JOURNAL — Design

Rare Bird Co. Studio Newsletter #3 Happy March, here’s some recent happenings from the Rare Bird Co. studio + some fun links and inspirations around the web. The 100 Day Project Days 1-9 of the 100 day project I’m participating in #the100dayproject hosted by Lindsay Jean Thomson. If you’ve never heard of it, the basic idea is just to do something, usually art related, for 100 days and share it. So far I’ve made 3 painted collage pieces, 3 digitally illustrated drawings, then 3 more painted collage pieces. I’ve just naturally been working in multi-piece chunks and switching back and forth...

Rare Bird Co. Studio Newsletter #2 Happy February, here’s some recent posts from the Rare Bird Co. Journal + some interesting links around the web. Starting a journal and ideas for what to write in it (My beautiful new olive green notebook, isn't she pretty) A few weeks ago, I came into my daughter's room and was pleasantly surprised to find her journaling. About a year ago, we had started journaling together. We both had gotten new notebooks for Christmas and we were on vacation with plenty of time to kill. We enjoyed doing a few journal entries together, but...

‘Reflections on art process and making connections through subject matter’ Some reflections today while packing up a couple wholesale orders for art prints from my studio + shop Rare Bird Co.  For those who don’t really know what that means - I sell my work (art, jewelry, accessories, home decor, etc) to shops around the country. It’s one of the ways I earn income as a designer/artist. As opposed to selling my products straight to the customer, I also sell my products to shops (both brick and mortar and online shops) and they sell my goods to their customers. It's...

'How to make an abstract art color study and my first color study of the year' Abstract art, with its freedom from the constraints of reality, is one of my favorite forms for self expression when making art. One of the most alluring aspects of creating abstract art is its exploration of color. It’s amazing how much sentiment can be expressed through color, without having to say a single word. Below is loosely my process for how I delve into this type of abstract color study. Exploring the subject and colors you’re trying to portray My first color study of the year -...

‘Talking about substack, color and word of the year, dark academia, and historic homes and shows and more’ Hi friends! Hope your new year is off to a great start! I’m happy to introduce a new format we are trying for the studio + shop, called the ‘things worth sharing’ newsletter hosted on substack. We’ll be writing once or twice a month to share what’s going on in our studio, plus other things we think are worth sharing in the world of art, design, personal growth, creativity, lifestyle, etc.  We are hoping this will serve as a way for us...