Birthdays, Birthdays, and more Birthdays

After being overwhelmed with so many birthday celebrations so far (since June!!) I took a break from the card making. No excuse, I know. But I had forgotten to get one for my brother and told myself "Self, you need to get out if this birthday card funk and make something for that brother of ours!" So, I remembered a little funny something my niece told me on MY birthday and voilà! this was born! 

Screen Printing Grows in Brooklyn

A friend of mine asked me a few weeks ago if I'd be interested in taking a workshop in screen printing and I had to jump at the chance to do it! I've ALWAYS wanted to learn but never got around to trying. Well, this time I didn't let the chance pass me by! Below are the pics of my friend and I (I'm the one taking the pics lol) paired off and working on our little screen printed apple with a cute surprise in it!! I'll definitely be investing in screen printing supplies soon....

My friend cutting out our design after I drew it out with a black marker on freezer paper. 

 

A close up of my friend cutting one of the two layers we're working with. 

Here's the first color going down....

Such a juicy red apple!!!!

We were quite adventurous in applying our design on an old pillow case cut up. My friend is quite crafty and will be making fruit bags! So cute! lol

Lunch time! Fish tacos and two blueberry concoctions (each!) to quench our thirst on a hot July day. 

Lining everything up (registering) so our green doesn't end up off the page or canvas.

Final product! Too cute lol

Bon Voyage!

This is for a coworker who is moving away with their family to Tennessee and I put together a little farewell card.... 

Throwback Thursday #5

This piece was done years ago... I had just graduated high school and working through the Summer Youth Employment and this was one of our assignments. Getting paid to draw? Awesome!!! But don't ask me what this thing is about.... I don't remember lol -- perhaps teen angst?! Or a self portrait of some sort?! Who knows....

A Birthday Sketch

Just taking a quick break and making a birthday card....0

Where Would Jesus Shop?

A friend from church asked if I would put together an illustration for the Young Adult Ministry had a Theology on Tap and the talk was entitled: "Where would Jesus shop? Catholic Social Justice in a Global Economy" and we came up with this (image is a close up of the illustration):  

Looking to the Future

A couple of days ago a friend and colleague asked me to put together a simple pennant design for an event that was held yesterday. I'm not posting the logo of the actual organization but wanted to share what I was working in this week. :) 

There were three future graduating classes represented: 2028, 2029, and 2030.

Throwback Thursday #4

I've been off-track with keeping up my blog but I haven't put the time all to waste! In the midst of (DEEP) Spring cleaning I came across many pieces of work I did as a child of say 11 or 12 that my mom saved. *smiles* The piece I'm posting today is not *that* old but old enough that it was done during my freshman year of college as a homework assignment for a drawing class. I remember when I told my instructor (rather bravely for me!! lol) that I was tired of drawing eggs (he wasn't the first instructor to give that assignment. So, I had to pick a dark object for my still life and render that.... Easy enough right? No eggplant for me! lol

New Birthday Series

So, it's been a little while since I've created anything so here's another birthday card. This design was actually meant as a farewell for someone but it can apply here, too! I'm working on designing other kinds of birthday dessert cards, too, besides my usual pen and ink to brighten it up more. Sharpie markets may just do the trick in some cases!

A Belated Birthday

I remembered Patricia's birthday was this month just not the specific date. :-/

Right now all my family and friends' birthdays are helping me figure out what I want in my birthday card illustration series. I would like to have more color and make it come alive, but I also like the simplicity in a line drawing.

What do you think?

Plus, you see I'm using yet another app to add the little watermark lol a perfectionist perfecting oneself ;D

A Simple Thank You

I'm working on creating some thank you cards we've starting giving to some presenters who did one hour overviews with guests. This is one of the designs that has come from this collection. I'll be posting more as they are created.

Throwback Thursday #3

I was going through some old papers and came across these two pieces I did when I was still in college. I had to create my own lesson plan and all the visuals to go with it.

Happy Birthday Miss Z!!

Getting ready to see my little niece for her third birthday! Where does the time go with these little ones!! Just another proud Auntie!

Throwback Thursday #2

This was one of my first mural projects dealing solely with text... Definitely a challenge for me with this project. I may do this one again since this site moved to a new location.

A View From the Pew

I was asked to do a couple of sketches for my church for their Weekly Bulletin, so, I came up with a few.... The pen and ink version being one of the final pieces.

Another birthday

There have been a lot of birthdays lately so here's one for my friend, Miss T!!

Another Birthday for Hallie

Put together a little card for a friend who is in denial of his age.... Happy Birthday Hallie!! You're Yung No Mo...

Throwback Thursday #1

My mom saved some of my work from when I was younger. This drawing was from when I was in junior high school. Proof that skills improve with practice and lots of time!!

A Birthday Snapshot

A quick birthday card for a promising photographer. Happy Birthday Mr. Aquarian!!

Coffee Shop Moments

I came across this old piece I did when I would sit in a coffee shop and do little watercolors with my trusty little travel set.

Holiday Progress

Happy New Year!!

Cutting it close to Christmas, I finished my Holiday Card for 2012. Below you can see my challenges....

Here I thought that the design was missing something, plus, I wasn't really liking the colors of the ornaments. I had just found my stash of gouache paints and didn't have anything more vibrant.

Here I play around with the design on the final project itself and really like what came from it.

The blue color was starting to bug me so I decided to warm the painting up by adding more earth tone colors. The tree was looking a bit flat and I wanted something to give it more of a lush body, making it feel more like Christmas.

My challenge at this point were the floor boards -- they were blending too much with the top half of the painting, so, I made it look more like wood by adding a grain texture throughout.

This is the final piece and I am quite happy with it!  ;)

I'm hoping that I start my 2013 card a heck of a lot sooner!!