Paris & Reykjavik

As usual it is has been too long since my last post.

As usual I will try to be better...

I have had a busy few months. I traveled to Paris in mid July and fell in love, it is a beautiful city and I of course spent some time looking at art in various forms. One discovery I made was the artist Antoine Guilloppé who is an illustrator of childrens books (and other things) and his work is incredible. I bought a copy of Pleine Lune and I have no words.

I also was excited to see such a book being printed for a mass audience rather than a special edition artist book, each page is laser cut.

While I was in Paris I also was looking for inspiration for an art nouveau style commission I was working on. The city itself was definitely an influence.

At the end of the week I am traveling to Reykjavik, Iceland and I am hoping for inspiration. Any tips would be amazing!!

Hardboiled (A Group Show in Bushwick)

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last posted. It has been a very busy month though between my day job and freelance/ personal work.

I wanted to tell you all that I will be a part of a group show in Bushwick next Saturday that was organized by some amazing illustrators that I graduated with last year! You should all stop by if you happen to live in Brooklyn.

I have ALSO been printing/ cutting/ staring at wedding invitations:

And incase you were wondering, yes each tree hole does need to be cut out

More updates later this week (hopefully)!

The Victorian Rabbit

Just a quick update today!

I have continued working on the wedding invites that I posted about last week. The bride I am working with asked if I could make a girl rabbit in Victorian dress that they could use as part of their backdrop. I am very curious about this backdrop and can't wait to see it when I attend the wedding!

This was very fun to work on. As you may have gathered I love drawing/ cutting out hair so a Marie Antoinette style is always an exciting challenge.

I never thought I would create a Victorian rabbit until this project haha I am lucky to have such a creative client.

Liz Calvi

Hello!

Today I wanted to talk about my dear dear friend and incredible photographer Liz Calvi.

Liz and I have known each other for about 19 years, which is really wild considering we are both 22.

Anyway, Liz has basically photographed everything for me since I started talking my illustrations seriously and at this point I wouldn't trust anyone else with this task, not just because we are soul sisters, but also because this girl is seriously talented both technically and conceptually.

Here are some gorgeous photos she has shot of my books and such:

I had been wanting to photograph the dollhouse that I made for my Secret Garden project because I only had shots of the individual rooms and no photos of the entire house. Liz suggested that we try to find a Victorian house to shoot the dollhouse in. I contacted a few houses in the Hartford, CT area (my dollhouse currently lived with my parents in CT) and eventually got a reply from the lovely Jacques Lamarre at the Mark Twain House. Liz and I toured the house and knew instantly that the Victorian charm would be the perfect companion to my dollhouse.

AND we got to shoot there this past Sunday!! It was ridiculous, and beautiful, and so inspiring and surreal to be in this house when I spent so long crafting Victorian miniatures last year.

Liz is currently working on editing the photos but I cannot wait to share them, so as a little prelude to that I wanted to post some of Liz's work, that she has done for me and otherwise.

Besides doing a variety of commercial freelance projects she also does beautiful fine art work, AND she makes jewelry:

Be sure to check out her website & blog

Uppercase Magazine

I am so excited to say that I have been selected to be a part of Uppercase Magazine's Live/Work illustration issue!

" The tagline for UPPERCASE magazine is "for the creative and curious" and this really is the somewhat loose guideline to content appearing in the magazine. Though the content is based in graphic design, illustration and crafting as its starting points, with such a broad statement the articles can be quite eclectic. I think it is this curious bent that makes the magazine unique and hopefully surprising with each new issue." Janine Vangool  publisher /editor /designer

Each illustrator that is featured creates a piece for the magazine, as well as an interview. I will know the topic of my piece by the             end of this month!

Be sure to check out their website and buy all of their beautiful high quality books

http://uppercasemagazine.com/

Plugged

The past week or so I have been working on a really interesting project for a short film called Plugged.

"PLUGGED is a short film written by Dea Jenkins (BFA, Digital Filmmaking, The Art Institute of Houston), based on the true events of a life-altering incident in New York City. The focus of the story, set in a ballet studio, concerns the adults in a young girl’s life who were either unable or unwilling to assist the girl following this traumatic moment."

I created 6 illustrations that will be displayed (and for sale) at a fundraiser for the film this Saturday at:

Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, 55 Bethune St, NYC

From 6:30-8pm

Although I didn't have as much time as I would've liked, I am happy with the simplicity of the pieces, and the gritty aspect that was an important characteristic and something I haven't really explored.

I hope you can all attend the event, be sure to check out the facebook page!