That's right friends, I'm on a roll and having so much fun with this series. Here's the next in the Friendly Little Reminders Series: "Eat 5 A Day". Most of us need to eat more fruits and veggies, and an adorable reminder couldn't hurt. This little print will be right at home in the kitchen, or near your favorite breakfast spot. The print is now available to order over at my shop!
I'm having a blast incorporating these hand drawn techniques with my computer based illustration style. For this one I used pens, pencils, crayons and some found textures too. I'm also enjoying playing around with hand drawn lettering too. I just got the book Hand Job: A Catalog of Type and it is chock full of hand rendered typographic eye candy - you should check it out. I'm feeling great about working this way. It feels so much more genuine and original than my purely vector work. Not to say I'm abandoning working with shapes, but this work is just feeling much more interesting to me at the moment. I hope you are feeling it too!
The fine print:
$20 will get you this sweet 8 x 10 inch giclee (pronounced gee-clay) print. It is professionally printed in the US of A, on Legion Entrada Rag Bright 290 (a fine art, 100% cotton paper) and with Vivera Archival Inks, giving it an archival rating of 150 years.
The frame is not included with the print. It is a $17 frame I bought at Target of all places, you can find it here.
Enjoy!
If I'm ever stranded on a desert island please forgo the traditional "message in a bottle" and set adrift a delicious cupcake or other bakery item, ASAP.
I love the work of Portland, Oregon Illustrator and Graphic Designer Mary Kate McDevitt, and have had her Etsy shop marked as one of my favorites for a long time - so I'm super excited to introduce you to her this 5th Wall Wednesday.
Her shop features both her "Mini Goals Chalkboards". The slate chalkboards measure 9" x 12" and feature hand painted lettering. They come with with Mini Goals Chalk, and a fun Mini Goals Eraser, and personalized packaging. Her sense of color and the hand lettering on these chalkboards are wonderful. I can't wait to get my hands on some of her work. I can imagine a number of walls in my house that would love to wear one of these!
Her shop also features her paintings and prints that feature fun characters in them that make me smile - like the adorable and grumpy looking bear in the painting above. For some reason I feel like I can relate to him.
Read Mary Kate's blog here
Visit her Flickr page
Follow her on Twitter
and of course visit her Etsy shop!
Thanks Mary Kate!
My growing up was filled with trips to Soap Lake, Washington. Soap Lake is a wacky little town; rumor has it they'll soon have the world's largest lava lamp installed in the center of the tiny 'western themed' downtown.
I have so many stories centered in this town I could fill up books. I spent many weeks at a time there on my grandma's farm, that was just outside town (but still within walking distance of the delicious B&B Drive-In where my cousins and I would walk for a mid-afternoon snack of burgers and shakes ordered on telephones from the booth).
Soap Lake, the lake itself is rich in minerals , and is one of 11 meromictic lakes in the US. In the 30s, people flocked to Soap Lake as a cure for Buerger's disease. The water smells like rotten eggs, it is slimy, and there are weird brine shrimp that live in it. Swimming in it is not for the faint of heart or nose. But I grew up swimming there and loved it. I also loved the ritual mud baths my family and I would take every summer.
The mud at the bottom of the lake is black and clay like and smells worse than the water itself. But it is amazing stuff. As a teen, it once erased a pimple the size of a penny, it took the redness and sting out of many a sunburn, and made your whole body feel tingly and just good.
About 10 years ago, I took my final dip in the lake. After swimming halfway across, I pulled myself onto the dock to get ready for my annual mud bath. But - my hands were swollen and huge like Mickey Mouse's gloves, I was covered in hives and started to go into shock. Many months and a few tests later I found out I have Cold Induced Urticaria - which literally means I am allergic to cold temperatures. So, not more lake swimming for me, sadly. But maybe someday I'll wade in just up to my knees and get all muddy again. Here is a photo of the lake by Tiffany Withrow - it is really a beautiful and strange place -I miss it.
