11/17/11

Ten Paces and Draw--November mixtape

Ten Paces and Draw featured my art this week for their "November Mixtape"--a bit different from their usual sketch swap; we were given a selection of songs to choose from and illustrate. I chose "Bobby Beale" by the Generationals--check out the song and full post here!
Holler to my man Klimt for providing the inspiration for this dysfuctional relationship piece

9/10/11

Birthday Card

A watercolor I made for my roommate's birthday yesterday---happy birthday Annie!!

9/8/11

Handlettering Commission

This is a commission I did a while back--sorry for the poor image quality! I grabbed a few snapshots before sending the illustration on its way. The work was commissioned by someone who wanted a gift for his sister who was graduating from college. She had a typed list of personal inspirational quotes that she kept on her mirror which he wanted to have hand-lettered and framed. You can see the document in its original form below.

8/29/11

Ten Paces and Draw


It was a lot of fun to contribute to the blog Ten Paces and Draw this week! The theme was "Pet Portraits", and this is my finalized version of Kyle Fewell's cat sketch. You can see them together here and also check out Jen Mussari's version of my sketch here

8/19/11

Thunder Thighs


Cards!




Two cards I recently made--one is a thank you to a friend's parents who let a bunch of us stay at their home in Connecticut last weekend for a rock climbing trip, and the other is a very belated birthday card.

7/18/11

Ganymede




A graphite study of a sculpture in the Walters Art Museum

7/1/11

Sketch Map




An unfinished map illustrating a portion of Lynne Cox's Arctic swim in relation to the expedition of Roald Amundsen. This is meant to accompany an article about the 3 legs of Cox's journey and its historical ties to other water voyages.

6/27/11

Safari Mural Process and Completion!








This is a little late in the posting, but I wanted to share a quick little stop-motion I recorded during the install of the Safari Nursery mural. Everything is a printed vinyl transfer apart from the vines, which were penciled and then painted on with acrylic. The install took all day but moved along swiftly thanks to all the help from my boyfriend Mark Oliver The process was a lot of fun and something I hope to continue in the future for large-format projects. (Music clip is "One Heavy February" by Architecture in Helsinki)

6/9/11

Safari Mural




I've been working on a mural project while I've been home in Michigan for a couple of weeks, and this time around I experimented with a slightly different approach. All of the murals I've done thus far have been abstract compositions painted directly onto the wall using semigloss interior paint. For the safari nursery project, I decided to go a different route and do large vinyl print-outs of ink and photoshop illustrations, with some details being painted directly on the wall (such as the vines) Here is a sampling of the work I sent out for print. (The monkeys were part of the original design but will not be included in the final installation)

5/23/11

Thesis and Graduation








A few snapshots of the thesis show! I had the privilege of showing in the Meyerhoff Gallery right next the the talented Dai Foldes (pictured above with part of his painting/design thesis) The shelf and frames were custom-made by Mark Oliver. I have high-res photos taken by a friend that will be posted as soon as possible. The shows all looked great and I was especially proud to be part of the Illustration senior class of '11. Whitney Sherman is an excellent instructor and I've been honored to graduate with such talented classmates. As for future plans after graduation, I will be working as a Teaching Assistant/Resident Counselor at MICA's Pre College program and then looking for work in Baltimore as I develop my freelance business. Currently I am home in Michigan for a couple weeks and working on a commissioned mural.

Artist Statement from Commencement:

I have always been drawn to the narrative potential of visual art as well as the imagery that exists within the written word. For the past semester I have been navigating this relationship between text and image by using both mediums to explore one over-arching theme. The novella “Fells” is a fictional narrative based off of the environmental disaster in Picher, Oklahoma and the surrounding areas of the Tar Creek Superfund site. It explores the ideas of responsibility, consequence, and man’s relationship with land through the eyes of three boys who witness the rapid decline of the city of Fells. The fragility of human structure, both built and inherited, is revealed in the constant push of the interior to the exterior. The imagery displayed is not meant to accompany the story in a traditional illustrated sense, but is supportive to the narrative and includes characters from the text. In the same way that the imagery was inspired by the text, some of the visual elements of the novella “Fells” existed before the parallel text. This relationship of text and image is something I plan to continue to explore through both my illustration and personal writing in the years to come.

Game Day in Illustrated Maps








For the last day of class we spent the time playing the finished board games and having a short crit at the end. Here are some photos of Sack Lunch! Our class blog is now public, you can check out more photos of game day as well as a thorough collection of maps made over the semester: http://micamaps.blogspot.com/

4/29/11

Sack Lunch game cards!











In Maps class we are doing a collaborative project where we work together to make board games. My group is doing a game called "Sack Lunch" to help teach healthy eating habits. Players collect entree, side dish, drink, and dessert cards that have different point values. The idea is to have the highest rated lunch by the finish. I was responsible for the side dish and drink cards--the entire game will be finished next week so check back for updates!

4/19/11

Thesis Update



These drawings are old, but I realized I hadn't posted them yet--here are two more thesis works, uncolored. Final print sizes will be 13x20 and 14x10.65.

Novella, finished!




I finally finished my novella and ordered it for print today--you can preview it here: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2115637 or see the printed book at the Commencement Show in three weeks. The book is hardcover, 72 pages. Here is the summary printed inside the front flap:



"For Adam and Dan and Isaac, the sinkholes were the beginning. They were the first violent strike by the ground, the most visible sign of aggression that was to build in the following months."


A fictional narrative based of off the environmental disaster in Picher, Oklahoma and the surrounding areas of the Tar Creek Superfund site, "Fells" explores the ideas of responsibility, consequence, and man's relationship with land. The rapid decline of Fells is witnessed by three friends who become the city's vigilantes at night, fueled by their devotion to the condemned high school building they will never graduate from. The fragility of human structure, both built and inherited, is revealed in the constant push of the interior to the exterior. The remaining residents of Fells must cope with this realization and make the choice to abandon the land or become part of it.

4/13/11

Neverland


I did this map a couple months ago but was just recently able to get a decent scan of it. The actual size is about 20"x24", ink and watercolor.

4/1/11

Top Ten UFO Sighting Spots in New Mexico

ufoinfograph
For my maps class we threw darts at a wall to select a state to make an infograph about. I hit New Mexico, wanting to do some sort of chart about Roswell. The result after some hours of research was this graph, which shows the Top Ten UFO Sighting Spots of New Mexico. I learned a lot about UFO sightings and the Roswell Incident in the process--this website especially was amazing: http://www.ufoinfo.com/contents.shtml Unfortunately the colors are showing up a lot more desaturated--that pink should be neon!

3/26/11

New Business Card!



Here is the new design for my business card--the final version will have rounded corners. I placed a rush order so hopefully I will have them by next Friday, the day of the Career Fair!