My work featured....

Hi all! One of my designs, along with some of my fellow e-coursemates work, was featured in Beth Nicholls' blog "Do What You Love For Life".  This was from Module 1 "The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design". We've all just finished up Module 2, lots of exciting things on the horizon ;))

click here>>> http://dowhatyouloveforlife.com/blog/2012/07/21/pattern-course-module-1-showcase-part-5/

Señor Skully-contest for Beta Fashion

Just entered a fun contest at Beta Fashion, "Looking forward to Autumn/Winter the topic of this project therefore is skulls. We're looking for scarf designs that embrace this topic and represent it in a beautiful and contemporary way."  Yep, skulls. Gah.

Well, I've always been fascinated with those decorative skulls that you see relating to the holiday "Dias de los Muertos", and I think that the style of my drawing and work fits it exactly!  Dia de los Muertos is a traditional Meso-American holiday dedicated to the ancestors; it honors both death and the cycle of life. In Mexico, neighbors gather in local cemeteries to share food, music, and fun with their extended community, both living and departed. The celebration acknowledges that we still have a relationship with our ancestors and loved ones that have passed away.

Okay, shameless self-promotion time! Vote for my "Señor Skully"!!! Here's the link!
https://www.betafashion.com/competitionratedesign.aspx?SubmissionID=5812

full size scarf

Beta Fashion is an online scarf shop with a difference – they collaborate with designers from around the world to create unique, creative pieces. It’s an open platform where designers are given themed projects and the public chooses, by way of votes, which designs should make it to the shops.

If you want to Pinterest any of my artwork or photography, please attach a link to this blog and give me credit. If you don't, I will find you and hurt you ;)

Stationery Project-Zenyatta Mandala

This project took a lot of thought! We had to design a stationery set according to a brief from Rachael Taylor for The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design. I've gotten a lot better at not procrastinating, but I think that I tend to overthink things, maybe it's because this is all so new for me (but I truly love it!!!) This one took me a while to finish.

I called this group "Zenyatta Mandala". I was listening to the Police (love Sting!!) while drawing a part of this, hence the "Zenyatta" part of the name. Haha, maybe I'm showing my age here, "Zenyatta Mondatta" debuted in 1980!  "Mandala" is a Sanskrit word meaning "circle", which is one of the motifs throughout.

I LOVE how this came out, I even used it as my Twitter background!

People responded really well in my Flickr group to this mix of patterns.

I would actually love this for a cosmetics bag!!

If you want to Pinterest any of my artwork or photography, please attach a link to this blog and give me credit. If you don't, I will find you and hurt you ;)

My staff

ahhhh...I THOUGHT I had posted this a month ago, but I found it in my "draft" box. Yay me. Always learning!

I'd like to take a moment and introduce you to my staff. Their hard work and dedication has gotten me to where I am today ;)

All hail Nero. AKA "Buddy". Alpha cat male. And the hardest cat on the planet to photograph because of his black, shiny, mink-like fur!

This is Java, my special Bengal kitty. He's part Asian leopard cat, and he's a bit of a nut. But I love him bunches!

The lovely Luna. My constant companion, I am never out of her sight. She's got the prettiest coloring too, peachy belly!

View from my chair at my desk. Never a dull moment. This is Java and Luna supervising me.

And I can't forget to mention Henry the Hall Cat. My new friend. Our relationship is based solely on his need for me to bring him his catnip fix from the garden.

This is Henry (see what happens to his tail when I bring him catnip?) and his bro Mac. Two lovely gingers from next door.

Like I said before, never a dull moment here. They are all such a constant source of enjoyment and really make my day a brighter one :)

Oh, and if you want to Pinterest any of my artwork or photography from here, please attach a link to this blog and give me credit. If you don't, I will find you and hurt you ;)

Gigantor Doodle Board!

Just posting a little progress picture of my Gigantor Doodle Board. This project has become really a fun one! We were given this to do as part of The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design, Module 2 course, and at first I was terrified. I procrastinate, for the most part, when working on large surfaces. I never was comfortable painting on a large canvas, that giant, blank, white square or rectangle kind of frightened me, lol!

This piece is on a 20x30 inch illustration board, done with Sharpie markers! I used a few Zentangle patterns that I found on the 'net, but 95% are my own doodles, flowers, and stuff that flows out of my head. I used to do count-cross-stitch, crocheting, knitting, embroidery, and I find that it brings exactly the same relaxing quality when I work on it.

If you want to Pinterest any of my artwork or photography, please attach a link to this blog and give me credit. If you don't, I will find you and hurt you ;)

Lately? Obsessed with Sunflowers...

"For tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun....." ~The Beatles~

I really love sunflowers! It's the first time that I've grown them. A few of these pictures are from my neighbor's roof top garden plot of sunflowers in bloom, mine are the ones that are in bud.

This one reminds me of that "Body Snatchers" movie!

These came out very surreal! From my iPhone using Hipstamatic app. A very low humidity day!

These are not photoshopped or enhanced, see the bee?

Two bees on this one!

If you want to Pinterest any of my artwork or photography, please attach a link to this blog and give me credit. If you don't, I will find you and hurt you ;)

Jardin Loco

I've been a busy girl, I really have to get back to blogging more! Mid-summer vacation time is over, the super-hot weather is creeping in, and I'm back at my desk "working" away on new ideas, doodles, and patterns in the comfort of air conditioning. When you do what you love for your job, it's never really like "work" at all :))

This pattern is named "Jardin Loco", which means "Crazy Garden" in Spanish. I named it that because of all of the bright colors and wildly patterned flowers, typical in my designwork lately. Hope that you like it! All of these patterns repeat, so I think I'll put them on sale at Spoonflower. I'll keep you posted.

If you want to Pinterest any of my artwork or photography, please attach a link to this blog and give me credit. If you don't, I will find you and hurt you ;)