Home on the Saguaro, 17th Place!

Home on the Saguaro, my design for Spoonflower’s “Home on the Range” challenge, took 17th place. When I originally read the prompt for this challenge I was stuck on cowboy hats and horses but when I was ready to work on my entry, I read through the prompt again and the word saguaro jumped out at me. A saguaro is that tall desert cactus with many upward reaching arms. I’ve never seen one in person but from the photos I’ve seen they look absolutely magical, so I decided that the subject of my design would be saguaro cacti and the little critters that live in them. Since this pattern placed top 60th, it was automatically made available for sale as fabric and wallpaper so it can be purchased in my Spoonflower shop. I’ve created some fun coordinates to go with this design, swatches have been ordered and they’ll be available by the 2nd week of May.

I drew the original artwork for this pattern with pen and ink.

Home on the Saguaro is also available on a variety of products in my Redbubble Shop.

Jalapeño Business

I probably shouldn’t play favorites because each beer label illustration I’ve done is special in its own way, but for now I’m just going to go ahead and call this one my favorite. I designed this one a while ago for Dirtbag Ales. When Dirtbag Ales’ Head Brewer/ co-founder, Tito told me about the name of this beer and his ideas for the label last summer, I knew immediately where I wanted to go with the design. My initial sketch was on paper and then I used a combination of Procreate (on my iPad) and Photoshop to illustrate this piece. As the scene started to develop through my drawing process, I became very attached to Mr. Super Serious Jalapeño and his annoyingly cool co-worker, the Pineapple. Even in the initial sketch their personalities were apparent and I added small details in the background to emphasize this. These characters have their differences, during the work day, I image there’s a constant battle of who’s got more flavor, and Mr. Jalapeño probably spend s a lot of time trying to get The Pineapple to focus and stop drumming pencils on the desk they share, but united in a beer, they work really well together. You can find this tasty American Wheat Ale brewed with Jalapeño and Pineapple at the Dirtbag Ales’ Brewery in Hope Mills, N.C. or contact the Brewery to find out if it’s available at any of your local grocery stores.

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This was my initial sketch of the Jalapeño business label.

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Humming Bird Charm

I created the main pattern for my Hummingbird Charm collection in September as an entry to Spoonflower's 500th design challenge, the prompt was Artistic Voice. I like to push myself to try different mediums, but when I think about my style and what my clients hire me to do, it’s this hand drawn look that usually starts with a pen (or a brush pen on my ipad) I’m not sure what to call it, but this is my default style and what I’m best at. When I saw the prompt to the artistic voice competition, I wanted to skip it because it was so wide open and I had way too many ideas floating around, but then I started thinking of hummingbirds. Then I started seeing these seemingly magical little birds buzzing around my garden every time I’d sit outside on my front porch to work. With everything that went on in my life last summer, they were a refreshing reminder to appreciate the small things in life that can easily be overlooked. I decided to do a little research and I was intrigued by the symbolism and history connected to hummingbirds. Hummingbirds also seemed fitting because I am naturally drawn to pollinators and tend to create a lot of pollinator themed art and patterns.

I created this collection with warm sunny days in mind. I included a deep bold yellow and a punchy pink in the main pattern that combined seem to have such a summery feel good vibe. It’s available on fabric and wallpaper in my Spoonflower shop and I can see this hummingbird fabric being sewn into cute little ruffle bottomed one piece bathing suits or possibly sundresses for little girls.

This collection is available for sale in my Spoonflower shop on fabric, wallpaper and an assortment of home decor items.
Click here to shop the collection.

Here’s the original line drawing. I drew it using the procreate app on my iPad.

Produce Illustrations for Freshlist

Fruits and vegetables are at the top of my “favorite things to draw list”. I was very happy when a project in the form of fruits and vegetables came my way back in August when I got an illustration request from a grocery delivery company in Charlotte called Freshlist. One of the founders, Jesse, reached out and asked if I would be interested in illustrating produce for a giant seasonal clock he planned to have painted on the side of the Freshlist building. Of course I was interested! When it was time to start the project, Jesse sent me over a list of over 50 produce items- it was like a long grocery list but instead of delivering groceries I was to deliver persimmons, kumquats, okra, lemons, limes, collard greens and more in the form of vector illustrations. There were a few things I had never heard of like Paw Paw fruit and that took me down the rabbit hole of information, especially when I realized I could potentially find a paw paw tree in the woods near my house. I drew a few of each item on the list by hand using a .01 Pigma Micron pen. Freshlist is a company with a very down to earth organic vibe- they work directly with local farmers and food makers to deliver fresh, local food to their customers, so I wanted my illustrations to have that same feel to them. After everything on the list was drawn and approved I converted the drawings to vector and added color. These illustrations were then turned over to a local Charlotte artist who did an amazing job painting them onto the wall. The finished product is a large, colorful and functional seasonal clock. I love projects like this and it’s a great feeling to know I was able to play a role in contributing to the beautification of a community.
To learn more about Freshlist, visit Freshlist.com

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These Lucky Little Grasshoppers placed 12th

Grasshoppers symbolize luck, progress and positivity. They move by leaping and hopping. They can't leap or hop backward, only forward and sideways. This design was my entry for Spoonflower’s yellow and gray competition. It got a lot of love in voting and was awarded 12th place!

I chose grasshoppers as a subject because what they symbolize really resonated with me, especially after the year I had in 2020. As I journey through the unknown of 2021 I am hopeful that luck, progress and positivity are on my side.

This design is available in my Spoonflower shop on fabric, wallpaper and an assortment of home decor products.

A blue and green version of this design is available in my Redbubble shop on all sorts of fun products.

Hand Drawn Flowers

Flowers are one of my absolute favorite subjects to work with so when I saw that Spoonflower was having a “Hand Drawn Florals” design challenge, I was all over it. I spent a few hours researching wild flowers, specifically ones native to North Carolina, where I live. I kind of got a little lost in the process. I love flowers. Have I said that yet? Anyway, I did an ink drawing of the flowers I decided to work with such as chicory (so much fun to draw), wild roses, rose hips, and thistles to name a few. There were over a thousand entries for this challenge so I didn’t place anywhere in the top 60 this time but that’s ok. There are a lot of talented artists on the Spoonflower platform and competition is tough, but it’s worth it to enter when I can. I see Spoonflower challenges as opportunities to create new designs and collections, it’s always helpful to have a prompt to work with and they’re usually subjects I wouldn’t have thought of on my own. I didn’t create a huge collection from this one, maybe I’ll add a few more designs later but in the meantime there’s a darker color way of the main design, an option without the grid lines and a clover coordinate available in two options. Click here to shop this collection in my Spoonflower shop where it’s available on fabric, wallpaper and an assortment of home decor items.

Click to visit my Spoonflower shop where you can buy any of these designs on fabric or wallpaper.

Metamorphous

I drew this New Year’s Day using the Procreate App on my iPad.

Today is the first day of 2021. It’s New Year’s Day.
When I think about this past year and try to sum it up, the only word I can find is metamorphosis. My life today is so different from what it was on this day last year, it has forever been changed. In the past, I’ve found myself spending New Year’s Day making notes about all the things I’ll do differently. Today I’m just wishing I could have some of the things I lost last year back.

I think we all lost some of our freedom last year as a result of this “pandemic” and that’s been weighing heavily on me. All of the things I used to take for granted. Things I never imagined would be something I’d ever find myself missing. Freedom to travel, freedom to go to the grocery store without covering my face, freedom to send my kids to school. A lot of people welcomed the extra time at home and it was nice for my family at first too, but when 2 weeks turned into the rest of the year and the work slowed to almost a halt for me, it wasn’t nice anymore. I know I’m not the only one, but I just have to vent a little, I’m tired of it. I’ll take the new year, but not the “pandemic”.

As if 2020 was a cruel joke, the pandemic was minor compared to other things the year had for us. We lost my Grandpa in April, followed by our dear friend and neighbor, Ryan (who was only 37) in June to the ocean, the next month my stepdad was taken by the lake. And then as if three wasn’t enough, my younger sister who was only 27 passed away right before Thanksgiving. I spent the last month of 2020 full of anxiety wondering who would be next.

2020 was an absolute nightmare.

However, when the clock struck 12 this morning on January 1st, 2021, I was still standing. In retrospect, I have a lot to be thankful for and while I’m still processing the events of 2020, I’ve learned a lot and my outlook today is so different from what it was on this day last year. As doors closed, other doors opened. Life has changed and will keep changing. Our family grew by three when my nieces and nephew came to live with us. There are 6 kids in my house now and they are all thriving, every day is an adventure. My husband made it through his first year of retirement from the U.S. Army and has a job that he loves. We have the most amazing neighbors, friends, and extended family. My husband also gave me his “woodshop” and we converted it into a studio for me (more to come on that when it’s 100% finished) so I can hopefully get back to making art and being productive regardless of if the kids are at home or not.

2021, I don’t know what’s in store but I think it’s best to just take it a day at a time.

Stitchy Halloween

My most popular design on Spoonflower lately has been Stitchy Halloween which features a black cat. A few weeks ago someone sent me a message and asked if I could create another version of that design with a bunny. I thought it was a great idea and then from that idea I created several more coordinates. Now Stitchy Halloween has 25 designs and I can’t wait to see what everyone makes from these designs. So check it out, share with your friends and be sure to order your fabric soon because Halloween is going to come fast! 

An overview of the collection. Click to see in larger sizes in my Spoonflower shop.

Free Font!

Click to download a free copy of this font.
(for personal use only)

A work in progress shot. Quick and chunky did the trick.

A few years ago I bought a license to Fontself Maker and had grand plans to start making my own fonts. I installed it, opened it and never used it. At least once a week since then I would get the fontself newsletter, feel guilty about having had spent money on something I wasn’t using and think I really needed to set some time aside to make a font. Sometimes I’d get as far as drawing out (a few) letterforms but then I’d abandon task, mostly because I was seriously overthinking it. Even now as I’m typing this I’m thinking “is letterform the right word to describe a letter”. Anyway, today was the day. My son made a huge mess on my desk with chalk pastels and as I was cleaning them up I felt compelled to see what the alphabet would look like if I wrote it with the squared off shape of the pastel. It looked pretty good and it took me less than a minute! I took a picture of my work, drew over it on my iPad (using procreate) and then after converting everything to vector art, I used the adobe illustrator version of fontself to create my font. Fontself Maker was surprisingly easy to use- after I read the directions- something I had previously failed to do. So here’s my font, I named it "Cappy the first” because it’s all caps and it’s my first successful try in Fontself Maker. Go ahead and give it a try (personal use only please). It’s not perfect and I’ve still got a lot to learn, but I did it! I plan to practice in the coming weeks so hopefully I’ll have another fun font to share soon!

If you’d like to make your own font, here’s a link to get 10% off Fontself Maker. The plug-in is available for Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop or both.

Newish design for Birdsong's IPA Series

New year, newish design for Birdsong Brewing Company’s 2019 IPA series. Here’s the first of them with the patterned background that’s been affectionately called the Hopsaic. It’s a bigger and blockier version of the design I did for them last year.

I hope everyone loves this one as much as they loved the last one! To see more of my art on their cans, check out Birdsong’s Instagram.