Studio Life: Bright Experiments

I had a dream the other night where I told someone I was an artist and they immediately asked me if I could make them a painting. I straight up told them, "I'm not a painter." It's true, but it got me thinking about using paint for hand lettering.  The first thing I tried was finger painting, then using a brush, then using a smaller brush, and finally I wrote with a Q-tip. It didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped, but I loved swirling the colors together! I'll just have to keep practicing.

PS: It didn't feel like fall or winter when I made these last week, so I stuck with bright summery colors. 

Halloween with Hamlet

As much as I love free candy, there is a lot about Halloween that I'm not into- like blood & guts & body bits. This can make decorating challenging sometimes. However, this year I found some amazing inspiration from the blog, The House That Lars Built. They sided with a more Taxidermy Museum approach, making the bookworm/science geek in me do a happy dance.

To add my own spin, I added some Apothecary Spook to the arrangement. Old books, bell jars, a crow, glass vials, a lone skull, a set of scales, candlesticks, & greenery. Basically, if Shakespeare & Edgar Allen Poe were in charge of Halloween decor, I'm pretty sure it would look like this!

PS. I almost didn't include the skull (even in styrofoam they freak me out), but I'm glad I did. 

PPS. List of places I found almost all of these lovely objects: Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Target, Goodwill, Marshalls, my front yard. 

Words of Good Cheer: 2015 Holiday Calligraphy Launch

For those of you that follow my "Daily Desk" project on Facebook, you will know that I have been working hard on two new bodies of work for the holidays: a calligraphy series and a relief print series. Well, I am very pleased to announce that the calligraphy pieces are complete and I am ready to share the fruits of my labor! Today I begin the process of launching 8x10in & 11x14in posters on Etsy, as well as poster and postcard packages on Etsy Wholesale. The Holiday Chalkboard Drawings will also be relisted as well. Not only will the series be for sale online, but I am also selling them at the many craft fairs MSP will be attending this fall/winter! The list of craft fairs is found HERE.

A lot of work went into making the "Words of Good Cheer" calligraphy series. First, I had lettered each phrase using a brush calligraphy technique (watercolor brush + Higgins Ink). After all the originals were made, I digitized each one by photographing and editing them. The editing process removed the paper texture, tweaked the contrast/brightness levels, and altered some of the colors. From the jpegs, I could then print the files in any size I wanted, turning them into posters and postcards! Once printed, each poster had to be trimmed down to the correct size. Finally, the last step was to style and photograph them so they look b-e-a-utiful online. I found all of my staging/styling materials at Michael's.

Take a look at everything on the MSP Etsy shop page, HERE! I will be adding listings all week. The full series can be found in the MSP Portfolio. 

May your days be merry & bright!