Royal + Suede

I was so busy this past weekend that the start of this week has been slower than usual. I attended one of the baby shower's being thrown for my sister-in-law, went to a friend's housewarming/birthday party, my roommate's dance show, and another friend's musical.  It was a wonderful weekend, but when Sunday night came, I was done.  I have thankfully bounced back (I literally did nothing on Monday) and spend a lot of the day yesterday painting.

 I recently designed the invitations for the baby shower/tea my Mom is throwing for my sister-in-law (since one apparently will not suffice), and I was thrilled with how they turned out!  Here's a (fuzzy) snippet of part of the invitation, I'd post the original, but don't want to bother editing out names and addresses.  Goodness, maybe I am still tired from the weekend.

After making and being so happy with the invitations, I've been really inspired to design more elements for paper goods!  Isn't it funny how action instills confidence?  Yesterday I completed a lily of the valley header to potentially use for stationary or another invite.  Only time will tell, but I'm trying to stick with it and see where it takes me!

Details

{sweater} - Kohl's

{suede skirt} - vintage 40's, thrifted

{tights} - ModCloth

{shoes} - Chelsea Crew

{necklace} - gift from Dad

Lately 3.3.14

Lately I have been favoring breakfast.

I've been sorting through old memories.

I've been learning (too gradually), I never thought I'd want homework but I do.

I've injected reminders of loved ones into daily life.

I've torn beautiful dresses and created things I never thought I would.

I've eaten very good pie.

And been awed and inspired by a little girl, her paper dresses and bold spirit.  Talk about God showing me the beauty and strength in softness.

More to come, that's always the good news. :)

Sketchbook - 2

I've quite neglected my idea of sharing my sketchbook now and then, but I truly need to!  I don't share it with many people so putting it here is a tiny step for me, though I know probably no one is actually reading this.  

I think that may be what makes me feel safe in posting it. :)

Here are some things I'm working on:

A kind stranger.

Words that ought to be painted.

Scratch paper happy accidents, this one reminds me of a fan.

First draft of the second in my trio of favorite lumberjacks. This one has an ox.

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In other news, I have started decorating for Christmas. :)

Sketchbook - 1.

I've pondered ways to share my artwork and ideas I'm working on, and thought: what better way than to just share my sketchbook every now and then?  This will hopefully be the first of many sketchbook visits, and I hope it will help me to tweak and hone whatever I'm currently working on.

In the fall, I created my own hand-illustrated Christmas gift tags and have lately (when I've had the time), been trying to find other practical ways to sell my artwork.  Not that everyone doesn't want a painting of a ginger lumberjack for their wall...but really, most people actually don't.

Marketing is something I've realized I'm horrible at, so my artwork kind of needs to market it'self to some extent.  The first avenue I've been exploring is wedding paraphernalia, this pencil and watercolor illustration would be (on a card?) for a bride to officially ask friends to be her bridesmaids.

I actually didn't paint on my original sketch of this, but made a print of the pencil drawing and painted from there.  This way, I'm free to customize the hair, skin and dress/flower colors to suit for different people.  I've also started on two more drawings with different style dresses than this, so my customer can have a choice in dress style too.

Hopefully I'll get around to trying my hand at actual wedding invitations, though that seems a bit intimidating for some reason. Huh. If I knew how to type a shrug, I would.