New art series

Back in August of 2011 I drew the picture you see to the left. It was just a doodle to accompany a playlist I had made for a friend but I think it sparked an infatuation with this girl. I had gone through a period in life where I was interested in drawing people or faces but like most things that drifted from my focus and I found myself wrapped in the ease of abstract doodling.

Well... I guess it's time to revisit an old passion.

I'm in a sort of rough spot in life right now and I'm looking for as many things as possible to fill the gaps... and considering how much beautiful art has been produced from humanity's lows... who knows, maybe I'll do something great with this series.

I spent the majority of this last weekend curled up on a bed, listening to documentaries and catching up on Shameless while I worked out a couple sketches... I've got about 5 planned out in my head at the moment and will be picking up a new sketch pad on lunch today. 8 1/2" x 11" just isn't cutting it right now.

I think the plan with this series is to get these figures drawn up and project them onto much larger plywood panels...

I'd like to look into spray painting techniques for the backgrounds so that I can paint the designs over something massively colorful. Obviously I don't have the details of step two worked out yet... figured get the actual drawing portion done before worrying about an overhead projector and materials... but this is something I'm excited about.. something that hopefully will help me work through everything and move on to bigger and better things. Make it happen Capt'n.

Roommate hunting

One of the things that has kept me busy has been the hunt for a new roommate. Back in June when I moved into my place in the U-district I was lucky to move into a slummy house (with massive potential! I'll have to do an update sometime on all the projects I've done around there) and a couple wonderful roommates that I'd now consider to be great friends of mine. We had some bad luck however with the fourth room in our house. Worried that there was just some negative energy left in the room after the last couple roommates, Jeff ceremoniously burned sage to rid the house of all potential problems. Desperate times call for desperate measures... we had all lost hope that we could find that 4th person who would not just "deal" with living with us, but actually enjoy it, like we enjoyed each other. I swear we're not crazy we just acknowledge how busy life can get and we want an environment where going home will always be relaxing - we help each other out like a family, that is apparently weird when you live with people? who'd have thought.

ANYWAY.

After a couple hopefuls and failed attempts we finally found a roommate! He seems like he'll be a great fit - glass blower, photographer, adventurer, just trying to figure this life out, do what makes himself happy and find things that inspire him. What more can you really ask for? I'm excited to see what new perspective and friendship this brings into my life. : )

WooHoo! This is a major stress relief! 

Speaking of roommates-  look at the awesome valentine that was waiting for me after the gym! Jeff's a winner!

Raspberry Lime Cupcakes

Every year work has a bake sale to help raise money for United Way, which is a great organization to support by the way. Since this year, I'm on the team that plans and executes all of the company events (and because I knew that a bake sale would leave people expecting something tasty from my kitchen) I had to come up with something awesome! Our sale was right before valentine's day and I was in the mood for something pink and light... I've found the winter months leaving me longing for fresh fruit and sunshine. I had a co-worker come up and ask that I make something with raspberry so by the end of the afternoon I had come up with a plan - lime cupcakes, with a raspberry buttercream frosting. The fun part of this was dying the cakes. I have made a few of those fun/funky rainbow cakes, ya know, split up the batter, dye it different colors with food coloring and then drop them into the pan. TADA! cute little multicolored cakes! Next time i'm gonna make something marbled... maybe do a special st. paddy's day cupcake....mmm beer cupcakes! Ooh the possibilities.

oh hey - mini. update

I'm a little bit behind on my updates... sorry everyone, the last few weeks have been crazy. I've hit one of those lulls with my projects, the life things are mucking up my flow if that makes sense... I do have new cupcakes to share... and I'm gonna start working on a new series i think. gotta make something happen... hope the rest of the world is well. Catch ya later this weekend.

Whale Totes Are Here!

 This last weekend I spent Saturday in the silk screening studio at Vera. It's one of my favorite places to be. I love the mess, the other people working on their projects oh yeah, and silk screening. I feel like I've been trying for ages to get this projects finished. I drug out designing the whale and stalled on scheduling studio time but FINALLY they are done.  I'm SO happy with how they turned out, definitely not bad for a first attempt; they were easy to line up and the only thing that really gave me any sort of problem was the bit of fabric that makes the handles, it prevented that flat surface contact, but it gave me some experience in troubleshooting and somehow I made it happen. It helps that I love the bags to begin with. They hold absolutely everything I need from massive amounts of mail to a weeks worth of groceries, these are definitely dependable and officially up for sale.

Skirts Skirts Skirts!

So you've heard about my sewing machine.....

ya know when you learn to do something, but your skill is still rather limited so you do the same thing over and over and over again? like when you're a kid and you're learning to draw so you keep drawing a picture of your puppy... well that's me and my sewing machine. I've got enough skill to work the thing but right now I've just been making variations of a skirt. Regardless of how unrefined my sewing skills are, my friend asked if I'd be willing to make her something for work! Sweet! 

She picked out this awesome mustache fabric and let me go to town. Thank you K for trusting in me! 

The skirt takes about an hour and a half to me (for me) and I think the end result is remarkable. I know this summer it'll be so much easier to be in dresses and skirts all the time! I'm soooo looking forward to it. 

K wore this skirt to her job interview and posted this picture. HOW STINKIN' CUTE! 

I guess I can add this to my list of skills and services now. : )

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

This week I found myself looking for a creative pick me up. My normal routine is to make cupcakes... it's the fine like between precise therapeutic measuring (HA like I measure everything precisely) and a yummy way to make something that looks pretty. I however, am still winding down from all the goodies over the holidays and wanted something light.... okay lets be honest, I'm dying for summer, for no cold fog and icy windshields.... for fruit salads and picnics.... oh summer! This longing lead me to my cupcake decision. lemon cake with blueberries (a close relative to a muffin) with creamcheese frosting and a pretty blueberry jelly swirl.  They were a hit... and probably one of the prettiest cupcakes I've made yet, even though I piped the frosting through a gallon sized ziplock bag this time (this was nerve-racking for me).. Part of me is still baffled that I didn't end up mixing the frosting and jelly together in the bag on accident... anyway, I think they turned out great.