art

A New Art Line at FlourishCafe!

I’m very very excited today about a new line of prints I’ve just launched in my shop, and I wanted to share it with you! The theme of the new line is the incorporation of vintage art. By melding vintage illustrations with modern typography and design, it combines into whimsical and fresh pieces of art. The illustrations are old enough (from the 1920’s and prior) to be in the public domain and are no longer under copyright. So I’ve worked them into my new print designs, often altering the colors (most were in simple black and white) and pairing them with playful words and phrases. And I am quite tickled with how they turned out! I hope you like them too — let me know what you think and if you have a favorite. I just might have to do a giveaway from my new line soon! :) ** UPDATE: Yep, I’m having a giveaway from my new line, as mentioned! Check out my first vlog for the details!**

So, without further ado, the rest of my new line of prints!

My personal favorite is probably the “Come on in, sit down, chill out” poster – it makes me cheery to see it when I come home. :) Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Sketchbook Tour 2012: Surrounded by Stories

I’m very excited about a project I’m involved in this year – Art House Co-op’s 2012 Sketchbook Tour! Basically, it’s like a music tour, but with art instead of music. Many artists are sending in sketchbooks to the project, and then all of our sketchbooks are going on tour around the country, visiting various major cities where anyone can come and browse through them and enjoy the artwork. My little sketchbook will be going along for the ride!

I was able to choose from a variety of offered “themes” for my sketchbook … I went with the theme “Fill me with stories”. Basically, by sketchbook is centered around the idea that there are stories all around us, in all aspects of our lives. I’m using letters as a metaphor for the stories, and replacing various objects with letters/stories in my illustrations, from raindrops, to thread, to thoughts. Here are a couple examples from my sketchbook of “stories” in tea:

The deadline for sending in the sketchbook is tomorrow – eek! I still have quite a bit to go! So this afternoon I’m going to be filling in the rest of the blank pages…

…and then my sketchbook is off to go on tour! Once the tour is completed, it will live in the Brooklyn Art Museum with the rest of the sketchbooks. The images will also be online… here’s my profile page on the sketchbook site. I’m excited! I’m hoping to get to see the Sketchbook Tour and browse through others’ sketchbooks, too. But first …. must. finish. I’ll share more photos once I’m done! :)

What do you think of my take on the theme? “Filled by stories” was a theme offered by the Sketchbook Tour and many others will be doing their own take on it, but my particular sketchbook is titled, “Surrounded by Stories.” Do you see stories around you? Let me know what you think in the comments!

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This year I will conquer you, pumpkin!

Every year I tell my husband I want to carve a pumpkin. Then I go and get a pumpkin. Last year, we even went to a farm, took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch and picked out the perfect pumpkins to carve.

Then I set the pumpkin on the front porch. There is sits. Uncarved. Until it rots.

I so want to carve a pumpkin.
But I never get around to it.
Aaaaaaaaargh! This year I will conquer you, pumpkin carving!

*waves fist around in the air wildly*

Ahem. Well, anyway, as I was saying, I just never seem to get around it. Autumn is probably my favorite season. But sometimes it just seems to fly by before you really enjoy it. That’s why I made a list – those lovely little things that just ooze autumn. Ok, maybe not “ooze” … that’s what my rotten pumpkins did, and I’ll admit that is a less pleasant side to autumn. Let’s say these things are just very autumnal and stay away from all that oozing business.

So here it is: my autumn list typography print with little illustrations along the side of fun autumn things to do which I just listed in my Flourish Cafe shop.

What are your favorite autumn activities?
(Probably not dealing with rotten pumpkins. Just a guess.)