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.

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.

Life’s been pretty busy, and I find myself wishing I had more time. This summer I’ve been working on completing several editorial illustrations as well as design-oriented patterns for my portfolio. I’m finding that I absolutely love looking at and dreaming up patterns and designs for anythinng ranging between stationary and wall decor. However, I’m feeling rather stressed and pressured between my steady job and my summer assignments, and I’m afraid my creative spirit is feeling rather suffocated. I need to remedy this soon.

Anyway, here are some unfinished pieces as well as a finished illo.

It’s a tapir! I’m not satisfied with this spot illustration yet, and I think it’s because I was trying a different color technique that clashed with my natural tendencies.

Some outlines that are going to be turned into a pattern. Hurrah for hooved baby animals! Finished freelance work featuring the Grand River and Grand Rapids city of Western Michigan. It will be displayed on 8.5? x 11? presentation folders, and I can’t wait to get my own copy. It’s so exciting to be able to see one’s work in actual application. I’ll be sure to post photos when I receive mine! I have several more in-progress works and another nearly finished piece, but nothing else scanned at the moment. I’ve never had so many in-progress works before, and it’s certainly not helping with how scattered my mind feels.

And because I love them so….

It’s a rare moment of peace between Crow and Jinni.

Jinni has such beautiful markings, and her face is so cool. Half is orange tabby and half is dark tabby.