Monday's Inspiration: Trina Schart Hyman

One of my favorite childhood picture books. Possibly THE favorite.

With a childhood where I learned to read before I learned to remember, there were a lot of memorable and much-loved books. This one, Jane, Wishing, by Tobi Tobias and Trina Schart Hyman stands out as one of the first I actually remember reading at our local library. I read it again and again and again.

It wasn't just the story (and that was just marvelous) that held my attention -and my imagination- but the marriage of pictures and words that happened within those covers more beautifully than in any other book I remember reading in those early years.

Jane wished she had long red hair, thick and waving, down to her waist...

Ms. Hyman's work was my first experience with the idea that an artist could have their own distinct style. Before any other artist, I learned to recognize her work wherever I found it. The varying lines, the gentle curves, the rich details, the expressive faces, the soft colors - all unmistakably hers. 

Rich detail - so much to look at!

To this day, I am deeply inspired by her style of illustration, and some of the things I like best in my own style are inspired by hers. Gentle, expressive faces, soft curves and lines, plants and animals.

My better half says that my own drawing style is distinctive to him - that he could recognize my work wherever he saw it. I like the idea that like Trina Schart Hyman, I have my own visual thumbprint. If I ever manage to make it so beautiful and skilled as hers was, I will be a very happy artist. 

Monday's Inspiration: Vandy Hall

Egyptian Fizzgig (and model) by Vandy Hall

One of the best things about being an artist is that you tend to just naturally develop a circle of creative friends. One of my best friends, Vandy Hall, inspires me every time she turns around. A few weeks ago, she came down to my house for a visit and art retreat. One of the pieces she put together, Egyptian Fizzgig won an award at Orycon.

And I got to watch her process unfold, which was just awesome. It was so good to see someone so talented going through much the same creative process as I do: move some paper around, do a little drawing, stare at it all for a while. add more paper or color, stare some more, wander around and think, add another detail, do some research, think some more... It makes me feel like I'm doing something right too.

In addition to her obvious fine art skills, she knits, she felts, she juggles, she does acrobatics, she does metal casting, and on top of all that, she is a professional glass-blower. Check out her work at her Etsy store!

Dragons, Looking Ahead, Looking Back

Hand-drawn, digitally colored/textured.

Time to start getting ready for this year's Orycon Art Show. It's something I've occasionally done in years past, but never with the sort of momentum I feel going into this year. I didn't do the art show last year, for various reasons. Instead, I attended art panels and classes at the convention and enjoyed myself a great deal.

During one class/sit down and draw gathering, Jeff Sturgeon took a look at what I was working on, which happened to be this piece. He said that it was at least as good as a lot of the illustrations in published children's books, and that I should really consider entering it and other pieces like it in the next art show. !!!

As you can imagine, that was a pretty enormous boost for me. Jeff is a well-respected artist and illustrator and I've admired his work for years. Since then, as I've grown as a designer, I've found that the parts of my job that I like best are those that involve illustration, and I'm becoming more determined to find a way to do more of what I like best.

Hence, art show! SF/F convention art shows are a great place to show personal work. In my case, fantastic little beasties like the dragon above. I wanted to scan him in and play with him before hand-coloring the original drawing and creating a background. The original should be in the show, unless I manage to muck him up. I'm going to be experimenting with some marker effects. I love his curves! And his paws are awesome, definitely among the best "hands" I've ever done.

Sharing Inspiration: Carl Larsson

Carl and Karin Larsson are high among my favorite artists and great personal inspirations. Long before the latest incarnation of the crafty life, they were living it to the fullest. While Carl's gorgeous paintings brought in the income, Karin not only painted, she was also an amazing textile artist and weaver. Some of her textiles were lightyears ahead of their time. In many ways, their entire lifestyle was incredibly modern - at a time when interior design tended towards the heavily ornate and visually cluttered, the Larsson's home was light and uncluttered. It was charmingly decorated with hand-crafted furnishings and marvelous little details, while retaining a visually clean look.

Reading Larsson's books "A Home" and "A Family" reminds me (now) of reading a wonderful art/craft blog, if that's not too irreverent. Carl's favorite subject for painting was his home and family, pursuing all the sweet activities that we crafty types like - picnics, parties, art activities, playing dress-up. Karin made all her own clothes, and she was also a fashion rebel: one of the pioneers of aesthetic dress. In all the pictures Carl painted of her, she always wears simple, beautiful, flowing dresses, and this at a time when women were expected to be heavily corseted and follow the trends towards ornate clothing.

The Larssons are often credited with being the creators of the Swedish style. I think that all you really have to do to "get that" is to look through a book or two of Larsson's paintings and then visit IKEA.

WonderSunday

It's been a long time since I've been to Crafty Wonderland. That really needs to change. Today's visit was thoroughly enjoyable. Lots of amazingly cute stuff and talented people. Alison and I met there, walked around, enjoyed the sights. I found a great print!


It was difficult to choose too, let me tell you. In the end, I couldn't resist the sweet neighborhood in a bottle. The colors are so pretty and soft, and the theme so whimsical! This next one was the runner-up. I loved the colors and the execution of the jellyfish. In my opinion, it's very difficult to do jellyfish justice, since their appearance depends so much on light and translucence, and I think the artist succeeded completely:


One of the things I love about Crafty Wonderland is that you get to meet the artists, chat with them for a minute, get a sense of the person to whom you're giving your money and support. As I did this morning, I'd like you to meet Adrienne of Arcane Arts!


As I've said before (and will say over and over again), it's so good to be able to support a fellow local artist. In this economy, we've got to stick together and help each other.

Acorn Cottage

I am tremendously blessed with some very talented, generous, wonderful friends, who have guided and inspired my journey as an artist in many ways. One of the niftiest things about having my own blog now is that I get to share them with you. One of them is Alison Fine of Fine Artisanry.

We're talking serious Renaissance woman here. Alison does some of the most beautiful work you can imagine and in more areas than I can count this early in the morning. In addition to her wonderful cloisinee enameling, she does amazing metalwork, awesome stitchery, adorable whimsies, delicious cooking...I could go on and on and on. She and I barter back and forth rather often - she has some of my very best lampworked beads, I have a pair of her mistletoe earrings (my current favorites!), a pair of kitty earrings, and my SO has a spiffy Russian shirt that she custom sewed for us. She teaches enameling classes in her home studio, Acorn Cottage, so if you want to learn how to make the loveliest enameled jewelry of your own, I wholeheartedly recommend her as a teacher. She might even make you some lemon-poppyseed cakes in her little acorn cakepan and she'll definitely let you pet the sweetest akita dog in the world, Smokey.