It's All Part of a Plan

Here's something I made yesterday that's the start of the "big plan" I've been thinking about over the last few months.

So I'm thinking a lot about the "what to sell" question and if I want to sell prints I should probably make something that has a more central image. Here's what I came up with that builds on the above pattern:

Lastly, I tried to eek out another quick matching pattern. (I got sleepy though and had to set it aside for a while so I'm not in love with it.)

So all this is a demonstration of something I think I want to try and that's creating art prints and coordinating fabrics. I figure I can sell the prints on Etsy and link to the coordinating fabrics on Spoonflower. 

At very minimum, creating a few fabric collections on Spoonflower I think would be a good start. The commission is only 10 percent, but it's a start, right? So yeah, it's something thats going to take a few weeks, but I'm excited about it. 

Art Store Adventures

Bailey loves new art supplies.
And cookies held by photographers.

So we had an earthquake... and then we had a hurricane. Needless to say, it's been a week. Luckily yesterday was fairly sunny so we decided to take a trip up to A.C. Moore. We were looking for frames for a few pieces including my cow picture and a print I got from Jessica Swift's Kickstarter project. I also wanted to find some basic linoleum block printing supplies to play with. I came home with none of those things. I just picked up some basics that were on sale. Boo A.C. Moore. They rarely actually have what I want.

I bought this basic Speedball block printing
kit. You can also get it from Blick. 

But it's ok because the story gets better! That is when we re-discovered our lovely neighborhood art store! I was honestly so in love with this store. They had exactly what I wanted plus lots more at reasonable prices. I will no longer be driving 30+ minutes to go to A.C. Moore or Michael's for art supplies. Plaza Art Store is literally a five minute walk and I'm pretty sure they are my new BFFs. That's not creepy right? It was one of those moments where you are like, "uugghhugh, why have I been wasting my time when I could have just walked down the street." Duh.

So needless to say, one of our short term goals is to get a little more screen-printing practice and try out block printing. I think this might be one way I can make cool, hand-made prints to sell/give-away to friends/have just for me. Here's an example of a linocut print I got in Portland earlier this year. I will definitely be sharing as I figure it out! Anyone have any linoleum tips that don't include scrubbing gross stains off 1980's-orange flooring (you could share that too I guess, I'm not picky)?

Digital Bailey Print

So here's my first fully-digital pattern. I drew the shapes on a tablet directly in the software and manipulated/colored it from there. Wooooo. Kind of a biggish step from this or this. Here's a higher-res version that looks less grainy. Thoughts? Feedback? Could you see this on fabric?!

Portlandia Work-cation

It's been a bit of a crazy week. I'm smack dab in the middle of a two-week work trip along the West Coast. Every work trip has its stressful moments and fun highlights, but we'll skip the part that had me stressing out.

We are spending our weekend in lovely Portland, Oregon. I was here last year with my boyfriend for a wedding and it's pretty much exactly as I remember it... weirdness and all. The best parts: an afternoon in Oregon wine country, delicious dinner at Peruvian restaurant Andina and a lucky pass to the Nike Employee Store (everything is fifty percent off OMG unessecary running clothes).

I also re-visited the Portland Saturday Artist's Market and picked a cool print for my office (or somewhere). I stopped by Peet's Coffee to get a latte and the barista made a heart in my foam. I'm so glad that my coffee (and Portland) loves me as much as I love it. We'll be hitting San Francisco and Orange County this coming week, though there won't be as much time for fun activities since we'll actually be working. Gotta love a fun work-cation.

Cafe Press Prints

I was super flattered last week when a friend of mine asked me if he could order some prints of my work. I quickly re-scanned and uploaded the high resolution files to a site on Cafe Press. I was somewhat concerned that they wouldn't turn out well and I'd feel horrible. Luckily he sent me a photo this week and they look pretty good! I love seeing them matted and framed and I'm super happy I can share them :)