago and I finally have most of the best wedding photos post-processed, uploaded, and printed. I wanted to start a wedding scrapbook right away but now I feel like I need a break from it. It's been great fun playing wedding designer but I'm more than ready to focus on other projects now. The apartment is still in disarray though, which is driving me to distraction.

Earlier this week I discovered that Mathisons does Giclee printing...though not in the Sioux Falls store. So I sent away 3 of my smaller paintings to the Fargo Mathisons to be professionally scanned on their giant high-resolution scanner. Once scanned, they send back the paintings and the proofs for me to approve. Then I can have some printed up to sell, woohoo! I'm super excited to see how they look!!

In the meantime I've been working on designing a clear "identity" for graybird. I'm somewhat satisfied with my design for graybirdgallery.com...but that's about it. I need a business card, a header for Etsy (where I'm going to be selling my prints), a new header for this blog, letterhead, and envelope/shipping labels. None of this would be difficult were I not so indecisive and perfectionist.

The issue I'm agonizing over now it that using birds as logos/identity has suddenly become so cliche I can't come up with anything that hasn't been done before. It saddens me since I've truly loved birds all my life and feel that they're by far the best symbol for myself out of any other possibility. I refuse to give in and use something different, especially with graybirdgallery all set up. On my old business card I had a silhouette of a nondescript gray bird with tree branches bleeding off the sides. It's so common to see that now in all kinds of designs that it's just not at all memorable. I think the Java Finches work ok on graybirdgallery, but I'm not really sold on using them for for anything else. I feel they're too complex for something like a logo, but I'm still playing with the idea. One of my favorite solutions involves using a prehistoric bird - I narrowed it down to Archaeopteryx since they were probably the first species of bird to evolve. They also symbolize my love of earth science, fossils, etc. Tim thinks they're ugly but I haven't abandoned it yet. We'll see how I feel tomorrow...

"Java" almost finished. It is actually finished currently, but I didn't get a finished photo of it before sending it off to be scanned. So next week I should have a perfect image of it.

"All the Technology" in progress. I've been creating some stencil effects just by masking with cut up newspaper.

"All the Technology" almost finished. Not a good picture of it and the colors aren't showing accurately, but this is the best photo I have so far. This is a large painting (4 ft wide I think?), which of course makes it all the more difficult to photograph well.

Detail.

Happy (late) 4th of July!!

Recent Sewing Projects

And by recent I mean.....over Christmas break. I was hoping to have more free time to keep up on sewing during this semester, but no such luck at all. I have high hopes for this summer though!

I bought the Amy Butler Swing Bag pattern late last summer and was itching to get it done all last fall. Surprisingly, I found these fabrics at Wal-Mart. Usually I'm not too impressed with their fabric selection in general (other than solid basics), but the prices are so cheap I always browse every time I'm there. Once in awhile I get lucky and find something that looks more sophisticated/trendy. I also bought a couple yards of a third fabric in this set, cherry blossom branches on the dusty purple. Eventually I'll get around to making the bow in that one.

My topstitching is improving - these handles turned out pretty good. The pattern called for canvas backing on all the pieces for strength, but I used an iron-on stiffener instead. It seems to create the same results.

It turned out bigger than I imagined it from the picture, but I like it better that way. It's a really nice design. Not too much more difficult to sew than a standard square bag, but with a little more flair to use as a purse.

The bag is supposed to be fully reversible, but it was more important to me to have lots of inner pockets than to be reversible. I added a row of pockets on each side, stitching dividers in varying sizes for my phone, lip gloss, compact, etc.

This will be a perfect Spring purse for me. I'll definitely use this pattern again.

I see cute apron patterns all the time but am always too cheap to buy them. I decided I could figure out how to make most of the styles without a pattern. This one was a practice run but it turned out not bad at all. I'm not completely happy with the shape of the pocket and sloppy topstitching on it, and I also wish I had added backing to stiffen the waistband. 

The bottom ruffle I made by basting a thin strip of the white fabric and then pulling the strings. It took some time to get all the ruffles looking even, but it worked well. I cut the cat shape out of black fabric scraps and used a satin stitch to seal in the cut edges where it would fray. It's not the best looking satin stitch, but it's a good first attempt I guess. I thought it needed a little something to top it off so I hand embroidered the whiskers and kitty prints, then attached the pocket to the apron. 

The apron was really easy and fun to make - I like sewing projects I don't need a pattern for the best. It also didn't take much fabric at all. Even a full apron wouldn't use up much more. I've decided this is a perfect way to make use of some of my odds and ends. After all, the kitty design won't go well with some of my clothes; obviously I need an apron to match each of my outfits.