Cute fabric.

This fabric is so stinking cute. I think it would be fun to do a water color painting of this little circle too. I want to paint more!

Half and half prints.

I was invited by a friend of mine to submit a poster design for Pinch Flat Columbus, an art show celebrating biking in our city. I submitted my entry last week and got the go ahead to get it printed for the event this morning!

I'm going to have it printed by Half and Half, a screen printing company. After looking at their website, I headed over to their etsy shop, where Rudy and I decided to buy the print below for our kitchen. I mean $15, come on! I also really like the poster above but don't have a place for it in our house right now.

I'll share my poster with you once it goes up at the show in May. Since I'll only be selling 30 prints at Pinch Flat and having 100 printed, I'll be selling them on Octopus Cap's etsy page once the show is over.

I can't wait to show you!

Drawing Katie.

This week at drawing group, our model was Katie. Here are a couple of my three minute sketches.

Drawing Bob.

Click on an image to enlarge.
{45 Minutes}

I finally went to the Friday figure drawing group last week for the first time in a while. It starts at 7 am, and it has been hard for me to drag myself there. I'm always so glad when I do though. With our little guy almost here, I'm not sure how many more Fridays I'll be able to attend so I figure I should go as many more times as possible!

This week Bob was our (clothed) model. I had a lot of fun drawing his face. It had so many interesting shadows. Here are my results.

{10 Minutes}

{10 Minutes}

{10 Minutes}
With this last one, I went a bit cartoon-ish with his features. I really like how the hatch marks in his hair came out.

I need to draw more. I love it.

The sideboard.

Here are a couple snap shots of the sideboard in our dining room. The cubies have been perfect for storing my art supplies and some of Rudy's math papers. Hooray for getting organized!

The painting on the left is by the ever-wonderful Kelly Tunstall, and the print on the right is by our incredibly talented friend Jeremy Slagle, (you should definitely check out his site).

...and a silly picture of me for my Grandma Dee :)

India Print.

Another one for the baby's wall. Oh boy this one is good. Elephants, pups, teacups and cameras. Yes please!!

Get it here. Except if you buy the last one, and not for me, I will be sad.

New-(ish) Drawings.

Here are some sort of new drawings and watercolors I've done in the past few months. I haven't been working on my art nearly as much as I'd like to, but inspiration has been scarce.

{Click on any of the images for a large view}

Sorry that the scan quality isn't all that great.
Also, please don't use these images without contacting me, (I'd love to hear from you!)

Mister Elephant.

I really want this print from Geninne for the nursery. I love her birds, but think this little elephant will be perfect for my little man.

Pretty posters for our new place.

I mentioned below that we are moving on June 1st. This means getting to decorate a whole new place! I'm thinking two over-sized, mustard yellow vintage posters from here above the sofa.

Picture wall.

I've been thinking lately about the baby's room. One thing I definitely want to include is a wall of pictures in white frames. This picture (found here), is from a cafe in New York, and is exactly what I had in mind.

I would like to do a mixture of my art as well as prints that I love from etsy. This way it would be affordable, and then as the little one grows up I can change out the prints with their artwork!

Such beauty.

Shona Heath's set designs make me want to cry they are so beautiful. What a job to have.

The top photo reminds me of this print by Castle.

Also, listening to this song makes me want to draw and draw and never stop. I need to buy the album asap.

A little something.

I really like this drawing by Hope Gangloff.

Poster poster where are you?

I have decided that I need this poster for our guest room.
Can I have some help with that Santa?

Gocco!

It's about that time to dive into my crazy Christmas card making of the season and I've been looking for some different ways to do this. For the past two years I've been making them by hand with cut paper, (which takes a very l o n g time to do as you might guess). I love the idea of printing my own design on a Gocco printer! Too bad they have been discontinued and seem hard to come by.

Save Gocco is by far the best resource for everything Gocco, with resources, pictures and instructions.

We heart gocco was an exhibit at The Wurst Gallery in Portland, Oregon, and the link has some great examples of art printed on a gocco.

Here are a couple of examples I liked as well:
{Sugar Loop}
I love this one as inspiration for a holiday card.

{Mizna Lens}

Por Vida {Day of the Dead Art}

Tonight Rudy and I will be attending Por Vida, a Dia de los Muertos celebration here in Columbus. To kick off the evening, I thought I would share some amazing art by Sylvia Ji.

I am in love with her Day of the Dead inspired paintings, and have been for some time now. It is nice to finally share them!

Roots salon.

{click the picture for a larger view}

My best friend Jenny opened her very own salon this summer, and asked me to design her logo. Because the salon, Roots, is back in California, I had yet to see how the vinyl sticker of the design turned out. I just got these pictures from Jen and am so happy with the outcome!

It feels weird to have a friend who I've known most of my life own their own business. I'm so proud of everything that my lifelong friends are doing. If you are in need of a great haircut and live close to Oceanside, give her a call (the number is on the first photo).

Hand carved stamps by Geninne.

How pretty is this stationary? It was made with hand-carved stamps by a wonderful artist, Geninne, who lives in Mexico City. You should also check out her home. It was designed and built by her architect husband and is absolutely amazing!

Poem and a picture friday.

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

photo here.
poet here.

Matte Stephens

'Alfred was obviously underdressed for his induction into the Adventurers Hall of Fame'

Matte Stephens is an artist that I have been following for a couple of years now. I just came across this new one on his blog and I love it.

I think that slowly I am becoming more and more inspired to start painting again. Give it another go! Do things with it that I've never tried before!

Leaf portraits.

How sweet and beautiful are these custom leaf portraits?
I love how the veins in the leaf below make a heart shape.

You can find them here.