Craftopia 12/11

On Sunday I'll be at Craftopia! 10-4. My lovely assistant will be there too!  Here's Robin rocking a cupcake apron at our last sale in East Greenwich.

Poco Loco, LJ's BBQ and Chez Pascal food trucks will be parked outside and inside will be lots of handmade goodies... come check it out! 

 I've been working my fingers to the bone... Here's brand new tea towel calendars for 2012.  I'm so happy with how they turned out.  I'm staying up late to finish up a few things tonight... wish me luck!

and don't forget to drop by for some holiday shopping and support local artists! 

Elle Girl Korea

안녕 or hello to anyone reading this blog in Korea! I was so excited to be featured in the August issue of Elle girl Korea!

When I was living in Japan I would spend hours in the bookstore pouring through the fashion magazines. I loved seeing the Japanese, Italian and Korean versions of magazines such as Vogue and Elle. They would have such cute and creative editorial spreads and the magazines always came with a little gift. Usually a tiny tote, or a headband!!!

I was honored to be featured alongside some of my favorite food artists such as Claudia Pearson,

Lucille Prache

and Nate Pavadick!

Thanks to editor Kim A Reum for including me in this issue!

What I'm working on....

I was very resistant to working digitally. I thought the computer was evil itself. Now that I've figured out how to use it as a tool... I'm hooked! Seriously... what was wrong with me before? It has allowed me to be spontaneous in my mark making, change around lousy compositions and experiment with color/texture.

So... I was a little nervous about going back to the basics of paint and paper. But as I started painting this week I felt more confident then ever. I still love it!!!!!

Under the Ground

It's finally here! Poster #2 for Fertile Underground!

I had a lot of fun doing the hand lettering for the title and the bottom info.

This time around I did the design and gladly handed it off to a silk screen expert to do the actual printing of the posters. I can't tell you what a relief that was!

One of my favorite parts is this mouse... I drew lots of mice as a kid.

Fertile Underground was awesome enough to give me a dozen or so prints to sell. Thanks again to Kristina for doing such an awesome job printing these!

I'll have them up in the Etsy shop for sale with the first poster! I just finished the design for poster #3 and I can't wait to see it printed.

East Greenwich Art Festival

Just a sneak peak of new fabrics and kitchen stuff I'll have for sale at the East Greenwich Art Festival.

New pot holders in my "tree and leaves" fabric.

I finally got around to sewing full length aprons. I'm hoping these will be a big hit in cupcake print and fruit print as well!

If your looking for something to do tomorrow then drive on down to East Greenwich! It's at 1408 Division Rd and it looks like there will also be a farmers market there too! I'll be at my table 10-5 with art prints, kitchen goods, stationery and some pencil cases.

You've "bean on my mind..."

Art Festivals and Craftshows are a lot of work, weeks of sewing, ordering and organizing stuff all with my fingers crossed for good weather. However, I've found that it's a great opportunity to get direct feedback and that's really helped me make decisions about my work. (which things to discontinue, what needs to be tweaked and pricing too!) I have been busy busy busy working on some new items for the East Greenwich Art Festival coming up Sept 3rd!

I just got these babies in the mail yesterday!

I know, I know... I'm super cheesy. But the berry one just seemed so right that I dared myself to come up with three other veggie greetings.

And I did!

I figured these could each work for multiple occasions and they had a sense of humor... vegetables shouldn't take themselves too seriously.

Next week is crunch time, but I'm hoping to photograph a few more items before I head out for the sale. I will also post these in my Etsy shop too! If your going to be in the area please come say hi! I'll be there 10-5, 1408 Division Road.

Fertile Underground Posters

I have quite a few projects I've been working on since I last posted. Today I wanted to share this one with you. Fertile Underground is a local group mostly comprised of farmers and artists working hard to open a grocery and cafe on the West Side of Providence.

There store will feature organic, local and fair trade food as well as baked goods once their kitchen is done. There are very few places to find local fruits and veggies on the West Side, so I know they will be very popular once they open!

When I saw they were looking for an artist to design an edition of 4 silkscreen posters to promote their store I jumped at the chance! (An opportunity to do some printmaking, draw food and experiment with hand lettering?-Im soo in!)

And it's been awhile since I've done any printmaking...

And I've never done a 4 color print.

I had forgotten how much work goes into making an excellent print, before the ink is even opened....

First I did some quick veggie drawings, finished them in ink and arranged them digitally. Then, I colored the poster, separated them into layers on the computer. I printed them out onto large pieces of acetate, coated the screens, exposed them and TA-DAH!!!!

The screens were all ready to go.

This week I teamed up with my amazing friend Andrea to complete about 80 4-layer prints for Fertile Underground.

After a lot of hard work and deep conversation about unicorns we managed to get a good rhythm down and we finished!

These posters are on pieces of paper 19"x 24", so I hope they will eye catching when they are hung up!

I have 10 available for purchase, so contact me if you want one!