It's a Cakewalk!

This summer I was asked by a friend of mine to design
a logo as she begins her own communications firm.

I was really honored to have her ask me.

Deborah was brilliant to work with and
knew exactly what she wanted.

 I enjoyed researching and creating the artwork. 
Lastly, I am thrilled that she is pleased
with how it all turned out!

 

Here's a collage showing the front of the business card as well as images

of some fabulous items that were made especially for the launch party -

cookies with QR code, beer glasses and cupcakes with the Cakewalk logo! 

 

I was also asked to create artwork to give as favors

to those attending the launch party.

 The idea was to make small pieces of art.

And if anyone had a favorite quote, I illustrated theirs.

 I can't tell you how much fun I had doing this!

I am not the most outgoing person at parties so this

was a super way to spark a conversation with other party-goers.

I created a collage of some of the pieces I made.

I didn't get a good shot of them all, and one or two

I completely forgot to photograph! (too much wine!) 

However, below are most of them:

 

I got a kick out of some of the quotes that people came up with! 

What a terrific experience this has all been.

 

I'll be back posting again soon. This has been a busy summer.

I'll be off this week on vacation and hoping to catch

up on visiting blogs and creating some artwork.

I've been working mostly in my little Moleskine books.

 

Thanks for stopping by and for visiting.

I love getting your comments :)

Thanks for leaving such lovely notes!
Take care, Fran T xo

 

 

Summer Break

 

Its been too long! I've been busy with our house move and all things summer! Thanks to Instagram I'm still staying connected virtually. My artwork has slowed down to a halt. Started the ICAD with a lot of gung-ho but my gung up and went.

I added some more in mid-July but that too went to the wayside.

I guess I'm doing what I need to do and that is my 9to5 job.

 

ICADs from early July:

 

 

This weekend looks ripe for some artwork though. The move is over, the tag sale is done, things are in their place for the most part...

 

 The rest of the summer is just my day job and a week vacation thrown in, towards the end of August.

I am feeling the itch to make art again.

Woohoo! How is your summer going?
Hope all is well!

Fran T

 

Day 5 + 6 More Quotes

My favorite thing to do - illustrate quotes/sayings:)

Here are some more for Days 5 + 6!

 

Day 5 was a quick one but fun to do.

 I made another and put it on my frig.

 

 

This one for Day 6, below, was inspired by a

 very cool photo I saw on instagram.

The photo was taken at place called

the Crystal Palace in California.

I would love to go there one day.

 Heck I'd just love to get

back to California one day:)

 

I changed the woman a little bit.

This would be mostly about "line"

and I tried to create value by using different

 ways to fill the space with pattern and

black and white. I think I'll get to

coloring it but wanted to

challenge myself to b/w.

 

Don't forget my little, tiny

Knock,knock joke contest;)

 

Rememeber, to find out more

click the index card below,

you'll be glad you did:)

 

Take care,

Fran T xo

 

I Got Soul

I've been listening to Pandora endlessly these days. My typical mode of music listening is to download an album and just listen to it to death. I remember when I lived in NYC I spent an entire summer, three months, listening to U2's POP. I'm relentless. So now when I hear any of those POP songs out of the blue, I automatically think of the #2 train, LOL. Pandora is good because it mixes things up but there are repeats here and there, which most people grumble about but its fine by me.

The Killer's lyric, from my Instagram account

I like The Killers alot and I had some lyrics stuck in my head, and oddly enough, as soon as I illustrated it, *poof* it left me little brain! I've done some more micron drawings and the one below got me a commision to do a tattoo design! I've only done one before this..I hope it works out and she actually gets it done!

excuse the poor quality, used my phone:)



 

Last Sunday was my parent's 50th anniversary and we had a terrific dinner out.
My brothers, sister and I gifted them with a cruise this fall.
My mom loves to do origami so I made up some boat favors.
I had so much fun making these and I think they got a big kick out of them.

 



 

I love these two:)

 

Aren't they cute?



 

Have a great weekend! Keep warm! It's cold out there!

AEDM DAY 2

Busy day today, lots of worked backed up since we've gotten back online.

But good thing its Friday :) I like having a one-day work week frankly.



Linocut

 

Watching the news just makes me so thankful that we were spared

from so much that the hurricane brought to others.



It still didn't keep me from getting frustrated with quite of few things today but makes me realize I have to just relax, some things are just not worth the stress and worry.

So I think my art for today speaks for itself.

Typically, I run on the seat of my pants [due to my ADD] but I was thinking of this all day. It didn't turn out exactly as I had planned but I'm happy with how it looks.



 Well the utility company LIPA says that our power will be back up on November 7.



It looks like that will happen as everyones is coming back up slowly. We'll see...thank goodness for my generous parents!





See you tomorrow for another day of AEDM art. Have a great weekend!





ART EVERYDAY MONTH - Day 1

I cannot believe its already been a year since the last AEDM!!
 Its been a rough week for our family with Hurricane Sandy. All I can say is that I am thankful for just having lost power and heat.

There are so many out there with much bigger troubles than I have and my heart goes out to them all.

Quote by Carl Sagan

This is the challenge that really got me blogging more often.

I am so glad to be able to be here and do this.

If you want to participate ( and I recommend you do!) got to this link for instruction. And don't forget to check the other AEDMers:)

Thanks for stopping by

and

love thy neighbor,

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle

Plato

drawing and writing

I've been doing alot of drawing and illustrating quotes and

 

phrases this week.

 

I have posted a few here!

 

Instagram has become a favorite of mine and I have to admit

I'm a bit addicted.

 

I am sure that will pass though, first it was Facebook,  then

 

Twitter, some Flickr, Tumblr, it

 

goes on and on and I am sure there will be something new.

This is how it looked like when I posted on Instagram, there are filters to modify the way it appears.
This is a filter I like and use often.

 Its amazing how things just keep on changing.

 

     

 

 I find that I get excited and exhausted by it all.

I try to keep up but its impossible. LOL!

 

Well I am off to the art store, I have this sudden

design to make a book.

I have the thread for binding, etc. I need paper

 and a few other things to make it happen.

I found a good video

 

on YouTube and will try it out.

 

 

I may or may not post what I create,

 LOL, it depends on how good it comes out.

 

Happy Saturday:)

 

 

Weekend: ICAD and Sunday Sketch

 I was creating quite a bit today in order to catch up on my ICAD challenge, therefore I am also going to use my hydrangea cards below for Sunday sketch :)



White, wonderfully puffy hydrangea that I found on my walk.

I would say most of the index cards I have been doing I haven't been sketching out them out but this one I just had to. Midway through I was ready to tear it up and start something different because of all those teeny petals! LOL But I am glad I didn't and stuck it out.

It's hydrangea madness I tell you! I can't get enough of them. I particularly like this variety.

I have this purple lacecap cutting in a pink vase. I didn't think of it until after that I should have included the vase because it is so pretty. Its simple but a nice shape and pink colored glass. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow before the cutting fades. Hopefully it holds up til tomorrow evening.

I love this quote and when I read it I thought 'How true!' :)

We had a great time this weekend with my brother.

He was so great, took my son to the city on Friday and then today he took him to Old Timer's Day at Yankee Stadium. Wow, they had a great time and it was so much fun hearing all about it when went to pick him up at my parent's house.

 My brother was so happy as he was just hoping to catch a game while he was in NY but it turning out to be Old Time's Day was a happy surprise. Bonus, The Yanks beat the White Sox 8-6 !

Hope everyone has a terrific week and maybe taking some vacation days this week to coincide with the Fourth of July? I wish I had dreamed that up a while back but a colleague beat me to the punch so I'm covering for him this week :/  Oh well...any how another colleague on maternity leave returns tomorrow after being out for 2 months so I will happily turn her accounts back over to her tomorrow!

woo hoo!

ICAD #13 - Namaste

My late night ICAD is here:) Tired tonight, not much to say.

Not that I usually have anything profound to say anyway, LOL

Tomorrow is Thursday - yay!

Good night all!

xo

Portraits #13, 14 and 15 - 29 Faces Challenge

I have three new portraits/postcards for both challenges I am involved in. I tried to add a good bit of detail, however I think I should have started off with color backgrounds rather than just white. I guess I'll try that on the next portrait attempt. So I have here more flower faces:)


Face #13

My son finds these disturbing and promised I would do some more images like the Frida postcard. He liked Frida the best.He thinks the new faces 13-15 are too "weird". The 12 year-old art critic, love that he has an opinion:)

Face#14

I like them all but not for the end result. The process is the most fun for me. I like the final product only because it reminds me of what I did and what I thought about to get to the final piece. Art is a journey to me. I am starting to like more and more the idea of not knowing where it will end up.

Face#15

Now I'm off to bed, we've got an early rise tomorrow and a long ride upstate. Sunday will be a lazy day, woohoo! The Feast on the Beach is in town, maybe my son and I will make our way to the water in the afternoon. St. Boniface Church presents a carnival there every year. Lots of cotton candy, crappy carny food and great rides...Summer is almost upon us! 

Enjoy your weekend! have fun and be safe:)



Portraits 11 and 12 - 29 Faces



I joined this postcard swap at the end of April. The 5 postcards have to be mailed out
by the end of May... so I thought I would
fulfill two commitments ;) by painting portraits on them,
as that will count toward the 29 Face Challenge too!
For Frida here, I recycled a Christmas card, then painted over with
white acrylic, then painted her with gouache on top of that.

Postcard 1 - Frida and her quote.

For Postcard 2, illustrating the Tolstoy quote, I cut the cardboard for this postcard

from a box of ziti, its the perfect thickness! Gouache over white acrylic again, before I painted

the acrylic I glued a page from a book I had bought that was in need of recycling.

I like the stamp at the bottom, its the perfect color. The flowers were

cut from a Vera Bradley card I got in the mail.

Postcard 2 -  Tolstoy Quote.

I have three more to go. The cards are already prepped with acrylic so half the work is done. Now the fun stuff can be done. Tomorrow is Friday and as always I'm sooo happy.

 I think Thursdays make me happier than Friday because of the anticipation..

Have a great day and THANK YOU so much for all the wonderful birthday wishes I received from my bloggie friends!! You're all terrific and I enjoy you my time here with you!

An Illustrated Jodi Hills Quote

Wow look at me, posting two days in a row! I finished this watercolor yesterday. Its based on a Jodi Hills quote. I still don't know too much about the author but I think her quote here is fantastic! My sister posted this on FB and after a few comments, she was asking me to illustrate this. After having read it and painted the idea, I feel like this is really me. I am on my way, don't know where that is, but I'm going! The past month or so I have noticed that I am starting to get , for lack of a better term, an internal compass.  So I know that this is why this quote is so special to me! I am going to stay with this feeling and remain focused and positive. Perhaps something amazing may appear:)

collage feature I just noticed on Picnik...now that was fun to do:)

I hope anyone who reads this is striding happily along their path! Have a wonderful day or night :) Frannie :)