functional art

Happy holiday sketchbook

December 24, 2019

Here’s a page from my kitchen sketchbook with my Irish Coffee recipe. Cheers!! And Happy Holidays!! Btw: This recipe and many others are in my newest published artist book titled “Favorites So Far- a kitchen sketchbook” https://www.blurb.ca/b/9759759-favorites-so-far

A Creative Life, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, functional art, handmade books, illustrated recipe, kitchen art, recipe illustration, sketchbook, Sustainable creativity, words and pictures

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Art for the holidays

December 14, 2019

I’ve been busy working on fine art commissions which are someone’s holiday gift. So instead of talking about that – below is access to a “Reading All Year” calendar I made, and fun socks and playing cards, bookmarks, puzzles, drink coasters and such…yes, it’s all design play using my own fine art about reading and…

A Creative Life, animals in art, art commissions, Art Licensing, artistic inspirations, Cats in art, Dogs in Art, drinks in art, fine art, fine art commission, functional art, games in art, published art, reading in art, small things

#coffeeculture, art calendar, cats, dogs, drinks, fun socks, gifts for pet lovers, gifts for readers, puzzles, reading, reading in art
Popup shop success

December 8, 2019

Yesterday was the popup shop day at Vintage Books and I was non-stop busy creating miniature pet portraits from before noon to after 4! It was fun!! Sold other holiday stocking stuffer gifts with my art on them too. My “Reading All Year” calendar was a hit …. if you weren’t able to come yesterday…

A Creative Life, animals in art, artistic inspirations, books, Books In Art, Cats in art, Dogs in Art, fine art, functional art, games in art, reading in art, small things

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playing cards and pleasures

November 26, 2019

For my evening-just-before-bed holiday reading I’m re-reading “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen. Last night I read this: “Mr. Hurst looked at her with astonishment. “Do you prefer reading to cards?” said he; “that is rather singular.” “Miss Eliza Bennet,” said Miss Bingley, “despises cards. She is a great reader and has no pleasure in…

A Creative Life, animals in art, artistic inspirations, books, Books In Art, Dogs in Art, fine art, functional art, games in art, graphic design, illustrated shorts, illustration, product design, publications – publishing, reading in art, small things

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local stocking stuffers for readers

November 7, 2019

I’ve been having a blast playing at being a North Pole elf, designing gifts for my upcoming pop-up shop at Vintage Books https://www.vintage-books.net/ Dec 7th from noon to 4pm! The Pacific Northwest social scene has been inspiring and guiding my thoughts. Here in Vancouver all year long people get together regularly for happy hours, for…

A Creative Life, Art Licensing, art techniques, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, business of art, creative thinking, fine art, functional art, games in art, illustration, magic realism, reading in art

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barrelhouse cover art

November 4, 2019

It’s happening!!! I’ve done the cover art for Barrelhouse Magazine Issue 20 and the magazine issue is now available! You can see the cover here https://www.barrelhousemag.com/ – (and buy your own copy via that link) – of course when I get my printed copy of the literary magazine with my artwork on it I’ll share…

A Creative Life, dog portrait, Dogs in Art, drinks in art, fine art, functional art, illustration, publications – publishing, published art

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the feeling of milkshakes

July 8, 2019

One of my favorite desserts uses fresh fruit from our garden and or the local farmers market. Naturally I meditated on what I feel like when I’m eating one of these milkshakes and described it with my recipe illustration. (clue: a parade…) I used ink and gouache on handmade paper to create the original art-plus-recipe.…

A Creative Life, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, comfort food, drinks in art, fine art, food in art, functional art, illustrated recipe, illustrated shorts, illustration, kitchen art, magic realism, recipe illustration, visual story, visual thinking, Writing And Illustrating

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oh sheet a deadline dragon

February 4, 2019

Dealing well with deadlines is a topic often discussed among my fellow artists and writers. So I wondered “could I make a poem about deadlines, make it funny, illustrate it and create a book format that would accent the concept?” Fun challenge. And here for a free download is what I came up with: Deadline…

A Creative Life, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artist book, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, business of art, creative thinking, drawing as thinking, functional art, illustrated poem, illustrated shorts, poetry, Sustainable creativity, words and pictures, Writing And Illustrating

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candied fabric peppermint flavor

December 19, 2018

In between Holiday fine art commissions I’ve been reading about the writers technique of flash fiction and flash non-fiction. And I’ve realized that this is what I’ve been doing all this time – illustrated flash. Or “illustrated shorts” as I call them. Like the short-short story writers do I take a nugget of a thought…

A Creative Life, Art Licensing, artistic inspirations, food in art, functional art, illustrated shorts, illustration, kitchen art, small things, visual thinking, writing

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libation label list line

December 8, 2018

Around the edges of doing a cat portrait commission and Chef Carosi’s illustrated recipe I’ve done some wine label artwork to be used by Burnt Bridge Cellars for their 2018 Holiday Wine. To meet the winery’s request for art that was “festive but not religious” I used 5 writing techniques along these lines to generate…

A Creative Life, art commissions, art techniques, artistic inspirations, creative thinking, functional art, illustration, kitchen art, poetry, sketchbook, Sustainable creativity, visual thinking, words and pictures, writing

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