we're moving!

C. and I just signed a rental lease for an apartment in Oakland. We're so excited! It's a beautiful 1920's two bedroom unit with a huge kitchen, a few blocks away from Lake Merritt and just a stone's throw away from all kinds of cool things: the newly renovated Fox Theater, Chinatown, a pub that serves Trappist Belgian beers on tap, a diner that serves (among other delicacies) vegan pulled pork and milkshakes made with fresh blueberries, and yes. We're fairly pleased.

Anyway, that's way I've been kind of absent lately, and why I'll continue to be absent for a while longer.

Help me overhaul my shop!

So, now that the rain seems to have cleared out for good and daylight savings time has wreaked havoc on my groggy, sleep-deprived brain, I think we can safely say spring has arrived. I'm planning on adding a flurry of new items to my shop. However, in the past I've always felt kind of frazzled about big overhauls and tend to second-guess myself a lot. Should I take that papercut down or shouldn't I? Should I reshoot photos of that cuff or not?

This year, I thought I'd run my basic ideas for spring cleaning by you guys. What's a good idea? What's not?

1. Which pieces, if any, should I take down from my shop?

2. Would you be interested in a section dedicated to a new line of "printable goods"? (I was thinking of offering DIY coloring cards/booklets featuring my original artwork, stationary sets, greeting cards, etc.)

3. Should I offer custom portraits/silhouettes/papercuts? I did two portraits for friends, incorporating the more surreal elements of my papercuts and silhouettes, and they said they thought this sort of thing would be a good addition to the shop. Dunce that I am, I forgot to take pictures of the portraits. But here are a few pieces that exemplify the style:







Pros: It would give me a chance to work one-on-one with Etsy shoppers and maybe expand my portfolio.

Cons: Very time-consuming - portraits wouldn't be available on a short deadline due to my own schedule, and because of the extra time spent brainstorming I might have to charge more - and possibly just too complicated. Plus it doesn't seem like there's high demand.

4. Your suggestions/questions!

new felt cuff

$35, now up in the shop.

the crunch

I'm applying to two schools whose priority deadlines are March 1st, so posts might become a little sporadic/panicky in tone for the next month.

In the meantime, though, here's a little drawing I did on the train:



The dandelion and text are done by hand, and I digitally colored it after scanning it in. It turned out okay; I still prefer painting things by hand, but I know I need to get a handle on digital editing techniques eventually.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this drawing but I'm sure it'll turn up in the shop in one form or another.

gina with a cornflower

From the item description:

This original pencil and ink drawing is a diminutive portrait of a fellow passenger on the San Francisco Muni, rendered on the ticket itself.

A couple weeks ago I was in the city, sketching on the train, and this girl with impossibly bright orange hair asked me to draw her. The only loose slip of paper I had on me was the train ticket - and that's how it started.

Gina, the girl in this portrait, had just gotten a new tattoo on her wrist done - a plain, tiny red star - but I kept looking at the tattoo of a cornflower on her neck. She saw me looking at it and took off her jacket so I could see the rest. From under her tank top a veritable riot of different flowers bloomed all over her chest and shoulders. "They go all the way down," she grinned. "What kinds of plants are they?," I asked. She replied, "They're all weeds."

This ticket measures 2" by 5", and the drawing itself is about 3" tall.

It's up in the shop for $30. Given how small these portraits are I thought that was a fair price, but Camden thought I should list them for more.

Happy New Year! Year of the Ox!

Or, as my dad said in a recent e-mail, "happy REAL New Year."

The illustration above is of the engraving "The Chillingham Bull" by Thomas Bewick, depicting a member of one of the last herds of wild cattle, believed to be descended from wild oxen. I tried doing a Google image search for "Korean ox" but the overwhelming majority of results were pictures pop stars or soup. So.

done: 1 down, 4 more to go.

detail of "The Love Letter," now available as an original painting for $90 and soon to be available as a print.

Last night I said one down, five to go; I worked on a drawing all night before realizing it's turning out to be no good at all. I mean, it's okay, I'm just not really pleased with where it's going. I was hoping for something hazy and muted, that reflected in its line work the victorian engravings and portraits I drew on for image references. Instead it's looking more like a coloring book.

Bah. I'll give it another try, but for now I have to scrap it if I want to get anything else done.