Spring's Promise
It has been unseasonably warm the last couple of days. With that in mind, I took a departure from whimiscal letter illustrations, to something a little more uplifting to chase the gray skies away.
I think I have been behind all this year. It started in March with all that really frigid weather. To top it off it has been a year of annoyances and as I write this I am recovering from my second cataract surgery. So please forgive me if I have been aloof in writing here. Time has been speeding. Finially I have taken my sketch book out and started with many ideas that will keep me busy all this winter and after Christmas I hope to be featuring more new work here.
Here is my latest piece to get me in the spirit. I do so love Christmas, and now with a 3 year old grandson, Christmas seems to shine even brighter. So to all those that read this, I wish you a very
M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S !
Women of Creativity: Four Artists, Four Perspectives
To think when I started my career in art it was in the BC, before computer. Now, thanks to Terry Flores, the my work has been featured in a YouTube video for the Beck Center.
Here you can not only see my work, but some of my fellow artists that I worked along side of at American Greetings. It is quite a range of work and talent. I was very blessed to work there and be surrounded by so many talented people.
This winter and spring has been a busy one. Lucky for me, I have a wonderful husband who is also a graphic designer who helps me get ready for my upcoming shows.
I print my illustrations on canvas using an 11 color process, which I coat afterwards.
Then, my husband does the tedious job of cutting the canvas and stretching it on stretchers adding a bracket for easy hanging.
Even, my cat Katie, adds her opinion to the process.
There is still so much to do before our first outdoor show this year coming up in June.
More updates to follow...
This is a break from tradition.
I was asked by a friend to come in on to a project that relates to a little local history.
In Westlake, Ohio, there is a little museum called the Clague House Museum that sports the Clague Playhouse in the back of it. Across from it is Clague Park.
So you kind of get with all the name dropping that the Clague family were kind of the pioneers that help established the surrounding area. It was the Clague family that cut down the trees to create the road that is now called Clague Rd.
As I said, my friend, Betty Franklin, asked me to help on a project which turned out to be illustrating a family tree for the Clague family for the house museum at the request, help, and research of the curator, Lysa Stanton.
This was a new journey for me. I have never illustrated a family tree before. As I started my sketches, trying to figure out who's who, I realized it was a bit more complicated than I thought. It was easy to get lost on who should go on what limb. But at last, after this evening's approval, here it is.
Side note to those that are interested in the kite and the Latin quote below; these relate to the family's place of origin. The Clague family came from the Isle of Man.
The "triskelion" or the symbol of the three legs joined at the thigh is on the flag of the Isle of Man. Putting the three legged symbol on a kite was a little bit of creative license, but I later found out that they do a bit of kite flying with the kids at the museum.
The Latin quote at the bottom is the island's motto translated as "whichever way you throw, it will stand". Upon further research from Wikipedia, I found that the meaning of the motto may have referred to the poor quality of the coinage around the 17th century, which more likely meant "however it is tested it will pass".
And why an apple tree you might ask? They were farmers that planted orchards and one of their many crops were apples.
The Letter C for Cat & Canary
The Letter D for Duncan the Dragon
F is for Fairy
E is for Elk and Eagles
The positive side to the gray skies of winter is it has been a productive one. I have been working on new letter illustrations for my up coming shows starting in June at Crocker Park, in Westlake, OH. Variety keeps the customers coming!
Whew! That is a lot of artwork!
While visiting the Beck Center of the Arts with my husband Norman to photograph the artwork for the other contributing artists, I took this shot with my iPhone. It struck me that my retirement from American Greetings has been a busy one! As you can see after working in rectangular layouts for 39 years, the square became a nice change of pace!