Big news! I’m so excited to go to art camp in New Hampshire! I’ll be taking a painting class with my very own brilliant artist, Mati McDonough, an encaustic painting class and some other very cool options. I particularly like how small and intimate this will be, the fabulous setting, and the quality of instructors put together by the director, Susan Schwake. My buddy Mimi Kirchner, the doll maker, will be teaching, too! I know there are some spots left if you want to join in.
I can’t wait to paint!
–Lilla

No one serves up summer like Helen! Take a look at this gorgeous new piece just in from Ms. Dardik! Sure makes me feel SUPER! – Jennifer

Jennifer spotted this awesome Suzy’s gift card when checking out at Target.

Rachael writes:
“Our licensing partner DENY Designs have recently created some beautiful, contemporary styled shots for their super popular duvet covers & our designs have never looked more fabulous!

We recently introduced 5 exciting new designs which are now available in a huge range of products!

You can shop our duvet collection or shop the entire collection including shower curtains, jewellery boxes & gorgeous throw & outdoor pillows.

From Susy’s shop:

Silk screened on both sides, these large oversized bread proofing trays are perfect for those warm summer days. Drinks outside in the garden, breakfast in bed they comfortably entertain guests with a movable tabletop feast.

Bread proofing – is the term is used by professional bakers and is the final dough-rise step before baking. It refers to a specific rest period for the dough. Iggy’s Bread of the World in Boston have them in store – drop by to check them out.

SPECIFICATIONS

Made from baltic ply and poplar 30″ long x 18″ wide x 3″ deep. Screen printed and coated for protection with a durable protective clear satin finish. Clean with a damp cloth, over time your tray will acquire it’s own unique patina.

Some designs below, see more here.

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Trina writes in her newsletter:

“I love to draw! It should have been very obvious to me after seventeen years as a freelance illustrator. But several projects in the last six months have really brought it home to me.

A book for US publishers Quarry involving 900 drawings! It comes out next year and is called “20 Ways to Draw a Butterfly and 44 Other Things with Wings”. Also being asked by design studio Cobalt ID to produce tiny drawings “as if from a sketchbook” for a RSPB campaign. At first I didn’t believe they really wanted my untidied up, usually for my eyes only sketches – but they did!

Plus my agent (for commissions in the USA – I’m based in the UK) Lilla Rogers has been running an amazing online course called “Make Art That Sells” aimed at professional illustrators and designers worldwide. We were encouraged to draw some of our own collections – above some kitchen things and my childhood stamp collection. Once I started it was hard to stop.

Do you need any drawing? If so please contact the agents at Lilla Rogers Studio!”

I love it when I turn a corner in a store and see a LRS artist’s design staring back at me. This happened to me today at the Medford, MA Whole Foods. I rounded the meat aisle, and there was Carolyn Gavin’s napkin design for DesignDesign, Inc. The perfect touch for a summer BBQ! – Julia

from the Land of Nod website:
“Learning your ABCs is a lot easier when they correspond with charming illustrations designed by artist Jillian Phillips. Use them as a study tool or as educational wall art.”

Allison writes:

“I was recently invited to participate in a group show at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA called Seven: A Performative Drawing Project. Seven different artists are given one of the seven walls of the main gallery to paint or draw on. The whole process is recorded with a digital camera taking photos at different intervals that will eventually be compiled into a stop-motion video, recording each artists process. It is a tremendous opportunity and I was honored to be invited to participate.

I wanted to share my process of the creation of my mural in the photos below. It was a wonderful experience to take what started out as a small ink drawing and translate it onto a large wall with paint and big brushes.

I’ve never worked this large before (15 feet wide, 10 feet tall) so I thoroughly prepped and planned before beginning on the project. My printmaking background definitely came in handy for this – I approached everything in layers. I started with many different ideas and eventually settled on the diamond girl character, and colored and mocked up my ink drawing in Illustrator.
The first step in painting the mural was mapping out the hair and face with the aid of a projector and painter’s tape to get the scale and placement correct. I rolled the the navy blue paint for the hair and the yellow paint for the face and neck onto the wall. Next, I created a white underpainting with gesso for the areas of the hair that would become the leaves and flowers. I painted the colors on in order just like I would if I was screen printing: white, yellow, pink, gray, blue. Part of the fun of the process for me is seeing what will happen – the final mural did not turn out exactly as the original drawing, but I’m pretty happy with all of the little changes that happened along the way.

I loved the whole experience and I hope I have an opportunity to paint another mural or large scale piece like this again sometime soon!

The show is up through August 9th, with the closing party August 8th from 6-8pm, please check out the Montserrat Galleries blog for more info:
http://www.montserrat.edu/galleries/montserrat/”

Jon’s wonderful piece depicting Boston and Cambridge’s innovators. – Julia