Renaissance Woman
Hello all!
This coming Tuesday, November 10th, I will be showcasing some of my artwork at the Main Street Boutique craft show. You can read all of the details like time, location, etc. in this lovely flyer and associated link.
What will be I selling?
Being a photographer, graphic designer, writer, and jewelry maker, I have a made a line of custom products that are inspired by my photography including:
- Lancaster Christmas cards
Each card features a photo of downtown Lancaster during the holiday season and a unique Christmas greeting inside.
- Custom Gift Tags for your Christmas presents
- 5x7 notecards featuring scenes of downtown Lancaster and Lancaster county
- Photo jewelry
- Custom guitar pick jewelry made from exotic wood
- Photographic prints
- And more! (I don’t want to spoil the surprise, come and find out!)
So why am I doing this? Why am I not just focusing on photography? Why am I making jewelry when I could be doing book layouts or family photo shoots?
Way back when, before I called myself a photographer, graphic designer, etc. I was just a creative kid. “Where are my colors?” was one of my favorite questions for my mother when I was on the hunt for my misplaced box of crayons.
At heart, I’m still that creative, curious kid who asks “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” Wouldn’t it be cool if this photo was a card? Wouldn’t it be cool to wear this photo as a piece of jewelry? Wouldn’t it be cool to tell a story in a different format?
And heeding that question, pushes me to try something different, to do something more. Even as I tap away at my computer in my studio, I am not only surrounded by filters, strobe lights, and camera bodies, but also jars of Mod Podge, spools of wire, and paint brushes. I am a Renaissance woman (also a tiny bit of a hoarder).
The best part of pushing myself? Of saying yes instead of no– It makes me a better artist, storyteller, photographer– all around. By focusing and refocusing on different creative projects and mediums, I am constantly expanding my horizons and learning new things about different artistic fields and applying them to each other.
So come by on Tuesday and get a jump on your Christmas shopping! It’s going to be a lot of fun.
An Evening Stroll
I don't feel like it's an exaggeration to say that this illustration almost killed me. It took forever! Literally, a couple of months. I have included my process in the form of a slide show (see below) so that you can see the creative journey that I took, from the inspiration photo I took last spring to the the completed illustration.
Why create an illustration of my photo?
I loved the composition of my original photo, but it didn't have the drama that I hoped it would have, which was disappointing because there is a be-gowned woman playing a harp in a window at dusk. There were just too many extraneous details, the colors were muted, the random people in my shot weren't dressed up... I could go on.
“But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.”
Bit by by, I recreated the scene in Adobe Illustrator and created the romantic mood I wanted by using texture, choosing dramatic blues and purples for the background to simulate twilight and more whimsical touches like adding stars in the sky and making the leaves in the trees a large amorphous shape.
One of the biggest changes I made was changing the clothing of the people walking by the window. I wanted to dress them up so that I could imagine them having a romantic evening out on the town. They could be coming from a savory dinner at the Pressroom or a play at the Fulton Theatre and stopping for a drink Annie Bailey's because it's just too beautiful of an evening to drive home quite yet...
Wow, for a moment there, I was jealous of the lives my imaginary characters lead.
In any event, let me know what you think! I am planning on making these illustrations of Lancaster a series, so stay tuned for more. If you want to see the first illustration in this series, you can click here.
