Dug Up in the Basement...

So, while cleaning up some things in the basement, I found: 1) my master's thesis and 2) the illustrations for The Famous and The Anonymous. So much excitement. I'm in the process of listing them in my art shop. Here is a sampling of what I uncovered, but keep checkin' the shop....there will be more:

Illustration for "Movie Star" (2004) pen and ink, from The Famous & The Anonymous

Illustration for "A Sandless, Shapely Hourglass" (2004)
from The Famous& The Anonymous

Illustration for Pushcart-prize nominated story, "Essential Wreckage" (2004)
featured in The Famous & The Anonymous

Illustration for "In the Big House"(2004), featured in The Famous & The Anonymous

Illustration for "S&M: The Call That Started It All" (2004), featured in The Famous & The Anonymous

Check the shop for more!

Oh, I've been a busy girl...

Now in my Etsy store are three new ink and watercolor illustrations....

"Jelly Beans!", 2012, ink and watercolor on Strathmore 400 series paper

"Roxy", 2012, ink and watercolor on strathmore 400 series watercolor paper

"Ralph, the Diva", 2012, ink on cardstock

Calla Lily Box...in progress

Coming out of the studio next...a box covered in Calla
Lilies. Here's today's progress....



to be continued...



From the studio this week....the finished Poppy Box



The "Poppy Box" was finished this week and is now in my Etsy Shop!



This is the first of a painted furniture series. More to come....

"Poppy Box" (acrylic on wood, with glitter and metallic acrylics, non-yellowing varnish).

And the RedBubble T-Shirt arrives....

"Magical Jasper" on newly arrived RedBubble T-Shirt

    So, I'm excited about the quality of the T-Shirt bearing my drawing "Magical Jasper". The print is crisp, fairly detailed, and the decal is heavy, if slightly tacky to the touch. I don't know if sticky is good or bad. I won't wash it before I wear it, though, because I've found my "Earnestly Hemming  Away" T-shirt by artist Landis Smith (it's a caricature of Papa Hemmingway sewing the hem of something frilly) is earnestly flaking away with each wash. That I'm not very happy about, and I fear what will happen to the T-shirt above after three or four washings. Michael's hybrid Mystery Machine/Star Wars mechanized thingy seems to be doing fine after an equal number of washings as my Hemmingway T-Shirt, so hopefully the flaking action is just an anomoly. We shall see.
     The "Poppybox" noted in my previous blog post will be done and ready for photographs by tomorrow. I finished the flowers, added purple glitter acrylic to the night sky, red glitter acrylic to the interior, re-attached the lefthand door, and applied a seal coat (no, not a fuzzy one; a varnish coat to 'seal' the design). Today's task, after I finish my daily quota of book reviews for my column, is to steel wool the sealing coat and then top coat it. And then, my friends, she will be ready for a photoshoot.
    What's next, you ask? So many things. I feel a table mermaid coming on, for one. I'll explain more later....

In the Studio Today: Poppy Box

This year for my part of my brother-in-law Glenn's Christmas gift, I painted a shelf with bees and poppies (since he, Michael, and I are beekeepers). I made it a manly dark blue, and it eventually became a night scene with stars and a moon (although I know that bees stick around their hive at night). Anyway, I liked the effect of the red against the indigo so much that I began working on another piece for the Etsy store. Eh, voila! "Poppy Box" (Now, the box does have two doors; I just have one off temporarily. Also, it's not done just yet--this is a progress picture...the center of each flower needs to completed).


Front, "Poppy Box" (in progress, without one door)




Back, "Poppy Box" (in progress)



The Big Bad Wolf

Angry lad, this one. He's for sale on T-Shirts and Hoodies in my RedBubble store. The original drawing is available in my Etsy art store.



Savannah Schroll Guz, "The Big Bad Wolf" (2012)
ball point pen on cardstock



Something awesome near York Central Market....

 

Sunrise Soap Company near York Central Market.
On the left: the kitchen, where soap is made
On the right: the shop owner, pouring soap into a mold.
Visit the Sunrise Soap website!

  Over Christmas, when Michael and I were visiting my parents, we went to York Central Market. Back in the 1980s--when I was in grade school and there was a local economic boom--York Central Market and its adjacent Cherry Lane stores were the place to be, especially on Saturdays. And now they are again, with some wonderful stores opening up in the area in and around the 19th century-constructed market itself. We happened upon Sunrise Soap, which has a beautiful facade, enhanced by outdoor art--even a gorgeous painting in the transom over the door. Inside, not only was there soap (see the owner's awesome soap-making kitchen above!), there were also handmade items like lampwork glass bead earrings; wind chimes made of silver utensils; and original paintings that looked every bit like the work of Thomas Eakins. I'm so excited that Cherry Lane is making a comeback and that creative entrepreneurs are helping to make York a pretty fantastic place again. Visit the York Central Market website here and see all the amazing stores inside!


The beautiful York Central Market



On Red Bubble, my Drawings on T-Shirts and hoodies....

This morning, I opened a store on RedBubble, a site that caters to artists who seek to sell their work on T-Shirts, hoodies, and as stickers and iPhone covers. I know their T-shirts are very high quality, since I just bought T-shirts by two other artists for Michael and myself. The printed decal of each drawing is high resolution and substantially thick, so it will not fade with washings. Additionally, the T-Shirt is of equally excellent quality. Farbic tags, offering details about Red Bubble's mission and the artist, come clipped to the shirt tag by a tiny wooden clothes pin. How ingenious is that?  

As I continue to complete drawings (which will happen more quickly as I complete Christmas gifts here) my store offerings will continue to grow. The image originals are available in my Etsy art store.

I'm walkin' here! I'm walkin' here!

No apologies either. It ends up being a highly philosophical take on life, no?