Celebrating 2 years with a throwback print

Taken by the Hand turned 2 yesterday and to celebrate I ran a few woodblock prints of an old favorite. This was the first block print I'd done since a long post-college hiatus from printing after being inspired by an old piece of poplar I'd found in my parent's basement. The design was one I'd done in Illustrator, something that started out as a doodle but just kept going. It was the melding of digital and hand-made that I'd been seeking.  But alas, my first few print runs were lacking pizazz, a problem quickly solved by jumping on the ombre trend. The original print blends pink and blue ink for a vibrant gradient. This guy holds a special place in my heart, and a specialer place on my wall and the walls of a few friends.

The words came first and inspired the twisting and curling lines,
alluding to graphic vines and roots

So for the refresh I added a third color and instead used yellow, pink and orange.

A little like a sunset

Oddly, these colors remind me of 90s era Oakley sunglasses, and you can judge for yourself whether that's a good or bad thing.  Number two color combo was turquoise-to-blue printed on a sheet of wood paper that'd been sitting in my stash for way too long.  I'd have loved to do the brighter colors on this but didn't think it would show up on the light wood.

Woodblock printed on wood: a world turned upside down

Here's a few more shots.

Group shot!

The block and tools. Pink!

I'm planning on doing a few more color combos when I get some more paper, and putting them up on Etsy along with the new woodblock that I'm working on.  Lots of projects have been done over the last two years and this one got me out of a slump and kickstarted them all!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy V-day! 8-bit style love to my readers!

Conversation heart puffy stickers by Hallmark courtesy of Dad.

O is for Owl

The last letter in the series of initials for my goddaughter is finally done! The "O" for her last name has a friendly little owl perched in the center. Heavy watercolors in pinks and purples are perfect for a little princess, and of course, match the other two.

Manayunk Bridge Illustration

Bridges are cool, huh? I recently did this illustration for a save the date of the Manayunk Bridge in Philadelphia.  It was a challenge to figure out what to do with the water, but I thought a reflection was necessary so it didn't look like a floating bridge. Don't they have those in Mario Bros?

A modern marval 

I'm working on a few more in the same style right now so they'll be up later this month.  As always this is india ink on watercolor paper.  I'm really liking this style and getting in the groove with it for sure!

A wedding at the zoo!

You can imagine how excited I was to be working with Rachel and Clay when they told me their wedding next year would be held at the Bronx Zoo!  What a unique and nontraditional venue that allowed for some really creative stuff.  After speaking with the bride, we'd have to find the right balance between zoo theme and classy wedding, so it doesn't look like a child's birthday party.  To keep it elegant, I went with simple animal silhouettes in black on bright white linen paper.  As a personal touch, one of the silhouettes is actually the couples' rambunctious mutt, Hannah!

I took several stabs at this, and here's one of the alternates, more modern and casual with different kinds of type mingling.

All the animals at the zoo get along swimmingly

The final invitations just printed and I'll post them shortly, along with the official save the date.

The walls of my new apartment

As I mentioned in a previous post, I started off 2013 with a new apartment. Living by myself, I feel like King in the Castle, and I no longer have to trudge up 4 flights of stairs. On the down side though, I did have to scale down my operation which includes stowing my little desk and having my kitchen table work double duty. I've had to get pretty creative with storage (big kitchen+tiniest bathroom=curling irons in the pantry). Here's a little sampling of some of the decor I've put up, with a few effects added to the photos cover up the fact that the pictures were taken with very poor lighting. At least I'm honest.

Living room

The left image is one of my own prints, it reads "you & me can grow wild together," while the right silkscreen from Brainstorm.

Kitchen

Above my kitchen table/desk, a graphic print of New York City buildings from overhead, a Christmas gift from my big bro.

Bedroom, which is also the living room btw

Perfumes on a cake stand, buffered by my Great Aunt's doily.

The potty

The bathroom, where all my jewelry now lives beneath one of my octopus prints. There's a little bit of a nautical theme going here.

There's just one lingering box that is waiting for me to figure out when recycling day is. Now that everything's in its' place, it's time get through the winter with some new projects!

Impromptu watercolors on a Tuesday night

With the craziness of the holidays, moving, and wedding invitations, I didn't get to do much freestyle creative.  On Sunday night, I promised myself to do something creative this week that was just for myself, and for no reason.  So here's a little watercolor design inspired by my coasters and a book on historical pattern design, just for fun.

Camera 1:

The apartment has great windowsills

Camera 2:

Yes, this could be a coaster