I'm a Little Bit Country, Part 2

Lots of vibrant colors and fine detailing in this painted backdrop for a country store. Painted on canvas, these shelves will always stay neat and well-stocked.

I'm a Little Bit Country...

What's a country-style party without lemonade? Here's a peek at some faux bois with hand painted lettering to dress out a lemonade and popsicle stand. How about a country store? But of course!

It's all in the details...

Blocking in patches of color as groundwork for the detailing that comes in later.

Yards and yards...

... of canvas for an upcoming project. Good thing I'm not intimidated by all that blankness --- eek, 15 feet of it. This is gonna be a long night.

Floating Around in the Blogosphere: About.com

Wow! About.com just featured the barnyard interactive invitations I made for very cool client Leesa at Send in the Clowns in Los Angeles.

Click here to see the article and the photos.

Eee-i-eee-i-oooooooooh!

Welcome to the Mercantile

Batting around some ideas for an old-fashioned country store illustration and wanted to see how the elements would work together. Here's a sneak peek. At some early concept sketches which will eventually be painted on canvas for the finished piece.

Rather than sketching, coloring, and scanning, I've been drawing on my new computer tablet with a pressure-sensitive which mimics traditional art media beautifully. Acrylic sketches without the mess! Why, oh why, didn't I buy this tool five years ago?

Sneak Peek: Celebrating 20 Years of Summer Search

My day job as an Events Specialist for Summer Search lets me wear a lot of different hats. So happy I get to wear my artist cap today as I prepare for the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the organization and its founder Linda Mornell at Fort Mason.

As a non-profit organization, Summer Search would rather spend money on their students rather than event decor. Here's a simple, cost-effective solution which primarily involves multi-purpose branded banners, gobos to project our logo onto walls and ceilings, and re-usable freestanding interactive walls where attendees can contribute their own pictures or messages. In addition to the rock climbing walls, ropes course, photo expo, and live painting exhibition, this promises to be a fun event for the amazing students and alumni.

And if you happen to be in San Francisco on September 24th, come and check out the design in person.

Hmmm... okay, yep, got that covered... YES, YES... I am happy!

While cruising my favorite blogs late last night, I came across this wonderful flowchart on A PhotoEditor, and am so amazed how such a simple image has stuck in my head. The more I think about, the happier I feel.

There's a world of possibility out there, folks. Go out and grab it, and if you're already doing that, keep doing what you're doing.

Customized Keepsake

Taking a break from barnyard brainstorming to do some final assembly on custom frame corners... You know, those cardboard triangles that keep photo frame corners from getting wrecked in the store

One of my clients, party planner extraordinaire Leesa of Send in the Clowns in Los Angeles, asked me to design frame corners to adorn some keepsake frames for a first-birthday party.

Took a bit of experimentation to get the template right, but I'm really happy with the way these turned out.

Barnyard Inspiration

E-i-e-i-o!


Came across some cool animation backgrounds on "Comicrazys" and feel nostalgic and inspired. Never realized Saturday morning cartoons would figure so greatly in my professional life :) Better get to the drawing board while the inspiration lasts.

To see more: http://comicrazys.com/2010/05/26/looney-tunes-backgrounds-cartoon-network-archiv

Party Invitations Don't Have to Be Flat

When I'm not raising money for a good cause, I'm dreaming up new party ideas for the under-18 set and their parents. Hence, an interactive invitation to a barnyard-themed party sets the tone (literally!) as soon as the invitation arrives in the mail. Inspired by the sound cannisters we all had as kids, this invitation starts mooing even before you get the box open.

Super fun!

Playing Dress Up

When I was little, I used to spend Sunday afternoons watching Abbott and Costello on the Family Film Festival. If you grew up in Los Angeles during the 70s, you'll remember Tom Hatten introducing the week's family movie on KTLA at 3:00pm.

More likely than not, I would have some drawing in hand, a multi-tasker from my earliest years. From week after week of Family Film Festivals, I managed to accumulate quite a box full of drawings. I went through a period of copying Art Deco artist Erte, or devising comic strips with my most hated classmates as the principle antagonists.

One of my favorite projects was making paper dolls --- sketching the paper clothes based on whatever period piece happened to be on. "Top Hat" yielded lots of fluffy, flowy ballroom dresses festooned with feathers and sequins. "The Adventures of Don Juan" inspired intricate Baroque creations with tight bodices and full skirts. "Meet Me in St. Louis" suggested costume after costume of beautifully tailored and detailed outfits, adorned with ribbon, buttons, beads, piping, shirring, and pin-tucking, completed by the matching bonnet.

As I work on my current freelance project, these lazy afternoons of sketching, coloring, cutting and gluing come flooding back. I'm creating paper frocks (made from foamboard) for a life-size paper doll inspired by (not copied from, because that would be unlawful) the Disney Princesses... Aurora, Cinderalla, Belle, Ariel and Snow White. As I trim the foamboard, I'm amazed at how many of my childhood pleasures have reappeared in my adult life as a means of making a living. From creating a croquet set based on Alice in Wonderland to folding paper flowers, painting fantasy backdrops, to painting anything at hand to look like marble, wood, marquetry, or tortoiseshell... these projects bring a breath of fresh air to the daily grind, and allow me to indulge in a little whimsy and lightheartedness each day.