7.08.2009

A Sad Bronwyn

Current State of my Thumb


I smashed my thumb the other day at work, (and of course it is the one on my dominant hand) so I now have a sprained thumb. I've been getting along fine so far, although I do have to awkwardly turn the ignition and shift in my car with my left hand, and I have to hold my fork like a small child, but other than that things are alright. I can still draw okay, but things like knitting are right out.

I DO however have some exciting projects coming up (most of which I can just tell you about and not show), and I just finished a project (which I may be able to show), so stay tuned for some more updates soon, I swear!

5.19.2009

Vintage/Heirloom Quilt Tops!!

IMG_6578

I thought I'd fill my large gap in posting (oops) by sharing this absolutely amazing quilt and quilt tops all made by (I believe) my great-great aunt. The above picture is of a completely finished quilt, queen-bed sized, in a pattern called double wedding band. This sucker is heavy and toasty warm, with pretty intense hand quilting.

Next up: Dresden plates, hand appliqued quilt top, queen size:
IMG_6560

Twins! More double wedding bands, queen size:
IMG_6564
Oh and these suckers are HAND PIECED (ie not machine sewn!). Insane!!!

One of them has an interesting note written on it:
IMG_6575
"Another to Dad Finished February 11th 1932"

But of course my favorite part about these quilts are the AWESOME vintage fabric assortments used. Take a look:
IMG_6574
IMG_6573
IMG_6563
IMG_6562
IMG_6561

There are two more quilt tops too, some sort of star pattern, and a double Irish chain, which I haven't photographed, but you can see more of these quilts at my flickr.

One of these days I really would like to do these justice and finish them, and they've definitely peaked my interest in doing some more modern quilts of my own.

4.27.2009

Seriously Awesome and Inspiring Fashion






These are from Agatha Ruiz de la Prada's Fall 2009 Couture collection (pics snatched from here. WOOOOOWWW! I seriously love these. They are, of course totally impractical, and those are some seriously loud color combinations, but that's what makes these pieces so awesome. Inspired by surrealism (one of my faves), and clearly channeling Schiaparelli (another one of my faves). I wish I could pull off wearing something so crazy. But these pieces are seriously fun, whimsical, and extremely creative. I will certainly be following her runway shows from now on.

4.22.2009

Johnny Brenda's

IMG_0136


This is a rather crappy picture of Acid Mothers Temple, a Japanese psychedelic band, playing at Johnny Brenda's in Philly over the weekend. JB's is a pretty sweet concert venue: balcony section, tasty beers on tap, and supposedly really awesome food. The band was... interesting, not my usual style choice of music. Good if you are into psychedelic/jammy sort of music. I was totally fascinated by the beaded curtain the background which they project lights/videos on, and I just had to make a print based on it. If I were to print this, the scale would be much much smaller, like a teeny tiny pinstripe, but I wanted to show off the details.

JBstripe


You can find inspiration in the strangest places... and I certainly do!

4.20.2009

hmmmm...

daffodils


Not sure if I really like this one, but I really do need more florals in my portfolio, and I thought it would be nice to do one in just two colors.

4.17.2009

Sunny weather today...

daff2daff1

...which is conducive to outside flower sketching! I think it's about time to make a Loongwood Gardens sketch day trip.

4.13.2009

Website + Buttons!

buttons


Ooooh, big news, my website is done!! The buttons actually turned out to work out well for my website design, and now of course I had to throw them into repeat. And my mom told me, that not only are some of those buttons from my grandmother, but some are from my great grandmother, and maybe even my great-great grandmother! Family heirloom buttons, and I didn't even know it, which is pretty cool.

I'm super happy with how my website turned out. Using Adobe GoLive is such a difference from the my days of a crappy Angelfire website that I designed line-by-line html code. So hopefully I can get my name out better and get a fabulous design job! And now that that's done, I can get back to more designing, blogging, and getting outside in the finally Spring weather.

4.08.2009

Fabric Goodies

Spoonflower Fabric


Got this in over the weekend, my spoils from winning the Spoonflower weekly fabric contest.

There is something so exciting about seeing your print on actual fabric. It's almost like opening up an awesome Christmas present when you pull your fabric off the screen printing table, or undo the knots from your shibori fabric, or pull your fabric off the loom. When I don't get excited about that anymore, I'll know its time to change careers.

But anyways, I am super happy with how these turned out. This is the 2nd order I've placed with them, and this time I paid a lot more attention to color management in making the file, and I learned quite a lot about color profiles and CMYK vs RGB vs LAB. And the colors are much more accurate to what I wanted. The next step of course is ordering their color chart swatch.

But what to do with this lovely-ness? The blue crazy print I think would look awesome as an applique on a sweatshirt, the gray flowers would make a bangin' dress (I got two yards of that), the leafy print is screaming (in my ear, quite loudly) to be made into a poofy skirt, and the birds are so cute I don't know what to do with them.

And, I got a domain, and my launch date is this Sunday!

4.06.2009

What I've Been Up To....

website... in progress


A little sneak peek at what is to come soon! I've been working hard on this, but I don't want to give all of it away. I will be buying my domain name tomorrow and setting an official launch date. GET EXCITED, cuz I totally am!

4.01.2009

buttons!!

buttonns


i am going to be more diligent about updating this blog, i swears!

it seems that every time i sit down and try to think of a layout/design for my website i get sidetracked and end up doing something else. today was no exception, so i ended up drawing buttons:

buttons


i have a large button collection which i started when i was little. i collected buttons from old clothes, inherited buttons from my crafty grandma, and of course always bought buttons whenever i found particularly interesting ones in sewing shops. i always, always organized my buttons by color. the picture and the sketches are from my collection of white/off-white/mother of pearl buttons. it's so strange, that even now, i remember which buttons were my favorites when i was little.

in short: i still love buttons. i have a crazy idea of doing button "portraits," just a big ass painting of a single button. but uuh, back to that website, fo realz.

3.21.2009

art school wars: i support it





links about the incident:
Philebrity
Inky
CityPaper
and of course, c-list missed connections:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

i think this is totally awesome, hilarious, and amazing. thumbs up to tyler kids for doing this. and, as a moore alum, i expect a great response from my ladies.

3.13.2009

three good things!

one:
lanternsss

this lovely print won last week in spoonflower's fabric of the week contest!! i get 15 minutes of fame, some free fabric, and YOU can buy a yard of my fabric right here!

thanks to all who voted for me, and if anyone reading this buys my fabric and makes something cool out of it, i'd love to see!

two:
finally had another interview this week!

three:
i was sick and out of commission last week, but now i'm all better, so hopefully i'll be getting more things done now.

3.02.2009

dead flowers, alive ones soon

Leftovers...


the philadelphia flower show is this week, so hopefully i will have photos and sketches of living flowers by the end of the week. this photo is also my first attempt at making an hdr photo, which i am suuuuper excited about trying out more.

2.24.2009

teefs a + b

teefsA

teefsB


I was trying to work on my website and oops I ended up making two prints instead.

2.23.2009

Real website...

...is in the works. I need to figure out how to use Adobe GoLive first.

Until then, check out my online portfolio. I've also got my resume on there as well, so, you know, people can hire me. woot!

2.12.2009

M.I.A.

mia


no one on the corner has swagger like us.
colorway: watermelon on acid

2.11.2009

rrRReeemix ft. STRIPES

reeemix2


...and a little more color.

2.10.2009

Teatime!

teabagsplain


This is a "plain" version. Version two will have tea stains in the background!

rrrRRReemix!

reeemix

Lattice Floral


Same flowers, better print!!!!

2.06.2009

hmmm...


scaleysmall


Is this ugly or pretty?

I can't decide.

1.20.2009

molamolamolamola

molamolamolamola


'tis a silly print... The fish are "ocean sunfish" or "mola mola"... I saw them at the Osaka Kaiyukan (aquarium), and I LOVE THEM. Their flat bodies + silly faces are freakin' adorable. ♥ ♥ ♥

1.16.2009

Stripes + Dots


bendaystripe


...and a color combination that won't hurt your eyes!

1.13.2009

Meeces to Pieces

Meeces to Pieeces


See the meeces??

1.11.2009

Benday + Houndstooth


bendayteefs


I should use benday dots more often.

1.10.2009

Colors + Print


Colors...

Bespeckled...

The colors were (of course) much more vibrant and awesome in real life, and the print was inspired by... dried up raindrops on an NJT train window.

A New Start

I have one of these things, but I think it would be nice to keep something separate for all my creative endeavors. We'll see how this goes...