I’m taking this weekend off, but of course when are artists ever on vacation, right?  I find myself constantly milling over ideas and designs in my head, feeling like my body is constantly behind my thoughts because I can’t keep up and fulfill all my zany ideas.  Sometimes my husband does a little whimper to get my attention because he knows my mind is just somewhere else!  I’ve found it easy to fill up a sketchbook full of to do’s, but quickly realized how much harder it is to really focus and follow through to the end.  Sometimes you have a great project that pulls you in unexpectedly, but it can all fizzle out just as quickly.

My thoughts this week circle around the topic of focus.  Everyone says I’ve got to get serious, focus and find that one thing I’m supposed to do and then go do it at full force.  Hmm…I’m not sure I know how to focus properly because I have a bit of ADD and jump from project to project – idea to idea.  Every artist has a signature style, right?  Perhaps I can’t focus because I don’t know what to focus on?  I also don’t want to pay attention to only one thing so much that I’m missing out on the big picture.  What techniques do you use to help yourself focus?  Or is it really necessary to focus on one thing or can I just go all out and say it’s simply my way to be all over the board?

Focus…maybe I just need a new pair of glasses…

Posted on January 22, 2010 at 9:27 am | thoughts + discussion | 14 comments

Hi folks!  Hope you are having a lovely week…I’m getting ready to take some time off, but have scheduled some cool stuff to pre-post.  Today, let me share a quick peek at my acrylic experimentations.  Lots of layering to start with for my background…I’m letting myself go loose and crazy!  Will commence with more mixed media embellishments next week.  Happy Thursday!

Posted on January 21, 2010 at 5:25 pm | acrylic painting, work in progress | 4 comments

As the days draw nearer to Valentine’s day, I have been thinking a lot regarding love themed designs.  I started sketching out some ideas and first came up with a bunch of medical themed, sort of geeky sentiments for greeting cards!  I decided to whip up some printable valentines for my Etsy shop and just added the listing for the medical themed valentine card set. Funny sentiments like “gimme a shot of love” all having to do with something medical…gosh, I’m nerdy, huh?!  Working on some other themes as well but I thought today would be a good opportunity to offer a freebie card in the same theme.

I present you with  ”my heart beats for you” – I know, another geeky sentiment…hehe.  Hope you like it, just click on the image below to download the large PNG file.  Enjoy!

Posted on January 20, 2010 at 9:09 am | free goodies | 8 comments

Here’s my latest graphic art print design titled, Chase Your Dreams, because I believe it is important to take action when pursuing your dreams – whatever they may be.  It is important to hope and dream, but ultimately you have to work hard and get yourself into doing what you need to do.  I remind myself to take action and chase after creativity all the time, letting myself go with my impulses to fully explore an idea, especially when that rush of excitement is bubbling up.  Whether it ends with a lovely result or not, it’s a learning experience and I can be sure that I’ve put my best foot forward.  This is another one of those notes to myself and I hope in sharing with you, it can be a good reminder to help push you along on your journey in life.

Chase Your Dreams, Graphic Art Print

I also added a lot of digital stamps to my Etsy shop this week and working on some mixed media paintings and color explorations.  Hopefully I can show some progress later this week, although I’m running around trying to find my metallic pens that seem to have run away!  :(

This weekend I have a scheduled hospital visit, might be offline for a while, but don’t worry, I’ll be fine and back soon!  In preparation, I’ve decided to work a bit ahead of time and keep up with my blog schedule by programming in some future posts.  I don’t want to interrupt my current flow, especially since I’m on a roll in creating this week…I really think I can do it and it feels great to be productive.  So stick around for posts as normal!  Thank you for stopping by as always…ciao ciao!

Posted on January 19, 2010 at 9:50 am | store | 6 comments

This lovely Monday morning, I am looking through the work of illustrator and graphic designer, Lara Brehm.  I have to say wow, wow and wow again because I love her work in illustration and pattern making immensely!  Lara’s blog provides a lot of visual inspiration for any artist or crafter, just for sheer beauty of her color palettes and cute whimsical illustrations.  I love how her look is so clean, yet full of vibrance and color at the same time.  She is another artist I look up to and aspire to be…hehe…hope I’m not sounding too geeky and starry eyed at this point.

via Lara’s blog

I also really enjoy seeing her mockups for various products and the variety of which she creates with her designs, really showing how versatile illustration work can be.  From patterns to scrapbooking pages to printables and tactile products…all the things I would like to work on realizing myself as an artist.

via Lara’s blog

Not to mention her work is always joyful to me, something that really picks me up no matter how crummy a day might be.  How can you not smile at these uber cute illustrations?  I hope they can brighten you day as well.  It’s nice to know there is so much positivity and goodness in the world.

via Lara’s blog

Posted on January 18, 2010 at 9:47 am | inspiration | 6 comments