Throw Back Thursday, Art Edition...

For those of you who are fellow Facebook Addicts like myself know about TBT or Throw Back Thursday where you post a picture from a time gone by. I've really been enjoying everyone's posts. I mean what is more fun than being given permission to look through someone's old photos?

I thought I would do a TBT "Art Edition".

Here's one of my favorites from 3years ago.

(why does it feel longer than that)

 My first real portrait done in acrylic. It was quite a challenge let me tell you. 

If years from now some art historian were to analyze this painting they will see no less than a BILLION layers of paint as I tried over and over again to get the skin just right. 

 Here is a photo of the finished product with a can of Coke just for scale.

This is a portrait of my dear friend David Cassidy.

The concept was to design a "wine label" utilizing info about his weekly live radio show.

How did I do? 

Every Thursday from 3-5pm EST he does a live radio show from Kiltimagh, County Mayo Ireland!

You can listen live here on Radio 23

Like his Soul Shenanigans Facebook Page

Can't listen live?

Soul Shenanigans Podcast

Trust me, he'll keep your toes tappin for 2hrs straight each and every week!

Chair as Inspiration...

SPOILER ALERT:

If you have an August Birthday and are on my Birthday Card Mailing List 

DO NOT READ!!

Rember the Green Beauty I got last weekend?

Yeah, she's so awesome I had to draw her!

A continuous line drawing in my X-Large Moleskine Cahier Notebook. 

It turned out so well that I couldn't stop looking at it.  I loved it and felt the need to share it with others. 

So a set of 14 was begun!

Each month I make Birthday Cards for Friends, Family and Loved Ones. August is a HUGE Birthday month with 12 people on my mailing list.

These will be used for my August birthday cards!

A little watercolor using some of my favorite greens and a splash of Quinacridone Gold! 

Man I love that Quinacridone Gold. 

Sorry August Birthdays. I'm so excited about these that I just couldn't keep it to myself. 

Sweet Finds = New Studio Additions...

Over the weekend the studio adopted some new furniture! A local photographer and owner of the former Ginger and Spice Marketplace (it closed in November 2013) posted that she was opening her warehouse and selling everything inside. I was intrigued. Then I spied in one of the photos she posted this lovely green beauty. I'm a sucker for a good green. 

The Muse LOVES to help so she eagerly grabbed the mini shop vac and got to work. 

While snagging the Green Beauty at the warehouse sale my heart fluttered over this couch sitting unloved against a side wall. It was covered with hat boxes, misc items and had a sticker price of $40. Yep, you read that right...$40. 

Be still my heart!

At least you can say I have consistant taste as the newly snagged couch matches PERFECTLY to the chair my sister-in-law passed along to me nearly 4years ago now. 

She still can't understand what I see in that chair but I LOVE her! 

A little rearranging and the studio is becoming a real place to hang out! There's nothing I love more than grabbing a cup o' joe in the morning and walking into my studio to find Mr. AB and The Muse elbow deep in Mess Free Coloring Books or lost deep in the pages of a book. 

I can't express enough how lucky I feel to be in my mid thirties and realizing a vision I've had for so long. A studio filled with love, laughter and creativity not just for me but for my family. 

Stolen Moments and the Evolution of a PostCard...

As anyone with children knows, moments alone are rare and moments alone doing something creative are even rarer still. So when I woke up this morning and it appeared that both kids were choosing to sleep in just a little later than normal I stole some moments for myself. I have a little travel art set at the ready for just such an occasion! 

One of my all time favorite cup cozies The Giraffe Cozy was just begging to be drawn. So, I got out my new Uni Pin pens, one of my favorite Fabriano Medioevalis Cards and I was off and running! I loved how it turned out so much that I decided to add some color. 

What better way to add color to a Giraffe patterned coffee cozy than to paint it using real coffee?

I haven't painted with coffee for some time so it felt great to get back into it. 

As I worked I got more and more excited!

The decision to call it done is usually a hard one but this time I think it was easy. 

I was very pleased by the results. 

And it smells wonderful!

A pretty good likeness I think!

I have a hard time keeping most of the art I do.  I had originally intended for this to be a postcard for some lucky person but once it was finished I fell so in love with it that I don't think I can let it go!

Or at the very least I'll hang on to it for a while till I get a new favorite! 

Getting Back into the Swing...

It's been a while...

How have you all been? Still there? I wouldn't blame you...

Quick update:

I redesigned my Logo, refreshed my Blog and Facebook Page, spent some months being too exhaustingly pregnant with baby #2 to actually post anything, had baby #2 in March, now getting enough energy to be inspired and finally get back in the studio! 

Yippie!!!

I'm having that wonderful problem where the ideas are just streaming into my brain but I can't seem to keep up with them all. You know how you can sometimes do your best thinking while in the shower? Well I seem to do my best thinking while I'm stuck in a seated position with my son stuck to a boob nursing and the pen and journal are out of reach! AHHHH! That is always so frustrating. I've yet to learn to just leave a little notebook by the couch. Duh, that would solve all problems but do I learn? Nope!

I do take my notebook with all it's juicy notes to bed with me. Though I'm usually too tired to write at the end of the day. Brownie Points for trying though right?

A peek into the studio from my side of the baby gate. Half of my studio is for me and the other half is for the young ones. The Muse has half the studio that she now has to share with her little brother. Though he doesn't take up too much space, yet anyway. 

Creating while taking care of two little ones is challenging but fun since the studio is always filled with creativity of one form or another. 

There's no greater inspiration than the laughter and giggles of children.

Outside The Box and Other Logo Adventures...

I'm an artist, always have been, always will be. There's no denying it despite how much I tried to struggle against it when I was very young, trying SO hard NOT to be like my mother, as you do when you are young and searching for our own identity. Then there came a day when I could deny it no longer. Literally, there was an actual day. I remember it clearly and so does my mother. I think at the time it was one of her proudest mother moments. She still talks about it. 

I walked into the room seemingly all defeated. "Well, there's no denying it" I said with a long exhale. 

My mother looked at me with great concern, "What's wrong honey"?

"I'm an artist. It's just who I am"

From that moment on I've owned that title, wearing it like a badge of honor. 

Though I worked as an artist for years before opening my first official Online Shop I never had a Logo. There was no need for such a thing back then. Then came time to open an Etsy Shop. I was so scared yet equally excited. On July 24th 2012 Artistic Bean went live. My mother was there to help and witness the event!

This was my first logo. I was so proud of it. You wouldn't believe how long it took me to design that logo on Corel Draw. Oh the victory it represents. Well it served it's purpose for a few years but recently as I've begun a rebirth of Artistic Bean it needed a rebranding as well.  Perhaps a color change was in order?

My new studio is grey with a tiny splash of yellow so this seemed to fit the bill. 

Well as I sat back and looked at it, no it just wasn't working. Something was wrong. 

How about this? Yeah, that seems ok. 

No, still not right. Hm. Perhaps a little rearranging of elements will do the trick. 

Now I was on to something. Since the very beginning of Artistic Bean I have been in love with the idea of BN representing Bean instead of AB for Artistic Bean. It just seemed to fit my personality better. With a little splash of my favorite orange I was happy, for like a minute till I uploaded this sucker on the web and INSTANTLY it looked like a Halloween Horror Spoof Logo! GREAT!

I was SO freaking frustrated I ran screaming from the computer, straight out of the studio and closed the door. GRRRR!

After I calmed down I went back to my roots which is drawing. I grabbed my sketchbook and a pencil and just started doodling. I started to incorporate my almost obsessive love of Art Nouveau and my equally obsessive love of all things Orange/Lime Green. 

BAM!!

I was reborn in Logo Form!!!

I'm in LOVE! 

I let the design sit for a while to see if anything about it niggled my brain. I tested it out on a few family members and close friends to see if it worked for them. If they got it and it communicated well.  

FINALLY, a real logo. Not a box with letters. A logo I as an artist can be proud of. One that represents me! And you want to know the best part? 

I did it all myself.

Oh what a sweet, sweet victory this is.

I'd love to hear what you think. Have you had any similar logo/branding issues?

Beef is in their Blood...

We went to the County Fair last night and we had a great time! We wandered around and each picking out the meals that we had already planned in advance just waiting for the Fair to finally arrive. Mr. AB shared his pulled pork sandwich with the Muse who probably would have eaten half of his sandwich had he not finished it off before she could. She knows good food when she tastes it. I shared some of my sausage sandwich but it wasn't as fun as dad's so I gave up. 

       

Once our bellies were satisfied (for the moment) we found our way to the greatly anticipated Beef Barn. Mr. AB walking the Muse up and down every aisle evaluating each steer, soaking in the familiar sights, sounds and smells that is the Beef Barn. It's like going home, comforting and you don't want it to end. 

                                       

This picture sums it up. Beef is in their Blood, it's who they are. We are livestock people. The goal is to make a financial plan so that by the time she's ready for 4-H we can sell our house and buy a small Farm so she can raise a steer to take to the fair. We feel very strongly about this. Both of us being raised with animals we know the precious, valuable lessons learned from being responsible for raising those animal. Those values just can't be taught any other way. It almost feels like her soul is at stake, we must give her the same gift that we were given.