Sketchbook scans plus fun things to draw with

Just cuttin' loose in my moleskin lately. I've been loving this little portable water color set (Koi Pocket Field Sketch Box). The paint acts similar to gouache, I think because its kind of cheap and gritty, and goes down really opaque. I'm also loving the Zebra brush pen for getting nice brush like thicks and thins with the black line work. I like to go back in with gel pens, color pencils, and pastel pencils for detail. The over saturated reds and pinks come from this crazy hot pink Acryla Gouache. Illustrator Veronica Fish gives it a shout out on a Super Color blog post.

Wedding Shower Invite

I sort of forgot about this little invite I did this summer for a friends wedding shower. I think I felt it was a bit intimate, but I omitted some of the info to compensate. We wanted to make sure the guests shopped with Amanda's style in mind, which leaned on the side of vintage. We even slipped in a little piece of vintage lace into each envelope :) It was a lovely shower, and we hung the unmentionables on clothes lines around the room so we could admire it all. If you need ideas for shopping lingerie for cheap, you can do what I did, and splurge on the underwear and pair them with a sheer, loose-fitting top from a thriftier place (Forever 21/ H&M/ Target). I threw in some of my other drawings below. See the invite for her wedding here.

Advent 2012

Yikes. It's been months since we've posted anything on the blog, but not because we've been slacking off. This summer we put most of our time into renovating parts of our house that needed work. The biggest project was remodeling a bathroom that we took down to the studs, and then slowly, with the help of a friend, put back together weekend by weekend in our spare time. Here's a quick before and after and then I'll get to the art.

So before we knew it, the summer went by (such a fun summer!) and now the advent season is approaching! I feel so privileged to be working on the Jacob's Well advent artwork for I think the 5th year now. We started participating in Advent Conspiracy as a church in 2007. This year we are working towards building a highschool for the Pokot people in Kenya. See more about Jacob's Wells relationship with Pokot here.

This advent we are focusing on God's reign of peace.

Wedding Invitation: Ingrid and Brian

It really is a fun challenge work with a couple to create a wedding invitation that captures the mood of their anticipated big day. Brian and Ingrid wanted hand done, natural, and pretty for their July wedding in Cleveland. The velum envelopes allow the illustration to peek through. They are hand addressed by KC artist Dillion Kinnison and topped with a Jessica Hische "Love" stamp. Congratulations Ingrid and Brian!

Redraw Designer Deck: Playing Cards for Harvesters

Nate and I created these card designs for a fun project called Redraw. We are excited to be a part of this. There are some amazing artists involved. Check out the Facebook page to see more of the card designs and stay tuned on how to get ahold of one of these decks!

"ReDraw is an effort by artists and illustrators from around Kansas and Missouri to recreate the iconic images of playing cards in a fresh way. Each artist was assigned one or more cards and asked to re-illustrate them in their own style. All proceeds will be donated to the Kansas and Missouri based Harvesters Community Food Network.

Letterpress invites: Amanda and Jeremy

Little 4"x 5.5" wedding invites for dear friends. Printed by Skylab Letterpress. This is gonna be a fun wedding!

Cristo Vive!

Our friends Janie and Kenzo hosted us in Cuzco, Peru this March and we had an amazing time. We kicked of the trip painting a mural at the Fundacion Cristo Vive’s newly opened "hidden house" for abuse victims and their kids. Janie captured the two day project and posted on her and Kenzo's blog, Peruzco, about their life in Peru volunteering with the Doctors for Global Heath. Thanks so much for everything guys!

 All photos copyright of Life Writing Photography. More photos from Peru coming soon!

Overdue!

We are long overdue for some posts, and no longer have the excuse of the Holidays. We have some projects we'll be posting really soon. For now, I thought I would post some figure drawings from a recent session and talk about my rekindled flame for classic drawing and painting.
I recently read "The Swan Thieves" by Elizabeth Kostova, a fiction novel centered around oil painting.  It was filled with detailed descriptions of portraits and landscapes of real and fictional paintings from past (Impressionist Era) and present. After I read it I got all starry eyed over painting again, and rushed to the Nelson Atkins to look at the master paintings. I feel the urge for painting En Plein Air again, which probably also has to do with my recent move at work into an area I'm calling "the cave." As I'm feeling very fickle these days, I don't know if I can promise you'll be seeing any oil paintings on the blog, but who knows. I've been collecting paintings on my "Painting" Pinterest board, and I'm feeling very inspired. The paintings look like an escape! The monthly figure drawing session, surprisingly, is a new event at work . The top four are 2 minutes poses. The bottom is a crop of a longer pose, maybe 10 min.

 

Hallmark: Recordable Books - The Very First Christmas

Hallmark has created these ingenious recordable books, including The Very First Christmas, illustration by yours truely. It's out right now in Gold Crown stores for Christmas 2010. Here are a few spreads (pre-production) from the inside. Get one before they're gone!

 

Tip Top Gallery is live!

The launch of Tip Top Gallery is finally here! The man behind Tip Top, Mark Morton, wanted to bridge the gap between the people who wanted affordable art and the artists that wanted to sell it in his community here in Kansas City. He put together this awesome site that allows you to buy a limited edition archival prints of the artwork of your liking. I feel really fortunate to be a part of this endevor, check out my page!

The CDs are in!

Song's from Jacob's Well Volume III: Songs for the Advent Conspiracy is here! The sec­ond offer­ing of music flow­ing from the musi­cal wor­ship­ing com­mu­nity of Jacob’s Well Church in Kansas City. 100% of the pro­ceeds from this album will go to our Advent Con­spir­acy Fund, which is help­ing to bring fresh water, med­ical and edu­ca­tional aid to West­ern Kenya and a peo­ple called the Pokot. You can listen to the tracks and purchase the CD here. Follow along with Mike Crawford and the Secret Siblings at their blog.

Pikaland

We're featured on the Pikaland illustration blog today! Hurray! Thanks, Amy :)

Screen Print Part 1

2 color screen print.

New Paintings

The show was a sucess! It was fun, hungout with friends, enjoyed the beautiful weather. Here are a few more of my paintings from the show.  Email me to inquire about the work. Pictures to come!

Jacobs Well CD Volume lll Teaser

Well, it's offical! The next CD package for Jacob's Well is finished but all you get for now is this teaser. Let's just say the journey continues beyond the kingdom to an adventure that brings water to those who need.

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did to the least of these, you did to Me..."

In the mean time, if you never got to check out the first one you still can! “Songs from Jacob’s Well” by Mike Crawford and his Secret Siblings is available on iTunes. You can still purchase the worship two-disc CD [with original artwork] for $15 online or at Jacob's Well (by appointment only). You don't want to have a incomplete set do you?!

Sneak Peak

The Draw What U Dig show is coming up in a few days! Here's a sneak peak of my work...

Draw What You Dig

In a group show this first Friday Sept, 3rd. Check the flyer for details. I will post the work after the show....Hope to see you there!

Aimee to please

An invite for Nate's cousin Aimee and fiancee Don, getting married in a wine vineyard in Michigan this summer. Congrats! It unfolds from the middle, the willow branches wrap around to the back.

Hallmark: Kids Encouragement

Hallmark has just put the Kids Collection! There was a big hole in our card lines for the ages of about 8 - 18 and now it's all there. Parents can now find cards specifically for their pre-teens and teens, to encourage them with school work, friends, sports, and more. There are also a ton of great small gifts you can buy and pair with the cards, like journals, water bottles, key chains, jewelry, mobiles, stickers and tons more. The 3 cards and 3 water bottles above are my illustration. YAY! You can find this stuff at any Gold Crown store.

How inviting: New Orleans!

This March Nate and I get to go to New Orleans to a wedding! Fun. I designed the invites, hand lettering every piece of this thing. It was fun to design for someone willing to stray off the traditional path. We're really looking forward to the celebration!