Pink Praises

My ballerinas have arrived! For those of you who may have seen the initial sculpts (July 07 entry), I finally have product samples in full-color complete with glitter and gemstones. Super girly! I ordered the rest of the designs in various poses and colors, and I'll share them once they arrive. But I'm thrilled with my initial pieces. They've come a long way from a few, simple, two-dimensional drawings.

My Alteration Ego

Check out My Alteration Ego, my "alter blog" that's all about fashion illustration and everything that inspires it. Why keep a separate blog about fashion illustration when this one could cover it, you ask? Well, I'll answer anyway. There's something about the subject of fashion and all that inspires it that, personally, I find so different from the commercial art world as a whole. Fashion illustration is created specifically for an industry that creates products made to promote a certain lifestyle, or at least the feeling of one. It does so without any apologies.

All those things that inspire that sort of work from me, is a different animal all together, whether it's a particular designer or ad campaign, or a pretty coat I see in a store, or a fantastic bag I have to have. It's a purely subjective, unadulterated, guiltless pleasure of trendsetting aesthetics. So for that reason, I'm devoting a whole other blog, another side of my creative brain, to that particular subject, hopefully interesting enough for you to want to explore and seek inspiration.

I've touched on a few style-worthy subjects, on this my current blog, but I believe there's a whole other world worth exploring that's different enough to deserve its own forum. I hope you go and explore it. Be patient, there'll be a slew of postings soon enough as it's still in its fledgling stage. I hope you enjoy it and what is to come! Keep coming back here for all other experimental illustration and all that is illustration.

Happy Easter, Happy Spring

Voilà! Just like that it's Spring, and we've gained an extra hour of daylight.

Can't say the same for posts lately. I'm way overdue, so I thought I'd share a few creations from my sister's baby shower to celebrate the new season. Originally, the theme of the baby shower was lilies....which then turned into, lilies, birds, butterflies and eggs. Sounds like...Easter. Perfect timing.

So I illustrated her Evite using all of these motifs, and from that I created matching thank you cards. These days, with Evite, you never see a printed invite, so I thought it would be nice to create a custom thank you card instead.

For decoration, I made a few bird mobiles using felt, various fabrics and mitsumata branches. What's that you ask? I came across  Nettleton Hollow, a company in Brooklyn that specializes in decorative branches.  From there I purchased mitsumata branches, which are branches that have been stripped of their bark and bleached white. If you soak them long enough, they're bendable. Yes, I got a bit craft-happy. When I found those branches, ideas started racing. As a soon-to-be aunt, I needed to put all my energy of anticipation into something constructive.

However, the favors were the biggest attack of craft crazy I've ever encountered. I counted 10, I say, 10 steps to making these little wunderfavors.

Step 1: A tiny galvanized planter (from IKEA)
Step 2: Ribbon
Step 3: A little tag to match the theme of the shower, designed with the date and occasion, hole-punched and cut
Step 4: A little string to put in the holes to hang the tag
Step 5: Paper strips made to look like a birds nest (pre-cut; I'm not that crazy)
Step 6: Cadbury chocolate mini-eggs (I dream about)
Step 7: Netting for the chocolate eggs
Step 8: Wildflower seeds (lilies were too costly)
Step 9: Little baggies for the wildflower seeds
Step 10: A little instruction card scanned from the original seed packaging, re-colored to match them, printed, cut and stapled to the baggies

The end result ... kinda cute.  I'm currently in a 10 step program to de-craftify.

Happy Spring!