Illustration Rally

My latest illustration, Little Bea and the Yeti, can be seen over at  Illustration Rally.

Illustration Rally is a wonderful illustration blog. They spotlight the work of many great artists, and also share news & events. But, the rallies are at the heart of the blog featuring illustrations which are linked thematically. You can read more about the rallies here.

A big thanks to Illustration Rally for including my work in their Christmas Rally!

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays everyone! To celebrate the season, I have a new print available in the shop. I am also putting the original illustration up for sale. This is the first time I'm offering the original, and I'm pretty darn excited about it. While I take great care to ensure that the prints come out beautifully, there is something extra special about a one of a kind piece.

Time to put on Elf, which is my absolute favorite Christmas movie,  and finish the rest of my wrapping!

inspiration monday

image via troubadourcottage. © Shaun Tan, 2008.

Today's inspiration comes from Australian artist Shaun Tan. He has written and illustrated several books including; Tales From Outer Suburbia, The Arrival, The Red Tree, and The Lost Thing. His work is so dreamy and beautiful, stunning and surreal. He's won a gazillion awards, and rightly so his work is very touching. You can learn more about Shaun and his projects here.

illustration friday is burning

I had hoped to make this weeks Illustration Friday a much more elaborate affair. I envisioned a scene complete with roaring fire and hungry campers, but I got swamped with custom work, so this lil guy will have to do!

magazine love

One of my illustrations is in the current issue of Literacyhead! (Vol. 1 Issue 24) Literacyhead is an online magazine which provides lessons for teaching literacy through art. You can read more about their mission here.

 My work is in the 'Visual Vocablulary' section, and can be seen here. It's at the bottom of the page, so be sure to scroll down!

the aliens

I just got back from a super fun trip to Boston. Mister is in a play there that opened this past weekend. He plays Jasper in Company One's production of Annie Baker's play "The Aliens".

The show is amazing! It's centers around two 30 year old drop outs who hang out behind a coffee shop in the fictional town of Shirley, VT and the 17 year old coffee shop employee who they befriend. Annie Baker wrote a beautiful, heartbreaking play and director Shawn LaCount does a wonderful job bringing it from the page to the stage. Alex Pollock is pitch perfect as KJ, Jacob Brandt is tender and endering as Evan, and Mister gives an intense and honest perfromance as Jasper.

I am so proud of the entire cast and crew of "The Aliens". If you are in the Boston area, I highly recommend going to see this play. You can read the reviews here, and go here to purchase tickets.

illustration friday is spooky

Illustration Friday is a wonderful website that provides a topic every Friday, and participants have a week to come up with a piece that reflects the word. Then they upload it to the Illustration Friday website and get to share their work with a community of artist.

It's a great concept, especially for people like me who sometimes have trouble being completely self-directed. I've always felt, with regards to illustration, that limitations can be really freeing. That's a huge part of why I love working with clients on custom pieces.

 I've wanted to start contributing to Illustration Friday for a while now and this week was the perfect week to start! So here is the first in what I hope will be a long succession of Illustration Friday posts. The topic this week was 'Spooky' and the print is now available in my shop.

inspiration monday

image © Heidi Kenney, My Paper Crane.

Today's inspiration comes from Heidi Kenney of My Paper Crane.  I've been following her for several years, and am such a huge fan! I first stumbled upon her when I got the idea for Two Happy Apples and started to wonder if it was possible to make a living making art. When I discovered her work, a whole world of professional artists and crafters opened up to me.

Her blog is great reading, especially when I feel like I don't have the energy to be creative. She runs a very successful business, bakes constantly (her cakes are amazingly elaborate!), is an very hands on mom, somehow finds time to hunt for thrift store treasures, and oh yeah she just wrote a book! You really should check her out, I have no doubt she will inspire you too.

marcel the shell is the cutest

Jenny Slate, of SNL and Bored to Death, and Dean Fleischer-Camp have have created possibly the cutest animated short of all time. Seriously, this thing is so sweet,  I've watched it about a zillion times. And if you haven't seen it yet, please watch it here. It will make your day, I promise.

facebook

Two Happy Apples has a Facebook page! It's full of news and updates, and I hope to offer special deals to Facebook friends in the near future. Check it out!

this is. . . inspiration monday

This weeks inspiration comes from Miroslav Sasek. A Czech born illustrator who first studied architechture, and later became known for his "This is. . . " series of books. This series includes such titles as; This is London, This is Paris, This is San Fransisco, and This is the Way to the Moon.

His work embodies is everything I find appealing about 1960's illustration; gouache, angular figures, flattened space. To me, this aesthetic feels simultaneously modern and vintage, like mid-century furniture. A lot of great illustration  came out during this time, actually. And today there are illustrators, like Matte Stephens, whose work pulls heavily from this tradition. So thank you, M. Sasek, for being an inspiration to all of us!

inspiration monday

Sorry, for the serious lack of posting. Blogging is still something I am getting into the habit of doing, so as soon as I get busy it's one of the first things to go. So more blog consistency is high on my list of things to improve!

Anyway, this week's inspiration monday artist is Oliver Jeffers. His books are full of adventure and wonder, and his illustrations are simple and sweet. But, he also has amazing paintings which are very different from his illustration work. My painting is also quite different from my illustration, so I really like seeing an artist who has found success creating various types of art.

inspiration monday

This week's inspiration comes from Austrian illustrator Lisbeth Zwerger. She's illustrated so many classic books; Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Swan Lake, The Little Mermaid, The Nutcracker, Aesop's Fables. The list goes on and on. I actually had a lot of trouble deciding on what images to include because they are all so stunning. 

Her work feels both light and heavy, ethereal and dark. Her work is so still and quiet.  And her color is gorgeous, she is so judicious with red. So today, I raise my cup of tea to the exquisite Lisbeth Zwerger.

what a tiny octopus!

I have never been of the opinion that octopuses are cute per se. Actually, if I ever encountered large octopus, I think I would be pretty frightened. But this photo definitely changed my mind about an octopus's capacity for cuteness.

It also directly supports my long held theory that the smaller something is the cuter it is. Is there something that you think is super cute when it's small?

inspiration monday

from Safety Can Be Fun by Monroe Leaf, 1938.

Today's dose of inspiration comes from, Munro Leaf. He is best known for writing the ode to individualism, Ferdinand the Bull, which was illustrated by Robert Lawson and later animated by Disney. 

But it is his book, Grammar Can Be Fun, that really caught my eye and made me appreciate him as an author/illustator. There is a great post with lots of Grammar Can Be Fun illustrations here.  His enitre Can Be Fun series is a hoot and includes such gems as: Arithmetic Can Be Fun, Safety Can Be Fun, Manners Can Be Fun, and Science Can Be Fun.

I feel really nostalgic when I read his books. They make me think of the youth oriented Coronet Instructional Films that were shown in schools in the 40's and 50's. Some amazing examples of these short films can be seen in the Prelinger Archives.

the dentist

A few weeks ago I went to my dentist to address some tooth sensitivity I was having. I thought I would just need to get a filling fixed, but ended up getting a surprise root canal! I was nervous about it since root canals have an awful reputation, but it actually wasn't too bad. Anyway, since I had the root canal I needed to have a crown put on. And so that's where I've been, at the dentist getting a shiny new tooth!

inspiration monday

©1964, renewed 1992 by Evil Eye, LLC. 

Today's inspiration is Shel Silverstein. He always gets it spot on, his illustrations are just detailed enough to tell the story with out feeling fussy or over done. I grew up with his children's books and a little while ago I discovered some of his more adult material. Which is full of truth, and humor, and heartbreak. It's not just the technical aspects of his work I admire, I am also very inspired by the scope of his creative expression. From music, to theater, to children's books, to playboy he's done it all with cleverness and integrity. And with that, I bow my head to you, Mr. Shel Silverstein.

happy weekend

Today I have been super busy working on  the french project I mentioned yesterday. It's left me ready for the weekend.  Lucky for me, it's shaping up to be a fun one. I am going to a baby shower and bbq. And I will get to see some out-of-town friends. Plus, the weather is suppose to be great. Enjoy the weekend!

little beans

It's been a busy couple of days. I finished these two little beans. The print is now available in my shop. And I am also working on a project for all of the french speakers out there; which I hope will be ready early next week. So far, its been a pretty good week!

wedded bliss

Photography by the amazing Connie Grosch.

Last night Mister and I celebrated our wedding anniversary. So naturally,  I have been thinking a lot about our wedding. 

It was important to us that the day feel truly personal, so we committed to making as many things as possible. I did the designing and Mister and I printed, cut, glued and tied our little hearts out! We had a ton of fun, and a few moments of stress, making everything. I thought I would share a few of the things we made.

First up, our programs. It was crazy hot that summer so we decided to make them into fans. I think our guest were pretty glad for it. Next is the cake topper. We chose to do a mound of cookies, shaped like a cake, since Mister is nuts about chocolate chips cookies. And finally, our favors. There was a honey element in our ceremony so we thought it was a nice tie-in to give our guests honey to take home. It was the most beautiful day of my life, and I am so grateful to everyone who was there to be a part of it!

inspiration monday

There's nothing like starting the week off feeling inspired. So, I thought I would share some of what sparks my creativity. And, who knows, with any luck this might become a regular Monday blog occurrence. 

This Monday will be the music of Elizabeth Mitchell. While she is not a visual artist, I find myself listening to her albums over and over again while I am sketching or painting. I relate to the sweetness and simplicity of her songs. Her voice is so pleasing and light. The above illustration is direct result of listening to her album, You Are My Little Bird. And the print is now available in my etsy shop.

blog love

Image courtesy of barrett all. © Patty Barrett 2010.

two happy apples got some blog love yesterday! You can read the post here.  barrett all is a fun & witty blog written by, my dear friend, Patty Barrett. She is a wonderful writer and hysterical improv comedienne living in Botston. Also, if you are considering having a dance party I strongly recommend inviting her, she is the best dance party dancer ever.

woo hoo!

I had a fretful morning. I had just announced the opening of my shop when I realized my website was down. My host was having some type of server error. Not much I could do about that, so Mister took me to the movies to get my mind off things. We saw Inception. It was twisty, tense fun and I totally recommend it. 

Anyway, once we got home I raced right to the computer to see if the server issue was fixed (it was). And lo and behold, while I was away, I made my first sale! I printed & packaged and skipped the whole way to the post office. I was (and still am) on cloud nine! I have spent so long working to make two happy apples a reality, it is really exciting to watch it come to life.

two happy apples store, yay!

www.twohappyapples.etsy.com

After a full day of cropping, image resizing, typing, typing, and more typing the two happy apples store is up!

two happy apples website, yay!

www.twohappyapples.com

The website is up and running. Check it out!

bookmarks

As a way to say thanks, I have decided to include bookmarks in each two happy apples order. While I was away on vacation, the package containing my bookmarks arrived. It was a pleasant surprise, and I am thrilled with the way they turned out!

i'm back!

 

 

Mister and I got back last night from a very relaxing vacation to aruba. The beach was amazing! The sand was white & soft and the water was so warm and clear. It was the perfect escape from New York City. We took a couple of snorkeling excursions which were really neat. I think my favorite part of the trip was swimming in the ocean. We also spent a lot of time reading on the  beach. My beach read was The Passage by Justin Cronin, which I would definitely recommend. 

My second favorite thing about the trip was our animal encounters. There were funny iguanas all around the grounds of our hotel that made me think of Herzog's Bad Lieutenant. And then we got a real treat, watching baby sea turtles hatch! Which we were so lucky to see, because they rarely hatch during the day and it happened on our last day there. It was an amazing thing to witness. And I can now say without a doubt that newborn baby sea turtles are just about the cutest things ever. All in all, it was a fantastic trip!

mr. postman

I love getting things in the mail. Letters are very nice, but packages are especially exciting.  And yesterday the mailman brought me a really great one, my business cards! Despite being nervous about the printer I was using, I am satisfied with how they turned out. I can't wait to meet someone new and whip these little bitties out. In fact, I was so excited about the possibility of pulling a card out of my bag that i picked up one of these!

the start of it all

 It was just around three years ago that the idea for two happy apples came into my mind. I knew I loved to doodle and make gifts for friends and family, but I didn't know exactly what to do about it. So I went back to school for fine art. By that time I knew that I wanted to be a full-time self-employed artist and felt that studying art would help me refine my skills and hone my vision. Several years, another bachelor's degree, and an intense foray into painting later and here I am ready to launch the business I have dreamed about for so long.

My biggest hurdle, by far, has been self-doubt. wondering if my work is good enough. If I have the discipline to be self-employed. If anyone will buy my art. I have spent long enough worrying that two happy apples might fail. It's time to take a deep breath and do all I can to try and make it succeed. So here I am to share my life, work, and all things two happy apples!