[ sunday 2005.05.29 ]
some loose sketches for the "best advice" project

i normally do not post rough drawings from my sketchbook, but i'm in a sharing mood and wanted to share part of my first sketches for the best advice project. the pattern you see will be repeated as my background wallpaper design. the girl will be part of the right side of my spread. i can't show you the left side, or what my advice actually is... but you'll be seeing it soon enough. i've just been tagged and should be receiving the journal sometime next week. off to tighten up my sketches and overall layout and start thinking about color choices.

[ posted by beth at 12:15AM ] [ ]

just a quickie one this week. i once drew an octopus on a table cloth in saugatuck, michigan at restaurant we stopped at for wine. i have a picture of it somewhere i'll post if i come across it. this particular octopus came to me quite suddenly today and i just had to get it out on paper. now that this fun little illustration is out of my system, i have to shift my energy to other projects that are on the burner ready to boil over.

acrylic on paper

[ posted by beth at 7:00AM ] [ ]

tine hit a hot button with me this week! i have lots of orange & yellow. and these are just a few of the things! from top left:

rhodia sketchbook (bought in london)
oh boy! journal
rubber comb (for making textures)
stack of books (designing with web standards, eleanor roosevelt, stitch n bitch, art chicago, etc.)
fabric (that i am making into bookcloth)
my apple
burt's bees gift set
my monster wage
rosy rings orange candle
orange & yellow pillow
my watercolor travel book
donut gems

[ posted by beth at 6:44PM ] [ ]

today was the kind of day that one would call perfect. i spent the whole day savoring every little detail that i came across. from the way the windmill spun around above the treetops, to the smell of the flowers i passed by that smelled like tea, to the sound the old trees make when the wind passed through them. it was the kind of day that makes you go "ahhh".

went on a great bike ride along the fox river, got a little sun & some dirt on my face. it was a pleasant day... that is not over with yet! i intend to stay awake as long as possible so i don't miss a thing.

and i should be doing some updates to my bicycling page over the upcoming months now that i'll (hopfully) will be riding more again.

[ posted by beth at 7:22PM ] [ ]

"wow, that's a big mellon." said chad while looking up at the tall mellon building in downtown pittsburgh. we flew out to pennsylvania to see our beloved cubbies play against the pirates tuesday night. our seats were superb- 3rd base line about 10 rows back and had a perfect view of the city skyline. tried the famous primanti bros. sandwich at the ball park which was messy and yummy.

but that is not all we did in pittsburgh. we met up with my friend vicci & her husband who went out of their way to make our trip extra special. we had a fabulous lunch at kaya which is in the strip district. corn & lentil beignets with green curry dipping sauce and a crab cake sandwich- all were great. we also went to an art metal shop, some wonderful bulk food stores (buckets of olives & lentils... if i lived here i'd shop there all the time). went to the biscotti bakery and stocked up... then to a cigar & coffee house where we sipped cappucinos in the open air storefront.

we headed up to the top of mt. washington overlook scouted out all the different neighborhoods including the south side which is a cute little area.

back to the game, we won! it was an incredible game... we were down & in the 9th inning there was a sudden burst of "let's go cubs". the fans all stood & cheered. it was unbelievable- nearly a third of the stadium was blue & red. many, many people just like us flew in from chicago for the game. our rally helped our team, and derek lee hit a home run in the 9th.

leaving the ball park in a good mood, we hopped on the T and went to station square where we walked along the dancing fountains and looked back out at the city all lit up. had a martini (or two) at bar louie (just like back in wrigley!) and then took the subway at midnight back into downtown to our hotel.

i hope to post more pictures of our trip soon! everyone in town was so friendly and it is really a beautiful city alive with energy & culture.

unrelated, but i found some more photos from our snow patrol show at the vic & some more from the after show at aliveOne.

[ posted by beth at 6:51PM ] [ ]

the new food pyramid was revealed earlier this year, and i thought i'd play on its funky, new, colorful design. and what better surface to use than a hostess box?

acrylic & ink on hostess ho ho's box

[ posted by beth at 12:01AM ] [ ]

first, i feel bad for not posting any new art in over a week. i have not been feeling well this past week, and have had little energy to create. in fact, we had tickets to the athlete/snow patrol show and there was a point in time where it did not look like we would be able to go. but i somehow managed to get dressed and out the door to see them. we would have had all kinds of awesome pictures to show, but i got kicked out! they let all these people with cameras in, but when they saw the camera i had (chad's) they said it was too "professional" and could not have it. after the whole camera incident, we did have an incredible time at the show and managed to get up right next to the stage. athlete was especially awesome. could have listened to them all night. and there were good vibes in the theatre, overheard lots of nice compliments about them and they received a pretty warm welcome. it was their first u.s. show! how unbelievable is that? i got to see one of my favorite bands perform live for the first time in the country! totally stoked. and they have a new album out, tourist, which has gotten some pretty bad reviews (critics are saying they are changing to conform to the keane & snow patrol crowd) but i liked the few tracks they played. and snow patrol is also working on a new album and we heard a few new songs off of that and i'm really excited to see what else they have in store.

did find a photoset online from the after party at aliveOne where gary was spinning.

[ posted by beth at 9:27PM ] [ ]

it is a glorious day here, nice & warm but not too hot. the windows are open and the fresh air is dancing throughout the house. made a really yummy vegetable frittata for mom. i cut back to only one package of cream cheese and that was plenty. i would imagine that using the whole 16 oz. that the recipe calls for would yield a too rich dish. i also added some chili powder for a little more flavor. paired with raspberry-orange muffins, strawberries & fresh squeezed mimosas, this made for a terrific sunday brunch.

if you are making this for a big crowd, double the recipe. the three of us finished off 2/3 of it no problem.

[ posted by beth at 12:24PM ] [ ]

today i made a one of a kind vinyl cuff bracelet using free fabric swatches from jo-ann. the textile section is great because each roll of fabric has its own little envelope attached with swatches inside. i grabbed three in a pattern that i liked and used them in this bracelet. sewed it all together in several steps, sandwiching the fabric inbetween vinyl and dabbed a little fray stop to the edges and its ready to wear. i'm thinking of adding a second snap to it for more durability, and to fit different sizes.

fabric, vinyl, snaps & thread

[ posted by beth at 11:56PM ] [ ]

saturdays are always an ambitious day. if i sleep in past 8am then i start to panic and feel as if the day is wasted. there are so many things i want to do, so many things i have to do, and only so little time to do them all. the best weekends are the ones that leave me physically exhausted yet mentally refreshed come sunday night. when i get a lot done i feel accomplished and that leads to a brighter perspective for the new week.

paper, ink & acrylic on illustration board

[ posted by beth at PM ] [ ]

this is the first in a series of paintings i am doing. sometimes the corporate world has a tendency to tear you apart to fit you into a mold doing what they think will sell. your pocketbook may be full, but beyond that your hands are tied and you are broken and stuck. i made this piece into a downloadable wallpaper available in five sizes (see left).

paper, ink & acrylic on canvas

[ posted by beth at 12:00AM ] [ ]