90's Saxophone Breakdown

These are pretty popular in songs today (i.e. lady gaga and katy perry songs come to my head first) and it got me thinking...

I wish I had my own personal saxophone player that would breakout in a solo for me anytime I accomplished some great feat

Empanadas and bowtie pasta

Some simple watercolors I did. I haven't used watercolor in sooo long, but definitely want to experiment some more. It was fun to paint again. I'm getting stuck in this digital and fabric world :O

Baking & Camera Fun

Happy Holidays everyone! Christmas came and went as it always does and now its time for a new year. 2011 was not so bad as my first full year out of college. I was blessed with a job, with a great relationship, with opportunities to learn more about myself and grow, the ability to be near my family and spend more time with them, the ability to spend more time with God, and so much more. I'm truly excited for the next season in my life, and even more excited about all that I'm learning now that is preparing me for that.

Anyhow, this post is supposed to be about baking, not a 2011 'Best of' recap.
My family bought me a camera for Christmas (such a blessing!) and I decided to play around with it while baking some cookies for my neighbors. I only cook about 3 real meals a year so I get really excited when I cook something fabulous. I have to give the whole concept of this blog posting to the blog found here, for if it wasn't for it I wouldn't feel like the cooking connoisseur that I do at the moment (I'm not a connoisseur at all!), and I also wouldn't have been inspired to take photos of the cookies while baking them! So all props to the Lick the Bowl Good blog.

For Christmas I made some snickerdoodle blossoms for my family and my boyfriends family following the recipe above. I was extremely nervous about them at first, eating one after another trying to figure out if I liked them or not, looking into my own eyes in a mirror trying to convince myself each time that they were getting better and better (really though, they remained salty). So i decided to let others be the judge. If i failed i would try again. I would not be defeated ...

Everyone loved them! It was so exciting for me. So my baking confidence has boosted about 30% and I think I will continue to experiment.

Sushi

In the January issue of Northern Virginia Magazine (which is now out on stands -- go check it out/order it!) I did some illustrations of sushi for an article. The style of these are a bit different from what I usually do but i enjoy how they came out. Illustrating food may possibly become a new joy of mine.

Illustration for an article on Ray Deter and Joe Dressner, two men who have passed but made creditable contributions to the beer and wine industries.

Eva Bonita

My brain gears have been grinding recently and I feel that slowly, yet surely, ideas and goals are coming into fruition. I can't deny that its been a difficult and frustrating process, though.

Anyhow, commuting to work can be annoying but its also a great time to brainstorm, reflect, figure some things out for myself, and talk to God. My next goal is to launch my website which I'd like to be broken down into three sections: Illustrations, graphic design, and interior accents. I've been ruminating on my name as a brand. As an illustrator and designer I think its fine and necessary to use my own name, yet as a line of products I don't feel that its marketable.
Above is a photo of my grandma Eva Walker. I never had the chance to meet her but from stories told by my family and conversations with older folks in this small town of mine, I understand that she was a phenomenal woman. She was smart, beautiful, self-enterprising, had her own beauty salon, started her own cosmetics line, modeled, was a community activist, a mother, a wife, a sister, bold, strong, and all-in-all Amazing. I remember sitting with my Grandaddy on his porch one day (Eva's husband) with a friend of his named Buddy and my sister. Buddy asked my Grandaddy, "How'd you get a woman like Eva, Mr. Walker?" I smiled. Grandaddy responded by shaking his head and saying, "I donno...," and we continued our conversation about her.

I suppose my siblings and I feel her spirit in us sometimes. Thinking about her, I get this "I have to make something happen" feeling that moves through my veins and honestly makes my feet wiggle (I think my feet have a life of their own!). I thank God for that feeling and I thank him for blessing me with a Grandma like Eva, a mother like the one I have that encourages all these ideas I have and has pushed me as a creative, a brother and sister that inspire and encourage me as well and are my biggest fans, and a Dad that has fed me wisdom and taught me the importance of it and discipline.

(So, to put an end to this novel that I'm writing) I've decided to name my interior accents line that I am in a continued process of brainstorming and creating, "Eva Bonita: Interior Accents." This line I dedicate to her and will create out of the seeds she had sewn and her thriving spirit imparted in us.




Here are mock ups for the logo. I'm still trying to get an idea of the direction I'd like to take it. I'll try and post more of this process.



I've been wanted to create some nice tags for my Eva Bonita line. In the meantime I made these very quickly. I really enjoy the process of branding a product and thinking of the little things you can do to make something sellable. Once my logo is complete I'll create the Eva Bonita tags for products. I'm currently doing som research, trying to find what sort of materials, designs, look, etc. that I'd like to go for.

Donate cans to food bank!

Donate food cans to your local food bank or give a monetary donation!
Link to my local shelter: http://fauquierfish.com/Food_Bank.html


I was inspired to create this poster after hearing of the food banks dwindling supply of food cans while at church recently. I felt that this was a cause I can easily contribute something to and wanted to involve others. Since work is like a second home and my coworkers are basically family, I've decided to try and begin collecting there. I was (and still am) fearful of the outcome, but who knows of an outcome until something is tried!

Part of a flyer I'm putting together. Will post final version soon...

Nachos

This random image popped into my head at work and made me giggle to myself...

Lessons that I'm Learning and Rediscovering

Remain humble.
Be receptive to new knowledge. Position yourself as a learner. There is always something new to learn, no matter what point you're at, how old you are, etc.
Give and expect nothing.
Listen.
Act out of wisdom and not emotion.
Don't take things personally. Defensiveness impedes growth.
Complacency is the enemy of progress.
Think not of why you can't, but why you must.
Everyone makes mistakes. Even Me.
It is all for His glory -- not our own.
We are limitless.

Fun with Cake!!

It's always fun to decorate your own cake if what's offered to you at the bakery or store isn't what you're looking for. Just need a plain cake and whatever fruits, toppings, icings, etc. you need and go at it!

Illustrated ladybugs collaged

A few posts ago I did an illustration of some ladybugs. I thought about illustrating it digitally but then felt it'd be fun to collage it since I haven't collaged in some time. So, here it is.

I wish I had done the dashed line a little different or a little better than I did. OR, maybe I limited myself by the paper size I chose. Anyhow, the balance is off right now so if I decide to make anything out of this I'll have to fix it up a bit.

Giraffes

I started painting the design of giraffes I had created for some pillows. I'm not sure how different this one is going to turn out, but I'm kind of just doing it to try some different mediums other than digital. I've strayed from what I'm most passionate about -- collaging, painting, illustrating -- and its timed to get back to that!

Poster for Camp Meeting

Poster designed for Camp Meeting at my church, Faith Christian Church and International Outreach Center (long name, take breath! -- But anyway, i love it there!)

I recently began designing event posters for my church. Its a little different than what I'm used to, I guess because of the client and audience that I have to consider. Its a challenge, and sometimes a compromise because my style is so different (and sometimes odd)--BUT I like a challenge! and opportunities to try something new

Cooking show? i donnooooo

Don and I have been trying to come up with some sort of show we can put together simply for fun and to dilly-dabble in something new. We thought about doing a show about veggies for kids and, well, that fell through. But anyway, the other day on Skype he was cooking some hot dogs and acting like a TV chef and I thought that would be a perrrect show for us to try out. Neither of us can really cook very well (i.e. cooking hot dogs on your cooking show), but both agree that its fun and we need to learn. So why not learn how to cook, from him I can learn how to edit, work on some animating, (I can work on my acting skills), and have a good time entertaining....even if we're our own audience! So for now here's the logo but it could definitely change. We figured we should just do something to motivate and get us started on this thing. Not sure how far we'll take this but we shall see!

Pattern for Pillow

Summer

Sheep!

Brewing