stuff about artstuff.

Other Projects

An outing a couple months ago launched a few very different non-illustration creative projects I've been having fun with lately.

We wandered around salvage yards

and dug through scrap bins at a leather and hide seller.

The salvage pieces were to become display pieces to feature my friend Joe's hats for a few pop-up shops he would be having at our local Fluevog store.

For these I relearned how to do paper mache

and had a blast collaborating to build the pieces.

I think my favorite was my Medusa head, designed especially for the event that would coincide with a mythic-themed convention.

She looked pretty awesome showing off the snake hat, too.

Digging through the leather scrap bins started a-whole-nuther fun project:

I've been back making earrings again, and having a blast.

I realized that my older jewelry had sort of gotten lost in my main Etsy shop, so I've opened up a second shop: Artstuff Jewelry. I'm hoping that having a place of their own to showcase my earrings will help customers find them and ultimately, give me an excuse to make a lot more - because it's super fun for me.

These projects have gotten a different flavor of creative juices flowing which feels awesome, and there's actually more of these kinds of things on the back burners - can't wait to share the rest of it with you guys. In the meantime, I'm busy working with my awesome licensing partners on a few new collections and will keep you posted about that when I can, too.

Happy Spring to you all and thanks again for visiting!

xoBeth

Be Bold.

"Be Bold for Change" is the theme for this year's International Women's Day.

Just taking a minute to honor all you women out there who have been putting yourselves out there, being bold. Those who have been marching and speaking out, empowering, resisting, PERSISTING . . . thank you.

A while back I posted a little drawing from my sketchbook on Instagram

and after receiving a few requests, I bethloganized that sketch

and now have it for sale now as a print in my Etsy shop.

More than ever we're all looking for a little peace these days, and for those of you who find peace in the meditative process of coloring I've got this: for the next couple weeks you can download this drawing (on me!) to print at home and color.

Just click here or on the picture for the full-size 8-1/2 x 11" jpeg.

A little "thank you" from me for being there, for persisting, being your beautiful selves. You go, girls. Keep being bold.

xoBeth

 

Save

Save

Inkspirations!

You guys, I have been BURSTING to share with you one of the projects I've been obsessively busy with the past couple months! I've been lucky enough to team up with the amazing folks at HCI Books to create a super fun addition to their Inkspirations series of gorgeous adult coloring books (yay!). It's called Inkspirations for the Garden and it's full of my gardeny drawings for you to color.

This is just a sneak peek. The books officially hit stores on June 7, but stay tuned between now and then, though, because I'll be sharing sneak-peeky-ish goodies here, on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest including FREE digital downloads (yes, free pages for you to color!) and a fun little giveaway win free books (yay again!).

I was going to give you a little more of a sneak peek today but Lily had other ideas:

Oh and I forgot, did I say "yay!" yet? Just in case, yay!

Talk to you again soon!

xoBeth

A Little Monday Sketchbook Wisdom:

Flipping back through my sketchbook a bit, I came across this little tidbit from a couple months ago:

Funny how I'd already forgotten this. How many of us do this to ourselves, and even if we realize we do it, forget it just that quickly? Well, I think I already know the answer to that. All of us, at one time or another.

So we'll just call this today's Happy Monday Public Service Announcement. Let's not get in our own way, alright? Have a great day today, and a great week. Here's to moving forward and getting on with our happy lives!

xoBeth

Save

Labor of Love.

This is something that's been in the works since last summer, and I have been absolutely dying to share with you all this time. But then when it was published, I was deep into a heavily introverted hibernation state so I'm fairly late to the party when it comes to sharing it with you, my lovely blog readers (sorry about that).

Lori Siebert is someone I've respected for years: a super talented artist, Art Licensing powerhouse (you totally know her art . . . see?) and all-around cool person with great taste. When she shared her idea for this project: a peek into the lives, studios, homes, and minds of creative people, I knew it would be something really special. I'm more than honored to be included in the first issue.

 I mean look at these other amazing creatives in this issue: Billy Lambrinides, Tom Haney, Sue Zipkin, Joel Nakamura, and Steffanie Lorig. Wow! I'm truly in awe of these super impressive creatives, their spaces, and their work. Seriously this is just about coolest thing ever.

And then, there's me.

I had a blast pulling together the goodies for this piece. Ginormous credit goes to my amazing friend and talented photographer (and designer and art director and singer/songwriter and guitarist - seriously this girl can do it all) Rhonda, who shot a lot of the photos you see there. She showed up on the hottest, stickiest day of the year last August with camera and tripod in tow and we had a blast trying to capture steady shots between the uncontrollable giggles. And sweating. I mentioned it was hot, right? Yeah. It was hot.

So if you like pretty pictures, eye candy, inspiration, studio and home lust, food porn, cool art, and all sorts of other goodies, I think it's time to pour yourself a lovely beverage and curl up all cozy with your computer (or buy it in print here!) and pour through this awesome magazine. And if you're wondering just how late to the party you are as my invited guests, well, ahem (contemplates navel and sheepishly scuffs floor with her toes) you can already indulge in Issue 2 as well.

Enjoy!

xoBeth

How About "Colorful Friday"?

I don't know about you, but every year I get a little bit more annoyed than the year before at the term Black Friday. Maybe it's the fact that this time of year I'm constantly bombarded by overbearing advertisers leading up to this holiday-shopping launch, but I've gotten to the point of cringing, changing the channel, clicking away from the website, deleting the email - anything to avoid hearing or reading it.

Take a peek into my closet, or the rest of my home for that matter, and you'll see I am actually a pretty big fan of black. And I have no problem with Friday, it's a lovely day. But to me, the term conjures images of people trampling each other in store doorways, grabbing and fighting; selfish and unfriendly behavior that has nothing to do with any sort of holiday spirit. I mean, what's fun about that, anyway?

But as someone who depends on folks buying gifts for each other as my livelihood and survival, it's a rather important time of year for my business. The holiday shopping rush keeps my wholesale and retail clients' businesses running, and it's an important time for my own little shop. So what's a girl to do?

How about we start by calling it something different? Something that celebrates the happy feeling of finding the perfect gift for someone you love, of giving something personal and fun, something unique, perhaps handmade? Perhaps, something colorful?

Colorful Friday.

It may not catch on with the general population but hey, who cares - just thinking about it makes me feel happier already.

 

And to make you feel a little happier, how about this:

Use coupon code COLORFULFRIDAY in my Etsy shop from now through Monday and get 10% off your purchase!

There's an awful lot of colorful stuff there.

And black stuff too.

Whatever you like.

Come on over and take a peek, you might just find the perfect thing.

 

And I can guarantee that you won't get trampled, shoved, or catch grouchy dirty looks from strangers while you're shopping.

And don't forget to enjoy yourself this holiday season!

Thanks for visiting!

New Cards...

Are you one of those people who can't wait for fall so you can scoot into that certain discount gourmet grocery (you know the one) for pumpkin everything?  Seriously: pumpkin freaking everything.

Well if you are, or if you're a non-pumpkin type who needs to wear shades in said store during the cooler seasons to protect yourself from the overwhelming glow of orange packaging - there's always this:

 

Just a couple cute new card designs you'll find (with, in case you fall into that second group, an appropriately balanced mix of orange in each design). 

Pick a few up for those fall birthdays and special occasions, or stock up to have them on hand - Trader Joes' cards are such a bargain you can't really afford to pass them up!

Last Chance (Winner Announced!)

As promised I put the names in a hat and drew a winner this morning, and the winner is (drum-roll please) Stacey Larson!  Stacey, please contact me privately at [email protected] or send me a private message on Facebook and I'll get your fabric bundle on its way to you!  Thanks to everyone who entered, I really need to do this more often, don't I?

Is it really here already?  That last holiday weekend of summer?  That last chance for family getaways before school starts, the last chance to wear white (is that even a rule any more? I'm too much of a klutz to wear white so I have no idea) ummm . . . what else? Well, it's my last chance for the little giveaway I'd sort of planned on doing - um, well (shuffles feet, mumbles) around the Fourth of July, and still get away with calling it a summer thing.

So here we go . . . let's have a giveaway, shall we?

You've seen my American Beauty fabric group.  You've heard me talking about it.  It's been around all year already - maybe you've even made something with it (if so I'd love to see pictures and share them in the gallery!).  It's been around long enough already that I just wrapped up final details on designs for a follow-up group.  Wait, what?!  That's a secret!  Sshhh, don't tell anyone yet!  I'll share more about this later, when it's official and details are available - but for now, this one's between me and you, ok?

So anyway, American Beauty has been on my mind again a little bit lately hah, who am I kidding, it's all I've thought about for weeks.  True story: I was out this past weekend seeing friends I haven't seen in months (it happens, not often - but it does). When asked "so what have you been up to lately?" I stood there with a blank look on my face and said, "I've been drawing paisley." Because honestly, that's all I could remember doing, ever.  Just.  Drawing.  Paisley.

Anyway, before I go and give away any more secrets about things no one is supposed to know yet, let's get back to this:

Here are some of my original watercolor and colored-pencil drawings I created last year, next to the actual fabric.

It's fascinating to me how my art translates to screen-printed cotton.

They do a beautiful job, don't they?

Um? Get to it Beth, you mentioned a giveaway?

Oh yeah, that's what I'm doing here.  Something shiny always catches my eye...

So how would you like an extra-bonus fat quarter-bundle of American Beauty?*  "Extra-bonus" because it not only includes all 18 coordinates, but 2 24-inch panels as well.

Oh what fun you could have making stuff with this!

To enter the drawing for this bundle, just leave a comment on this post, and tell me what your favorite thing has been about this summer.  That's it!*

You have until Saturday night to enter, and I'll draw a name on Sunday morning.*

In the meantime, can we just discuss once again how long paisley takes to draw?  Humor me.  As if I hadn't mentioned it before.

Like, a really, really long time.  Really it does.  But I'll admit: I sort of really, really love doing it.  There's something so peaceful and meditative about obsessing over this kind of creative detail. I'm all about that.  Just don't try to make light, friendly, easy (or at all interesting) conversation with me afterward, or you'll be sorry you did.

Ok, I'll stop now - leave a comment, enter the drawing*, and enjoy your holiday weekend everyone!

xo

* for this giveaway I can ship to US addresses only please! Thank you!

Indivisible.

A little sneak peek at part of a project I've been working on for a client the last couple weeks:

As a kid I repeated this every morning at school; as Americans we hear it a lot and know it by heart.  So it's understandable that it just slides into our subconscious where we know the words but maybe don't think very hard about them.

That's something about hand-lettering something over and over again for a project like this: I am sort of forced to think about the words I'm actually forming with those letters.  And the word that's been at the top of the pile in my head this past couple weeks is "indivisible".  Today's a fun holiday.  I don't want to get all preachy or political, those are both things I sort of hate anyway.  I don't think I need to say any more than just that one word, anyway:

Indivisible.

That's sort of the point of this whole thing, isn't it?  The Union that our founders dreamed of, and along with so many others over the last couple centuries, worked hard and fought for.  We're all so vastly different in so many ways, yet we're here together.

Here's wishing you all a perfect day of sunshine, yummy food, fun parades, exciting fireworks, coming together with loved ones and total strangers all celebrating the same thing: Liberty and Justice for All.  Have an awesome day today everyone!

Studio Weekend.

I don't often get to show you my works in progress - but that's because I'm often designing specific things for my licensing partners that can't really be shown until they're ready to launch the product in a retail setting.  So in the normal course of creating, my teeny tiny little studio and most of what comes from it is sort of shrouded in mystery.

But when I'm making stuff just for fun, I can show you everything - so that's what I'm doing here: 

This last weekend I stayed in the studio and played.  No plan, no ideas, no projects or assignments.  Just making stuff.

A couple weekends ago I finally got out the fun New Year's present Artstuff bought me: a shiny new set of water soluble oil paints.

Once upon a time long, long ago, oil paint was my #1 medium: the feel of it, the smell, the soul - it was what I loved the most in the whole world: to paint with oils on a big piece of wood.  But as my art became what I did for a living, more practical "immediate gratification" mediums eventually overtook slow-drying, messy, impractical oil paints.  I was curious when I saw that these water soluble oils existed, and decided to indulge myself, just for fun.  Call it an End of Year Bonus for a Job Well Done.  I thought I'd start small with this experiment and raided my brother-in-law's scrap bin for little pieces of wood.

I fell in love as soon as I opened the first tube: whatever molecular mojo they do to this stuff does not have any adverse affect on the amazing smell of the linseed oil.  A deep breath brought me back to a happy place I hadn't been in decades.

I started swishing it around and scrubbing it into the wood - it all started coming back to me.  I'm in love with these paints!  Wet, sticky, and workable for weeks - but I can clean my brushes (and my hands - and lips, and nose, and eyelids, under my nails, my hair...) with soap and water.  When I think of all the turpentine I must have ingested in my 20s . . . well, that may explain a lot.  Never mind.

The first layers on the first few boards were dry when I got them back out this weekend, and I started playing again.

Remember that scrap of screen I shared about on Facebook last week?  Part of it is now a wing.

I experimented more with some of the vintage and antique ephemera my dear friend Sue shared with my last month when I visited her studio

layering backgrounds

with bits of this and pieces of that.

The lumber stamp on this little piece of Douglas Fir became the inspiration for the tiny painting yet to come.

Others are still inventing themselves from the background up.

When I ran out of small scraps to paint on, or space on my desk (I'm not sure which happened first) I pulled out the Paperclay and played with it for the rest of the day.

Now it's time to set this all aside to dry in anticipation of some future weekend, as the Artstuff Studio returns to its normal, focused, more practical and businesslike self.  Except, of course, for that heavenly smell of oil paint that lingers as the first few layers of these little guys dry.  Aaaaaaahhh.