lullafly illustration

The last two pages from my B.F.A. Exhibit.

In other news….. I’m all graduated!

Hire me, please. :)

I’ll post photos from the exhibit reception (which was a huge success!) soon, but first I have to update with my most important and exciting news:

I am engaged!

The plan was for all friends to to head out to a restaurant after the reception to celebrate, so after we got the food cleaned up people started drifting away with the intention to meet us there. I said good-byes to my immediate family, who weren’t going out with us.  My boyfriend of over 5.5 years, Nik, and I were the last to leave. Once I had retrieved my coat, he told me he had a surprise for me. My thoughts? He must have bought me a present for finishing my exhibit, how sweet! Instead, he blind-folded me and spun me around multiple times, then lead me down the hall. I was asked to plug my ears, which I did so suspiciously. Because I like the full effect of surprises, I plugged them tight so I couldn’t see or hear anything.  I could tell when we went outside, though, because it was significantly colder and I could suddenly feel snowflakes. I could also smell something warm and good, like woodsmoke. By this time I am extremely suspicious and think I may have an idea about what’s going to happen.

Even my assumptions didn’t prepare me. When I removed the blind-fold, I was greeted by a half-circle of my closest friends and family, all holding sparklers as these huge fluffy snowflakes of the first real snowfall drifted down. Nik got down on one knee, proposed, and put a gorgeous ring on my finger (I said yes, of course!). And then the bells started ringing from the campus clocktower. No kidding.

It was absolutely perfect! He planned it so well to have everyone there, even out-of-town friends, and I had absolutely no idea because they were already there for the art exhibit! I am still in awe and shock, and I am so utterly happy.

December 3, 2009

My friends! Unfortunately my family and few others present aren't in this photo, though.

Right outside of the Univeristy Art Center where I've spent most of the past 4.5 years.

I can’t believe it’s December already! Where has time gone? My show reception is in two days, and I’m ready and excited. I bought a new dress for the occasion yesterday, and all that’s left to do now is prepare the food the day of. Oh, and get cracking at all my other neglected homework.

LOST or FOUND – B.F.A. Exhibit

Featuring the work of Illustrators:

BreeAnn Veenstra
Caleb Hazen
Corey Miller
Jamie McElroy

Grand Valley State University
Stuart B. and Barbara H. Padnos Student Art Gallery
Open to the public

Monday, November 30, 2009 – Thursday, December 3, 2009

Reception Thursday, December 3, 5:00-7:00

There are many aspects of a journey: a difficult decision, the shadowed face of a stranger, the harrowing recesses of human nature, the smile of a friend. Whether experienced with the imagination or the memory, all paths lead to an enlightened ending. We seek to be your guides on this journey of the things yet to be discovered.

Postcards have all been mailed and most have arrived in people’s mailboxes. Plexiglass has been picked up and all artwork revisions have been finished. Next hurdle: printing the finals. I have a very nice textured paper made for digital printing that my boss so kindly let me have, and the test proofs that I had done came out great. We had some trouble with getting the right colors again when I went in yesterday, but fortunately they solved the problem.  I intend to get all my finals printed today if possible, so my fingers and toes are crossed that all goes well!

Here’s the front and back of our postcard:

Here’s the first double-page spread of the story, which will measure 21″ x 32″ including borders.

Well while I’m waiting for an ungodly large Photoshop file to save, I may as well throw some updates your way! I’ve got all 6 illustrations for my senior show well on their way to completion. A few need more work than others, but everything has color slapped on and some only need some minor revisions. I’m going to work hard all this week to see if I can finish them all up and then use next Monday’s critique for any nit-picky things. Pretty exciiiiiiting! Okay, I still have three weeks until I need to start hanging the work in the gallery space, but I can definitely feel it drawing closer.

work in progress of the last page

linework for a full-page spread

I still need to find a good Plexiglas supplier and test out paper types to print on. I’d really like to have a nice paper with a bit of texture so I can deckle/tear the edges, but another classmate of mine wasn’t having any such luck with both hotpress and coldpress watercolor papers. He ended up using the print shop’s enhanced matte paper, which is a terrific paper, but it doesn’t have that “traditional” feel to it. We’ll see if I can find some sort of bright white paper that absorbs the ink perfectly.

I’ve also been working on re-designing my website…. again. I just have so much fun with HTML and web design! The new design will allow me to periodically change the design imagery without much problem, too.

And in other unrelated news, Happy Birthday to my boyfriend, Nik! <3 <3 <3

That is all for now.

So a few days ago I was exposed to a tv series called The Big Bang Theory… and I’m hooked. A visiting friend brought the first two seasons on DVD, and I’m so sad we won’t have time to get through all the episodes before he heads back home. If you’re like me, and have a bunch of geeky friends or are geeky yourself, then you’ll probably be able to appreciate this comedy. You’ll even learn some random physics/science facts.

In other news, here’s another editorial illustration piece titled “Wired to Write”. This one is for an article about therapists who started a writing group where they use their experiences and their client’s lives as inspiration for novels and short-stories. And for those who are concerned about the privacy of the clients, the article specifically said all persons gave explicit permission to use their likeness in any written works.

Let me just say that hot cocoa is my new best friend.

I’ve actually skipped two of the pages for the time being, so although this piece follows the sugar glider piece and is second-to-last, it’s not my second-to-last to complete.

Again, not quite finished yet.

Uggggggghggbbb. I’m a few days behind my personal schedule for this week. I wanted to have my fourth piece nearly finished by Monday, but that’s not going to happen. Oh well, I’ll just have to catch up shortly after. I’ve allowed myself sufficient time before my show to make revisions, but I’m hoping I can get back on track before then. If not, I’ll just plunge ahead as if on schedule, and then address any neglected pieces during that extra week.

Usually if you have trouble on one piece, one of the next ones will go exceedingly smooth and fast. Right? Too bad I threw away that month-old fortune cookie. It could have given me the answer.

In the meantime, here’s the linework to the page that I just can’t seem to color right.

How cool would it be to have a pet sugar glider? But alas, I love sleep too much and wouldn’t be able to give them the cheery all-night, every night conversation they so deserve. Still. It’d be pretty cool.

I’d like to make a formal apology to my colleague, Corey, for not posting sooner so that he may be distracted from his own work. So here you go, Corey. This post is for you!

Detail shot of the nearly finished first page for senior show:

Work-in-progress of the next page, where our little plushie friend has a splashin’ good time with the river otters. I have to work on the rocks a bit more, and finish the otters.

Also, I finished the “Stockholm Syndrome” piece. Tigers are delicious.