Halloween is tomorrow - still can't decide what to wear!

Art Attack 2011

It's time to open the doors and share the art! If you are in Minneapolis next weekend, come to the Northrup King Building for an afternoon, and an overload, of art! There are over 200 artists working in a wide variety of media, from fine arts and crafts to furniture, fabrics and more. I'm in studio 350 - stop in!

Here's more information about the event, directions, and the artists.

Cup 'O Tea Sketch

There's a bit of a chill in the air these last few days, time to throw some wood into the pot bellied stove and have a cup of tea!

Happy Birthday Mary Blair

Today would have been illustrator Mary Blair's 100th birthday. What a prolific and dynamic artist! She began as a water colorist with a naturalistic bent, but her style soon evolved into the more abstract and colorful forms she is known for today. She worked as a color stylist and concept artist for the Disney Studio in the 40's, a time when there were few women animators, and almost none in managerial positions. Her influence can be seen in such well-loved animated films as Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.






Disney's animated films were enhanced by her bold ideas about composition

and mood


and color.


She was so versatile. After resigning from Disney, she worked as a freelance graphic designer, and her vibrant colors and stylized designs could be found in TV commercials, murals and children's books.





I loved how she was not afraid to use black to enhance her colors, but I think what I love the most about her style is it's utter simplicity, and how she streamlined all her line work into such harmonious proportions. A great example is this illustration for a product called Choco Milk. I mean, how sweet is this!



For more information on Mary, you can visit the website created by her nieces: here.

Fashionista and her Hoover

If you believe the ads in the magazines published in the fifties, housekeeping was a stylish affair! Swirly dresses and high heels were the standard outfits for cleaning the house, or so it would seem.

I am paying homage to West Elm's gorgeous rugs with this print. I would love to purchase this rug but since I can't afford it at the moment, at least I can look at it in my print!

This print is available in my online shop Graphitegirl.

Sketch

I'm vacuuming in my high heels today, tralalala lah! This happy homemaker is probably wondering what to do with that floating lamp.

Seriously, I have a Hoover vacuum cleaner that is older than the hills, but I will never trade it in because according to the repair shop, "they don't make 'em as good as this old model anymore!"

Walking the dog

Today, while walking my dog, I lost my house keys. I got home and discovered this fact, and fortunately I was able to get into my house because I had forgotten to lock the back door. It didn't seem to be a good beginning for my day! I wondered if the key had fallen out of my pocket while I was pulling the plastic doggie "pick-up" bag out of my pocket. Every morning before our walk, I say to myself, "Don't put the key in the same pocket as the doggie bag, because your gonna lose it some day when you pull the bag out." I never listen to myself! For some perverse reason, I always stuff the bag and the key in the same pocket.

So I went back to the big open field, covered in fall leaves, and walked around. Within five minutes a sparkle caught my eye, and there lay my key! Amazing!

Just so you know, I was not wearing high heels and Suzi is not a Poodle, but it makes for a good beginning to this story!

Happy Birthday Laundress

All you birthday fashionistas, take a LOAD off your feet and celebrate! This cheerful lass is now a birthday card in my Etsy shop here.

Laundress sketch

Here's a smudgy beginning of a birthday card I'm working on for the fans of the fashionistas. She going to wish you LOADS of fun on your birthday, get it? get it?
I thought about reversing her position to face the washing machine, but it didn't work as well as I thought it would. Here, take a look:



In this version, the washing machine becomes more prominent in your sight - since she is facing it, our eyes tend to take it in at the same time we view our lovely subject. But that is just the point, I don't want that washing machine to share the limelight, I want her to be the star. So for me, the first version works better, where she turns her back to the machine and it becomes less important. It's just one of those things where you ignore the rules and do what you wanna do - it's called "artistic license"!

Green grape catastrophe

Yesterday my dog Suzi-Q gave me such a scare! I came home to find her eager to see me, but she had vomited greenish puke all over the floor - and a single green grape lay underneath the coffee table. Yikes! Grapes are toxic, lethal, to dogs. On my way out the door previously, I had been carrying a bunch of grapes in my hand, and one (or more?) must have fallen to the floor where she found it and ate it in my absence.

She is fine today, but I think I may give up grapes (and chocolate) so I won't have any more accidents like this!

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Hybernate

What a perfect theme for this time of year!