And The Catalogs Begin To Arrive

Now is the time of year when seed catalogs begin to grace my mailbox in droves. While today is rather dreary and a bit cold, thumbing through the pages makes it all seem to disappear. I love gardening, I love flowers and I love dirt. I also love growing my own fruit and veggies even if the amount of space I have is small.

Veggie Lover Print

I was insprired to make some vegetables recently, well I made a carrot for an Easter design and it sort of fell along that way. These veggies took all day to make in Illustrator because I was drawing them with a mouse, not an easy task but someday I hope to get a Wiacom tablet.

I started with basic shapes and added frilly brushes and my own patterns to them. Although it took a very long time to draw these I am considering a fruit line and a floral line too (the head of lettuce sort of looks like a peony) I have begun to post them on Zazzle for you to enjoy.

Lettuce Tie

Corny Cookout Invitation

Radish Grocery Bag

On another note I want to thank all of my customers and fans that follow me. You are most appreciated and I treasure every kind word that is given. You all make what I love to do worth doing.

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Today I Thought I Would Have Some Fun

Today I thought I would ask some friends for inspiration. I sent a message out asking for a color and a basic shape, the first one that responded would get the honors (though until now they did not know what that honor would be)

The first response I received was the color yellow and the shape was square. It came from Shannon Justice of Lollipop Labs Studios, a very talented artist in her own right.

So square it was and yellow, well let's just say it was a bit of a challenge. Although yellow is one of my favorite colors it is very hard to not make it glaringly bright. I started out by playing with a few yellow colors, some on the green side some a bit toward orange with nothing quite doing it. I opened Illustrator up and began drawing squares and that didn't work either so I cheated a little and used the rounded rectangle shape to make a pattern in Illustrator. Back to Photoshop. When all else fails start playing with filters, adjustments and distortions.

I began with a slight noise filter to break up some of the solid color and then applied a cubism effect which turned the noise into a random pattern of squares. I brought the rounded rectangles into Photoshop placing them on top of the yellow background. Still it wasn't right so I thought I would select the rectangles and cut the shape out of the yellow background. I thought some white was needed to break things up and added a white stroke. After playing around with it for a few hours I am happy with it and I began to post it on Zazzle.

Now you might ask what honor did Shannon receive for this little game of mine? Well the design is named after her of course.

Shannon 1" Binder

Cordelia

Cordelia Invitation

This is my latest design for Pen And Ink called Cordelia. It is funny how things can sometimes spark an idea really. Every morning I happen to watch reruns of the tv show Angel. Now I can practically recite the whole series but I just never seem to get tired of it. Recently I took notice of a particular shirt that one of the characters named Cordelia was wearing. It was a bright orange color with giant circles down the front and back. While I personally could never pull off a look like that it really worked for her and it stuck in my mind. Now fast forward a few weeks and something jarred me to actually get that design out of my head and on to paper, well virtual paper anyway and thus Cordelia was born.

I have set this line up with the ability to change the background color to anything you would like. I personally like the orange but I realize orange can be an aquired taste. Cordelia looks great with a light pink background or a darker colored orange. You also have the ability to change the text colors with ease. It certainly will grab the attention to anyone carrying one of your business cards, of course there are other coordinating products to go along with them.

Cordelia Chubby Business Card

Cordelia Tie

Cordelia 1" Binder

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It Has Been A While

Well it seems I have been absent here for a while. Time really flies when you are in the midst of chaos, even if the chaos is a good thing. There are some bright things ahead for me but I will share them another time. Like half the world I am trying to get things done before the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. I have a choice, t.v. or the internet but not both, such are the choices you have to make when you own an old house. I have to choose between an air conditioner or a vacuum in the summertime (guess which one wins) or else I am trudging down the dark, dank basement to flip unmarked fuses. Again I am rambling which happens when my mind is trying to remember too many things.

Recently the North East was pummeled with a ton of snow and while I do not mind the winter or the snow I laughed at my friends complain away and long for the Springtime. That got me to designing some things for Ostara and Easter. I posted the first thing tonight, there are a few more in line for tomorrow.

Gingham Carrot Card

Gingham Carrots is the first in an Easter series and maybe even a new vegetable series too now that I am thinking of it. This design took a few minutes in Illustrator. The gingham I already had made and the carrot was as simple circle stretched out and leaves added via the spiral and arc tool.

Be sure to look for the Easter Bunny and Chick coming soon. It is a carry over from my Always Remember Me shop on Zazzle but it is getting a fresh new look.

Sorry to cut this short, Opening Ceremonies are about to start. Have a wonderful weekend all!!!

Gingham Carrot Veggie Lover T-Shirt

Gingham Carrot Mug

Gingham Carrot Bag

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