Word’s out! I was featured in Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion as an artist/designer on their radar. The article is a two-page spread and is really fun… a mix of life and art. Just what we like around here. :)

I’ve been doing Creat-a-thon for three years now. It’s a day where you work around the clock to help out non-profits. This time I worked with Vision 3 Creative on a really unique project — interior space design for a thrift store who helps needy people. We had to come a way to differentiate the [...]

Shambala Publications called wanting a cover image for their fall catalog, and I jumped all over it. How exciting… getting to play with fall colors and zen-like books — two of my favorite things. The masthead needed room at the top so I tried playing with some interesting perspectives. And they chose this one. After [...]

I had the pleasure of once again working with art director Ryan Noel at Borshoff on more pieces for the IPL campaign. This time on the first Plugged In Newsletter. I did the type for Plugged In as well as the three spots (desk lamp, e-bill pay, and gardening). Super fun.

This is a poster for Panera Bread that I recently finished for a test store in the midwest. I was thrilled to be able to play with typography as well as the illustration. Fun stuff!

This piece goes along with the Treefarm campaign I completed for TBD. A map of the community for the Treefarm website. I just loved playing with these sherbet colors. :)

This piece was for a short section in Prevention Magazine called “Mind”. The article was about how asking your spouse the basic question of “How was your day?” every night can improve your relationship. No, really!

One of my illustrations got into July’s Communication Arts Annual No.49. Yippee!
Here’s the pick:

The NY Times Book Review called with a unique review for me to illustrate. The book, called “The Unfortunates”, was not an actual bound book, but a series of booklets that come in a box which you can read randomly. There is no set order… just a definitive first and last chapter. And it’s about [...]

Working with United Airlines is always a treat. They push me creatively and I think the results are usually bright and fun. I worked with them on a new campaign for cargo… here are the six pieces I produced:

My friend Pixie needed a new header for her website, so she called me. (And told me she’d be patient so I could get through my first tiring tri-mester, my currently workload, and my move… so I said yes.) She told me why she was so drawn to coyotes… they are funny, wily, and tricky… [...]

TBD Advertising asked me to help out with a campaign for a new neighborhood called the Treefarm. We worked together to do three really fun print ads and some signage for the streets of the neighborhood. Really unique approach for a neighborhood… I’m glad I got to be involved!
Here are the print ads:

(I call the [...]

I got a call from my old agency, Young&Laramore, to help out on a web campaign for one of their clients: eTapestry. (I used to work on that account back in the day!) eTapestry is a software company that helps non-profits streamline their businesses so they can help more people. Aren’t they sweet? :)
I did [...]

This story for Traveler Magazine was all about the prized chocolate industry and where they get their fantastic cocoa beans. They are harvested in the jungle in very specific ways in order to preserve the best taste and intricate flavors. I did an opener image and two spots for this article. Here’s the finals:

When Balt Sun contacted me for a mother’s day story about the challenges and joys of being a new mom, I jumped on it. (I’m going to be a new mom in February.) After brainstorming a little and throwing together several ideas, we landed on this one. The mom is tiny (sometimes new babies can [...]

I’ve worked with Brio Magazine on several assignements now. They are wonderful people over there. This project was a fun one — paperdolls. So I got to put together fun little outfits like these:

to put on a teenage girl like this:

I thought it was very cool that they wanted to show an average teenage body [...]

Mortified is an event where people (comedians, actors, regular folk) get up on stage and read something they wrote when they were embarrassingly young… teenage angst stories of the first awkward kiss, the note written to the bully, worst prom, etc.
Portland Monthly was doing a story on this cultural phenomenon and called me in to [...]

This was a really fun assignment. I got to study leaves and apples in the northwest region of the country and draw them. And use fun hand-writing too, which I also enjoy. Here’s some of the goodness:

Jamie Sangar is an Indianapolis-based photographer who shoots mainly children and weddings. She’s just launched her business full-time and wanted an illustrated identity and came to me for my ideas. After lots of brainstorming and scribbling, I came up with the idea of shooting stars. The subjects of her photography get to be the stars [...]

I recently did this commission for a just-married couple. Their friends came to me and asked me to do a piece that honored their unique wedding day that included a canopy, lots of nature, and their best friends and family surrounding them. So here’s what we came up with… a romantic moon-lit scene… stars dangling… [...]

I was honored to do the cover for Cricket Magazine for their May/June 2008 issue. The assignment was a seasonal cover, not related to the stories in the issue… but meant to evoke the feeling of early summer.
What could be better than to capture being outside, chasing butterflies?
(If you pick up an issue, you can see [...]

Series of works done for a book about dreams for Duncan Baird publishing. Click here to view the series.

A new piece for the SF Chronicle. This was about a little girl who was in foster care. After settling into her new home for a few months, she decided to give herself a new personal history: she gave birth to herself. Hence the story title.

This piece was for an article geared toward financial planners and how they can help their clients weather this downturn of the current market. How do you make that look fun to read? Action baby… Action. The financial planner is handing out parachutes to his clients who are sailing downwards (and happily it looks like). [...]

This was a fun piece to do. The story was about a guy who was spending the weekend at his future father in law’s cabin. He had to proof himself under that scrutiny of manliness. So I thought it would be fun to show the father in law as about the same proportion as the [...]

New piece to accompany a story about missing children.

I worked with Art Director Sally Dunn on this super fun calendar. The challenge was fitting a teen-age girl figure into a small space in the header. We tried several options (bike riding, a crop of her face) until we stumbled onto this one, which I think works very well.
Then came the icons. I love [...]

A new illustration for SF Chronicle’s “My Word” section. The story was about a little boy who loved gum… everything else around him melted away and he was content as could be just chewing his gum.
I had a lot of fun with these warm colors… I love orange and pink right now.

This little sweet corn baby was for a job for Indianapolis Monthly. The story was about fertility in the Hoosier state, and immediately my mind went to the corn fields and lovely farm land in Indiana. Getting that baby’s face just perfect took about 3 tries. :)

Another Target Giftcard… this time for Mother’s Day. This is fun because it is a giant magnet. The gift card portion pops out and you have a frame to hang on the fridge leftover. Sweet! And pink! :)

I was pleased as punch when art director, Sallie Reynolds Allen, called me about doing a series of illustrations for the SanDiego Art Museum. We ran through a series of sketches and palettes for their Art Alive event and came down to this. I’ll add some more photos when I get some printed samples.
Poster:

Postcard Series/Invitation:

This job was so much fun. It was a series of illustrations for a booklet about green power. The art director, Ryan Noel, from Borshoff was super to work with and I think the whole piece came out great!

For individual illustrations, please visit my Work page here.

Another humming bird illustration! This one went along with a poem.

This illo was made for Brio Magazine. The story was about two girls, one of whom had a loving father, the other… not so much.

This illustration was done for Consensio… a business that places nurses with hospitals around the world. This lady is super happy about her new job. :)
I just love the yellow flowers in this one. Been playing a bit more with fewer lines.

New illustration for Focus on the Family Magazine. The story is about parents who are overly critical or use sarcasm with their kids. This is no good. Like a boxing match…

Continental Airlines Magazine

LA Times Book Review

Herman Miller Jugglezine

3×3 Magazine’s Illustration Annual No.4

SF Chronicle - Prayer

Gallery Show Opening, New Hampshire USA

Target Gift Card - Weddings

Feisty Females Podcast

Target Gift Card - Holidays

Notes on Design, IF Blog Launch, Emily Dickinson, NY Times.

Halloween Contest, Riggs Creatathon, Dial in Style.

Professional goals, Chase Bank, moving south.

Communication Arts Feature, Mini-redesign of Penelopeillustration.com, Baltimore Sun, Chase Bank, HOW Conference 2006.