Small Business Saturday

As someone that is in the first year of trying to run an online business, I know how important EVERY sale is. I dream of the day when I can make a comfortable living off of sales from my etsy page combined with other freelance work, without having to seek other "day jobs." I would like to share with you a list of some friends and other artists I admire who have awesome stuff in their shops that I drool over when I am procrastinating from actually getting work done! Looks like it's an all ladies party!

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littlelow shop on etsy has really cute stationary and other goods.

Recently, I've had the pleasure of selling my prints at Occasionette. Run by Sara who has a fun line of diagram drawing housewares called Girls Can Tell. Visit her store on Passyunk Ave. or her online shop for some fun Holiday gifts!

Lindsey Carr runs LittleRobot. I love her "natural history" style with an illustrative flair.

Mimi Kim runs clapclapdesign with adorable stationary and gift wrap.

Joanna Quigley has some prints of fun drawing she does. 

I am the proud owner of the original Heart Eyes!

Becca Stadtlander well because her stuff is amazing!

 Bathtub Jungle run by my friend Maggie, has adorable hand made jewelry.

Melinda Boyce runs CactusClub. Love her style!

Martha Rich makes some really cool stuff.

Michelle Morin runs unitedthread. Makes me want to learn how to paint in watercolor!

SquidWhaleDesigns uses natural dyes, vintage fabrics, and other materials to make some one of a kind pieces.

Valeriya was in my high school art class then continued on to make sweet work throughout college and beyond!

Ceramic artist Melissa Crotty was my next door neighbor in my old studio building. I love her little doll leg herb markers.

R.Home Magazine Spot Illustrations

Here are some spot illustrations I did for the Nov/Dec issue of Richmond Home Magazine. The different drawings represent anecdotes contributors wrote about hosting tips during the Holidays. The Art Director was a pleasure to work with!

The cover..

I really like this one about the cat climbing in the xmas tree, becoming the perfect photo opportunity for the next year's Christmas Cards.

Here is the full two page spread!

New prints available on Etsy!

This past week, I received some new prints for my online shop. I made a 2014 "Seasons of Harvest" Calendar, and a fun illustrated map of the world. I took some staged shots of different prints in frames.

Little Food Spot Illustrations

Illustrated Maps

The map below will be used for the 2014 Tour de Yorkshire in England. It features the sites along the course for the first day of the 2 day tour through the beautiful English countryside.

 Offa's Dyke is a walking trail located in Wales. 

This poster wasn't used, but I really enjoyed making all the little illustrations for it.

PAWS Benefit Show at Grindcore.

Coming up Friday May 10 is the opening reception for the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society's Benefit show. All proceeds go to PAWs. I did a window kitty inspired piece. Grindcore is located in South Philly on 4th Street near Dickinson.

Here's a little preview of the drawing. 

This is just a quarter of the actual finished piece.

Etsy Shop

I've been adding lots of things to my Etsy shop. Click here to take a peak.

I now have digital prints of a lot of my artwork available.

In Case You Missed It..

 Here are some of the new pieces I did for my show at Benna's that I took down on January 9th. The show went quite well, which makes all the time and effort that was put into it feel really rewarding. I experimented more with using Pitt Artist Pens (brush tip markers) instead of just painting in acrylic, and even mixed the two in some pieces.

Veggie Patch 8"x10". Marker on Watercolor Paper

SOLD. Dino Terrarium 8"x10". Marker on Watercolor Paper

SOLD. Cat Bed 8"x10". Marker and Acrylic on Watercolor Paper

Kitchen. 8"x10". Marker on Watercolor Paper

SOLD. Portuguese Plates and Platter 2"x 3". Marker on Watercolor Paper

Kitchen Things 5"x 7". Marker on Watercolor Paper

 Small Terrarium. 4"x 6". Marker on Watercolor Paper

Illustration GRID Magazine

This article was title "Vegging In." The woman talks about having a roommate who would get CSA shares and the creative ways they would have to deal with an overabundance of produce like Bok Choy. I really love GRID Magazine so this project was lots of fun!

Safari the Cat

One of my commissions this year was for a fellow who just loves his cat Safari. I forgot to post pictures of it when I completed it during the summer. This project ended up taking me quite awhile because he wanted it to have a window with some light coming in, and I usually work on more graphic or simple backgrounds.

Preview

Here's a little section of one of my new pieces, for my upcoming show at Benna's, at 8th and Wharton in December!!

The Big Kahuna

This is probably the largest project I have worked on to date. The building is located at 1241 Carpenter Street, where my studio is. The owner of the building wanted a large drawing of the factory as it would have looked when it was first built in the late 1800's. Of course it is hard to find any photos that are that old, but I went and did some fun research with the Philadelphia Library Company. I found some pictures of the building that were taken around 1917. It was awesome to see it when it was still relatively new. The building was used to manufacture belts for factories, it was called "Main Belting Company." The original drawing is 22"x 36" and will be displayed in the entryway of the building.

Below is a little detail of all the windows I had to draw, phew!

 

Here's one of the reference photos I used, it was probably drawn with graphite.

Below is the actual building, which now has a mural on the front.