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

In other news….. I’m all graduated!

Hire me, please. :)

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.

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.

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.

In Loving Memory of Crow

April 2008 – August 11, 2009

Quite a lot has happened since my last update, which most likely explains why I haven’t updated sooner.

On August 11, I unexpectedly lost my beloved feline companion, Crow, to wet FIP. Until that day I had no idea what FIP was, and when I had taken Crow to the vet a few days earlier because he had no appetite and was grossly underweight, I hadn’t a clue he wouldn’t be coming home. I miss him terribly. To add insult to further injury, I have to wait several months before I can bring a new kitten home because the virus that causes FIP is highly infectious, and so I’d be putting a new kitten at risk. In the mean time, Jinni has been bonding with me. She’s not as enamored with me as Crow was and tends to do her own thing more often, but she’s becoming more and more affectionate with me.

I’ll forever miss you, my little Crowface. We only had a year together, but it was a helluva time that I will always cherish.

On a more upbeat note, I finished all of the design and patterns I had been working on over the summer. I’m going to try and sell some of these companies that sell bedsheets, greeting cards, etc. Hopefully someone will find one of my patterns beneficial! I had a ton of fun making them, and I can definitely see myself pursuing this field of illustration in addition to children’s books.

Catty cats in cattails was so much fun to do, and is a design for a greeting card or stationary. The others are repeating patterns that can be used on stationary, gift wrap, fabrics, etc.

Also, I have a strawberry Marble Pop that I am so excited to drink! Unfortunately, I promised my boyfriend, Nik, that I’d wait until he was present to open it. Why is it so great, you ask? Because there’s a glass marble inside that seals it, and you have to “pop” it down to open the bottle! Its fun. Trust me.

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.

So I just finished stuffing packing envelopes for my portfolio mailing to various children’s book publishers:

Each package will have four of seven illustrations, a cover letter on my own letterhead, and a SASE response card for them to send back to me. I’ll be sending these out within the next week, so wish me luck!

And though it’s unrelated, I just rediscovered this photo on my camera from this year’s sprign break trip to Florida. Liz and I went to SeaWorld, where we fed the dolphins. Twice. Happiest moment ever.

Oh, and here’s a mediocre and slightly warped shot of a 16-hour painting I did for figure painting class. I was lucky to find a girl who volunteered to pose for me, and she was so happy with the finished product that she’s going to purchase it.

oil on press board