Thursday, October 21, 2010

Penguins, Owls, Wood, Ink, Fabric & Felt - that crazy time of year

WIPs for fall show & sale

So here's what I've been up to! Bet you thought I was just playing at pumpkin patches all the time based on my last posts ;o) All I can say is it's hard balancing being the cool, fun mama and the productive artist/designer, as well as keep up with other parts of life (did I mention all the renovation projects going on around here??).

WIPs for fall show & sale

I have a sale coming up on the 4th - I do it every year because it's just so fun. Basically I get to hang out with designers & architects & all sorts of other creative folks for a night of shopping & selling. And I usually do really well. I'm going on year 5 with them. This year I have more of what I usually offer (plushes, brooches, itty bitty hair clips, etc) with one BIG difference. All my sewn products this year are made with my own fabric!! Can you believe it? I can't!

This is a really positive step in the direction I want to go & I'm so excited to share it with you. I feel like even a year ago it seemed out of reach to get it together and design/print fabrics, much less end up with finished products in my hands to show for it. To be totally honest I was somewhat disappointed by my first round of prints from Spoonflower - many of my colors were deeper or lighter than expected, or bloomed in a way that I felt threw off the print. I also saw issues with scale and proportion. But really I needed to give myself a break and realize that this is part of the process & it's impossible to get it perfect the first time round. I don't know why I'm so hard on myself, sheesh.

Happily, I have enough fabric to put together a great group of new products and I'm thrilled with them. And a little cranky from the late nights working, haha.

WIPs for fall show & sale

My friend Cheryl reminded me (thank goodness at the beginning of the month & not at the end!) that I'm the featured artist for November for a gallery space in Santa Cruz. I had totally forgotten. Really. Where's my brain huh? So things are actually more busy than usual - I have several painted pieces on wood I'm pulling together (as well as some original watercolors & some pieces of framed printed fabrics) and will install on the 1st. Then I have the sale on the 4th, then the show opening on the 5th. Then I will crash & sleep on the 6th.

WIPs for fall show & sale

I've also been having fun catching up with family popping in unexpectedly & hosting another Creative Night at my studio with an awesome bunch of artists & designers. There's so much going on this time of year. Just need to hang on and go with it.

WIPs for fall show & sale

And this week puts me at halfway through the pregnancy! I've felt so much better over the last few weeks (just in time for all this craziness). We're already brainstorming on how to best design Bird's room to hold two kiddos (eventually - we'll have baby #2 in our room for first 6mths probably) and still be a place for fun & creativity. There is so much inspiration online - my favorite place to check out is Ohdeedoh. Definitely visit the site if you haven't before!

WIPs for fall show & sale

Now it's back to work for me...Bird's still sleeping so I need to hustle! Thanks so much for stopping by.

And I'm curious~ is this a crazy busy time of year for you too? What are you working on?

Hugs,
Devon
:o)

7 comments:

Laura Zarrin said...

I was already in love with your fabrics, but to see them as part of the plushes is so cool! They work great!!!! I'm not getting anywhere near as much done and I'm not pregnant or the mother of a toddler. I can't believe you! I think you'll actually sleep from the 6th-8th, at the very least.

Amy said...

Love it! I can't wait to see the stuff at E.T. I might have to get an owl! I really want to talk to you about spoonflower, I've been toying with the idea of starting to design my own fabric. We can chat at the sale.

Wendy Wright said...

LOVE your plushes with YOUR fabric...just awesome! :)

Jan said...

Your plushies are the best!! Your fabric looks perfecto on those creatures - fantastic work! You have as many skillsets as you do endeavors - and they all work so well together. Glad you're feeling better, tooo!

Lauren H. said...

Wow such pretty, whimsical, cool little guys! You should have a LM sale!

kidshaus.typepad.com said...

wow! you are a busy girl!! keep living that dream! I love your plushies using your OWN fabric! fantastic accomplishment.

wendy said...

everything looks SO good Devon!! great work :)