katie eberts

New Years Resolution---violin practice!

2012-01-01T16:30:00.006-06:00

Happy New Year!! One of my resolutions is to practice my violin more, because this summer the Soo Theatre will be performing Rodger & Hammerstein's Carousel, and I very much would like to be in the pit orchestra! So to help me out and keep me on track, I made this practice chart for January, where I can fill in for each day I practiced. If anyone would like to download it, that's perfectly fine, and I hope your January practicing goes well! I'll be making one for each month until try-outs for orchestra, probably sometime in May, so check back and grab one in February. I know that when I was younger my violin teacher made one of these and turned it into a contest between all of her students to see who could complete it the fastest. We were very competitive, and in the end it was based off of what time on the final day we finished practicing (9am, and I got the prize, YES!).

Portfolio website

2011-12-21T15:58:00.002-06:00

I made some much-needed updates to my portfolio website! There is now a lot more of my recent work up under 'paintings', I merged the music and theatre sections, and completely deleted all the work I did for the Michigan Daily newspaper--not really relevant to what I'm doing currently.

O is for Ostrich!

2011-12-16T18:46:00.004-06:00

Oh poo, last week I was doing so good at posting almost every day... It's so silly, I think I'm not busy, but often lots of my day is taken up by little things that I didn't think would actually take up as many hours as they do. And then I'm not in my studio as much as I should be----I think I feel a New Years Resolution coming into focus.

Newest thing I have done is O is for Ostrich! A commission for a baby named Oliver, who I'm pretty sure, without having met him, is the most adorable baby in the world. Also I've been listening to lots of Anna Ash and the Family Tree, my favorite band in the world (besides Simon and G-funk). Her newest song, Honesty, is so so happy.

Always late for everything

2011-12-10T13:33:00.005-06:00

My friend Lucy and I are collaborating on some Christmas cards! Unfortunately we didn't decide to do this sooner, as everyone already has their cards sent out for this year, but I'm thinking they could be for next year. We're each designing 4, and then putting them altogether in a set of 8 to sell on Etsy. Here are the first two I've come up with!

oh hey Lauren Simkin Berke

2011-12-08T11:12:00.005-06:00

I've been a fan of Lauren Simkin Berke for a long time (and by a long time I mean like 3 years, so...I guess out of my 22 years that's a decent amount of time.). She's an illustrator based in Brooklyn, and she's published all over the place-- New York Times, L.A. Times, the Boston Globe--you get it, she's famous and awesome. She has a ton of amazing work, so obviously everyone must go see it! Her line portraits are just so cool, I can't get over them. AND on her etsy page she sells light switch covers. Shut the front door I love it.

sketchbook paintings

2011-12-07T13:34:00.004-06:00

Here are a couple paintings from my sketchbook that I'm going to frame. I really love how the paint looks on non-watercolor paper... It pools and drips and dries differently, since the paper can't absorb nearly as much.

Cool Ashely Percival, cool.

2011-12-06T20:46:00.006-06:00

I've just discovered (yesterday) the work of Ashley Percival, this amazingly talented guy living over in the UK! His animals have so much character, I feel like they're about to just start chatting with me about tea time or wellies or what awful bloody weather they're having. And the owl with the glasses literally cracks me up. He's got an etsy page (Ashley, not the owl), The Cool Wall, which has exactly 89 gorgeous works of art. Some day maybe he will do an art trade-zies with me. That would be the best ever.

drawings for the pen pals

2011-12-05T20:29:00.004-06:00

My newest post for the pen pals! The theme was 'idioms', and I chose to illustrate mumbo jumbo. And then the girl down below is for the next pen pals theme, 'Reflections'. I haven't posted her yet, but I probably will sometime later this week!

Happy Monday everyone!

I heart you Kat McLeod

2011-11-25T12:06:00.003-06:00

Kat McLeod is one of my favorite artists in the world! She is based in Melbourne, Australia, and has done lots and lots of art for lots and lots of people. And she seems so so nice--there's a great little interview about her here, and you can watch a clip of how she makes her art! I first saw her stuff when I was flipping through a Real Simple magazine, and she had illustrated an article about... clothes? I don't know. She had the most gorgeous pictures of pencil girls with fabric/embroidery/sequined clothes, so it had to be fashion something, right? Anyway, since then I have become obsessed her work AND getting some of mine into Real Simple. Someday. It's going to happen. But yes, I would give almost anything to own one of her pieces!!! Without further ado, here is some of her beautiful art! The Jacky Winter Group has a lot more of her work if you want to see!

more alphabet guys

2011-11-23T15:04:00.004-06:00

I've been working today on these four alphabet pictures, getting ready for the Christmas Bazaar at the high school in Cedarville, which is this Saturday!! So if anyone is around the EUP, please please please come! I'd love to see you, and so would my mom, we got booths right next to eachother!

Pretend that 'e is for eggs' is not cut off at the bottom, and is the same size as the others. My scanner and I are fighting (not winning).

Happy Thanksgiving!

-K

Kay Nielsen is a boss

2011-11-09T08:23:00.004-06:00

I've been looking at the art of Kay Nielsen a lot lately--his detailed illustrations are absolutely wonderful and bizarre. He worked mostly in watercolor with pen & ink, which is clearly one of the reasons why I love his work. Also, I love the way he draws people--very simply, with fantastic clothes. The draping of the ladies' dresses is beautiful. I think my favorite piece is the one with all the ladies walking through the forest (on the way to a dance, obviously).

Humpty Dumpty, only it's a girl.

2011-11-04T13:40:00.002-05:00

Although the poem never specifies if Humpty's a boy or girl, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

I did a before and after thing-- to see if it looks better once I ink it. Aaaaaand it does!

Banging my head against the wall, but it's all good.

2011-10-31T13:38:00.003-05:00

I've been hitting a bit of a wall lately--it's hard being away from school and friends and surrounded by art school creativity 24/7. But it's ok, I love living in the U.P. again, I missed it so much when I was at U of M.

So here's some new stuff-- a rooster for my friend Diane, I wish I would've taken a picture of it after I framed it...Imagine a maroon mat and a dark blue/black frame. I was pretty excited about it. And then the other two drawings are for the blog I'm doing with illustration friends the pen pals. It's a really great blog, please please go look at it! I have some incredibly talented friends! The first one is of Sponge and Spiker from James and the Giant Peach, and the second one is how I make a salad.

2011-10-06T10:17:00.006-05:00

Flamingo tea party, based off of a quote from Alice in Wonderland---

"'Flamingos and mustard both bite', said the duchess, 'and the moral of that is Birds of a feather flock together.'"

Balloons

2011-10-02T11:19:00.001-05:00

Newest doodles out of my studio---fish balloons!

patternzz

2011-09-22T21:46:00.003-05:00

Playing around a little bit with patterns. I'm not sure if these would be cool as fabrics, but I would definitely like to see them printed on journal/address book/folder covers.

Boathouses, birds, and Mother Teresa

2011-09-16T14:53:00.005-05:00

Okey Doke, I've got some stuff! Here are a few boathouses (finally), which are part of a larger project called The Boathouses of Les Cheneaux, a lovely idea that my Aunt Susan came up with. Next year at Boat Show they will hopefully be accompanied by some calligraphy by Kathy in a poster form!

Next up is a little sketcharoo I made for the pen pals of Mother Teresa, the theme being 'Heroes'.

And then, last but not least, a little painting I did for my friends Jon and Brittany who just got married last weekend. I love birds. And weddings.

Things from the beginning of the summer and last week and the week before that.

2011-09-05T21:31:00.004-05:00

I am the worst blogger in the world. Many wonderful things have been happening, and it is such a drag to be scanning things in all the time. But I will get better, promise! My lovely friend Hannah Winkler has a EP out that I did the album art for--her music is so lovely, please go listen!

And then this here is my latest post to the pen pals, the theme being 'fairytales'. I didn't want to redraw an already existing fairytale, because I knew I would be thinking too much about the Disney versions (not thinking about Disney is impossible, as my favorite Pandora radio station is Alan Menken, and this is what I usually work to). So instead we have the Fairy Godmother in Training. Once she finds her princess it's going to be great, and hopefully much mischief will ensue due to her meddling, along with a happy ending.

The words next to her are a magic spell that my older brother made up when we were kids. I'm not sure if he's a fairy godfather yet. I will ask next time I see him.

Ah, ok, last one---some pastries that I made for my friend Kara, who is a pastry chef!

The Pen Pals

2011-08-10T22:48:00.005-05:00

My illustration friends from art school started up a blog where we have a new theme each week that we all draw things for! Please please go look at it, everyone is so talented! I'm so excited to be a part of this wonderful group! The first theme was 'terrariums', so down below is my post.

http://www.tumblr.com/tumblelog/thepenpals

Almost ready for Boat Show, which is a good thing, I guess, since it's coming up in 3 days... I haven't had any time to photoshop my scans, but Aunt Susan---I have boat house watercolors that I hope you will love! Many images to come in a few days, promise!

Icecream hair

2011-07-30T21:38:00.003-05:00

I'm trying to figure out if having icecream hair in this heat would be a) completely awesome, or b) a hot sticky mess.

Currently leaning towards a happy medium of 'completely awesome sticky mess'.

Alphabet Friends!!

2011-07-27T15:12:00.002-05:00

Ohmygosh ohmygosh, just trying to make a lot of art in a little time! Here are some new alphabet friends--I made a 'B is for Banana' as well, but forgot to scan it in before I framed it.

Little Lion isn't part of the alphabet crew, he's just a sketchbook collage. I think I'm saving the L for a non-crabby lion. This one looks like his mom just made him brush his teeth or something.

Making new things!!

2011-07-07T22:45:00.003-05:00

That are really really small!! Will scan 'em in later when I get them all inked and fancy.

New portfolio!!

2011-06-28T16:32:00.005-05:00

I made a new one so I can put more stuff--pleasepleaseplease go see!

Magnificent Peach.

Some new stuff I made today and yesteray:

2011-06-20T09:15:00.003-05:00

Working on some watercolors to sell at the flea market, Pine Cone, Woolderness, and Boat Show. So far I have basically nothing done, so here is the first of (hopefully) an incredibly ridiculous amount of work. I'm doing lots of nature-y stuff because that's what is growing outside of my house at the moment.

2011-06-18T20:17:00.001-05:00

This week's storyhour craft was based off of the book The Paper Princess--all the kids made their own paper princess or prince! I was out of town, so I will not know until I go in next week how magical the royalty turned out!

2011-06-15T17:43:00.000-05:00

2011-06-15T11:36:00.002-05:00

Still moving into my new studio up north (in the basement. Zero windows, but I'm so happy to actually have a space that I don't care!), and so going through a lot of old sketchbooks to come up with some new ideas. The fish are from a sketchbook that I was working in on my Madagascar trip last summer, and the balloon house was my first craft with the kids from Story Hour in the Cedarville public library---we read The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, and the craft was to draw/glue/color what you would make your house out of (in the story, the three little wolves built houses out of brick, cement, metal, and flowers.). The kids used feathers, flowers, sequins, and stickers to create some magical houses.

Sketches from out west

2011-05-26T21:05:00.004-05:00

Hello hello! I've just gotten back from a lovely 3 week camping trip from the Four Corners (Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico). We were hiking in lots of national parks (Arches, Canyonlands, Chaco Canyon, and Mesa Verde). Here are some of my drawings!

2011-04-19T16:42:00.000-05:00

Posters for my books!!!!!

Epoch: coming this Friday!

2011-04-10T08:48:00.003-05:00

I can't believe the show opening is coming up so quickly! My project is being shown in the basement of Work:Ann Arbor, which is on State street, near the intersection of State and Liberty (and next to Ben & Jerry's. Nice.). So much to do this week before the opening--binding books, painting walls, hanging up frames--I am so excited and overwhelmed. Here are a few more images from my books- but do come to the show so you can see the whole thing put together!

2011-03-22T23:50:00.002-05:00

I'm done with my first book! Sort of. I need to design the front and back covers still, but otherwise it's done. Called Float, it's about a boy whose hands swell after picking up a frog.

2011-03-15T12:35:00.002-05:00

Workingworkingworking like a fiend on my books--balloon hands boy is almost complete! I mean, painted. I still have to mark all the illustrations up a bit, and then scan them in, but...you get it. Almost done. And then 3 other books to finish. Holymoley. Anyways, this is the illustration I did for my roommate Lou's senior thesis show poster. The play is called Fat Men in Skirts, and it's a dark comedy. I'm excited to see it!

2011-03-06T22:36:00.000-06:00

2011-03-06T22:33:00.002-06:00

Butterflies up to my eyeballs and I love it! Here are a few postcards from a commission I did this past week.

Books!

2011-02-19T08:03:00.003-06:00

This is my postcard! It comes from a story I wrote about a little girl who is dreaming about her summer garden.

And this illustration comes from another book I'm in the process of writing that's about a boy who is allergic to frogs but picks one up anyway, and then his hands swell like crazy.

IP shtuff

2011-02-18T00:10:00.002-06:00

Not a giant pop up book, but many smaller books. 6? Maybe 5. I keep losing count.

2010-12-13T23:43:00.000-06:00

GIANT POP-UP BOOK.

2010-12-06T20:16:00.005-06:00

I recently discovered two species of butterfly and some fairy mountains growing in my studio. We're neighbors now, I guess.

2010-12-04T23:03:00.003-06:00

No art to post today, unfortunately. I have been chained most of the day to my laptop, desperately trying to pop out a 10 page paper for my Holocaust class (on page 6 currently!!). I need to be working on my mock senior presentation, which I will be giving to my small group in IP on tuesday. I still need to take pictures for that. Shoot. I am a trainwreck. So many things to do, nowhere near enough time. And I have to make Christmas presents still. Geez Louise. I wish that I could just stop time for like....2 days. I think that would be enough time for me to catch up on things. Anyways, here's a happy picture of my house family!!

P.S. I'm going to the Four Corners this May on another Eco-Explorers trip!!! Yay Joe Trumpey!!

The Eight: Reindeer Monologues

2010-12-02T23:43:00.002-06:00

Done! Sort of. In the process of going over knit-picky things with the director (font and text placement). I really like how simple it is. For whatever poster I do next, though, I really want to give it a go in watercolor. For some reason the past few I've done seem...not overly interesting. Maybe because I'm relying too much on flat areas of color. ? .

Dorothy

2010-12-02T00:41:00.003-06:00

Last minute poster--ahhhh!! I think it turned out alright, though. Opening this weekend in the Walgreen--studio one.

Currently in the works is the poster for The Eight: Reindeer Monologues. It's going to be a good one, I'm excited. I'll post it when I get it done tomorrow.

P.S.

2010-11-30T23:53:00.003-06:00

I can't get over how cool these artists are.

http://www.tinaberning.online.de/

http://www.stinapersson.com/

http://jackywinter.com/artists/kat-macleod

Umm Hello

2010-11-30T23:47:00.002-06:00

I forgot that I had this really great folder on my desktop called 'lookats'. Silly silly silly. I love art.

Self Defense poster

2010-11-18T07:31:00.005-06:00

The official Self Defense poster! The director, my friend Emilie, liked the last one but wanted the title to be larger. I struggled with this for a bit because I liked the composition so much. But I got over myself, moved some text around in photoshop, and here she is. Now imagine this diag board size. It's going to be epic.

The image was done with pen/brush and ink on Rives BFK (I think. It was the biggest piece of good paper I had in my printmaking drawer). The shadowy parts were done when the brush was pretty much dry, giving it this great, somewhat uneven texture. Inspirations: Egon Schiele and Ralph Steadman.

2010-11-16T17:12:00.000-06:00

This week's On The Cheap illustration!

2010-11-13T21:04:00.002-06:00

I completely changed my idea for the Self Defense poster, and thank goodness, because the other one looked like butt. The new one here is kind of killer, I've never done work like this before...I mean, something that's not children rainbow throw-up. This is grungy badass...

2010-11-09T15:56:00.003-06:00

For IP I have been thinking a lot about Michigan history--not about people, but about the land and creatures that were here before we were. I realize that I don't know a whole lot about what went on in the prehistoric era, and luckily for me there the Natural History Museum here at U of M that is an awesome resource. What I want to do is take the images of animals, plants, fossils, glaciers, etc., and turn them into these fantastically huge, whimsical illustrations. Persian miniatures are a great influence, as well as children's books. I'm in the process of exploring how to merge all of these ideas together into something that makes at least a little bit of sense. Here's a detail of my first try. It's how Petosky Stones were formed- Michigan used to be covered entirely in water, and there were freshwater reefs. When the glaciers went cruising by, they scraped the coral polyps off of the bedrock, and those fragments are what we know as Petosky stones. Pretty cool, hey? There's a ground sloth in the lower left corner. Apparently they were as big as a VW Beetle. (Beatle?). Insane.

2010-11-06T14:53:00.002-05:00

Beginnings of the Self Defense poster, directed by my roomie Emilie. It's about a prostitute who is on trial for killing seven men. Not at the same time. Anyways. It's a monotype, and I'm planning on putting some watercolor on the dudes to make it look like they have dripping bullet wounds---so excited, it's going to look KILLER. ha. haha. ok, done.

And now I have an etsy page!

2010-10-19T00:28:00.004-05:00

Go here to look at it!! www.keberts.etsy.com! I'm selling felted earrings that I made over the summer in my mom's studio (Woolderness Fiberts Arts Studio--check her stuff out at https://www.cedarville.net/woolderness/). These are so fun to make and wear, and I really hope people like/buy them!

2010-10-12T17:59:00.001-05:00

2010-10-05T16:46:00.003-05:00

I always end up doing the On The Cheap illustrations at the last minute on the art school computers, and I want to make sure I have a saved file for myself somewhere...

2010-09-30T21:54:00.002-05:00

I have spent the couple hours working on my website! Yay! Go look at it! http://happylife.carbonmade.com/

2010-09-29T21:46:00.004-05:00

Olaf Hajek is the bomb.com.

2010-09-28T23:05:00.004-05:00

I have been reading a lot of children's books lately, and I think my favorite so far is The Canterville Ghost, by Oscar Wilde. The story is absolutely wonderful, about an American family that moves into a mansion in England that has been haunted by a ghost for generations. In the past, whenever the ghost was spotted, a death occurred soon afterwards. As soon as the Otis family moved in, however, the ghost was unable to haunt them in the way he was used to, for they refused to be frightened of him. On the contrary, the ghost began to be afraid of them, especially the Otis twins, who would mercilessly play tricks him and interrupt his ghostly duties. It's a wonderful story, if you haven't read it, do! The illustrations are beautiful, done by artist Lisbeth Zwerger, of whom I am now a huge fan. Her compositions are very classic and simple, line drawings and watercolor. She uses a lot of greys, which give the work a certain aged, romantic quality that goes along with the story perfectly. I am going to be on the lookout for more of her illustrations, definitely.

2010-09-21T16:45:00.002-05:00

2010-09-19T09:59:00.000-05:00

Things that need thinking about.

2010-09-01T20:15:00.003-05:00

http://www.myspace.com/snoozer

http://www.artlies.org/article.php?id=1494&issue=54&s=1

Floating Frames/wallpaper??!?/Multiples-patterns?/Dinner party/crowns/

https://www.galleryhanahou.com/blog/

http://www.hyggeandwestshop.com/products/oh-joy-for-hygge--west/

http://iammav.com/

http://www.boygirlparty.com/snoozer/snoozer-laborday.mp3

http://www.ashleymeaders.com/#527044/elephants

http://chrisnatrop.com/index.html

http://joekievitt.com/

http://davidsheltongallery.com/artists/detail/michael_velliquette

Frog Fest 2010

2010-05-06T15:56:00.002-05:00

Here's the Frog Fest logo I designed for this summer! I believe the festivities will be in July, so Aunt Jan, you should totally come up north for it! It'll be real cool, promise. ... :)

This is my last post for the summer, I'll be in Madagascar until June 19th, then at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp until the end of August, being a camp counselor. I'll have some sweet sketches to put up from Madagascar sometime in September! Later Alligator

New projects!!

2010-05-02T17:25:00.002-05:00

Home now for about a week before I head to Madagascar for a month (!!!), and still doing projects for Ann Arbor stuff! Right now I'm working on the poster for Baby Houdini's 'Escape from the woman' tour. The baby I drew/painted is based off of a picture of my cousin Jonathan that I found in a photo album here at home.

album cover sketches

2010-04-30T16:26:00.002-05:00

The Michigan Daily

2010-04-27T20:54:00.002-05:00

P.S. I had an older post about how I was hired by the Michigan Daily to do illustrations once a week for a section called 'On the Cheap'. I usually draw out the image, ink it, then scan and color it in photoshop. Unless I watercolor it first. The newspaper doesn't print in color, so I make the image black and white before I e-mail it to them so I get the contrast I want. Here are a few of the newer images that were published.

Claire Scully

2010-04-27T20:44:00.004-05:00

Is amaing. Just want to say. I discovered her when I was leafing through the book Over and Over, which is all about hand drawn patterns. Her work is gorgeously detailed, I especially love her pen and ink drawings of feathers. Check out her amazing portfolio at http://www.thequietrevolution.co.uk/

Rabbits!

2010-04-26T01:02:00.004-05:00

These are some illustrations that I did for the book 'Rabbit's Costume' written by Lizz Martin, an English major here at U of M. Unfortunately I still have trouble understanding image size/resolution, so the book printed out very pixelated. The illustrations were made using pen and ink on denril, scanning them, and coloring in photoshop. The overall style is very simplistic, which I feel I need to work on a lot more in order to be successful.

2010-04-22T00:42:00.002-05:00

Here's is my version of Max Op. I am so pleased with how it turned out, I learned so much about Egon's drawing style and my own through this exercise.

Egon Schiele

2010-04-06T21:40:00.003-05:00

Egon Schiele makes my life. I'm doing studies of a couple of his paintings in my watercolor class, I'll post them once they are finished. I love his use of color, as well as the way he draws and distorts the figure. The first study is one of Max Oppenheimer, the second has yet to be decided upon.

watercolors

2010-04-06T00:32:00.002-05:00

Hi Aunt Jan.

Here's some watercolors from class that I've been working on and are going to be on display somewhere on campus (the Union??)!

Altar Boyz

2010-03-31T22:57:00.002-05:00

This is the poster for the musical Altar Boyz, which my friend Erik is directing with Basement Arts. He wanted something boy band-ish, kind of N'Sync. So here 'tis. The photos crack me up, I swear... I'm really looking forward to seeing the production.

Man of la Mancha

2010-03-14T09:21:00.003-05:00

The posters for Man of la Mancha are up in Angell Hall! I haven't been in there to see them, but I guess an entire wall is plastered with them. So many people have come up to me and commented on how much they like them. I think that Cory did a really amazing job with the graphic design and the textured background. Everything looks great!

2010-02-27T17:53:00.005-06:00

This doesn't really have anything to do with art, but me and my mom made bagels. Cool, right?

And I've been working on a collage for a large scale watercolor piece for class. I'm really excited about it, I hope it turns out as beautiful as it is in my mind. I found some great pictures from Country Living magazine, they're always my go-to for collages.

2010-02-25T07:35:00.002-06:00

I have been hired to do illustrations for the Michigan Daily this semester! My stuff is published every Wednesday in the insert The Statement. I draw something to go along with On the Cheap, which gives students ideas for doing things on little or no budget. In the past there have been articles about how to go on a date for cheap, how to save the world, guide to transportation, how to get drunk, etc. It's pretty cool, and I still get weirded out every time I see my sketchbook drawings in the newspaper. Check it out: http://www.michigandaily.com/content/junk-drawer-58

Man of la Manch poster

2010-02-16T23:34:00.005-06:00

Last week I popped out a poster for Musket, the student-run theatre society here at U of M, for the production of Man of la Mancha. It was really difficult to come up with something that was recognizable as Don Quixote (for those who were unfamiliar with the play), and still a new idea that would attract the student body. One crazy freak-out night produced this image that everyone involved seems to be alright with.

2010-02-13T08:14:00.002-06:00

Hooray for sketchbook doodles! I'm in the process of designing the album cover for The Spins, my roommate Max's band. The concert is next Friday, so clearly I'm not on top of things. They needed a poster design right quick to flyer campus with last night, so luckily I had some cool doodles hanging out in my sketchbook.

2009-09-26T01:52:00.003-05:00

CFC 3 final beauty/amazement project: Cloud Abstraction

2009-09-26T01:47:00.002-05:00

2009-09-09T22:09:00.003-05:00

Watercolor final from last semester--- paint something and then do 4 abstractions. So fun to do, especially with Sydney at 3 in the morning before critique...

lots of things

2009-09-09T22:04:00.003-05:00

Ohmygosh I have so much stuff to put up here from over the summer!! Stories to follow eventually.

2009-04-01T17:41:00.001-05:00

2009-03-31T16:39:00.002-05:00

This is the first in a three-piece series for my metals class. I'm taking inspiration from nature and color, combining them with my own personal style in 3-D form. It's made from sterling silver with a band of deer hide. The red is an epoxy resin colored with tumeric spice. During critique it was dubbed the 'Hippie Watch'.

2009-03-21T21:05:00.002-05:00

This is the design that I made for Earth Week here on campus, which is coming up this week. Or maybe next week. I'm really excited, it's going to be on t-shirts and flyers all around. Yay!!

2009-03-20T21:57:00.002-05:00

In the process of illustrating a book for a program called WeRead here at U of M. A creative writing major wrote the story I'm working on, which is about two feisty hedgehogs who go on a little adventure... it's really cute, for sure. And it goes right along with my watercolor style, which is so nice!! Here are a few sketches I've done so far.

2009-03-16T21:29:00.003-05:00

I recently sold some watercolors to this super nice lady from Grand Rapids who saw my postcards in Pickle Point over the summer. She ordered invitations from me for a party, the theme being 'All Things Spring', so I went crazy painting flowers. I had such a great time doing them, I might continue on with this project and do some large scale works.

Suicide Prints

2008-12-20T14:39:00.005-06:00

My photography skills are mucho terrible, but here's what my suicide woodcut prints look like. It's an upright bass fish, by the way. The project was to make a hybrid, mixing an animal and an object together. Pretend that the pictures are rotated 90 degrees counter clockwise, I forgot to do that before I uploaded them...

Exquisite Corpses!!

2008-12-12T20:32:00.002-06:00

I finally took pictures of the Exquisite Corpses that were made in my Printmaking class! The pictures do them no justice, they look SO amazing in real life!! I only took pictures of mine, so sorry about that. I might be able to go back and take a picture of all 20 of them in a row. It's insanely impressive.

last one, hopefully

2008-12-03T18:52:00.003-06:00

So here is the last flag, I think. I feel like I've achieved what I wanted to with this project, and the input I've received from everyone was great!

I would write more, but I have a paper for History class to write for tomorrow...

Flags flags flags

2008-12-01T00:06:00.003-06:00

More flags that I've been working on as people give me their input. (I have to talk to 5 people from 5 different continents and get them to critique me= Awesome.)

One World Flag

2008-11-21T17:28:00.003-06:00

They're clocks, to represent the 24 time zones. I thought that time would be a good idea to look into to find a way to design a flag that everyone in the world can unite under, since everyone experiences it.

2008-11-18T21:49:00.004-06:00

I just made a stop animation video in Final Cut Express, and it took FOREVER! (By forever I mean 4 hours...) So here is a still of it, since I don't know how to turn my animation into a quicktime movie yet. What a fiasco, I swear....

printmaking

2008-11-14T23:32:00.002-06:00

One of my editions of the Exquisite Corpse head. I think this might be my most favorite art project ever.

watercolorwatercolorwatercolor

2008-11-12T21:29:00.004-06:00

I've been working like crazy on the watercolor portrait of my sibs, and I finally submitted it yesterday to the All Student Exhibition. I am sort of disappointed with the way Paulie's face turned out, but it's my own fault for not stepping back and taking a good look at the proportions before I watercolored and inked it. We'll see how I do in the show. I really want to get some prize money for it, but I'm not sure how good it is.

Also, I did another watercolor piece for my ADP class, I had to write an observation paper about a tree and document it, and I wanted to do something besides take a picture of the tree (which is what I did for the last paper), so I painted a leaf from the tree, and a banana, and a rose, and then wrote a bunch of little stories that had pretty much nothing to do with trees. I am REALLY happy with how it turned out, I think it was a really fun quick project. And my GSI liked it, I think. He wrote a nice note about it right under the note telling me that I forgot to write an intro paragraph for the paper....

All Student Exhibition

2008-11-02T15:20:00.003-06:00

The All Student Exhibition for my school is coming up on November 14, and I need to submit something!! I've sort of been freaking out about it, because I'm not sure what to do. I mean, I do know what I'm doing. I think. :A watercolor of me and my little sis. And maybe my little brother Sam. I haven't decided if I'm going to put him in or not, I'm waiting to see what it looks like with just me and Annie. Annnnyways, here's what it looks like so far. I'm hoping that it will get better, because if it doesn't I'll submit the 'summer w/o love' cd cover thinger.

Sheep and gift

2008-10-29T21:04:00.003-05:00

I've been working on a design to submit to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, so there it is. Watercolor obviously, because really, what else do I do? The picture completely sucks, though, it looks so much better in real life. The words inside are different breeds of sheep that are raised for their wool. Thanks to Mom for helping me think of more than Border Leicester and Merino.

The other set of pictures I've uploaded are of a t-shirt that I made for the president of Students For Life, Lauren. An assignment in my CFC class was to make a gift for the group we volunteered for that they might not necessarily want/need. Lauren told me (and others) that she would love to have a tshirt that had a picture of a vacuum cleaner that said 'Abortion Sucks' on it, but she wouldn't wear it because it kind of crossed the line (what line, I have no idea). So anyways, I made it for her, and I think it turned out really nice. I've half a thought to make one for myself. I hope she wears it, but I kind of doubt it. We shall see.

SFL debate

2008-10-15T17:34:00.002-05:00

A couple weeks ago I joined Students For Life, a Pro-Life group here on campus. The first day I joined we did this peaceful protest (LIFECHAIN) at the intersection of E. Huron and Washtenaw (by Whole Foods, me and my mom's favorite place to eat in A2). That was pretty cool. Now the group, along with Student Society for Stem Cell Research, is hosting a debate to discuss Proposal 2 (the legalization of stem cell research here in Michigan). Guess who got to design the posters? Guess who had only 2 days to do it? Ka-chah!

Printmaking Project

2008-10-12T14:40:00.003-05:00

Today I was working on my Exquisite Corpse project for my Printmaking class. The Exquisite Corpse project is this cool idea where people draw out different sections of the body, and they all connect together to make one whole body... I didn't explain that very well. Whatever. Anyways, I got the head and shoulders, so this is what I came up with. I just began carving it today, its really kind of hard to get all those little details in. But still fun.

All the kids in my class brought in drawings of whatever section of the body they picked the other day, and we made sure they connected...It looked way cool. I'm really excited for all of them to be printed out and connected together, because we're going to be showing them in the All Student Exhibition in the art school this November!

More stuff that has been hiding...

2008-09-17T20:58:00.002-05:00

2008-09-12T08:00:00.005-05:00

Haven't posted in the longest time due to schoolwork craziness. I don't remember being this freaked out about classes last year, but then I suppose my art teachers weren't such rough graders.

Anyways, I've been working on lots of stuff:

1. Camouflage project for CFC II- camouflaged a TV remote sitting on an antique couch (in critique it was abused because remotes are camouflaged on their own anyway even without my added paint), and an egg in an egg carton (turned out a LOT better, people couldn't even see it at first! But still biffed the critique due to my great lack of communication skills.)

2. Illustrated a book cover for author Jeff Klein, from Ann Arbor.

3. In the process of learning how to create stop motion animations in TMP III class (I am HOPELESS with digital, I swear!)

4. Learning monotype in Printmaking class! I'm so excited about what my artwork outside of school will look like once I get through this class, mixing printmaking with watercolor and collage...!!.. So many possibilities, I'm freaking out.

5. Submitted some interpretations of the North Face logo for this competition thinger. They wanted a more 'urban skate/surf' look, which I might've accomplished?... I don't know.

The Summer w/o Love?

2008-08-05T16:36:00.003-05:00

For the past few weeks I've been working on a soundtrack for this summer, with songs that my friends and I have listened to, sang around the bonfire, or have had as ringtones (ha!). Ellen named this summer 'the summer without love' right at the beginning, and its kind of stuck all the way through. I just added a question mark onto the end of it, because a lot of things (some hilarious, although the people involved didn't really think so...I have NO idea why.:)...) happened this summer that would call to question the lack of love.

Anyways, I just finished the cd cover the other night (which I'm SO excited about!), and now I'm trying to figure out how to fold an 8.5" by 11" sheet of paper into a sweet case (easier said than done, unfortunately). And I'm still iffy about one or two of the songs....Ok, I still have a ton to work on---all before Tuesday, so I can give it to one of my best friends ever, Amy Winberg, before she heads back to college.

Newspaper Ad

2008-08-04T08:08:00.003-05:00

My mom has me make all her ads and shtuff for her business Woolderness, which is a fiber arts studio (and I have her blog linked here, so go look at it!!), and I recently designed one for the Weekly Wave newspaper. Since I am me, obviously it was done at the last minute, with me racing my bike to the studio on my day off to turn it into the newspaper guy who came up from St. Ignace. I missed him (go figure, right?), so we had to fax it in. The guy calls a few days later, saying that the fax was extremely poor quality, and that I should scan and e-mail it to him immediately, because he's on a deadline. I'm at work when he calls, and I ask if he can wait like 5 hours until I get off, but no, he needs it NOW. So my mom comes down and watches the shop for me so I can ride my bike home really quick, scan it, e-mail it, and hope that the guy receives it so I don't have to ride home AGAIN. That's when I realized that I had spit my gum out into the paper that had the design on it. It was quite a fiasco. But totally worth it when I saw my ad in the paper (kicking all the other ads in the pants).

The Barbie Game

2008-08-02T19:54:00.002-05:00

When I was a little kid I always played this one game called The Barbie Game. It's kind of...I don't know...shallow? The object is to become prom queen, but to accomplish that you must:

1. Get a Boyfriend (and go steady)

2. Be the President of a club, and

3. Buy a prom dress

Then you (and every other player) rush to the prom but get hampered by things like bad hair, a ripped hem, losing a turn because you made your date wait too long, whatever. Its kind of lame, but I love it, and so do all my friends (including guys, who, for some reason, take it more seriously than the girls....).

It was because of my guy friends playing that I decided to make playing cards of girlfriends, tuxes, and sports clubs. Admittedly, it was super funny to have Seth dating Poindexter, wearing the 'Let's Party' dress, and being president of the Music Club, but once I got the idea into my head I couldn't get rid of it.

I'm still in the process of painting the last girlfriend card (the first attempt looked eerily like Hilary Clinton...), and I can't remember where I put the tuxes and sports clubs, but once I find them I'll scan and post them. I do have the first 3 girlfriends, though.

A Woman's Perspective

2008-07-05T20:04:00.003-05:00

I'm doing the logo for A Woman's Perspective, this free women's magazine that comes out of St. Ignace (I think). It took me forever to decide what image would be appropriate, because I wanted it to be not old lady and not teenager and not middle age--something just....womanly? Lady-like? I finally decided on shoes, and I'm extremely proud of them.

The Promised Postcards

2008-06-21T07:03:00.003-05:00