The Tremendous Emma Amos

Today I took the subway to Chelsea to catch the show of my longtime friend, Emma Amos, at the Flomenhaft Gallery.

I've known Emma for over 20 years, and I worked as her assistant for a couple of those. She has been such an immense figure in my life, that sometimes I forget that she's not just a strong and thoughtful mentor, she's this magnificent painter. Her work is vibrant, full of patterns and brushstrokes, history, movement and depth. As I stood in the gallery today, and looked around at her paintings, I was struck. It is so beautiful to see what another person's mind and hands can create.

Emma Amos, "Memory" (2012)

Developing My Style

I've been looking at birds again for an upcoming submission deadline. Although I am becoming more comfortable with just grabbing my pencil or brush or scissors, and making what I feel I see, I am having some difficulty deciding which style I'd like to develop for this submission. I will keep you posted as to which direction I go...

Elephants and Birds on Spoonflower

A couple of weeks ago, I created my own designer account on Spoonflower.com. I know very little about textiles, but I thought this would be a great way to start thinking about prints and patterns. After uploading some of my sketches and cutouts, I was required to buy small samples of my collection, so I can check color and the overall layout.

I received my samples yesterday, and I am extremely pleased with the printing results. The colors are very accurate and the images are much crisper than I'd expected. I think I will change some of the patterns a bit and start adding some background colors, but it's pretty exciting to see my designs printed so beautifully on cotton. Nice work, Spoonflower!

If you have any input on how to make a better pattern, sizes, background color, please feel free to comment. 

Final Sale in the Big Bridge Studios Etsy Shop

Through Friday, February 22, 2013, I will be selling all of my Etsy shop's onesies and t-shirts for 50% off. To get the discount, you need to enter coupon code HALFOFF at checkout. After Friday, I plan to donate the remaining apparel to charity. Perhaps an Early Head Start program? Any other suggestions?

Edward Lear's Crafty Cat

Today's cutout worked really well, as I had both a sleeping model to reference (Tyco) and an enthusiastic assistant/participant (Archer).

I think this book page might need a background of some sort and possibly a more aggressive expression on the cat, but this is done for now. Comments and suggestions are always welcome!

Alphabet Cutouts and Edward Lear

Cricket magazine covers might be at the very root of why illustration has always been so important to me, and I love that I get to read Babybug to my son several times a week (or every day). While I tend to stare at the pictures, my son focuses on the words and rhythm of each poem, and he especially favors the nonsensical alphabet poems by Edward Lear. Today I cut out my own idea to the letter 'A' in Lear's alphabet. I believe this little ant needs a house, but its a start.

Little Ochre Airplane

I'm working on a children's book project, and I've been focusing on a short little poem about airplanes. Because its aimed at a very young audience, I feel I really should make these colors happier and brighter, yet I love the ochre, and I keep coming back to this. I might try a simple cut out tomorrow. I'll post it if I do.