Music inspired art

This new piece was inspired by my recent trip to Nashville, Tennesee, and all the great music I heard in the honky-tonk bars down there. Specifically, an up-and-coming band called Jypsi (check them out here: http://www.jypsi.net/)

This band was just so fascinating to watch--it's a group of 4 young and extremely talented siblings who play traditional-style bluegrass and country music. But, they have this kind of funky-retro-high fashion look that creates this amazing juxtaposition in these small, dingy honky tonk bars of lower Broadway. They are like these wild and free spirits with the soul of old-timey country, and I kind of feel like they represented what I loved most about Nashville--that though it's best known for being a center of country music, it's more an intersection of so many types of Americana roots music that spans through history and is still very much alive and still effecting contemporary music today.

I'm also really interested in music in general--so really was inspired and had alot of fun creating this piece. I'm very interested in exploring more subjects related to the music I love. Was super excited to see "Music" happened to be Illustration Friday's theme this week, too!

I'm submitting this piece to Six By Six Gallery for their December show. The exhibit opens Friday December 4 at 531 East 13th Street (btwn Ave. A and B) in the East Village. http://www.6x6gallery.com/

new in-progress

Working on a new painting to submit to Six by Six gallery's next show. I love working in this small square format, and this one is inspired by my recent trip to Nashville. Here's the sketch...

Some new inspiration

I don't typically post a lot of personal things on this blog, but it's been a wildly inspiring and creative month, so I wanted to share a few things that have gotten my creativity bursting at the seams....

Earlier this month I took a trip to Nashville Tennessee, which was just amazing! The entire city is filled with live music--day and night, and there's a lot of history everywhere about Americana/roots music (which I am a huge fan of). There's lots of really cool memorabilia, in both museums and all the honky tonk bars--from all the greats, like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline.....some really amazing stuff! Here's a few pics of some of the things I found really visually inspiring!



In addition, Nashville is home to Hatch Show Print--one of the oldest and most well-known letterpress shops still operating today. They had a big part in creating the woodblock-type look popular for concert posters, and most concert posters in Nashville are still done by them and can be seen hanging all over town. I have always been a huge fan of their designs and fascinated with letterpress & woodblock printing, so it was especially cool to stop in the shop and see them at work (and pick up several posters of course!) Here's a link to there site, and some of my favorite posters of theirs:

http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/experience-hatch.aspx



The other very exciting and inspiring event this month was, of course, Halloween! It's by far my favorite holiday, mostly because it gets me super creatively charged. I absolutely love making a unique costume each year and always challenge myself....this year was a creepy wood-nymph/fairy with light up wings! tons of fun making this and I was pretty happy with how it turned out!



Also, my office goes all out at Halloween time too, so I get to lend a hand in transforming our office into something spooky and spectacular in addition to my own costume. Here's some photos of how we changed our work space into "Dracula's Dinner Party". we even ended up winning 2nd place! I wish work could look like this all the time!




So, you can see I always put a ton of work into Halloween, but it's all more than worth it!

I've got some exciting projects around the bend, so October has been a fantastic and timely source of inspiration! (also, insanely BUSY!!)
More details to come on those projects-in-the-works soon!

Book cover jobs

I just wrapped up an exciting job for a new client--I got the opportunity to illustrate 3 book covers for Fairview Press. The books are guides for kids going through puberty and their parents--one for boys, one for girls, and also a dictionary of terms. This was a really fun project geared toward the exact audience I've become more interested in targeting, and the art director was just great to work with. Here's how the art turned out:



Can't wait to see them working with the design/type!

Dia de los Muertos

I'm very excited to be entering a piece in an upcoming group exhibition!

There's a new gallery opening in the East Village (opened by the gallery owners of Charmingwall, a GREAT little gallery in the West Village that specializes in showing & selling illustrative fine artists' limited-edition prints)

This new gallery is called Six by Six, and the concept behind the whole gallery is to show small pieces of original art....any theme, any medium--the only guideline is for each piece to be created on a 6"x 6" canvas.

So, I got super excited about this as an outlet for a new personal piece.
I've recently come across some really amazing artist's websites who have explored the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos (or "Day of the Dead"), portraying female figures in the traditional makeup and costume of the cultural celebration. I had done a Day of the Dead piece in college, as I've always been interested in the theme, but decided I wanted to revisit it and explore, in my own way, a more feminine and beautiful perspective.

This is the piece I am entering--I had SO much fun creating this!


The show opening will be on Friday, October 2nd from 6-8pm at Six by Six Gallery, 531 E. 13th Street
www.6x6gallery.com

Please come by and check it out if you can!

new sketches

Here's a peek at something new I'm working on. I'm creating a series of drawings, honing in on refining my style to fit markets with a middle-grade girl audience (like book covers!) I was inspired by the Artful Agenda drawings I did earlier this year, and just love creating little pieces like this! I plan to continue to develop these, and more like them, to apply to sellable products (notecards, greeting cards, small prints, etc.) and open up an etsy shop later on this year. These are the first few sketches I've been working on, and will be finished in full color.

New portrait

Just finished another commissioned wedding portrait--this one included the couple's baby, which was a fun challenge for me.