ARTIST JOURNAL | Notes from the studio
Inspiration, new work, and stories about life and travel.
Pacific Tote Company, I Love Your California Surfer Vibe
File this obsession under Company I Would Love To Work With. Pacific Tote Company, I love your vibe. I love that you use the term "mood board" to take us to your inspiring Tumblr site which guides us through your inspiration process. I love how you...
New Work: Bright Abstracts for Summer
I have two original abstract paintings for sale in my Etsy shop and one new print on Society6! The first piece brings together bright shades of yellow, orange, and pink on a fun-shaped 10" x 20" canvas. This abstract painting was created with...
Freelance Art Direction: A Lesson in Letting Go
We talked about what art directors do. Now it's time for me to take you through a project that I art directed and shot for Seattle-based luxury leather handbags and accessories company, BEVÉE. The goal was to shoot a set of images that represented...
How To Be An Art Director in 125 Simple Steps
"What do you do?" "I'm an art director." Silence. "Okay...but...what do you do?" Sound familiar? In the introductory "fable" of Art Direction Explained, At Last! by Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne, Brian Collins does a fantastic job illustrating...
Your Clients May Not Be Your BFFs
Two years ago I worked with the very smart sisters of Braid Creative, Kathleen Shannon and Tara Street. In their Personal Branding ecourse (which runs for the LAST time on Thursday! Sign up here!) there's an exercise where you invite different...
Photography + Writing: MiiR Flagship
A couple of weeks ago I covered the opening of the MiiR Flagship store for Seattle Refined. I loved learning about MiiR and all of the amazing things that they do. And it doesn't hurt that the product design and store interiors are freaking...
Are You Actually Doing Yoga or Just Wearing Yoga Pants?
I'm constantly refining my service offerings based on where my focus is. Not because I'm scattered, but because of the variety of creative tools that I use and how I work with my clients. While my immediate interests may change from time to time,...
Travel Tips for Introverts
Earlier this month I spent four days in New York City. Most of the time I was enjoying the company of "my ladies" – six of the most amazing, creative women that I know. I feel so incredibly grateful to be part of this group and have them as dear...
I Don’t Want To Build A Company, I Want To Build A Life
It's been four years since I interviewed Design for Mankind's Erin Loechner here in this space. At that time this was a blog called Inward Facing Girl. Erin was one of the first design bloggers that I read regularly and looked to for guidance as I...