Festival

Every year Grand Rapids has the Festival of the Arts. There are bands, art displays, booth after booth of food venders and most notably an art competition. I've never entered it before. I'm not really sure why. It would be great exposure if one of my paintings were to win. I decided this year I'm going for it. I've got nothing to lose, really. Now I have to go through the hard decision of deciding what to enter. I went through all the art I've created in the last two years. I have three file folders full of things that are 8x10 or smaller and an entire portfolio dedicated to things that are larger than 8x10. It's a bit overwhelming. I have it narrowed down to about ten pieces right now. Wish me luck!

Lucy-Fur

For those of you who don't know my good friend, Karly, and I have been working on making our first batch of wine. It will be Pinot in about three weeks. We decided, after a rather unfortunate incident (don't worry the wine is fine) to name the wine after Karly's dog, Lucy. I did a little illustration of her for the wine labels and Karly will be laying out the text. I can't wait for it to be done!

Blog troubles

After hosting my blog on my own website for a while I;ve decided to move it back to blogger. I've had nothing but trouble wih my server. I'm going to move my favorite images from the past few months but the rest, alas, will be lost to cyberspace.

Camouflage

Even though bass are naturally camouflaged it can't save them from fishermen.

My second Illustration Friday post today. I'm trying to catch up and be inspired.

Rejection

Wanda would never be one of the flock.

I've missed Illustration Friday for far too long. I'm back now I promise.

It's been a while.

I'm back. I've been busy and have sadly neglected my blogging duties. I'm now working for a stamp company called My Favorite Things. I hope I'll be a bit better at keeping up with this blog and that I'll be more motivated to do more work. But now for your viewing pleasure I give you the first card I created with my new rubber stamps.

ghost

After her tragic death Margot chose to haunt Chanel hand bags.

Smitten

The down side of being smitten is that quite often you end up sitting with a pint of Ben n' Jerry's and a broken heart.

I've been a bit busy as of late. I gave a talk at my alma mater about illustration and greetings cards. Mostly the students asked a lot of questions about life after graduation. It was fun to be back in a classroom. The professor asked me to come do a demonstration of my painting technique next semester so I may do that. Other than that I've been working on cards, a commissioned drawing, I sold two paintings, and I may have another project coming up (cross my fingers). When it rains it pours and when it's dry it's a dessert. I'm just happy to be busy again.

Phobia

Irrational fear often has tragic consequences. Poor bulls run off a cliff by a small fluffy dog. I can't say I blame them though small fluffy dogs freak me out.


In other news my cards tested well and I will have my own small section of 12 cards next summer. They are through Recycled Paper Greetings and will be available nation wide. Look for them in a Target store near you!

Change

I have a new part time job now. I work at a retail shop that sells coffee and nuts. It's nice so far but there is always that lingering fear of CHANGE.

Bye Karl

So Karl has officially married and move to Florida. And I am officially looking for a part time job. Sad but art can't pay my bills right now.

Farm

Fun farm animal themed stamps I created in Illustrator.

Now For Sale

This image was comissioned by my mother-in-law. I think it says something about her sense of humor :)

In other news I now have my art for sale on etsy.com.

My Art Shop

safe

The mail man is safe on the other side of the glass for now.

Run

When people think of death the first thought in their head is usually "RUN!"

I decided to do paintings of heaven and hell this week. A few people in my life have gotten sick needed emergency surgery or died in the past couple weeks. It's made me contemplate my own mortality. My paintings of heaven and hell aren't the traditional flames and fluffy clouds. They say a little more about how I feel about each concept.

Good-bye Latte

Latte, the rat, has passed on. She died of cancer at the ripe old age of three. I guess rats typically live three to four years so she had a good run. I thought my bunny angel painting was the most appropriate for the occasion. I'm going to try and do at least three paintings per week. This is my second for this week.

Capture

A few girls captured by the waves.

The waves in Lake Michigan were incredible last week. We spent most of thurseday body surfing and playing in them. It was also my first experiance with rip tide. The water wasn't very deep so I could stand but the current was so strong it pulled me along anyway. I wasn't scary because I could just walk out of it but I can see how in deeper water or if I were a small child how it could be quite dangerous.

clean agian

I've been expirimenting with illustrator and Gif animation. It's fun. Click on the image to veiw the animation.

Clean

This is me relaxing and enjoying a glass of wine while I get clean and escape the heat. The heat index in Michigan today is 105. I think I'm going to melt.

I don't know where my time has been going. I totally missed last week between weddings , wedding showers, bachlorette parties and all those fun things you do for friends. In illustration related news. I got a copy of the Cleveland Magazine with my illustration in it. It seems so strange to see my stuff in print. It's exciting but I realize I still have a long way to go to be truly "professional".

Penguins

I finally have my computer back. On Monday a large line of sever thunderstorms came through our area and knocked down a tree on or street which in turn knocked down the power lines. We spent a whole day and a half with no power in 90 degree heat. yuck! Everything in my fridge and freezer melted and had to be thrown out. Oh well, the power is back and I can once again work and listen to podcasts. To celebrate the return of my air conditioning and computer here are some soccer playing penguins.

Sacrifice

Occasionally I have an idea and when I'm done drawing it I sit back and question my sanity.
I decided to use Illustrator today. It is fun and quick. I also need more practice on it. I want to have a good digital style as well as traditional media. I hope it will make me more marketable. I don't have much work right now so I'm just working on my own stuff and self promotional stuff.

Skyline

Not exactly skyline but it's close. I did this image for a Cleveland magazine article about family hikes in Ohio.

I win!

Quail-Mart

I entered a contest on Portfolios.com and I won the bronze in my category! The announcement will be on the site the first week of July. I will have a link to my portfolio. I'm really hoping this will increase my exposure and hopefully land me a job or two. I'm also in the process of mailing out self promotional postcard again. I'm much happier with the printing on these. I used overnightprint.com and they turned out great and only cost me 30$ because I had a coupon.

rain

No matter where I go I have to draw. I drew these pictures on the beach at Pictured Rocks in Michigan's upper peninsula. It had rained shortly before we arrived and shortly after we left. I hope a few people got to enjoy them at least before they were washed away by the rain.

Dance

Some oldies. I don't have time this week to do a new illustration I'm currently packing to go up north for a week. Just me and my husband in a little cabin on a lake. I'm excited I don't even have to take any work with me.

Jungle

I hate shopping at those huge chain stores. I can never find anything and I get lost. It's like a jungle!

In other news I found out my cards will be out in select Target test stores from August 7 to Sept 2. They can't tell me which stores are test stores so if anyone finds a store carrying my cards let me know! If my cards do well they will go in to the everyday line. I may also get to make more cards for them. That would be exciting.

In related news I updated my website. Several of the images from my cards are on there. Everyone should check it out. cbeckwith.com

Portrait

This is a quick portrait of the girl that was shot last night in a drive by just down the street from my house. She was hit in the neck. My husband is an army medic and he rushed to the scene and held her head until the ambulance arrived. She told him she was four months pregnant.

I don't understand things like this. Why shoot innocent people? Why shoot anyone at all? In all irony the shooting occurred at the corner of Martin Luther King Park. Martin Luther King, the man who lead a people in a great movement of non-violence and unity. It is a shame that his legacy is that the places named for him witness violence and murder among the very people he sought to bring to greatness. The world needs another Martin Luther King, someone to breathe hope in to the dying youth of our urban streets. Someone to promise them a future that is not lying on the pavement in a pool of blood.

Cake

I haven't been real inspired by the last couple IF topics. This one however was a bit of fun and a nice break from the book I am rushing to get done.

Illustration Friday: Fat

Sometimes feeling fat depends on who you are around.

I learn something new every day.

Here is a random picture. I hadn't thought about this image for a while so I thought I'd throw it back out there. It is one of my favorites. It is now in New York at the Society of Illustrators Student Competition or it may be on its way back to Grand Valley. Either way I kind of miss it. I don't get attached to many of my paintings but all those little vertebrae were so much fun.
Today Karl helped me package my InDesign files for print. Here I thought it would be so hard and it turned out to be so easy. I love Adobe for making programs I can understand and even teach myself a little. So tomorrow my cards are off to RCP. I'm really hoping I put everything I need on the CD.
I also spent an hour on the phone with my email provider trying to figure out why my email stopped receiving email. We never did figure out why but it is now fixed. Yay email.

Under the Sea

In many ways life under the sea is similar to life on land.

Fashionable

I haven't been very good about updating lately. I've been pretty busy. I'm working on that book still. I also got a call from Recycled Paper Greetings last week. They want to do a test with seven of my cards in Target stores. I finished them up and sent them out today. I'm really hoping they sell well. How well they do affects how many cards of mine RPG will carry. The image above is from one of the cards I sent them. I also cut my hours back at my day job again today. I want some free time. It feels like all I do is work then do house work. On the plus side I ran 22 minutes yesterday and can still walk today. I want to be able to run 30 min before I join the running club with Karly. I'm getting close and I feel great. My knees barely hurt and I've lost about three pounds. I feel very determined in my get-in-shape plan and career track.

Robot

It's strange but this is the first thing I thought of when I read robot.

Spotted

Here is one I did just for Illustration Friday. I decided to use Illustrator this time. I'd like to have a digital portfolio as well as traditional media. I'd love to hear what people like better my traditional or digital. Thanks.

Spotted

I did this image for my senior show and thought it was very appropriate for the spotted theme. My neighbor loved it so much he bought it. I think I'll try my hand at another spotted image. Hmmm what to do?

I don't use Illustrator very often but I'm trying to learn to use it better. Here is an image I created just for fun. Live trace is my hero.

Speed

Speedy skeleton dog.

Spring

This was my rendition of spring for Illustration Friday. I kind of posted it too late but oh well I'm busy.

This is an image I did for a greeting card for my future sister-in-laws wedding shower.
In other news I now have acontract with Recycled Paper Greetings so look for my work comming from them in the next yearish.