New Prints

I painted a couple of super fun and bright new prints recently. The combination of white writing on a brightly colored background is so fun, I pretty much want to create every new print in this combo! Reading and creating are probably 2 of my most favorite activities (besides drinking fancy coffees and scratching my kitties behind the ears, but it's hard to make a hobby out of that). 

These two watercolor-based pieces are super cheery and would look amazing in a gallery wall. I created a first version of the Read piece a year or so ago, but as my hand-lettering skills have merged into more of a specific style, I wanted to update the piece and make it into a print-friendly version.

Recently I've been reading mostly blogs, but I have my eye on The Artisan Soul by  Erwin Raphael McManus and am hoping to dive into it once the holidays are over. 

What have you been reading lately? 

Create print found here

Read print found here

What I'm reading

I just got Art, Inc. by Lisa Congdon and I am loving it thus far! It's so great to read a book that is specifically for fine artists (and not all crafts in general) wherein everything actually applies to me. She also does a great job with giving practical advice... like actually explaining how Twitter works (like the difference between a retweet and RT... I had no idea) and how an artist should be using it (mostly I've just been guessing).

I highly recommend this book for artists trying to figure out their career. We shouldn't be afraid of social media - we should embrace that it's not the 1960s and we don't have to be in NYC or San Fran to have a great art career. It allows us to live anywhere we we want, as long as we have internet access (love you NYC, just don't want to live there!).

Do you have any other great recommendations of books for artists?

Day in Pictures

Awoke to a flower delivery for our 2-year anniversadate (2 years of dating).  The roses are so pretty (Jason thinks they are called cinnamon roses?)

 My pre-ordered copy of Young House Love came in the mail. I already have at least 10 projects marked!

 We voted. Go America!  (excuse our hair... it was breezy)

James stealing the wet food can from Red  #typical.

We ended our evening with Bang Bang Shrimp, an old fashioned for Jason, and sangria for me.  (And I may have convinced someone to browse Home Goods with me....)

Today was lovely, but I'm hoping for more focused studio time tomorrow!
Happy Tuesday!

Inspriation and Cookies

Having been out of school for over two years now, it's easy to get caught up in work and life, stop searching for inspiration, and get stuck in a rut. (and now all I can hear in my head is, "But what's my inspiration?!")

But honestly, how can you make new art without it? If you're just recycling what you've always been doing -- besides boring others --  you're boring yourself and losing that freshness and excitement that drives you to MAKE. NEW. STUFF. 

I've been reading Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon (I got mine at Taylor Books in Charleston, West Virginia)  - it's basically the I'm-not-in-school-anymore-kick-in-the-pants that I needed to remind myself to keep observing and absorbing new things.

My fiancé calls the things I collect "clutter" and "knick-knacks," but I consider them visual stimuli. In them I find beauty, or humor, or both. 

I tend to be inspired by visual things, as I'm a visual learner and a visual artist, but that's not to say music and food (and 80 thousand other things) aren't valid, either. (in fact, I find cookies to be a very, very valid form of inspiration... so valid that now my mouth is watering...)

And with that, I will leave you with this video... let's just say that if Jason were Ernie and I were Cookie Monster... well, this video would be pretty darn accurate.