bunny stories

Meet my new little character, Bunn. He's a little rabbit who will some day soon have a little story to be a part of, though for now I'm just exploring how to draw him and his other critter friends. 

Here he is on a bicycle, probably zipping through the little animal town.

He is learning to swim in the local pond, but is a little worried.

I think he's a little down because it's raining outside.

This is such a fun little world to create and I'll be posting further developments on this blog. When I've got a strong story and illustrations I plan to put together a children's book dummy and send it to agents and publishers, both as a sample of my skills but also in hopes of getting it published!

In other news, I've been designing a logo for an organic farm in Canada and I have also done two wedding invitations recently. On top of this I'm currently working on designs for a mural which I'll be flying to Boston to paint in June! The mural is at 1369 Coffee House in Cambridge (Inman Square) and it's going to rock. 

So, lots of things are happening and soon there will be new posts with images of these recent projects. Subscribe to this blog so you can be notified when I post an update. Just type your email address into the subscribe box on the right column.

One more thing: I added Facebook/Twitter icons to these posts so that you can share them with your friends....you know you want to!

all good things

 This week was my friend Jenny's birthday so for a present I made a little portrait of her, screenprinted onto a cute tote bag. It's sort of comic-bookesque because she loves comics. In fact, I included a bunch of things she likes! Just look at all things floating around her and you will see: turn tables and music notes, cooking things (including a piece of kale), a bike, a heart, mountains with hiking trails, comic books, regular books, snow board, plants, spool of thread, sewing machine, a softie (she makes awesome teddy bears and plush animals she calls softies!), and the sun. All good things.

The tote is 100% organic cotton and fairtrade certified. This is a limited edition design, but I'm going to be making more bags as well as tea towels with other interesting and cool designs on them, so stay tuned!

Jenny Smith!

...cooking...kale....mountain biking...

...snowboarding, books, comic books..

...plants...making softies...sewing...

The making of. This is the screen I used to print the design onto the bag. 

Bear with coffee card meets bear with coffee wool felt doll.

Besides making traditional teddy bears and softies, Jenny is getting into needle felting and here is what she made me for my birthday (which is a few days after hers). I LOVE IT! She took my 'bear with coffee' drawing and sculpted a version of it with wool felt. It came out awesome and I will cherish this little guy. Above is a photo of her creation next to my drawing. I am selling these 'bear with coffee' cards as well as others in my etsy shop. 

Jenny's Teddy Bear Republic and Etsy Shop

denizen and baby bibs

This is new illustration for the online magazine, Denizen, which is about third culture kids who grow up in more than one place. The article is titled "The Enigma of Arrival" and was written by Brittani Sonnenberg. It talks about what arriving feels like, or doesn't feel like, when the place used to be your home and now is not. I love illutrating for Denizen because the articles are all always personal and share interesting views on life and what it means to be a "citizen of the world". I do not want to be too literal in my images, but I aim to give the viewer something which accompanies the text in a meaningful way. The thing that caught my attention in the article was this: 

"As aTCK, it’s hard to put two feet down in one place, to offer up that commitment."

 I knew that it was the perfect imagery to use, so I drew a woman with her feet in two very different places, looking a bit unsure of her balance and what to do with her flag which will declare her location.

In other news...

These are my newest project! Organic cotton baby bibs, for the little ones in your life. I found this adorable organic cotton fabric and couldn't resist making these. They are currently for sale in my Esty shop, so be sure to check it out! I am also attending the Silverlake Art/Craft/Vintage Fair on April 14th, so if you live in Los Angeles, head down there you'll be glad you did!

moss brook growers

Last year I was privileged enough to have worked at Unicorn Grocery Workers' Cooperative in Manchester, UK. While I was there two members of the co-op were starting Moss Brook Growers, a farming cooperative which grows organic produce to sell locally. They needed a logo and that's where I came in! Actually, I had helped them out even before that, working on the land. I volunteered a few times, weeding, planting and harvesting! When they asked me to do the logo I was glad to have first hand experience with the business and that I knew what they were about. 

They wanted a bold and simple design, with bright colors. I decided to stick with botanical imagery, something leafy. We came to this basic design quite quickly, but the colors went through several changes. My style tends to have muted colors, warmer tones of greens and blues. Their desire to brighten the color palette pushed me a bit out of my comfort zone, but I love the end result and it's just right for them.

After I moved to Los Angeles in September of last year, they asked me to create a font based on the typography in the logo. I hand drew the logo and so creating an alphabet meant hand drawing every letter, including capitals and numbers and punctuation! I had done that before for Cafe Verde, in 2008, but Moss Brook also wanted me to program it into a usable font, which I had no idea how to do!

It was a fun and challenging project which taught me a lot about how fonts work. 

The Moss Brook Growers website is up and running, so you can find out more about this cool cooperative and see my font in action!

a better city

I've just finished up an illustration job with the Boston based non-profit, A Better City. Their mission statement is this: "Improving the economic competitiveness and quality of life of the Boston region by advancing significant transportation, land development and environmental policies, projects and initiatives." I'm excited to be a part of this project as it's doing wonderful things for Boston, a city I am particularly fond of (being from there and all). I lived right across the Charles River, in Cambridge, while doing my BFA at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. It is where I began bicycling, which I did everyday in Boston, then in England where we lived for three years, and now in Los Angeles!

I was commissioned to design five certificates which will be awarded to businesses who reach sustainability goals in the areas of energy, transportation, water, waste and people. My job was to illustrate these goals, giving them each a message which is easily read and interesting to look at. I decided to use the shape of the image, playing with borders and making them relevant to the concept. 

While sketching them out I found that drawing a horizon and some sort of landscape was a great way to express the ideas of progress and moving forward into the future. I wanted them to look clean and simple, with enough detail to make them interesting. 

This was a fun project to work and on top of that I feel strongly about the issues of environmental sustainability. I want to be a part of the change and use my art to do it. In my life and work I make a effort to always pick the responsible path, my husband and I do not own a car (yes, even though we live in LA!), we are committed to composting and recycling, and in my art I use recycled or organic materials. There is so much we can all do, and the fact that I am able to use my art and illustration for this purpose is very cool indeed. 

Please check out A Better City's website! http://www.abettercity.org/

two sides

This illustration accompanies an essay written by Lauren Owen entitled "Two Sides of My History" and was published in the online magazine Denizen. Read the article and check out the site, it's full of interesting perspectives on life written by people who have spent their lives between different cultures, which often leaves them with uncertain national identities. 

 Denizen: Third Culture Kids

pendants!

 Exciting news: I've collaborated with the very lovely jewelry artist Emma McElfresh, owner of Sovereign Sea Designs, and the result is this beautiful selection of pedants featuring my illustrations. We actually went to the same high school (she was in my sister's grade and I was in her sister's grade!) but I've been following her shop for the past several years. After reading her website's bio I saw that she was open to working with other artists and the idea struck me like a bolt of lightening: my work would look amazing on these glass pendants! And how right I was...The details and colors have a certain charm, under the domed glass. And what a treat to be able to wear them! (I can't wait to have my own bicycle necklace).

Visit my Etsy shop! 

And check out Sovereign Sea Designs!

I hope we work together again in the future, I couldn't be happier.

x

wake up and smell the...

 I first saw a reusable coffee filter at my older sister's house before I even drank coffee, so the idea has been in my mind for many years, maybe 10 or so. When I began drinking coffee the normalcy of paper filters was enough to make me not consider an alternative, although I hadn't forgotten about the cloth ones I'd seen. Then, after moving from England and to LA, I bought my first sewing machine and I now have a special power that I didn't before! Things I used to feel were beyond my ability to make can now be made, and that gives me so much joy.

And so, the coffee filters. We make coffee everyday and the idea came to me slowly and then all at once. I had the cotton because I had bought it for another purpose (eye pillow bags, though it turned out to be too stiff) and so things just came together. I am selling these on my Etsy Shop and hopefully in some local Los Angeles cafes. (Please get in touch if you are interested in selling them).

I've made these coffee filters out of 100% unbleached cotton (which was made in the USA).You can use these just like ordinary filters and your coffee will taste great without the environmental impact of using a new paper filter every time you brew. Plus you will never have to buy the paper kind again!

Instructions are as easy as pie: 

-Place filter in coffee maker basket and brew as you normally do.
-After coffee is made, take grounds out of filter and dispose of them (I compost them).
-Rinse filter in cold water, squeeze out excess water and hang to dry. 

Happy Coffee Brewing! 

lovely lavender

Okay, I love to sew. And I love to sleep...

These eye pillows were inspired by my sister-in-law, Katie, who wanted me to make one for a Christmas present. I was excited by the idea and went about finding the right cloth and filling. The pattern is incredibly simple, but the end product is versatile and something to be cherished. I chose organic cotton for the front and an extra soft reclaimed flannel for the underside of the pillow. The inside is filled with dried buckwheat, giving it just the right weight, and lavender which is a sleep aid and can sooth an anxious mind. These are great for getting rid of stress and headaches, or for your yoga practice during calm and meditative moments. They can also be placed under the pillow on your bed or try putting it in your clothing drawer to give your clothes a subtle smell of lavender. So many ways to enjoy such a simple thing!

The bag, such a good idea! I have made these cute drawstring bags for carrying the eye pillows, which keeps them clean while they travel in your purse or yoga bag.

You can find these for sale in my Etsy shop!

Find out more about Katie (yoga teacher and journalist) by checking out her blog: lightonbalance.blogspot.com/