Christmas in September

© Ellen Blonder

One of the weird things about designing holiday greeting cards is that you're always doing them out of season. So here's my upcoming Christmas card preview, finished in a September heat wave. The poinsettia was posted in progress earlier this year, but for Christmas, a brown background didn't seem right. I've silhouetted the flower against layers of text and a repeat pattern that I drew. The red area, when folded, will be the card back.

It All Adds Up

I've been distracted from posting lately, but I realized all these posts add up. To see all posted art, click on the Ganesha above.

Tulips-Reaching into the Archives

© Ellen Blonder

Reaching back into my old art, I've used Photoshop to change the color story and touch things up. I had never been quite happy with the original gouache color combination, but pre-Photoshop changes would have meant either completely repainting it or overpainting existing color. A further complication is that colors never dry the shade that they are wet. I still like the hand-painted texture of the original, though. Dead flat colors wouldn't look the same.

Below is the design when worked into a repeat pattern. The design, intended for fabric or gift wrap, was never used, by the way.

© Ellen Blonder

Short vs Long Poses

© Ellen Blonder

In yesterday's drawing session, we worked with a model who paused intermittently for a few seconds of stillness(sketches on left) in otherwise constant motion. It made the four-minute poses (sketches on right) feel luxuriously long. Unfortunately, the extra time also makes it way too tempting to tighten up.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation-Day 5

Best. Pizza. Ever. We found this at Serious Pie in Seattle; it's part of Tom Douglas' restaurant empire in that city. At 3:30 in the afternoon, the place was packed. This is the gold standard, with a light but chewy crust and delectable choices. My order was topped with chanterelle mushrooms and truffle cheese. Perfect!

We were tipped off to this place on Day 4 of our vacation by a chance seating at a Portland wedding next to Blaine and Cheri Walker, owners of the 42nd Street Cafe, tucked away in the southwest corner of Washington state. We regretted we didn't have time to detour there, too.