I really liked the card game "Memory" as a kid. It was fun to match all the different icons, and remember where each one was.

Sometimes I use reference photos when illustrating a piece. But other times my illustrations work best when just drawn straight out of my head without any visuals. For this piece, the photo below was used as a general reference shot & inspiration. I liked the idea of the boy sitting in the chair playing the game, but I took creative liberty to shake it up into my own style. Sometimes ideas get stirred up from a simple photo or pattern. But then you mix it with your own ideas and it turns into something different. It is fun because you can create an illustration out of anything!

from google image search

This piece has inspired me to want to create more images of people playing games. Maybe tug of war, teeter totter, jacks, sailing a newspaper boat, playing twister... I love when the ideas start to roll. Now only if I can find enough time to do them all.

[ Posted by Beth at 10:00AM ] [ ]

How great is this? Now Moleskin makes a journal with watercolor paper (the old sketchbook versions did not take as kindly to watercolor). To make things even better, the most awesome feature in my opinion is the perforated pages.

New sketchbooks and notebooks are one of the little things that make me happy. Especially with a classic like this.

[ Posted by Beth at 10:12AM ] [ ]

My cousin was a priest who loved music. He was the founder & drummer for a band called The Hot Peppers of Jazz. When he was not at the church, he spent a lot of time playing the drums, and he raised money for a new church organ after the original one was destroyed in a fire. He brought a lot of joy to many through his music and love of people. Now he did not play the bongo type of drums, but that is just want spilled out onto the page when I was drawing. It seemed fun, and he was a fun person, so I just went with it.

[ Posted by Beth at 10:01AM ] [ ]

This past spring, Rambler Magazine ran my "Before the Trees" illustration in their May/June 2006 issue with a really great story called "Almost Heaven" about a woman who bought a piece of land in West Virginia ten years ago, but now has lost it. This story is really beautiful, and I was so happy to be featured with writer T.H. Weylan.

Then the next month, I created a new illustration for their July/August 2006 issue (in stores now at select Barnes and Noble) for a really great piece on letter writing. I used some of my own parchment-looking letter paper and created little doodles along the outside of the page. In this same issue is an illustration done by David K Rose of Grfx Monkey. I really dig his style.

If you like good writing, and great interviews with these writers, then this magazine is worth checking out. From their site:

"...Add to these conversations Rambler selections of fiction, poetry, essays, original drawings, and photography and you have a truly original, truly independent magazine that speaks to readers everywhere that seek more than the standard fare."

What are your favorite magazines or newspapers? Where do you find inspiration from? Do you subscribe to any magazines?

[ Posted by Beth at 10:08AM ] [ ]

For awhile I was feeling guilty. Guilty about not returning my friends phone calls and email. Guilty for not visiting my family enough. Guilty for not writing in my journal as much as I use to. Guilty for not having enough time to "communicate". But now I realize that sometimes you need to step away. To walk out of your life and look back in from a different angle. To gain perspective. Just a necessary step you have to take in life.

I feel like I've done just that. I stopped feeling like I had to please everyone, and focused on pleasing myself. Focused on my most intimate relationships and just being in the moment. Focused on living. Last month we took a few days to go to a teeny tiny island on the north-east tip of Wisconsin. I could reach out and practically touch the invisible Michigan border that lies in the water. I also felt like I could reach out and touch the setting sun. No buildings to block my view. Just an orangey-red circle that sank into the water.

I no longer feel guilt.

[ Posted by Beth at 6:42AM ] [ ]

One month ago, I hung this birdhouse gourd from a small limb on the tree outside my window. It sat empty until several days ago. I first noticed the little birdie in the middle of painting my dining room. He flew in and out with tiny branches and straw creating his nest. I stood there and watched, with paint brush in hand, smiling at the similarities that he & I had. Here he was creating his nest, and essentially I was doing the same in my house. We were both creating an environment that is right for us. Creating a cozy nest, a place of comfort. A place to call home.

[ Posted by Beth at 6:36AM ] [ ]

What is better than soaking up sun in the middle of the desert with a view of the Eiffel Tower looming in the background? This is how I spent my day poolside at The Aladdin (which will soon fade away into the new Planet Hollywood). We got to the pool at 9:00am when it opened, and I made sure to find a chaise lounge with the perfect view of the tower. This made me reflect back to another day in time, when I was laying in a grassy park staring up at the real Eiffel Tower.

Laying by the pool and swimming for an entire afternoon is really different for me, because normally we are adventure travelers. We rarely just veg out at one particular spot. But this one day was a day of total relaxation... but we made sure to pack plenty of adventure into the other days to make up for this day of being lazy.

The Middle Eastern Beige & Brown Aladdin is currently being transformed into a Cobalt Blue Sleek Building with pictures of celebrities hanging from all the walls. I've never been a fan of Planet Hollywood, so it is sad to see an end of an era. I wonder what they will do with all the previous themed decor? Will it go in a landfill or end up on auction somewhere?

[ Posted by Beth at 11:08PM ] [ ]

Someone shared with me this website that makes graphs out of your website's structure. Websites as graphs - an HTML DOM Visualizer Applet

The above is a picture of what my site looks like. Blue are links, red are tables, etc. (See the above link for a color chart of what the colors all mean). I love the organic flowery shapes it makes. So pretty.

For fun, I typed in amazon.com to see what it would look like.... and 10 minutes later it is still rendering the picture. Amazon just has a ton of links, tables and forms and it just keeps going and going.

Flickr even has a whole page of them with lots of design combintations. Flickr: Photos tagged with websitesasgraphs

[ Posted by Beth at 12:30PM ] [ ]

© 2004-2007 Beth Berst-Gregory | Hosted at Dreamhost | Please do not use art without permission