Name Change

I've very excited to post that I've recently changed the name of my Design and Illustration business to Aileen Designs. You can check out my new and awesome website Aileen Designs which contains updated portfolios and features much more of my artwork!

My website was a true collaboration with Al Frazza, the owner of Premier Web Specialists. He truly captured the spirit and essence of what I want to convey with Aileen Designs (fun, color, energy etc.). If you are an artist, or any business owner for that matter, I highly recommend Premier Web Specialists for their creative, unique and client focused web design services. I don't think you will find a more collaborative web design company than Premier. If you want to talk to me about my experience with Premier, email me at aileen@aileendesigns.com. I'd be happy to share my experience.

New Work

Working on some black and white spots (aka line art) for a client. For someone who loves color, rendering images in black and white creates a whole new set of challenges. How to draw detail without too much detail, how to render textures, depth etc. I recommend it to anyone who wants to challenge their drawing skills, cuz it sure has challenged mine!

Premier Web Specialists

Al Frazza, owner of what was formally known as Page 17 Design, just revamped and renamed his growing web design and search optimization business to Premier Webs Specialists. I was lucky enough to create his logo.

I really recommend his company to anyone looking for a website. Not only is he very talented, he and his team offer a full suite of services. You can check out his new site www.premierwebspecialists.com

Illustration Friday - Giant

Here's my submission for this week. I kinda like it. I was inspired by "Jack and the bean stalk". I remember loving that story when I was little. I spent many hours thinking about what a giants house would have in it and how cool it would be to have the bean stalk in my back yard!

IF Satellite

This week I decided to hand render the IF topic. I had a vision of these aliens in my head and had to get them out. Not my best work, but it was fun. Again I was tight for time but wanted to get this done. IF is a great way to keep drawing and add pieces to your portfolio!

Illustration Fridy - Paisley

Ran out of time on this sucker, not quite what I wanted but I got it done. It's funny how many illustrators did pictures of girls/women with paisley. HAPPY FRIDAY!!! The name if this one is "Crazy Paisley Patty"

Illustration Friday - Ripple

This weeks "Illustration Friday" is about helping the Golf Coast clean-up effort. In addition to the Illustration Friday blog, we are all posting our pictures on ripplesketches.blogspot.com and for $10 you can buy them.

The best part is, 100% of the $10 is being donated to the clean-up efforts. We are putting our talent where it's needed and it feels great!

Although my picture may not represent the creatures that are impacted by the oil spill, they do represent the undersea world that we have a tendency to forget about. We all can do our part to help the environment and the folks who earn their living around the Gulf Coast. Please check out ripplesketches today and buy some art! It's all good!

Illustration Friday

I decided to try Illustration Friday and this weeks word is "trail". I actually created two illustrations, this is the first one I completed. Definition for this picture:

a. A mark, trace, course, or path left by a moving body. The act of trailing. The fly is on a completely different "trail" (ha, ha, ha) - Oh Nooooo . . .

Happy Memorial Day

What a beautiful weekend. I spent a great day in the studio, finishing up some projects and playing around with new techniques and this is one that I liked (I noodled around with chalk pastels and they were way too messy). I like it.

Although I didn't spend a lot of time on the drawing, I like the direction it was headed and the technique. I drew the picture in pencil, then applied watercolor. After the watercolor dried I went over the color with colored pencil and then a thin black pen. It's cool and added a new dimension to my "usual" illustrations which are typically done in black and white, or colored pencil. The drawing would definitely need more detail, but again, I liked the technique.

Next time I'm going to do the watercolor on top of the colored pencil to see how that looks/feels.

The Artist's Guide: How To Make A Living. Something to think about!

I attended an artist workshop last weekend and the keynote speaker was artist Jackie Battenfield. She is a fantastic speaker and has written a book about her successful art career and how it has afforded her the opportunity to support herself and family through her art! No starving artist here! She was able to go on vacations, put her kids through college etc. all through her art. She wrote a book about it and shares tips for artists who wish to do the same. The link is below.


http://www.artistcareerguide.com/

One point she also made, that I thought was a great idea, was to approach your work from a "project" perspective, that way you might be able to apply for a grant to help pay your expenses and help the community as a whole while you are working. That is something I would never have considered as an illustrator, but I could create a "project" where I work with kids exploring where they live through "art" and then put a show on at a gallery, all the while I'm creating art that I can use elsewhere! I was definitely inspired!

Happy Friday!

Greater Hartford Arts Council

The seminar I attended Saturday was FANTASTIC. It was so well run, and so informative that I left the day feeling totally energized to be an artist. It also offered a fantastic opportunity to network and practice networking.

Some of my takeaways:
- Most artists have "hybrid" careers - one job to make the money, tons of other little jobs to execute their craft. Made me feel good that that's what folks do. It's hard to earn a living off of one thing.

- The seminar reinforced that ART SELLS PRODUCTS - hello, why are you attracted to that CD label, cereal box, wine label??? It's because the ART captures your attention. The world revolves around ART!!! We can't forget that!

- As artists we need to build our own communities for support and empowerment. Get your inner circle going and meet on a regular basis to brainstorm, critique each others work, provide support and share resources etc.

The keynote speaker was James Grace, an attorney (and author among other things) who founded the volunteer lawyers for the arts of mass. he was fantastic. He talked about a program he pulled together called the "Artists Professional Toolbox" its a program that helps artists develop the skills they need to move to the next level of their career and realize their dreams. it's definitely worth checking out. My take away from his speech was profound, and yet very simple. As we move ahead along our artistic journey, we need to remember that we are, and seek out opportunities to be:

- an artist
- a person
- a small business
- an agent for change
- a Community member/leader

My head is still buzzing! The next workshop is scheduled for May 1 in North Haven. I'm signed up and ready to roll. Go here for more info: www.letsgoarts.org

Morning Sketches

I love it when I can wake up before anyone in the house and go to my studio/office and draw. This morning is one of those days. I was able to get these three drawings out of my head. It's a great way to get the creative juices flowing.

I especially like the barrel of Monkeys, I think I'll take that one a step further and refine it. It makes me laugh. The Ladybug drawing was in my head yesterday but as you can see with my post yesterday, I executed it in illustrator versus my handy black pens. The drawing of the bashful girl is loosely based on the four year old who is presently asleep in her room. She still has crazy hair, the haircut she gave herself last year (the Mullet!) is slowly, slowly, slowly growing out. Thank goodness.

I'm going to a seminar in Hartford today "Business Strategies for visual artists" I'm very excited to network and learn some stuff. I'll definitely post anything that I've learned. So stay tuned.

Happy Friday

Coast Guard Academy

My nephew is interested in going to the Coast Guard Academy in New London, so my sister and her family came up this weekend to take a tour and I was lucky enough to go along. What an amazing opportunity! First of all WOW what a great experience for any young person. You are taught leadership sills, get a fantastic education AND get a career upon graduation not to mention the fantastic opportunity to travel the world and do things most humans do not get to do. I wish him well and hope if this is what he wishes, that he gets it. but mostly, I was VERY happy my Federal Tax dollars go to something like this. Awesome stuff. For more info www.cga.edu

Come On Spring!

March is the longest Month in the year when you live in the Northeast. It's cold, rainy, sometimes snowy and always gray - and you get little hints of Spring with an occasional day of 69+ degree weather - which is pure torture.

I've been very busy lately. I have a few projects in the works, mostly illustration which makes me happy and am in the process of developing more note cards.

I was going trough my drawings the other day and came across this cartoon and thought it was appropriate for the time of year, considering Easter is next week (time flys!).

Happy Spring everybody!

Artist Seminar In The Hartford Ct. Area

The Hartford Arts Council is having a seminar called "Taking Care Of Business: Business Strategies" for artists. It's Saturday April 10th and looks pretty awesome, nice seminars and networking session. I'm signed up. To check it out go here:

Lets Go Arts

Happy New Year!

For All You History Buffs Out There

My friend Al from Page 17 Design has created a fantastic web site that documents New Jerseys role in the Revolutionary War. I think by far, the best part of the website are the photos that document the historic markers and sites associated with specific events. You've got to check it out below. It's beautifully done and very interesting, definitely worth the visit.

Revolutionary War New Jersey