StacySix

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T17:20:00.000-08:00

Matroyoshkas, La La La

2011-12-14T20:41:00.001-08:00

Feltie Monsters

2011-11-07T10:29:00.000-08:00

This next weekend, I'm participating in the art show at Orycon, our local science fiction/fantasy convention. I'll have a table and a vertical panel. Some of the pieces for the panel, I've shared here. Now I'm working on items for the table. Hence, feltie monsters! So cute and so much fun.

My New Business Cards

2011-11-01T18:11:00.000-07:00

Designers frequently have a hard time designing their own identity, and I'm no exception. But with my recent portfolio update, I fell in love with a new logo for myself and I finally got around to designing my new business cards:

I am purely delighted with how these came out. I was going for something clean and beautiful, with a sense of personality and charm as well. The handwritten typeface is exactly what I wanted as well. Generally, I'm very conservative with my typeface choices, but sometimes something expressive like this is just what's called for.

Monster Monster Magnets on Etsy

2011-10-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to putting up Monster Monsters on Etsy! The small square magnets are sold in sets of four, the large round magnets are sold individually. I know it's way early to think about the holidays, but these would make for great stocking stuffers. And all of my magnets are hand-drawn, hand-colored, and unique.

Let Them Listen to Some Other Band

2011-10-01T23:55:00.000-07:00

I can't imagine why Marie Antoinette is so often in my mind these days. *wink* I love that her 'do is adorned by an owl.

Inspired in part by the confluence of re-reading the archives of Questionable Content and Noelle's very awesome Broship of the Rings - hipster hobbits! I keep wondering what I can turn into hipsters...cavemen? Swordfish? Grizzled 1800s prospectors?

Fall Priorities, Illuminated

2011-09-30T17:45:00.000-07:00

I've been playing with sharpies (the more ad hoc the tools and material, the easier it is to get my creativity flowing sometimes) lately and this came out while I was thinking about what I wanted to get done in the upcoming season and what was most important for my health and happiness. All of this feel really right.

Also...one hundred posts! Here's to the next hundred.

Pegasnails!

2011-09-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

Flying in majestic formation, the wily and elusive pegasnails hope to evade the cranky and voracious pegatortoise long enough to leave their trail across the sky.

Reclaiming Mermaids

2011-09-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

They're not just for corporate logos.

Into The Wild Blue Yonder

2011-09-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

He's not thrilled. The wings were supposed to be just for show. But somehow, when you've got 'em, wings demand to be used. Maybe the change in perspective will change his mind.

We're Gonna Need A Bigger Plate

2011-09-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

What we have here is a eating machine.

The Things That Come Out of My Head

2011-08-29T23:52:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows about rum, buggery, and the lash, right?

All Work and No Play Makes for Lousy Art

2011-08-25T23:49:00.000-07:00

So, I played a bit yesterday. We drove out to the coast on the spur of the moment, towards mid-afternoon.

We arrived close to sunset, at one of my favorite places, Arcadia Beach.

We walked down the beach.

The water was beautiful.

Even the sand was beautiful.

Someone built a driftwood lean-to.

It had its own rock garden.

And a gorgeous view.

Earth, sky and water.

A path across the waves.

She Had A Dream

2011-08-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

The first "ordinary person" illustration wasn't a fluke. Here's the next. More to follow.

The text:

I wanted to be a teacher. So, six years of school and $30,000 worth of student debt later, I can't find a job. Like, anywhere. I wanted to help kids explore the world and learn about history and science and math. Next month, I'm moving back in with my mom. I so wanted to live in the "real world." I guess I am.

An Ordinary Man

2011-08-18T19:41:00.000-07:00

The text:

I worry about a lot of stuff. Such as, will my kids have a good life? Will I have a job in six months? If something happens to me or my wife, will our family be ok? I don't know. Do you want. To know. What really scares me? So many people are so angry all the time. I don't understand all the changes or the anger. I just want to have a good life with the people I care about.

Back to School? What?

2011-08-14T20:36:00.000-07:00

Art Deco Calendar - June

2011-08-09T17:16:00.000-07:00

For next year, I'm thinking about doing a calendar based on art deco fashion illustration.

August 4th, 1892

2011-08-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

Lizzie Borden took an axe

And gave her mother forty whacks.

When she saw what she had done

She gave her father forty-one.

Or maybe not.

Dragons, Looking Ahead, Looking Back

2011-07-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

Hand-drawn, digitally colored/textured.

Time to start getting ready for this year's Orycon Art Show. It's something I've occasionally done in years past, but never with the sort of momentum I feel going into this year. I didn't do the art show last year, for various reasons. Instead, I attended art panels and classes at the convention and enjoyed myself a great deal.

During one class/sit down and draw gathering, Jeff Sturgeon took a look at what I was working on, which happened to be this piece. He said that it was at least as good as a lot of the illustrations in published children's books, and that I should really consider entering it and other pieces like it in the next art show. !!!

As you can imagine, that was a pretty enormous boost for me. Jeff is a well-respected artist and illustrator and I've admired his work for years. Since then, as I've grown as a designer, I've found that the parts of my job that I like best are those that involve illustration, and I'm becoming more determined to find a way to do more of what I like best.

Hence, art show! SF/F convention art shows are a great place to show personal work. In my case, fantastic little beasties like the dragon above. I wanted to scan him in and play with him before hand-coloring the original drawing and creating a background. The original should be in the show, unless I manage to muck him up. I'm going to be experimenting with some marker effects. I love his curves! And his paws are awesome, definitely among the best "hands" I've ever done.

My New Project - Monsterously Fun!

2011-06-21T11:00:00.000-07:00


Monster Monster!

I have a new project. It's Monster Monster! I've been needing a creative outlet with absolutely no seriousness whatsoever. You'll find the origins over there, as well as a plethora of cute monsters, with more added every week. I'll be at Last Thursday next week, with a variety of monsters looking for new homes. Hope to see you there!

Time for a New Identity?

2011-06-14T22:14:00.000-07:00

A possible new look for StacySix Design in business card format.

I'm pondering an identity update. My current visual identity isn't quite as sophisticated or as illustrative as I'd like it to be. As I reach out to new client, I'd like to be able to hand them something a little bolder.

Graphic designers are notoriously bad at designing for themselves, or so I was told by numerous design instructors while I was still in school. I can see why. Given the time, we'd probably want to change personal logos at least as often as we change shoes.


My current logo.

My current logo is cute, clean, and makes a subtle reference to the crafty side of my interests with the stitch-like type. But maybe it's missing something. A little extra oomf, for lack of a better word. I'm going to be playing with different ideas this month to see what I can come up with.

Plastic vs. Authentic

2011-06-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

Spring flowers. Very real.

Over at The Simple Dollar, Trent wrote something that I wanted to share:

My sister-in-law is a florist. She can take a few hands full of ditch weeds and dandelions and make them look amazing in about five seconds.

On the flip side of that coin, many department stores sell centerpieces stuffed with plastic flowers consisting of perfectly-arranged imitations of beautiful blossoms.

Sit them side by side and the arrangement of ditch weeds and dandelions looks far more impressive.

The same is true with people. I find a person whose life is full of genuine dandelions and ditch weeds to be far more compelling than the person whose life is full of plastic roses, and I’m far from alone in that conclusion.

There are lots of people who say "be yourself" but then offer a laundry list of how to be more like them, which frustrates me to no end. This really is saying to just be yourself.

There's room in the world for everyone to march to their own beat without either stepping on other people's toes or making themselves into imitations of other people. Yeah, I have my issues, but in the end, I'm glad to be me.

Comme Ci Comme Ça

2011-05-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

Or, as one former associate used to put it, "some days, chicken pie; other days, chicken s---."

I've started entering designs over at 99 Designs. It's a website where clients can go to request design work. Designers submit their work, the client picks one, and the winning designer receives a payment. It's quite good practice, especially in working with a variety of clients and their various specifications. It's frustrating, however, when the clients offer no feedback and I'm left wondering where I fell short. Take the two designs below:

I'm very happy with these two designs (especially the one on the right), but the client wasn't. I read the spec sheet pretty closely and there are no radical departures from their stated desires. I was disappointed not to have made it into the finals, as it were. Nonetheless, it was a good experience. I tried one new thing and was delighted with the results.

So basically, it's back to the drawing board. What do you think?

Warm Wood Desktop Background

2011-05-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

This is my current self-designed desktop background. If you like it, feel free to take it for your own use.

Baby Steps

2011-04-06T23:16:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty darned happy with myself right now. I made a pattern that well and truly tiles. It's in my favorite colors and so dynamic!

Playing with Background Imagery

2011-04-02T18:16:00.000-07:00

More Blueberries!

2011-03-24T00:05:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling rather inspired lately. I entered my first Spoonflower contest today. Well, first two, actually.

The Blueberry Brolly is entered in the "Rain" theme, and the Starship Dream is entered in the Project Selvedge boy's fabric contest. I am excited! This is something I've considered for a while.

I Love Blueberries - Sensing a Pattern

2011-03-07T20:45:00.000-08:00

Blueberry One

I started playing with my blueberry images from a previous design, experimenting with creating patterns. The results? I'm having serious fun! These will, eventually wind up on Spoonflower. From there? Who knows? The second one looks more old-fashioned, more sweet. I may try taking the seeds out of the first pattern and see what happens. Currently, they remind me of braille, or of some kind of organic punchcard.

Blueberry Two

I am an Urban Homesteader, Practicing Urban Homesteading in my Urban Homestead

2011-02-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

And the Dervaeses have NOTHING to do with it.

Read more about this whole kerfuffle here.

When I was 13, I came across a copy of Alicia Bay Laurel's Living on the Earth. It is one of the handbooks of the "back to the land" movements of the 1970s, and I found it inspiring beyond belief. I dreamed of finding a little plot of land somewhere in the woods and living a self-sufficient (and groovy!) life. I read Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia when I was 15 or so, and since hey, I live in Ecotopian territory, the ideas therein never really left me. These and other books from the 70s that I found myself reading while growing up in the 80s formed part of the internal bedrock for how I want to live my life. Especially Ecotopia, a place in the imagination which some people now call Cascadia.

For the last five or six years, I've been reaching more and more towards living a sustainable, independent, low-impact life. When I had a yard, I had raised bed gardens, grew a reasonable chunk of my own food, and collected catch-water from the sink and shower to water the beds. I haven't had a yard for the last couple of years, but I've done container gardening where I could. But urban homesteading is more than gardening or growing food. It's a mindset as much as anything.

To me, urban homesteading is about creative (especially in the sense of being the opposite of destructive) use and reuse of resources. It's about learning skills that make you less reliant on outside resources or systems. With my current, tiny apartment, I don't have room for more than a few planters filled with herbs and greens. We're going to try growing a blueberry bush in a big ol' tub and see how that goes. But I do have room to make my own household cleaners out of low-impact materials like baking soda and organic castille soap, vinegar and lemon juice. I make yogurt and butter from milk and cream, and I can brew my own kombucha in my itsy bitsy kitchen.

I ride my bike when the weather is good. I shop at thrift stores and buy lots of my books used. When I get in the car, I try to make every trip count. I'm going to sew more of my own clothes, using second-hand materials. In short, I'm going to go on working to reduce my impact and produce as much for myself as I can. In short, I am an urban homesteader.

The man who is attempting to claim ownership of the terms "urban homestead" and "urban homesteading" –terms that have been in common use to describe a movement of thousands of people for the last forty years– claims to be the founder of urban homesteading. I say, that's a load of high-grade organic fertilizer right there. There are so many people who helped to lay the foundations for the modern movement, that it is beyond arrogant and self-centered to claim to be "the founder." I didn't even know who Jules Dervaes was until I came across the name while looking for Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen's blog.

Last year, I bought a copy of The Urban Homestead by Coyne and Knutzen. It's a really great, well-written book with lots of solid, practical, easy-to-do ideas and it was published before Dervaes even applied for the trademark. It got me started on making my own cleaners, instead of buying all of them from companies like Seventh Generation. If you've never really heard about urban homesteading and you're interested, it's one of the best introductions to the topic I can think of. And it was a great inspiration to me, to take my gardening experience and craft skills and do much, much more with them.

The Dervaeses' actions are an unbelievable attempt to co-opt and own words that describe how thousands and thousands of people live their lives. For all their claims of being distinctive and unique, I probably never would have heard about them except for the uproar over their greedy actions. They owe a large part of their audience and support to the people and institutions that came before them. Writers like Alica Bay Laurel and Ernest Callenbach. Helen and Scott Nearing. Mother Earth News. The Goodfellow Catalog of Wonderful Things. The Foxfire books. Ursula LeGuin's Always Coming Home. These are the founders of urban homesteading and they always will be.

Covering the Classics

2011-02-02T22:48:00.000-08:00

The Fox is Black is sponsoring a neat contest, in which he challenges folks to come up with new book covers for old classics. This is an early draft of my first idea. I've played around with the type a bit and I'm not quite sure if this is the right treatment. I can't do everything in Prima09, though, much as I'd like to. Right?

I like the subtlety of my approach here. It's very clean and soft, very contrasty to the gritty, disturbing story of Lord of the Flies. I like pulling off that sort of contrast when I can. It might be interesting to add a photographic element, perhaps of some idyllic tropical beach. Anyway, fun!

The Beauty of Overhead Powerlines

2011-01-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

A bit of illustration/design brought on by the rare beautiful day yesterday, and perhaps all the reading I've been doing lately about going off-grid, sustainability, and self-sufficiency.

Of Birds and Wheels and Contests

2011-01-21T19:49:00.000-08:00

I was going to enter this design* in a contest until I read the fine print:

ALL ENTRIES BECOME THE PROPERTY OF SWEET SKINS, AND NONE WILL BE RETURNED TO THE ENTRANTS…All entrants acknowledge by entering this Contest that any Tank-Tee designs created and submitted as part of this Contest cannot be used by the entrants (or others) for any other commercial purpose whatsoever other than to enter this Contest or for their own personal portfolio…

Etc, etc. Basically, the rules seem to indicate that once I enter a design, I cede all rights to use that design anywhere else, ever, regardless of whether or not I win the contest. The company involved could even use the design later on without compensating me at all. Frankly, I was surprised to discover something so apparently unethical in a contest sponsored by such a wonderful local company. Perhaps I'm just inexperienced with design contest legalese?

I love Sweet Skins' clothing and recommend them wholeheartedly otherwise. They represent the best of what local can be: generally ethical in business practices, responsible ecologically, quality product, community involvement. I'll be supporting them by purchasing their clothing. I just won't be designing for them, apparently.

*A sketch I did a few years ago and finally converted to digital, while refining it a bit. I added the wheel from my recent bicycle graphic to the background, and voila! I've often wanted to do something more ornate and detailed. Having done it, I like it.

Save Cycling in Toronto

2011-01-11T19:01:00.000-08:00

Reading Treehugger, I found out that Toronto-based cycle tour company Tour d'Afrique has organized a contest on Facebook to boost cycling in Toronto. Probably thanks to all the reading about locavores I've been doing lately, this idea came to me. And on the heels of that, the idea for this poster. I love it when ideas come together and I can create something lovely and original.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T23:47:00.000-08:00

Pho is my Phriend

2010-12-16T12:13:00.000-08:00

There's all kinds of comfort food, but for me, little rivals pho (a Vietnamese noodle soup, pronounced "fuh") for sheer miraculous goodness. After a long day of work, cold, damp, and stress, Bear and I went out for pho last night. I could almost feel my immune system snap back into place.

You're looking at a bowl of noodles, chickens, herbs, spices, sprouts, onion, basil, and cilantro, along with all the other amazing and mysterious things that make up pho.

Pho Jasmine, over on Killingsworth across from PCC, has wonderful pho, and generous portions. I recommend them.

A Fascinating Resource for a Perpexing Issue

2010-12-09T16:36:00.000-08:00

I found a really interesting blog about copying/plagiarism vs. inspiration: You Thought We Wouldn't Notice. It's helping to fill in one of the gaps left in my education at PSU.

I came up through the anthropology program at U of O with a very strict outlook on plagiarism in academic writing. Basically, if they thought you were copying someone else's work, you would wind up in deep shite indeed. Even improper citation could land you in trouble. I was pretty much death on the subject of plagiarism, so in anything I wrote, I was incredibly careful to properly cite the source for any idea that was not my own.

In PSU's art department, things were very, very different. While they do not, in any way, encourage direct plagiarism, students are occasionally encouraged to "copy" for inspiration. I'm still very confused about the differences between artistic plagiarism vs. homage vs. inspiration, but reading through You Thought We Wouldn't Notice has been helpful in starting to sort things out. There are still a lot of gray areas, though.

For example, I've been looking at a lot of vintage illustrations lately for inspiration:

The image on the left is a vintage magazine cover that I used as inspiration for my drawing on the right. Comparing the two side by side, the inspiration is obvious. However, an artist friend told me that I'd reached the "changed enough" threshold for my work to be creative, rather than completely unoriginal. Should I end up selling this drawing, I would add the information about what inspired it. And that seems to just about safely cover the ethical bases for creating a derivative work.

Nonetheless, I'm still a little worried. I'm working to develop my skills as an illustrator and further develop my own creative voice, but part of that is being deeply inspired by vintage imagery and visual conventions. I'm basically an honest person, and want to make sure I stay within the spirit of ethical boundaries, not just the letter. I had a lot of fun creating this particular drawing, and I think my own visual voice comes through. As I go along, I hope to hone my sense of where the line is, and maintain my ability to stay far to the right side of it.

(Sorry about the poor image quality, I'm hoping Santa brings me a scanner for Christmas.)

In a Blur

2010-12-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's already the sixth of December! The month is going by wicked fast.

The last two weeks have been one long adventurous blur. I went on a long road trip with my boyfriend, Bear, to spend Thanksgiving with his family. We drove in the snow through the Cascades (150 miles driving on chains!), through the Mojave Desert, into Sedona and up through Flagstaff, through the mountains of Utah and Nevada, and along the Great Basin. We came through the Donner Pass (chains again), the Sacramento Valley, and home again, with many stops along the way.

I saw snowflakes and starlight, mountains and monuments, Christmas lights and cactus. It is a beautiful world out there.

Flying Calamari

2010-11-14T19:37:00.000-08:00

I'm beginning to find some narrative in my illustrations - stories waiting to be told. This drawing gives me clues to go forward – to look for stories and find ways to hint at them in pictures. The idea of "ah, therein lies a tale" intrigues me suddenly.

As a designer, I'm used to the idea of imagery being used to communicate, usually in concert with type. Also, much of my favorite art is illustration and is inextricably tied to stories – designed to communicate in concert with words. I'm reexamining art that I like that isn't illustration. I see places and characters, but suddenly I'm also seeing stories.

Tentacley Work in Progress

2010-11-12T12:19:00.000-08:00

Last night, I learned that giant squid are fun, fun, fun to draw! I see many tentacles in my artistic future. So far, I'm very happy with this one, although it seems to need just a little bit more. I'm thinking an inch more border to the left and above. Squidie should still be popping out of the frame, though.

The picture really doesn't do justice to the vibrancy of the colors or the texture of the water. A small, portable scanner just went on my wish list.

Autumn Woman

2010-11-11T10:46:00.000-08:00

Autumn Woman

Another drawing, inspired by a vintage sugar wafer advertisement. Displayed with my Holztiger wolves.

M is for Mustache

2010-11-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

And P is for Picaresque Gent, which I found on Etsy last night. Etsy is so much fun!

I'll never grow a mustache (unless what they say about some Italian women is true) but a few of my gentlemen friends sport lovely mustaches and I'm an aficionado of well-groomed facial hair. Enter good old-fashioned mustache wax.

While it was the t-shirt that caught my eye, Brandon's hand-crafted mustache waxes sound delicious: original, coconut, and sandalwood vanilla, in both "regular" and "stiff". Tins of mustache wax make great little gifts, as well, and the holidays are not far away.

I've never met this particular craftsman, but when I spotted the M is for Mustache t-shirt, it made me want to share. Support a local craftsman.

Another Sketchbook Page

2010-11-04T10:03:00.000-07:00

I'm still obsessing with tiny houses, as you can see, which come in all shapes and sizes.

My Six Favorite Illustrators

2010-11-02T16:40:00.000-07:00

With a few exceptions, my favorite artists have not been traditional artists, but illustrators. Because of the beautiful illustrations. I've never stopped loving and revisiting children's books. Although illustration isn't generally considered to be "serious" art, you know what I think? I think the illustrations accompanying a good story bring just as much joy and illumination to the world as any great painting, if not more.

There are so many illustrators whose work I love and adore that it's almost impossible to whittle it down to six top favorites. Seriously, with artists like Graham Oakley, Tomie DePaula, Tasha Tudor, Real Musgrave, Mary Hanson Roberts, Maurice Sendak, Leo Politi, Barbara Ninde Byfield, Barbara Lavallee and Phil Foglio, how on earth do I leave them out of the top spots? It was hard!

I find that my favorite illustrators generally all have something in common. Fluid lines, soft curves, colors that are soft or bright or rich but never garish, lots of detail but not cluttered, hidden jokes in the background, and most often a sense of humor and love and joy, words I'll mention again and again here.

Of course, of my very favorite, there was no question, but all the others? It came down to sheer joy. I love every single illustrator/artist I mention here, but here are the ones who mean the most to me and a bit about why:

Nikki McClure. She is the most recent addition to my favorites, and possibly the most unconventional in her technique. Based in the NW, Nikki McClure does beautifully detailed paper cut illustrations. I love the sharp graphic contrasts in her images, as well as her subject material. She focuses a lot on simple, sustainable pleasures, and I feel like her art is about living in this place with joy and love.
Hillary Knight. Probably best known for his character "Eloise", I first encountered Knight's work in the pages of "Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle" and Cricket Magazine (a huge, huge influence on me from a really tender age). He's really good at portraying movement and flow. His work always makes me smile.
Edward Gorey.

I wouldn't be me if there weren't one radically different artist on the list. Gorey's work is dark, creepy, sly and humorous. I love the neo-Victorian/Edwardian feel of his work. Very steampunk. The man himself was a flaming eccentric. Somehow, I identify just a bit.
Mercer Mayer. His illustrations have a marvelously textured feel to them. Smooth, clean lines, lots of detail, lots of texture. He really can stuff a lot of detail and imagery onto a page but without ever feeling cluttered. He's got a really distinctive visual voice. It seems like his most frequent subject is fairy tales, which I've always loved.
Mary Engelbreit. Sometimes dismissed as being "too cute," her work is sweetly nostalgic, soft and fun. I picked up her biography at Title Wave recently. It was a revelation. She taught herself how to draw at an early age, with loving encouragement from her family, bypassed art school and launched her career from a job at an art supply store. I was ~~almost~~ in tears when, looking closely at the pictures in the book, I realized I could see the marks from her colored pens. I've always thought that somehow I was doing it wrong because you could see the pen strokes where I've colored my drawings. I haven't been doing it wrong. That's huge to me.
Trina Schart Hyman. My all time favorite. Another early-age encounter in the pages of Cricket Magazine, another illustrator of fairy tales. Her work was full of strong lines and misty colors. I always loved the contrast. She found a lot of magic in everyday objects and settings. I can't really explain why her work spoke to me so deeply, but there it is. She died of breast cancer in 2004. I cried when I found out.

Thank You!

2010-10-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday, and I received some very lovely good wishes and greetings from friends from all over. You all made my day! I want to thank you in the way I love best:

Here's to another year of fun, friends, and creativity!

Enchanting Animation

2010-10-14T23:59:00.001-07:00

This makes me happy in so many ways.

Drawing Lab: 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun

2010-10-11T11:29:00.000-07:00

Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists: 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun (Lab Series)

I picked up an interesting book this weekend (hooray for trade credit). I've been drawing a lot lately, for fun and with the intention to hone my skills and maybe open new avenues for my career (I actually have a career! That is so exciting!).

The book is basically a series of assignments/exercises to create some structure and direction for the practice and creation of art. Why invite structure for creative activity? Pythagoras said "Limit gives form to the limitless." Even the most creative of games have some rules; even playground games of makebelieve involve making up some rules to follow.

The first exercise I took on was 34: Numbers Game. There's a list of animals and a list of objects. Without looking at the lists, you pick two numbers at random. Then see what you've chosen from the list. After that, you come up with some ideas for the drawing, choose the most interesting, and draw it.

My two picks turned out to be "bird" and "bathtub."

So much fun!

A Favorite Part of My Job

2010-10-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

I have the pleasure of doing a lot of work for a wonderful company in Birmingham, Alabama, Agile Brands. Essentially, I handle most of the visual design, work closely with their web design guru, do a lot of social media work for their clients, generate html client email, and more.

One of our biggest clients is Stack's Rare Coins, one of the oldest, most respected numismatic companies in the country. Among other things, I format and post articles to their news site and create graphics to accompany the articles. One of the challenges to that is to keep things looking varied and fresh, finding different ways to highlight the beautiful coins that the news site showcases.

This is one of my favorite graphics that I've done for them. The coin is a beautiful Panama Pacific Exposition coin from 1915. Of all the many coins I see each week, these are easily my favorite. They are so beautiful! The background image is the front cover illustration for the official souvenir of groundbreaking by President William Howard Taft. I love it when I can work in some background imagery that involves historical provenance. It adds, I feel, to the historic interest of each piece.

Amazing Vintage Design Resource

2010-10-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

The Library of Congress has a huge collection of WPA Posters online:

The By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943 collection consists of 908 boldly colored and graphically diverse original posters produced from 1936 to 1943 as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal.

Of the 2,000 WPA posters known to exist, the Library of Congress's collection of more than 900 is the largest. These striking silkscreen, lithograph, and woodcut posters were designed to publicize health and safety programs; cultural programs including art exhibitions, theatrical, and musical performances; travel and tourism; educational programs; and community activities in seventeen states and the District of Columbia.

The posters were made possible by one of the first U.S. Government programs to support the arts and were added to the Library's holdings in the 1940s.

I am so excited about this that it's almost silly. Good vintage design makes me really happy, though, and I've really been into art deco lately - an aesthetic that many of these pieces have. I look forward to much inspiration from this source in the future.

Happy October!

2010-10-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

Goodbye, Summer

2010-09-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

Taken at the fountains outside Keller Auditorium.

Further Thoughts on Censorship

2010-09-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

Preach it, Walt.

Six of my Favorite Design Blogs

2010-09-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

One of the things I realized shortly after graduating earlier this year was that learning better design would never end, nor would the search for inspiration. These are a few of the design blogs I read on a regular basis and in which I find inspiration on many fronts, and well worth the read, too.

Little English Houses

2010-09-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

I mentioned having a new obsession? I found these two little porcelain houses at the thrift store. Aren't the subdued colors elegant? They are stamped "Mudlen End Studio, Felsham Suffolk, England." They're just the right size to lurk on the edges of my bookshelves, for now. They might find a new home later on.

Pumpkins' Process

2010-09-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

Fall weather has come to Portland with a vengeance. And by vengeance, I mean raining ridiculously. Can you tell I don't like it much? While I do like autumn, in all its sweet, mellow glory, the rain bums me out. Especially because we had about eight weeks of summer this year and no spring. But enough complaints about that (for now).

I'm excited to have "during" and "finished" pictures of a little art project to share. It's not a really big deal project or anything, only a bit of me putting pen to paper for my own pleasure.

Pumpkin sketch in progress:

Pumpkins colored in:

As I said, not a big deal, just a bit of fun that made me smile and think of the good things about fall. While I wish the picture quality was a little better, I don't wish it enough to get out my camera and set up proper lighting. I do like things that reduce the barrier to getting things done, like my laptop's camera and my phone. As I get used to the idea of not taking "perfect" pictures, you may see me post more often, ha ha.

A Rising Obsession

2010-09-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

I'm more and more obsessed with representations of houses lately. The other day, I got the urge to do some pen-to-paper drawing (take THAT, shiny little Mac!) and like a mashed potato-frenzied Richard Dreyfuss, I found myself drawing cottage after cottage. This is the first, rendered in a rapid sketchy style with something less than reverence for line and perspective, but still somehow satisfying.

The Hippies Were Right - Illustration

2010-07-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

This remains one of my most favorite of all the illustrations I've ever done and I'd really like to do more like it. Editorial illustration is tremendously fun, not to mention challenging. See this piece in context here.

Things To Do In April

2010-04-02T18:02:00.001-07:00

1. Put one thing in the discard pile every day.
2. Pick a design book from my shelf and go through it with sketchbook in hand. Inspiration, I invite thee in.
3. Re-establish an exercise routine. Bike. Walk. Stretch.
4. Figure out what I want to say, who I want to say it to, how I want to say it, and where to say it.

I need to get this blogging thing sussed out. As I grow as a graphic designer, I'd like an informal way to communicate with separate but possibly overlapping communities: people whose work/lives/play inspire me, people who find my stuff interesting, and people who are interested in hiring me to do work for them. That may mean a more formal blog attached to my website or maybe continuing here. We shall see.

Thinking about Censorship

2010-03-02T09:17:00.001-08:00

Spring is Coming

2010-02-24T17:18:00.000-08:00

Monster Brisé

2010-01-03T00:35:00.000-08:00

As a designer, I find myself wanting to do more illustration. I love to create the images that can go along with type, help to convey a message, or simply be enjoyed as art. I like that I have a wide range of illustration styles, which I'll be exploring further here over the course of the year. This piece, Monster Brisé, is a bit of whimsy that was born in my sketchbook and finished in Illustrator and Photoshop. I'm particularly happy with the soft colors, and the cuteness of the monster-child and his chicken. The words in French are "confused," "broken" and "delicate."

At a Crossroads

2009-11-06T13:09:00.000-08:00

I've finally started crafting again, doing projects that aren't school related, or even graphic design related. It's a nice change. I've missed the hands-on approach to making art.

For a while, earlier this year, I found myself exploring an entirely different aesthetic from my usual earth, organic style. Getting into the cuter-than-cute, the girly, the zakka, the mid-century modern. Pink, even! It was exciting. I had fun making the things I shared here, and exploring and being inspired by other people's creations in those wonderful styles.

When my ex and I parted ways, all that stopped. Emotionally and artistically, I retreated into what felt safe. I didn't have the energy or will to go on exploring. Things are much, much better these days. I'm happy again, and content with the direction life is taking. That said, I'm not sure I want to pick up where I left off. Time will tell, I suppose. I'm finding other interests that are really hooking me in. We may see some evolution in those directions here on StacySix.

I have a few of my felt pieces in a wonderful little gallery/store in Seattle, Snowmonkey's House of Monsters. I'm making some new pieces for the Orycon Art Show later this month, whatever doesn't sell there will be making its way north. This is one such:

Purple Cyclump

Don't Give Up On Me

2009-06-04T14:04:00.001-07:00

I'm still here, still crafty in my heart even if I don't have any extra time these days. Hopefully that will change soon. In the meantime, I'd like to share one of the logos I'm designing:

Our class is designing potential logos for a local preschool. The best five out of the class will be sent to the client for her consideration. My instructor warned me that the final version with the type might be "too sophisticated" for the client. Oddly enough, I'm ok with that. If it isn't chosen, it might just become my own logo.

Home from Japan

2009-04-08T08:24:00.000-07:00

I'm home from Japan. It was a wonderful trip, but something happened when I came home that makes me very sad, which is why I haven't been posting. My partner and I are going through a separation. This is not something I plan to blog about here, though it seems important to share the basic information. We hope to stay friends, even perhaps get back together at some point in the future. I'm going to keep going to school; taking some time off won't really help anything.

Please bear with me, I'll probably be a little slower with updates for a while, but I promise to share pictures of my trip (and my loot!) as well as to keep going on the creative front.

Spirited Away

2009-03-17T21:57:00.001-07:00

I really am a lucky girl sometimes. Richard, one of my good friends whom I have known ever since high school, has lived and worked in Tokyo for the last seven or eight years. When he can, he likes to have friends come and visit him. I've been once before and now I'm going to get to go again, along with another friend, Pol. Best spring break ever!

It's going to be interesting to visit Japan again after a year and a half of design education. Last time, I was very much looking with a novice's eye, and from my anthropological background. My sense of aesthetics has taken a very solid shift over the last year or so. I expect to be noticing all sorts of things I didn't see last time - things that I couldn't see. I've become addicted to Japanese craft books - I understand that they have a few of those over there. The challenge will be to not come home with fifty gajillion craft books. Maybe if I pack less clothing...

I think I'm going to be much more on the lookout for zakka and cute things, as well as sweet modern Japanese design. There's no way that I can get away from the fact, though, that I can't go very long in Japan without thinking of Hayao Miyazaki films, espeically Totoro and Spirited Away. I had so many moments of recognition last time, of feeling like I somehow magically slipped into one of Miyazaki-san's idyllic landscapes. Unbelievably green and verdant. And this time, seeing Japan in the spring, I'm hoping for cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms and art and history and beauty.

Neighbors at Wonderland

2009-03-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

I had some very good neighbors at Crafty Wonderland. Every time I looked up, I had a marvelous view of Paper Sparrow and her beautiful artwork. Andrea Courchene kindly gave me permission to share pictures of her work with you; I'm so glad to do so. Andrea's shadow boxes caught my eye again and again over the course of the day. I don't know what it is with me and gnomes lately, but this piece in particular was like looking into a window to a happier world. I am definitely lusting after this particular shadowbox, even more than the narwhale or the darling polar bear which was very serene.

I probably shouldn't say "lately" about gnomes. Like a lot of people, I had the
Gnomes book as a kid; still do, in fact. It was a warmer, more peaceful world than the one in which I grew up. Especially, I was fascinated by the domestic images, the gnomes' house and daily routine, from the moment the house mouse brought her slippers to the mama gnome to the moment at sunrise when all is safe and quiet and "nothing can possibly happen." Perhaps as a sign of things to come, I was also deeply drawn to the section on home industry: the gnomes at work making candles, ceramics, metalwork, clothmaking...all the works of the hands.

Despite having a kind of rotten childhood, I think the love of craft that I grew up with is an absolute, unadulterated blessing, granted perhaps as a gift that would let me keep a sense of hope and wonder about the wider world. A gift that would ensure I would appreciate artists like Andrea and all the pretty things that come from her hands.

Etsy Tuesday

2009-03-10T15:21:00.001-07:00

I updated my Etsy store today, adding the pastel mushroom people shown here, a couple of new (and yummy) pincushions, and a pretty little owl feltie. The mushrooms are similar to the ones I made for the mushroom swap, only in different colors. I love all three, but I think the opal is my favorite. I'm getting so much mileage out of that shade of wool. These are super fun to make, and it's especially nifty to have a good way to use some of my vintage buttons.

This weekend, I figured out a new way to make bunnies. These are quick and easy to make and they can hang out with the little mice in the bowl at shows. These two are about as long as my thumb. I think I need to go back and add some highlights to the larger one's eyes, so they look cuter and less like they are burrowing.... into your soul!!! Add dramatic music here.

Really, really, really nice day

2009-03-09T19:46:00.000-07:00

Here's my table from Crafty Wonderland. The bright background is from the talented crafters behind me, selling nifty paper. I had a really good time. They had film crews there for a Museum of Contemporary Craft Museum documentary, and I got to talk with them about feltmaking, felt sculpture, and stabbing my finger. I spent most of the day chatting with people, saying thanks for all the "oooh, so cute!" comments, and making a few new felt critters. Allison came by and sat with me for a good chunk of the afternoon. It was SO nice to have her there. I'd forgotten to pack a real lunch and my blood sugar was tanking. Note to self for next time - pack a lunch! Lots of people picked up my card, which made me very happy too. If you're reading my blog after seeing me this weekend, HI! I'm going to try to get in again in May.

Tomorrow, massive update of Etsy store. Bunnies!

Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!

2009-03-06T23:23:00.000-08:00

Crafty Wonderland on Sunday! I've been busy this week getting ready, making new things, working to put together a pretty display. It's going to be brilliant. I hope folks like the plate of pincushions for sale - they are tremendous fun to make. I'll also have needle felts, tote bags, and other sweet little things.

As a thank you for my blog readers, I'll have a bit of a giveaway at Crafty Wonderland. The first five people to mention reading StacySix will receive a small gift bag. I'm trying to make the contents reflect something of the things I've blogged about, as well as including a small sample of my own work. One thing you'll find is that I've dug into my fabric stash to add a piece of quilter's candy to each bag. The rest, well, you'll have to show up early to find out. Hope to see you!

Nom nom nom...

2009-03-05T21:52:00.000-08:00

Sitting on my computorz, making me smilzor. They are LOLNOMS!!! Ok, so they're "just" Noms, but it doesn't seem fair to refer to them as "just" anything, they brighten my day so. Noms are made by the wonderful and talented Aimee Ray, author of Doodle Stitching, a book very high on my current wishlist. Recently, she had a sale on her Etsy store (loads of cute stuff), and I took the opportunity to pick up a couple of her Noms. Ever since they've arrived, they've either been on my keyboard or sitting under the lamp next to me.

The other day, Trent over at the Simple Dollar wrote about an interesting article on the idea that the best way to make a creative living is to cultivate 1,000 "True Fans", people who love your work and support what you do. Personally, I'm not too fond of the term "fan" but the idea of having a dedicated following is vital to anyone who does creative work for a living. In these rough financial times, it seems more important than ever to support cottage industry, and I'm delighted to have been able to become one of Aimee's supporters.

Not much longer now...

2009-03-02T15:07:00.002-08:00

What a beautiful day it's been! The clouds are coming in now, but just a little while ago, I was in the back yard and it was warm out. For the first time in months, I was comfortable outside with no sweater or hoodie. And little signs of spring are all over. We have a ginormous rosemary bush in the backyard and it's just starting to flower. I love the delicate color - not quite blue, not quite lavender, but some amazing shade like a piece of pre-dawn sky.

I think these guys are going to be bursting out into full color and blossom any day now. Wes, my significant other, doesn't really like tulips, so we dug out a whole bunch of bulbs last year to thin them down a bit, but here they are, coming up again, hardy and cheerful as anything you can imagine.

It finally seems safe to anticipate spring, to feel like the worst of winter is past. This was one of the worst winters I can remember for personally wishing it would just be done with. Most years, I manage to hold off the "fed up with winter" stage until late January or early February. Not this year. This year, I was done with winter back in December. Grrrrrrr. Anyway, seeing signs of spring all over inspired me to make this little confection of a pincushion. I particularly enjoyed embroidering the stem stitch/french knot flower garden. Maybe this will be the year I make our little side garden bed look so sweet and tidy.

Taking the Plunge

2009-03-01T11:41:00.000-08:00

For the next two months, I've joined the Refashionistas with this solemn oath:

I, Stacy, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovated, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings!

Since I already buy most of my clothing at resale, my primary goal with this project is to do more sewing for myself. My fabric stash is staring at me mournfully, whispering "you don't really love us." The secondary goal is to keep me away from the ever-present temptation of Sock Dreams for a couple of months. Especially since I've started looking at socks and planning new outfits around the socks.

Coming soon to a mailbox near you

2009-02-24T23:24:00.001-08:00

Finished mushroom dudes! I took the picture with them inside a pyrex bowl, which lit the shot pretty nicely. The white fuzz on the red isn't nearly so pronounced in person, though. I'm so excited to be done. They were awfully fun to make. The stems are a little bendy, although they bend right back into place and tend to stay there. I'm thinking about putting them in yogurt cups to ship.

The next series of mushroom people will be made with vintage buttons. I was puttering around at Stars and found a few bags of vintage buttons on sale. Just imagine, a couple of months ago, the only buttons I had in the house were ones that had fallen off clothing and were waiting to be sewed back on. Now I have a collection of buttons waiting to be made into cute things.

Calloo, callay!

2009-02-23T20:23:00.000-08:00

I'm in for Crafty Wonderland next month, woo hoo! I will have lots of cute little things, pincushions, needle felted bits, and whatever else works its way out from the creative soup in the back of my brain between now and then. I'm pondering a blog special giveaway: the first five people who drop by my table at the event and mention reading my blog will get a special little gift bag. Hmmmm.

Keeping Busy

2009-02-19T22:22:00.000-08:00

School has been a bit demanding this week, but I've still made the time to get some hands-on craft time. I'm loving buttons and embroidery! Two mushrooms for the swap, another button heart ornament, and pincushion number five, this one with a sweet little appliqued acorn, and teensy embroidered oak leaves. I'm going to finish the rest of the mushroom guys this weekend, and hopefully make another pincushion or two. I'm still waiting (patiently, I assure you) to hear back about next month's Crafty Wonderland, and in the meantime, it certainly doesn't hurt to make more things with an eye towards putting them on the table. Maybe I'll make extra mushrooms, or other anthropomorphized vegetables.

Bigger Mushroom

2009-02-17T22:06:00.001-08:00

Here's the bigger mushroom that I talked about yesterday. He has cuter 4-hole buttons and a nose too. He feels nice and solid, and I know that someone will be happy to get him. Now to make some fungus brothers.

Popping Up All Over

2009-02-16T22:16:00.000-08:00

I'm in the Handmade Mushroom Swap! My very first craft swap, I'm very excited. I'm making little anthropomorphized needle felted mushrooms with brad eyes and button spots. The first set is turning out to be too small, so I'm going to be putting this one in my Etsy store and making a set of bigger musrooms for the swap. Super cute!

Although I've been needle-felting for about six years, this may be the first time that I've set out to make nearly-identical items, production line style. It's a little hard, because I'm so impatient to see them become themselves and it seems like better process to complete each step for each one before moving on to the next. All the stems, then all the caps, etc.

I hope whoever gets these will be as excited about them as I am. Some of the pictures on the Flickr group are just amazing. People are so creative and wonderful. I think my very favorites are the mushroom babies shown here. It's almost impossible to pick a favorite, though, since they are all so cool. This one is absolutely adorable, too. And by sheer coincidence, Alison is in the swap too! She's doing stitched morels - yummy! We're going to do our own personal little swap, so I'm making an extra one for her. (bounces!) I'm getting my own morel!

It's All About Being In Process

2009-02-15T21:39:00.001-08:00

I'm in the middle of quite a bit right now, so it's very nice to have something completed. Here is pincushion #4, with applique and button embellishment. To make the bitsy star, I used a tiny Japanese cookie cutter for the fat little starfish shape. The wool felt is vegetable dyed in two pretty shades of blue, and I used cream and icy blue cotton thread to stitch it all together, with a few french knots just 'cause I love making them.

In school, we've begun the process for the final project of the term in my studio design class. I'm working on sketches, writing a creative brief, and tomorrow I'll be making inspiration boards for my two or three best ideas. I'm having some challenges coming up with big ideas; nothing has really smacked me upside the head yet, saying "hey! me! this one!" Inspiration boards might help.

Alison showed me how to make button hearts! I haven't finished this one yet. The wire needs to be twisted to make a hanger, and I'm going to add a ribbon bow to make it even prettier. I know, Valentine's Day is over, but isn't every day a good day for little pink and pearly white buttons and hearts? I've got one more project in the works, but I'll post about that tomorrow.

Remembering Other Places

2009-02-13T22:02:00.000-08:00

I grew up on the dry side of the Cascades. During the winter it snows from October to sometimes as late as March, with a bit of rain now and then, but nothing like the rains here in the valley. The air is dry. In the summer, it cools down quickly at night. That's one of the few things I miss about living in the high desert: the refreshing coolness of the evening, after a day of sun and heat. The contrasts. When I moved to the valley, a few months after turning eighteen, it took me a long time to realize how different the climate is here - after all, it was still Oregon, wasn't it? I noticed that there were many, many more trees on the hills surrounding Eugene and that it didn't snow nearly so much, but I missed the subtle difference in humidity. We may complain about humidity in the valley, but after visiting Pennsylvania and Japan, nope, it's not really all that humid here. Despite the fact that it rains for about nine months out of the year. Weird, eh?

Every once in a while, something will remind me of those early days in Eugene - one of the best times of my life. I had a flash of it this morning, coming in from taking the recycling out to the curb. Something about the chill and the damp and the slight trace of woodsmoke on the air, and coming into the warm, dimly-lit kitchen, shrugging out of my hoodie and lunging for my cup of tea... I don't know why, but it brought on a sensory memory of a similar morning many years ago. Not one specific morning, but the general sense of the place and time I loved so much. They say you can't go home again and I know that this is true, but sometimes it's possible to duck in, just for a second, and know that it's still there, waiting for you to find a way to bridge that impossible gap and return at last.

Design Provides

2009-02-12T23:49:00.000-08:00

There's so much cute stuff out there and so little time (so little room, so little money...). The other day, I was horribly tempted by "Happy Hermits" stationery by Apak . I saw it at Uwajimaya - wonderfully dangerous place, that store. I was drawn to the warm pretty colors, and cute, slightly sinister characters. They reminded me of the sort of thing I sketch in the margins of notebooks. Lately, I've been lusting after stationery in general, which is odd because I don't often write letters. Perhaps having nifty stationery would provide an excuse? I was standing in the store, asking myself who I'd write to, imagining how fun it would be to send letters written on this stationery, picturing the reactions of friends. In the end, I was fiscally responsible and walked away.

Instead of buying stationery (for now), I came home and made some of my own. The graphics are from a recent design piece I created for school. I really loved the palette of neutrals, for which I blame Alison (I used to think blue and gray and taupe sounded boring - what on earth was I thinking?). The next step is to get some envelopes from Art Media in the same colors and call it a set. Maybe transfer some of the houses and trees onto sticker paper - ooh, my own stickers!

I really enjoy playing with Illustrator - crisp, clean scalable graphics that look so cute when they are designed slightly askew. For the things I like to do, it's a better program than Photoshop. That said, one of my favorite things to do is to combine vector graphics with photography. The contrast makes me happy.

Sharing Inspiration: Carl Larsson

2009-02-11T21:55:00.000-08:00

Carl and Karin Larsson are high among my favorite artists and great personal inspirations. Long before the latest incarnation of the crafty life, they were living it to the fullest. While Carl's gorgeous paintings brought in the income, Karin not only painted, she was also an amazing textile artist and weaver. Some of her textiles were lightyears ahead of their time. In many ways, their entire lifestyle was incredibly modern - at a time when interior design tended towards the heavily ornate and visually cluttered, the Larsson's home was light and uncluttered. It was charmingly decorated with hand-crafted furnishings and marvelous little details, while retaining a visually clean look.

Reading Larsson's books "A Home" and "A Family" reminds me (now) of reading a wonderful art/craft blog, if that's not too irreverent. Carl's favorite subject for painting was his home and family, pursuing all the sweet activities that we crafty types like - picnics, parties, art activities, playing dress-up. Karin made all her own clothes, and she was also a fashion rebel: one of the pioneers of aesthetic dress. In all the pictures Carl painted of her, she always wears simple, beautiful, flowing dresses, and this at a time when women were expected to be heavily corseted and follow the trends towards ornate clothing.

The Larssons are often credited with being the creators of the Swedish style. I think that all you really have to do to "get that" is to look through a book or two of Larsson's paintings and then visit IKEA.

To-do lists are my friend

2009-02-10T21:46:00.001-08:00

Here I am at the end of the day with only a couple of things left to do, and many things accomplished - one more thing as soon as I hit the "publish post" button. It snowed today; usually it makes me happy when it snows, but this winter all it does is make me grumpy. Grump, grump, grump. I concentrated on being productive and not moping about. Fortunately, I have pincushions to cheer me up. I am loving playing with wool felt in yummy, happy colors. These are pincushions 2 and 3. I'm already thinking about #4 - I think I will use the blue and applique it with stars. Stars are one of my favorite decorative motifs.

If it's still all wintry and gloomy out tomorrow, I'm going to do some baking. Chocolate cake, I think, with vanilla/pomegranate frosting for a little extra sweetness and pretty pinkness.

WonderSunday

2009-02-08T21:07:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I've been to Crafty Wonderland. That really needs to change. Today's visit was thoroughly enjoyable. Lots of amazingly cute stuff and talented people. Alison and I met there, walked around, enjoyed the sights. I found a great print!

It was difficult to choose too, let me tell you. In the end, I couldn't resist the sweet neighborhood in a bottle. The colors are so pretty and soft, and the theme so whimsical! This next one was the runner-up. I loved the colors and the execution of the jellyfish. In my opinion, it's very difficult to do jellyfish justice, since their appearance depends so much on light and translucence, and I think the artist succeeded completely:

One of the things I love about Crafty Wonderland is that you get to meet the artists, chat with them for a minute, get a sense of the person to whom you're giving your money and support. As I did this morning, I'd like you to meet Adrienne of Arcane Arts!

As I've said before (and will say over and over again), it's so good to be able to support a fellow local artist. In this economy, we've got to stick together and help each other.

Drat! It's cute!

2009-02-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

I can't find my camera (that's the drat). This is making updates a bit more difficult than I'd like. However, the camera on my laptop is working just fine, so here, update (this is the cute)!

Pincushions really fit my current mood and schedule, being swift and sweet. This is a larger one (in progress) than the previous two, with an appliqued cupcake. And for the first time in my life, I've actually been able to make french knots! Every time I've tried them before, they failed. This time, I got all determined and, I don't know, tried harder. Got it on the second try! I'm quite happy that it did - french knot sugar sprinkles are darling - and making me crave cupcakes.

I'm multi-tasking like mad tonight. Pincushion, look for camera, pincushion, look for camera, look for paper knife, think about finishing tote bag, pincushion, mutter about camera. Tomorrow, I'm going to drop by Crafty Wonderland, the cute and crafty center of the Portland universe.

Whoops!

2009-02-06T14:58:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I had comments for the blog on a very restrictive setting - I'd been wondering why there weren't more comments and hoping it wasn't because I'm boring. ;-) Setting fixed, anyone can comment, and I absolutely welcome you all to chime in.

My Tea-Cozy Hat

2009-02-05T22:27:00.001-08:00

This is a great example of a project that took a left turn. One of my favorite sweaters accidentally went through the washer and drier - tragedy! I loved the green wool too much to simply sigh (or cry) and put it in the goodwill bag. I decided to try to recycle it. My kitchen gear lacked a tea cozy, and I thought my poor shrunken sweater would serve the purpose.

Alison had a tea party that weekend, and we always hang out and do crafty work, so I brought it to be my project. I deliberately felted a thrifted sweater for the applique, measured (one of) my tea kettles and stitched the pieces together. I used a needle felting tool to attach the applique. At this point, high on sweet black tea and sugar cookies, I got silly and put it on my head. Everyone went "ooh". I ran to a mirror and went "ooh" myself. We decided it HAD to be a hat - my tea kettle could continue to go bare. Alison made the tassels, we stitched them on, and BAM, cutest hat ever. Just having it to wear makes winter a little happier.

I <3 felt!

2009-02-04T16:55:00.003-08:00

You can do such sweet little things with wool felt. I've spent the last two days home with an icky cold, so to do something productive, I made a pincushion! It's about 2" tall and similarly wide. It reminds me of a little cake - someday, I'm going to learn how to make and work with fondant, and when I do, I'll make a little petit four just like this pincushion. It's all hand sewn, with appliqued, embroidered felt leaves, and stuffed with wool fleece.

I used to love embroidery when I was little. When I was nine or ten, I'd embroider on kleenex using sewing thread - little houses and flowers. Sadly, I wasn't given any encouragement, so the desire to really learn how to do it faded away, and I didn't have the resources to pursue it on my own. Later, when I started sewing, I decided I didn't like embroidery after all - too time consuming and fiddly. I'm beginning to reconsider now, especially when there are so many little projects to do that would go fast and be so sweet and pleasing. I'm really happy with this pincushion , even if I do have a recurring desire to nibble on it.

Something in the Air

2009-02-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

What is it about Olympia? Some of the best artists I know live there. My friend Alison lived there until a couple of years ago; now she lives here, and very glad we are about it, too. Nikki McClure (high on my list of "artists I'd like to meet" list) is also from that area. And my friend Bill Dawson lives near Olympia. He's an amazing artist, and I'd like to share some of his work with you.

Medieval re-enactment is one of my hobbies, has been for years. Bill was one of the people in that world that I met very early on. He's always been a good friend and has always encouraged people like me to pursue whatever facets of art interest us. His multidisciplinary level of achievement is just so inspiring to me. This is one of my favorites that he's done, a Santa Lucia crown. I've tried it on; it is SO pretty. This one piece has many different metalworking techniques, blended together to make something really, really special.

In addition to his other talents, Bill is a gifted teacher. He has some classes coming up soon, in Portland and Seattle, and I think he has a couple of spots left open. Here's the class schedule. If you want to learn some serious metalworking, he's one of the best.

Three Month Calendar

2009-02-02T23:57:00.000-08:00

Just a quick calendar for January/February/March for you to print out, if you'd like. The next one will be up around the end of March. This is the first time I've put something together specifically to put it online for anyone who would like to use it, so any feedback you have would be very much appreciated. Thanks and enjoy!

One more thing about Friday

2009-02-01T00:02:00.001-08:00

Ok, I don't want to sound like a total fangirl, but there was one more thing from Friday that Amy shared with us field trippers, an ad for Eco-Motion:

The talented Ms. Ruppel did the illustration (that's her on the green scooter!) and another local studio animated it. The very sweet singing voice is local girl, Laura Gibson. It is, as we say around here, so cute that you'll puke a rainbow. Which is a good thing.

A Brilliant Day!!

2009-01-30T19:58:00.000-08:00

Today was such a great day on the art/design front, I can't believe it! First thing this morning, I met with one of my Ebay customers to hand off a package. While waiting for her at a coffee shop, I worked in my sketchbook - I don't get a chance very often to sit and draw for nothing other than fun, so that was nice. Then, to kill a little time between appointments, I spent a little time in Presents of Mind on Hawthorne. I haven't been in there for a few years, and I was just blown away by all the art/craft inspired items.

Next, I got to participate in one of the tremendously nice aspects to being a design student - field trip! And not just any field trip, a visit to the studio of the fabulously talented Amy Ruppel. Oh my gosh my golly, I don't even know where to begin. She was super sweet and friendly, and answered tons of our questions. She showed us her studio - I loved it! It's a long, narrow room filled with art and inspiration, with lots of organizational tools from IKEA (which I also love; who doesn't?). We learned so much, especially about things that haven't been discussed all that often in the classroom, such as independent selling, home office vs outside studio, how Amy got where she is, and copyright issues. Sorry about the blurry picture, I think my camera hates me, but this is a corner of Amy's studio.

After that, as if the day wasn't sweet enough, I went back up to Hawthorne for a while. There's a ceramics shop I read about a while back, and I'd been itching to go in and check it out. Now, I happen to love pottery and yesterday I dropped one of my favorite handmade milk cups. SAD PANDA! However, this created the excuse I needed to go look at pottery. My collection is to the point where my boyfriend makes fun of me when I pick up new pieces, so I either need to get rid of an old one or be prepared to hide the new one very well. I hated dropping the old one, but it was just about worth it to visit...

elsa + sam!

So much ooh-shiny! Everything in the store is made by hand, in North America and Europe. The high level of workmanship is evident in every piece. And the prices are really reasonable, especially considering the quality of the pottery. Right away, I was drawn to the work from Circa Ceramics, with its rich colors and detailed images. I decided that one of the small teacups would serve as a great replacement for yesterday's whoops moment. It was really hard to pick one. I liked all the colors, but was especially drawn to the green. Maybe because it was such a gray day here and the green reminded me that spring isn't too far away.

None of the green cups on this shelf had an image that really grabbed me and said "you will take me home!" When I asked Elsa (yup, I met the store's owner, how cool is that?) if there were any others, she showed me one sitting on the shelf near her desk. It had bumblebees! Instant squee. Here it is next to my calendar. It's really heavy and sturdy and fits perfectly between my two cupped hands. I love that I could get it from a local business and from American artists working by hand. In this economy, it's more important than ever to support local businesses, small businesses, and individual artists and crafters. Not just because I fit in those categories, either, but because such businesses are so vital for our communities. Each dollar spent at a local business circulates around the community many more times, doing good things, than a dollar spent at a large corporation. I really recommend dropping in to elsa + sam and taking a look around. Unfortunately, I had to run before Elsa and I finished chatting, but I will certainly be going back there again. Hopefully without dropping a piece of my existing collection.

All in all, a really brilliant day. Any day where I get to meet new and nifty people, learn more about the field of work that increasingly fills me with happy, and come home with a new piece of ceramics is a really, really good day.

Happy things in my sketchbook

2009-01-27T13:56:00.000-08:00

Since Precious (how lucky am I to have a professor named Precious?) caught a glimpse of me doodling in class this morning, I figured I'd go ahead and share that page of my sketchbook with y'all. I think it's obvious that all the crafty blogs and ridiculously cute Japanese things I've been looking at lately are having an impact. My favorite is the either the pencil or the happy kleenex box.

Precious said I should turn it into stationery, which makes me all silly happy to contemplate.

Acorn Cottage

2009-01-26T09:54:00.001-08:00

I am tremendously blessed with some very talented, generous, wonderful friends, who have guided and inspired my journey as an artist in many ways. One of the niftiest things about having my own blog now is that I get to share them with you. One of them is Alison Fine of Fine Artisanry.

We're talking serious Renaissance woman here. Alison does some of the most beautiful work you can imagine and in more areas than I can count this early in the morning. In addition to her wonderful cloisinee enameling, she does amazing metalwork, awesome stitchery, adorable whimsies, delicious cooking...I could go on and on and on. She and I barter back and forth rather often - she has some of my very best lampworked beads, I have a pair of her mistletoe earrings (my current favorites!), a pair of kitty earrings, and my SO has a spiffy Russian shirt that she custom sewed for us. She teaches enameling classes in her home studio, Acorn Cottage, so if you want to learn how to make the loveliest enameled jewelry of your own, I wholeheartedly recommend her as a teacher. She might even make you some lemon-poppyseed cakes in her little acorn cakepan and she'll definitely let you pet the sweetest akita dog in the world, Smokey.

Socks and LUV

2009-01-21T17:58:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week, I made another pilgrimage to Sock Dreams. That place is PURE EVIL GOODNESS. I went in there for the first time last spring, mostly because of the amazing graphic design on their billboard, but also because I needed a pair of socks for a costume. For the most part, I am not a sock person. Sandals from sometime in late March/early April to as late in the fall as I can manage without freezing my tootsies off. Uggs as often as possible thereafter. Except for a couple of tie-dyed pairs, my socks were strictly utilitarian things: wool hiking socks, some ancient gold toes my mom bought for me years ago, and a few pairs of Maggie's o rganics. I had perhaps six pairs of the pointless things. Who knew that I would be unable to resist Sock Dreams' many charms? Who knew that I would become a sock lover? These are my latest happy little toe-and-heart warmers.

I've been contemplating my personal style lately. It's not the pure granola girl thing it was when I lived in Eugene. Being a believer in the whole "when in Rome" thing (with limits of course) I find that some of the stuff in my Eugene hippie wardrobe just doesn't work for Portland. Most of the time, I prefer not to stand out visually. Fortunately, with Portland being so quirky and well, weird, that's not a burden.

I love Scandinavian designers like Gudrun Sjoden who does all this beautiful, embellished, layered, amazing clothing in clean, soft Carl Larsson style colors and with playful prints that aren't fussy or overdone. There's a romantic, deconstructed Japanese style of clothing which I drool at over on Coton. My friend Ula used to describe my look as "moisture farmer" - pretty much an appropriate comment when said by/to a couple of SF/F geeks. I think I've found a better description, though, as well as a new favorite art/craft blog, and I'm totally going to yoink the term.

"Urban hobbit." Used by Amy at Angry Chicken to describe a seriously adorable pair of shoes. Another Portland girl! I love her blog and I love the term "urban hobbit" which pretty much describes the kind of stuff I've been wearing, especially since I've started picking out outfits for their tendency to show off my socks. Amy's blog is full of gorgeous photography, craft and cooking projects, and many other good things. I totally recommend checking it out.

Twice a week isn't going to be enough!

2009-01-21T17:25:00.000-08:00

Ever since Sunday, I've been thinking of all kinds of things I want to post here and eagerly waiting for Wednesday so I could update StacySix when I said I would. I'm so excited about sharing this part of my life!

So, my just-for-fun project today was playing with shrinky plastic. When looking around for things to trace, I rediscovered a nifty clip art book, tucked away on a bottom shelf, that I picked up last year at Goodwill: a Dover book "Art Nouveau Designs in Color", c. 1974 (which reaffirms my faith in the goodness of stuff from the 70s).

When making my shrinky pendant/tag, I decided that I liked it better upside-down.

It isn't faded out at the bottom, that's just the light. I can't decide if I like the pen marks or not, but next time I'm going to use wider pens and try a smooth look. The texture is kind of neat.

I also put a couple of new felties in my Etsy store, please take a moment to check them out? Thanks!

Shout out for cottage industry!

2009-01-20T15:26:00.000-08:00

Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

So says our brand-new American president, Barack Obama. It's probably tremendously silly of me, but it made me feel so included, so part of the day and part of Obama's vision for our country.

Inspirations

2009-01-18T12:33:00.001-08:00

One of the reasons I decided to start my own art/craft blog is because of the many wonderful creative blogs that are such a pleasure and joy to read. One of my newest favorites is the wonderful Posie Gets Cozy. I've been devouring the archives for about a week now, and what a delicious read it is. Even better, the writer, Alicia Paulson is a local girl. Originally from Illinois, it's a pleasure to share Portland with someone so charming and crafty. The life she chronicles in words and photographs in on her blog is warm and welcoming, sweet without the sticky.

My curent plan is to update my own blog twice a week to start out. On Wednesdays, I'll post something about my own project work, and on the weekend, I'll share a link for a website that inspires me.

Pretty Felt!

2009-01-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

Once winter term was finished and my school projects were safely out of the way, I had a burst of creative "ooh, must do hand crafts NOW!" energy. Much of that found its way into felt sculpture. This was one of the results. Its a little Russian doll, made from locally produced and dyed wool, hand-felted using a felting needle.

I learned how to felt about seven years ago from Ayala Talpai's wonderful book, The Felting Needle: From Factory to Fantasy. It's the most soothing of all crafts for me, the occasional stab in the finger notwithstanding, because it's so intuitive. I don't have to count, I don't have to follow a pattern, I can just sit and let the project take shape. Some pieces, like this one, surprise me with how cute they turn out to be. Others, well, they turn out to be learning experiences. Learning is good, right?

Even though I made her in the middle of the biggest snow storm that Portland has seen in decades, I loved the pale blue and purple for this piece instead of warm reds and greens. They just seemed to go with the snow and ice. I should have taken her outside and took a photo in the snow. I should take more pictures in general.

Beginingz

2009-01-07T23:52:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a web design class this term, aka "Interactive Media" - here is my first web page, pulled together in about 15 minutes with the help of some very basic instruction in Dreamweaver:

http://web.pdx.edu/~sdeloe/

I used tables, created a link, and placed images, including the page title. Simple, lots of room for improvement, but I'm still pleased as pink punch with it as a first effort.

Why here. Why now.

2009-01-04T00:49:00.000-08:00

About a year and a half ago, I decided to go into graphic design, and here I am with a year left in school. It feels like it's time to be a bit more public with my craft and design work. Time to get used to exposing (heh heh) my work to the public. Frankly, I expect that one day, future employers will be reading this. I'm good with that. It's important that you know what you're getting.

It's an odd old thing, being in school at a far later age than I ever expected. The average age of college students keeps going up, so maybe someday this will be more normal. As it is, I'm looking at receiving my (second) piece o' paper about twenty years after graduating from high school. Aieee. Hopefully this degree will be more lucrative than the first one in anthropology. I bitch about having wasted time, money, etc., all the time, but deep down I do love that "useless" degree.

In many ways, I'm still feeling out the possibilities that life has to offer. There's so much to explore and learn and try. Finding a new craft, a new design style, a new opportunity...all of these are a bit like falling in love: the rush, the enthusiasm, the temporary obsession. And with craft and design, it's ok to have more than one at a time. Thank goodness.