Letterpress Cards

Back in March, I really wanted to make home-made thank you notes for the baby gifts we received but as Shiloh’s due date drew closer I began to realize I didn’t want that pressure right before or after she was born. In turn, I began searching for the perfect thank you cards. When I saw these letterpress bi-fold pelvis cards on etsy by Communication Company I knew this was the perfect card. And of course it wasn’t going to be as simple as just writing a message inside, I had to add another level to it. The pelvis opened into a picture of our little girl just a few hours old. Weird, quirky…yes but I thought it was kind of funny.

If you are in the market for some unique letterpress cards check out  Communication Company’s etsy site.

Vineyard Gardens Advertisements

It has been a very exciting year full of change. I became a mother and a Texan all in the span of a 3 week period. Two very big adjustments to encounter at the same time but both have been extremely fulfilling. Throughout the move, raising my daughter, being a wife, and exploring Austin I have continued to work as a freelance designer. Working from home with a baby has been a perfect way to keep my creativity flowing and be with my daughter all day.

One of my clients is Vineyard Gardens of Martha’s Vineyard. They hired me to do their entire advertising package for the year. Their vision was to take more of artistic approach in their advertising. Fortunately for me that meant combining my art background within the graphic design realm. One of the ways I did that was incorporating watercolor/sketches of their “plant of the week” specials. For variety, I created two different layouts to use as a base design.

Below are some of my favorites from the year.

 

Watercolor Sketches

I have been working on advertisements for Vineyard Gardens of Martha’s Vineyard. Their vision was to take more of artistic approach in their advertising. Fortunately for me that meant combining my art background within the graphic design realm by incorporating watercolor/sketches. Below are a couple of drawings that I just completed that will be integrated into some of their ads.

cherry blossoms

pansies

Figure Drawing

Figure drawings I did from last weeks open drawing session.

 

Figure Drawing

Now that the bustle of summer on the Vineyard is winding down I have made a point to start figure drawing again. This is one of the drawings I did from Tuesdays figure drawing session at Featherstone Center For the Arts.

Graphic Design

This summer I am helping the nursery and landscaping company, Vineyard Gardens of Martha’s Vineyard, organize and run gallery nights.  Every Friday night this August they will showcase local artists and artisans in an outdoor gallery-style reception set against the breathtaking backdrop of their gorgeous garden center.

The “Call For Artist” posters I designed.

Detail of the drawing I did for the poster.

 

 

 

Florian Nicolle

I was thrilled when I came across the incredible collection by Florian Nicolle‘s. He has a wonderful technique of layering different medias,  combining energetic and raw linework with newspaper, ink, paint, and digital retouching. Check out his process on Behance.

 

 

 

 

{via Colossal}

Daniel Kornrumpf

Incredible embroidered portraits by Daniel Kornrumpf.

 

 

I am astounded by the intricacy and intimacy of these pieces! The thread creates an expression reminiscent of Van Gogh’s brush strokes. I love how the portrait floats on the canvas!

hand embroidered on linen

50″ x 44″

(images via Colossal}

Ben Tours

Happy New Year!

I love setting goals for the new year. It is a fun way to think big and to aspire to make yourself a better person, a better wife, a better artist…it also makes you think about what you want to accomplish in the upcoming year on a daily basis or through a gradual process. A couple of the art goals on my list this year are:  go to figure drawing class at least twice a month and sketch at least 10 minutes a day.

Ben Tour‘s figure drawings are an inspiration to me. I love his loose yet realistic style through the use of ink and watercolor. I’m excited to get drawing!

Have fun with your new years resolutions!

{via thetourshow}

Our Wedding – the graphics

Yesterday we got the pictures back from our wedding photographer. They are incredible! It was so much fun looking through them and reminiscing about our amazing wedding weekend!

It was a jammed packed weekend starting on Thursday night with a bachelorette party thrown by my girlfriends; Friday morning we held a Wedding Day 5K run;  Friday afternoon we had the most incredible ceremony and reception I could have imagined; and Saturday night we held a “Thanks for Coming Lobsterbake” on the beach. Perfect weather, perfect weekend! Needless to say with all the time and effort it took to plan I could not be happier with how it turned out.

Since both Derek and I love designing, building, and making things it  inevitably carried over into our wedding preparations. I will begin with the graphic design work I did…

SAVE THE DATES

We designed, printed, and laminated each invitation.

THE INVITATIONS

We hand designed, printed, and laminated each invitation. Each guest had to cut open the invitation to find the RSVP and Lobsterbake invite inside. It ended up taking a lot more time than planned because our laminator broke…Derek ended up hand winding each invitation through! A little bit crazy I know but the end result is great!

We chose rock cairns to be the symbolic element throughout our wedding. Cairns are markers found along biking and hiking trails that show a route.  Since Derek and I are avid hikers and mountain    bikers we thought this was a perfect symbol to guide us on our new adventure…marriage.  Throughout the summer we collected rocks from the beaches around Martha’s Vineyard to create cairns of our own at the reception.

WEDDING INFO CARD

I designed information cards that went into the welcome bags that Derek’s mother lovingly put together for our guests.

THE BAR MENU

Since we had a fully stocked bar we created a menu to give our guests ideas of what to order. Derek made ginger infused vodka for the Moscow Mules and strawberry infused vodka for the Strawberry Margarita welcome drink. Both were amazing!!

To be continued……