by abby on December 20, 2012 | Comment
{This is our bird ornament called Scooter. We have the tendency to name things!}
It’s finally here—the start of the long Christmas weekend! Whoo-ooo! D and I are heading even more north to spend the long holiday weekend with his family. We are both excited to start the festivities and continue on the traditions (like warm homemade sticky buns on Christmas morning—yum.)
Of course, our own home is decorated for both Chanukah and Christmas. We already celebrated Chanukah earlier in the month and our own Christmas will be happening when we get back from traveling. It’s a true Christmukah at our house. As a bit of fun, I thought I’d share a few snap shots from around our house.
As you know I have a soft spot for Garfield, so of course he’s on our tree! Our tree is a great blend of traditional ornaments and fun, playful ones. It’s amazing how your tree shows the personality of its couple or family.
Yep, those are Chanukah cookie cutter ornaments! I wanted to add a touch of the “festival of lights” to our tree, so I came up with the idea to hang my menorah and dreidel cookie cutters. I think it looks great and love the blending the two holidays.
And speaking of blending traditions this picture book:
Daddy Christmas & Hanukkah Mama, is a wonderful story that shows how one family blends and respects both Christmas and Hanukkah celebrations. Does your family blend traditions too? I’d love to hear what you do!
I want to wish you a VERY merry week of celebrating with family and friends. And I hope you are as content as a snowman sitting in a dish of red and green M&Ms!
{Yes, that would OUR candy dish. Isn’t he cute?}
by abby on December 11, 2012 | Comment
Want to send unique handmade holiday cards this year? Or maybe you’d like to gift some artwork to a loved one? Then you should absolutely stop by the AbbyDora Design table at RIT’s Winter Craft Fair this Friday Dec. 14th. Here are the details:
RIT WINTER CRAFT FAIR
(ON CAMPUS IN THE SAU)
FRIDAY DEC. 14TH
10AM-4PM
This craft fair showcases the wares from RIT’s own faculty and alumni. There’s a great variety of work: jewelry, sculpture, glass, cards, and artwork/prints. At my table I’ll be selling cute Christmas cards—both as box sets and individual cards. I’ll also have matted children’s illustration prints and my farm and wild animals on wood panels. I’ll also be selling (and signing!) copies of my Old MacDonald Had A Farm book. Finish up your holiday shopping this week at the RIT Craft Fair!
If you are local and interested in attending, you can find out more information and directions here. I certainly do hope to see you on Friday!
by abby on October 26, 2012 | Comment
We’ve had an amazing couple of days of beautiful Fall weather and mother nature is showing off her artistic side—right out my living room window! That amazing gold color is my Little Leaf Linden Tree. That tree has some color style!
I’m quite fond of this tree and very thankful that he’s still around this Autumn showing off all this glorious yellow. Last June, I stood up to the local government and prevented this tree and another to the left of the house from being cut down, so new curbs could be installed. It felt like me against the world, but I wouldn’t let up! It was an intense couple of days, but thankfully reason prevailed and we still have our 2 Little Leaf Lindens!
Have you ever taken a stand for something you believe in?
by abby on October 12, 2012 | Comment
One of the perks of being a book designer is that you get to read some truly amazing stories. This new book from Hyperion Books is no exception! It’s called Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone and it’s now available in bookstores and on-line.
The book takes place waaaaay back in 1995. I enjoyed hearing words like “Green Day” and “discmans” that I haven’t heard in quite awhile. The book is a romantic fantasy about Anna and Bennett. Anna lives in 1995 Chicago and Bennett lives in 2012 San Francisco. They weren’t ever suppose to meet, but Bennett has this very cool ability to time travel! A small happenstance one morning places them in the same moment in time and a relationship begins, but how will it work? Ha—you’ll have to read to find out!
I was also happy with my interior design of this book too. I used curved lines to visually reference movement and time travel. There’s a lovely romantic elegance to them as well.
Title page design
Chapter Opener design
I’m always interested in hearing about a book design opportunity. I work with all sorts of people looking to publish books: large publishers, not-for-profit organizations, and self-publishing authors. If you have a manuscript you’d like designed into a book, please send me an email. I’d love to hear about your story!
What book have you been reading?
by abby on October 9, 2012 | Comment
Over the weekend was the opening reception for my first Rochester Art Show—the Rochester Invitational Art Show at the High Falls Art Gallery. Can you tell how excited I was? I’m all smiles! I had 2 pieces accepted into the show. And I even had my own display table in the front room! Both pieces were created with gouache and collage that featured mother animals and their babies. They can be seen here and are available as 8″ x 8″ prints in my Etsy Shop.
Mother Hen & Her Chicks
Mother Hog & Her Piglets
The Rochester Invitational Show overall was great fun. While D and I were walking around the room, I kept glancing over at my 2 pieces to see who else was viewing them (I couldn’t help it! I was so curious.) And at one point a mother and her 2 daughters were actively discussing and gesturing to various animals in my paintings. I was drawing in the right clientele! Hooray! Interestingly, most of the other artists in the show were women, too. Rochester has some wonderful talent. I feel lucky to a part of a vibrant arts community.
The show will be up until October 28th at the High Falls Art Gallery: 60 Browns Race, Rochester, NY 14614.
What did you do for fun this weekend?
by abby on October 5, 2012 | Comment
The force is going to be strong tomorrow Saturday October 6th. Why? Well, more than 1,200 bookstores and libraries across the US will participate in the first Star Wars Reads Day! This event will feature a variety of free activities, including raffles, giveaways, and trivia contests. Lucasfilms and its publishing partners are the brain-childs behind this event. The publishers include: Abrams, Chronicle Books, Dark Horse Comics, Del Rey, DK, Klutz, Random House Audio, Scholastic, Titan Magazines, and Workman.
Select locations will include appearances by authors and artists who have created Star Wars books for either the children’s or the adult market – or both. And of course there’s the high probability with over 1,000 volunteers to dress in costume that you’ll be able to meet a few Star Wars characters, too.
If you are in the Rochester area the Barnes & Noble in Greece is going to host Star Wars Reading Day. Details are below. If you want to find out if Star Wars is happening near you there’s a map on the Star Wars Reads Day website.
Barnes and Noble
330 Greece Ridge Center Drive
Rochester, NY 14626
Event Time: Please visit store website for details.
Event Details: Celebrate Star Wars Reads Day and master the art of reading! This event includes games, trivia, giveaways, and a chance to win great Star Wars prizes.
What is quite unique about this event is its appeal to both children AND adults. Many locations will have kid-oriented activities, but I’m sure there will be fun for all ages of Star Wars fans.
Are you going to attend Star War Reads Day?
by abby on October 2, 2012 | Comment
Are you free this coming Sunday afternoon? Yes? Great! Join me for some wine, jazz, and art at the High Falls Gallery! I’m so excited! I’m going to be in my first Rochester art show: The Rochester Art Supply Invitational! Yay!
The Rochester Invitational is sponsored by a great local art supply store and shown in a gallery space in the historic High Falls area of Rochester. The Rochester Invitational will be up for the month of October starting Sunday October 7th and running through October 28th.
The public reception is SUNDAY OCT 7, 2012 3pm-6pm
Center at High Falls
60 Browns Race Rochester, NY 14614
I’ve entered 3 of my animal gouache paintings—including my wild animal portraits. The gallery hasn’t told any of us which pieces have been selected, so you and I will both be surprised to see what is on the wall. I do hope you will come.
OH! And we have a winner for the Halloween Black Cat print! Laura! I’ll be contacting you for all the delivery details.
See you Sunday!
by abby on August 14, 2012 | Comment
With only a few more days still D and I take a beach vacation we are getting a little stir crazy. This was evident last weekend, when inspiration hit me to bake a very fun pie. D loves pie. Let me say this again, D LOVES his pie. So as a thank you for all his help with the Park Ave Festival I baked him a peach pie (with local farm fresh peaches…yum). But being an illustrator I can’t ever just leave the pie top blank! So with this pie I drew a skull with some of the left over dough. Pretty cool, right?! We now call this Skull Pie. Skull Pie is quite delicious, too.
How do you decorate the top of your pie?
by abby on August 7, 2012 | Comment
Honey Bee Thank You Notes
What a weekend! With the help of my little bee friend I’d like to personally say “THANK YOU!” to everyone who stopped by the AbbyDora Design booth at this year’s Park Ave Festival in Rochester New York. Even with a Sunday afternoon thunderstorm the AbbyDora Design had a great weekend!
Park Ave Festival 2012 booth
The AbbyDora Design booth looked fantastic once again. I decided to hang a whole lot more of our prints and panels and I think it made the difference. Plus, I just love that bright green! It truly draws people into the booth. The one word that came to my mind to describe the booth was “Charming”. Yay!
The 2012 Park Ave Fest was the last of our major festivals this year. No worries though, all of our artwork, prints, and cards are available at our on-line store. I hope you have a wonderful end to your summer too. I know I’m looking forward to a little beach relaxation in a couple of weeks!
What are you doing to mark the end of Summer?
by abby on July 31, 2012 | Comment
This past weekend, I sketched my next wild animal print on panel art. This time its a special request for a baby jaguar. I started with an adorable cute cub sitting, but then I had an idea for a more lively jaguar. Ta-da! He’s a spunky fellow isn’t he?! I love the energy of this piece. It’s partly from his eyes, but also the great vibrant light green background. I’m looking forward to painting this little jaguar!
Oh and don’t forget THIS WEEKEND is Rochester New York’s Park Ave Festival. The AbbyDora Design booth will be on Park Ave at the corner of Vassar Street. From 10am-5pm on Sat. and Sun. we’ll be showcasing all sorts of children’s artwork and delightful handmade cards too. Hope to see you there!
