fake coffee, fake furniture, fake stuffed boar's head

This weather has been insane.  I love it... but I'm not being as productive as I plan to be. Oh well, it'll be too hot soon and when it comes 'round I'll have plenty of work to catch up on indoors. Last night I joined friends for dinner on the patio at Fric and Frac. Before I was able to even sit down Mr. Nick Walker, whom I wrote about in the "Fat Bat" post, says to me, " I have a few issues I would like to discuss about Fat Bat." He proceeds to tell me that mocha chai does not exist and that it will "not fly" with the general public.  My friend Amy, a previous Starbuck's employee in her youth, endorsed Nick's argument. She decided to delve into detail about how mocha coffees are made, this process is not applicable to chai .... the two just do not mix. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated the senseless blabbing. However, I was simply using the term "mocha chai" because the syllables worked and because this was after all, just a satirical sketch that I quickly created to inspire this pesky perfectionist that now challenged me from across the table. Also, in my past experiences with Starbuck's, they have been willing to accommodate almost any request I make. For instance, I request pumpkin spice flavoring in June and voila, I get a pumpkin spice latte (typically reserved for winter months). Amy and Nick rarely go to Starbuck's by the way, perhaps they should find another crusade.With the new project I am working on I am considering rudimentary furniture designs, the modern classics. It's been mucho, mucho fun and I have a feeling I'll be having a desire to share lots of the preliminary sketches. Such as this one, highlighting the Eames Herman Miller chair. We have a brown leather one, although I prefer the white one that I portray here. Maybe I need to go furniture shopping. Retail therapy..and research for art projects, love it.

Game On!

Oi vey! What a weekend. Uno mas deadline complete. This one was the most demanding and yet most fulfilling one to date.  I love that... working feverishly and at the end being insanely satisfied with the final product. All weekend I thought, "I cannot wait until Monday! I am gonna be so flippin' lazy!" So, last night I waltzed out of the office, heading for my couch.  Instead I got wild urges to go to the gym and later, to bust out my laptop and begin work on the next project. Fortunately someone close to me reminds me often that in order to not get burnt out I need to take a pause in between. So, I retired to bed quite early for me ( 9:30, what ninny?!) and slept in this morning. So, self, I hope you enjoyed your little vacation because tonight it's "game on"! 

One of the fifty-thousand sketches that was produced over the weekend.  Quite amusing to me...listening to myself describe these deadlines, then seeing the cute, snuggley doodles that are produced.  Doesn't make it seem so dramatic now does it? Thanks mermaid lady.

Sketchbook, I'm gonna wine and dine you tonight!

So, I got over my little pouting session about the upcoming rainy weekend.  I'm all heavy in the middle of a new presentation at work and I love, love, love what I'm getting to work on! However, it's illustration city 'round these parts right now. Not complaining... not one bit.  But all of my illustration energy has been turned over to this current project and in since we're preproduction, I unfortunately can't really share it with the world yet. Me and my doodles are gonna spend a nice romantic weekend together... nailing down the finishing touches for the big presentation dia. Next weekend I'll play outside and spend some quality time with you... making pictures for you, treating you right. It's a date. On a sillier note- John, a friend of mine at work, just told me that early this morning his daughter (the girl in the moustache and pink shirt in my earlier post)  got to meet David Cook, the KC guy from American Idol. He's taking the photo that she sent him of her and David and turning it into a faux Teen Magazine cover. So, now she's officially the coolest girl at her school and she has the sweetest dad ever! Awe, that's so flippin' cute! 

Okay, for real rain, go away!

So, a couple close friends are whining ( now I'm gonna receive phone calls saying 'Oh, whining, huh? ) that I'm not including enough of my personal artwork on this blog. I'm just a trophy "art" girlfriend to you all aren't I? The work's so pretty until she talks. So much for my opinions and interests. I'm just gonna smile and nod... and post artwork to win affection. Ha ha. Alright, pity party's over... go home. I'll do my best to keep your appetite satisfied but I am a busy girl so there may just be a few days thrown in, in which you'll just have to enjoy my personality...without pretty pictures. And, much like the images below, you'll have to settle for sketch book scribbles some days. I am working on my next show though. Slowly but surely... so stay tuned and I'll give you sneak peaks. 

This one expressed my sentiments exactly. I've been really enjoying my lovely days...getting to play outside and now those damn weathermen are gonna screw up my weekend dreams. Oh well, just an excuse to stay inside and create. I'm trying to be a "glass is half full" type of girl these days.

One man's junk...is another man's reason to play hooky from work

Boo hoo! Everyone loves to complain about their jobs and I admit that I too have been guilty of this humdrum pastime.  But in reality I dig my j-o-b. I get to illustrate, paint, design, and down as many diet 7-ups a day as I want. So, not too bad. Another bonus of being a creative professional is a splendid little thing called "research days." Days where I get paid to go out and shop. We creatives have to stay trendy, y'know. On Friday, together, as a big happy design family our studio got all dolled up in our best boho chic attire and headed to Sparks, Kansas for the biannual Sparks/White Cloud Flea Market. Shopping is an art... that business wears me out, but we did find some pretty fun stuff. An additional bonus, we got to mingle with the locals. Whoo-eee! 

             photo by Robert Baker

All kinds of stuff...some even in the exact same color.

 There was one tent that had the coolest, old graphic-y stuff. We could have spent hours and a fortune in there.

 This one below is my favorite purchase,  a 4ft scroll from an old teaching aid easel. One section of the scroll was a diagram of the presidents of the U.S., the last being Woodrow Wilson, only showing the date of his inauguration, 1913. Wowzer... older than my Grandma!

Downfalls to the day: 1. We lost Amy for a short stint, but fortunately I watch a lot of Without A Trace, so I believe that if it had come down to it my skills would have been found beneficial to her recovery. 2. Lorenza was disappointed that her cheese dog at lunch was made with nacho cheese. We wish they had had a suggestion box on the side of the trailer that it was served out of. We would have suggested a few episodes of Top Chef. Get creative hot dog man! 3. More Johnny-on-the-spots. Damn you Johnny-on-the-spots! Damn you!

What' chu Chalkin' About, Willis?

Ahhh, finally winter may indeed be coming to an end. Of course, I do live in the midwest so it's tough to make that call for sure. I'll keep my mittens out until June, just in case. Don't get me wrong I love me some snow, fuzzy sweaters, and soup but I am getting damn stir crazy in my loft! Last weekend my two friends Brian and Wolfgang ( the directors/creators of Mosaic Brain, a non-profit organization whose mission is to serve underserved youth through artistic exploration and expression)  invited me to participate in the first annual Chalk Walk. It was a cool festival like gathering, you know with music, concessions, johnny-on-the-spots ( which I could dedicate an entire post to because I freakin' hate them), and a bunch of really fun local artists creating beautiful chalk murals all over a park in the Northeast part of KC. Artists involved in the event ranged from tattoo artists to advertising designers and  prominent local  fine artists.  I was completely honored to be invited and loved the excuse to kick it outside all afternoon. 

My friend E-Long ( below on the left) who did a monster 16 foot square, was right next to me. He's got an awesome graffiti-like style which I love. Fortunately he was stocked up with a pretty fancy selection of chalk which he was gracious enough to share.

Below are some pics of my work in progress. I had more people around keeping me company but I look a little lonely in that first one. I guess I could have recruited help but who am I kidding... I'm a little too unorganized to coach people through my vision. For my self-esteem's sake we'll just substitute the word "unorganized" with "improv".... yeah, that's the ticket.