by abby on May 16, 2013 | Comment
I’ve been wanting to share this with you for a few months now. My brother is getting married! And it’s FINALLY happening this weekend. Eeeee!
Last fall, he and his fiance asked me to design their wedding invitation set (no pressure, right?!) Well, in case you don’t know how the design process works, but the more information you know about who you are designing for the EASIER it is to create a solution. Thankfully, I have 20+ years of knowing my brother and he has found a partner with a similar love of life and love of laughter!
Let’s just say my brother and his fiance are light-hearted and very fun people. I wanted to express this playfulness (must run in the family, right?) in the wedding invitation set. I used a combination of handwritten script and print display type to bring a little romance and a little touch of youthfulness too. They also wanted to have Magnolias on the card. I chose to added them to the corners to frame the type.
The couple also admired my holiday cards where I have a group of words within a silhouette (like the Dove or mitten card). They wanted this same approach on the back side of their invitation and champagne toast invite. The couple created the word list and I had a lot of fun, placing all the words together. It’s like a big puzzle!
Overall, I am very happy with the final printed invitation set and more to the point, my brother and his fiance, are thrilled with the end result. Hooray! They have graciously also said that I can use this design as a new wedding stationery template in my Etsy Shoppe. I will certainly announce when this wedding invitation set will be ready for purchase.
I was so very honored to be able to contribute to my brother’s and fiance’s special day. Now after all the work is done, I’m SO ready to enjoy the weekend and DANCE!
What are your weekend plans?
by abby on May 13, 2013 | Comment
Wow, time is flying—but it’s finally Children’s Book Week! Hooray! I remember writing about this in cold wintery March and thinking May was a long ways away, but wow did it arrive fast.
In case you have forgotten, Children’s Book Week a nationwide celebration of reading and books that has been happening since 1919. To celebrate, libraries, book shops, and towns have special events planned ALLLL this week. You can find the listing of events by state here.
On the CBW website, they have a few great activities for kids and parents too. One of my favorites are the Story Starters. A handful of children’s authors have started a story and then invite a child to finish it. The Story Starters come as printable PDFs and some like Mo Williams are designed as a comic book where the child can draw and write the conclusion of the story. Cool, right?!
Be sure to share the joy of reading with a child or teen this week!
OH AND….
{Make a Wish digital watercolor print, Size 6″ x 6″}
My Make A Wish print is now available in my Etsy Shoppe!
by abby on May 9, 2013 | Comment
Yesterday I went to say hello & good-bye & ROCK ON to a few of my former RIT illustration students. They are graduating in 2 weeks and going out into the reaaaaal world. I spoke with these students at the annual Illustration department’s Portfolio Walk-Through where all the seniors display their illustration portfolios to the public for the first time. It’s a joyous evening filled with lots of talk of the future, but you can feel the trepidation underneath the smiles and thank yous.
I was glad that I could offer a few more words of advice to these students. They all needed one last nudge that “Yes, you can find your way”. I’ve realized in my 10 years from graduating college that everyone’s path is truly different and you cannot repeat it exactly from one person to the next. You must forge your own path, but it helps (a lot!) to know that you have supporters cheering you on your journey.
I also found this above quote on Pinterest and it truly hit home. There was an opportunity for me to take a full time design job recently. It was a job with great creative potential and steady income, but it also involved a 2.5 hour daily commute which would mean a drastic lifestyle change. It also would mean that I would have to place AbbyDora Design on the back burner. A small quiet voice kept saying to me, “Not yet. Not yet. You aren’t finished with this big adventure of AbbyDora Design”. Maybe it was my heart speaking out or perhaps it was my courage—a tiny, soft voice being very brave and speaking up. In the end, I followed this advice and I’ve decided to keep AbbyDora Design full steam ahead!
My choice has lit a fire in my drive and I’m pushing myself even harder to reach out to new clients and keep on painting and painting. Like my students, I am optimistic that my passion, my courage, and hard work will create additional and amazing opportunities for me. All I have to do is be brave and be myself.
Have you been brave lately?
by abby on May 6, 2013 | Comment
Has it been a very busy start to May for you too? Last week was so busy with books and art that I didn’t even get a chance to blog about what I was doing! Thankfully, I’m working at a much more sane pace this week and I can share with you what I’ve been creating.
I’m in my full painting mode to create lots of new artwork for the TWO ROCHESTER SUMMER ART FESTIVALS. I’ll be in one in early August and one in early September. I’ll be sharing more information on these upcoming events next month once I know booth locations and schedules.
August and September may seem a long ways away, but I’m a one woman show, so it takes lots of energy and organization to prepare and create for two weekend art festivals. Currently, I’m in the most fun part of my preparation—the creation of new paintings and new playful paper goods!
After the fantastic response I got from the Star Gazing illustration of a mother and daughter rabbit looking up into the night sky. I thought I’d create a sweet scene where a father and son can have their own night sky moment. Ta-da!
I’m very happy the final painting. I especially adore the little astronaut teddy bear the little boy rabbit is holding. Say it with me, “Awwwww…”
This painting will be available in my Etsy Shoppe soon as a high-quality digital watercolor print. The image size is 6″x 6″ centered on an 8″ x 8″ sheet of watercolor paper. If you can’t wait, you can pre-order the Make A Wish print by sending me an email. Otherwise, I will let you all know when new prints are in my Shoppe.
Did you ever star gaze with a parent or grandparent?
by abby on April 25, 2013 | Comment
Hooray for Friday and hooray for Spring sunshine here in upstate New York! It’s been a busy week getting back into the swing of book design and painting. My plan today is to have a great day at my drawing table working on the Birthday Parade illustration I’ve started. Cute, right? I’m working a little larger than I have recently to see if I can create great brush marks and washes in the painting. I’m letting the creativity flow!
Oh and I thought I’d give you a little peak into my sketchbook too. I usually keep my sketchbook close to my heart. Sketchbooks are visual journals for me. I write and draw in mine. Some of my sketch pages are for my eyes only and others can be shared with the world. Here are a couple that I do want to share:
{Animal characters—some of which ended up in the new painting on working on}
{“My Wishes” concept sketches. More to come on this project!}
This weekend, I’m celebrating Spring weather by watching some baseball with D (gooooo Mets!) and maybe even grilling out on our porch! Whoo-ooo!
What are you up to this weekend?
by abby on April 22, 2013 | Comment
I’ve been away visiting my parents for an extended weekend. It was a lovely retreat from my day to day hussle of running my own business. I got to lounge on comfy couches reading books and I even fell asleep in the sunshine on the living room carpet (I know I’m like a cat!) .
{Yellow tulips on the kitchen table}
As you can see my mom also enjoys splashes of color in her home too. All over the house there are touches of spring yellow and bright blue. Blue and yellow is one of my favorite color combinations and I think I now see where I get it!
{Bowls of fruit under the kitchen window}
I love this wreath!
{The front door}
I found typography too in the house…
Perhaps having a daughter who loves letters inspired some decorating?
Thanks to my little “time-out” I feel refreshed and ready to get back to book design and painting this week. I hope you too are feeling good and have a great week!
What Spring colors are in your house?
by abby on April 15, 2013 | Comment
Thank you for all your help with the Minted Competition. I’m still waiting to hear the results. In the meantime I’ve entered into another card competition! This one is called the UN Show It celebrates design on all sorts of uncoated paper. It’s sponsored by HOW MAGAZINE and NEENAH PAPER.
The UnShow web site is now open for public voting for the top 25 entries in each category. These entries will be submitted to a selected jury of design judges. Two winners in each category will receive $500 in cash and have their image published in HOW Magazine. Pretty darn cool, right?!
I need your help and vote again to make my dreams come true and be a winner! I’ve entered 2 of my new baby cards into the invitation/cards category. Here they are:
{New Baby Chevron card set}
{New Baby Bumble Bee card}
Voting couldn’t be easier this time around.
TO VOTE
1. Click here to be brought to the voting page for my cards.
2. You will see my 2 card entries. Click on each voting button underneath each card.
3. Smile! You are done and have helped me tremendously. Thank you.
Please pass this on to family and friends to spread the word.
Voting ends at midnight on April 19th!
by abby on April 12, 2013 | Comment
In between book design and introducing myself to new publishers across the country I was able to find time to sit down and draw this week. It was an afternoon of explosive creativity! I was able to compose 3 new ideas for 3 new watercolor illustrations. I think that’s the most I’ve ever done in one sitting. I love that now my drawing table is actually covered in new drawings. Yay!
My head is already bubbling with new ideas for even more paintings. I seem to hibernate a little in winter, but I’m so excited to be feeling the flow all this creative energy again. I’m pushing myself to have several new painting and prints for Rochester’s summer art festivals.
Hope you have a great weekend!
by abby on April 9, 2013 | Comment
{print from the wheatfield}
After several weeks of “Second Winter” Rochester is now enjoying Spring-like weather. Yay! What does that mean exactly? Well, the cynical side of me says, “That means it’s now gray and rainy out.” But I’m really not complaining, since it’s not snow! Honest!
{quote from the The Swell Life }
Are you too are having a rainy day? To bring a little color to this Tuesday, I thought I’d share with you a couple great Pinerest Art Quotes I found this morning talking about the brighter side of April rain.
Smile, color is on its way!
by abby on April 4, 2013 | Comment
GIFT ALERT! With Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and graduations coming up in the next few months I thought I’d share with you a REALLY NEAT book. It’s a book about books (huge grin). It’s called MY IDEAL BOOKSHELF and in it more than 100 leading cultural figures (artists, designers, chefs, writers, musicians—you get the idea) share the books that have resonated with them. Some of the titles on their bookshelves have been from childhood and other are recent finds.
Each interview is paired with an illustration by Jane Mount of the colorful book spines and even personal objects found amongst the books. I found it amazing that many of us can names specific titles that we still can recall how the story shaped our thinking and made a mark in our hearts.
Once you open this book you cannot help but pose the same question to yourself. What would be on YOUR ideal bookshelf? Well, I thought it would be fun if I shared my own bookshelf illustration that answers the question. My shelf is a mixture of children’s books and “adult” books. I also tend to have several fun “nick-nacks” hanging out with my books.
Of course your shelf can change too. This is a snap shot of my bookshelf for today, but perhaps tomorrow it would be a little different. For instance, I might add in The Mists of Avalon when I’m channeling my inner goddess or I may rotate in The Omnivore Dilemma since it has truly affected how I think about food and cooking.
My IDEAL BOOKSHELF would even be a fun book for a book club meeting. In fact, at the back of the book Jane has supplied a template for you to add in your own titles. How much fun would it be to see the drawings of a group’s bookshelves!
MY IDEAL BOOKSHELF can be described as a love letter to books and would be a winner of a gift for any book lover.
So, what would be on your bookshelf? Post comments—I’d love to hear what people think!
