New Work

New Toys + Favorite Patterns On Redbubble

For those of you who celebrated Christmas this past weekend, I hope it was a time of joy and reconnecting with friends and family. Along with all that non-superficial good stuff, I also received a Wacom tablet, and took my first foray into the world of digital art. It’s been awhile since I’ve had a new toy to play with the day after Christmas, and it made me feel like a little kid again :). Here is my first attempt at figuring out how all of this works … I actually am pretty happy at how it turned out.

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That panda is so chill.

Next, I wanted to try my hand at making some patterns. I like the idea of clothing and decoration as a means of turning oneself into a living work of art, and expressing oneself as a unique individual. When I was in high school, I actually thought about going into fashion design later, and then I realized I really hate sewing machines. I could design a real snazzy, runway ready pair of sweatpants maybe but that’s about it. I loved looking at and pairing different fabrics together, but when it came to actually sitting down and making something out of them … I lost interest. Fabric design if anything was much more my thing, and it’s one of the main reasons I decided to take the plunge into art’s digital world despite my many fears and misgivings.

I finished my first pattern idea today, Black Apple, and posted it on Redbubble. I’m really pleased with how it looks.

Redbubble is just full of fun patterns, and I’ve made a list of some of my personal favorites out there right now.

90s Dinosaur Pattern By chobopop

I spent my childhood constructing elaborate environments for plastic dinosaurs in the sandbox with my best friend since age 2 (and still friends to this day! Shoutout to fellow blogger Erin Dalke!). Being a 90s kid in general, this struck a chord with me.

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Rainbowaves (dark) By freshinkstain

I have a love affair with art deco patterns, and this updated colorful take on the classic fan pattern would look gorgeous on anything.

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Midnight Magnolias By robyriker

I am using my interior design background to help my parents update their bathrooms, and we are going with retro black and white tile with pool blue accents. I love retro flowers, and having that project on the brain I couldn’t help but think it’s too bad this pattern doesn’t come in a shower curtain! The detail is lovely.

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Lips By sleeping-tigers

This simple pattern is just so minimalist and classy, with a 60s pop art feel.

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Hot Air Balloons – Retro, Vintage Inspired Print By Andrea Lauren

The detailed decoration on all the balloons are what grabbed me initially, as well as the bright pops of color against the dark, neutral blue background. Another fun pattern that would look great anywhere.

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Funny Cemetery By Ekaterina Panova

I have a thing for whimsical skeletons, and I have never seen anything that makes death look more adorable in my life.

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Cameos – Blue By Fabio Mancini

I adore cameos, and I like the fun, whimsical, cartoonish renderings shown here because they are so different, and stand out from the traditional formal, ornate renditions.

snx1313-bgffffff-u3 Modern Matryoshka By Joanne Stead

Lastly, I have to love patterns with a sense of humor. What first drew me in was the beautiful rendering, sharp details, and bold colors. The closer I looked, the more hilarious personalities I noticed in each little “modern matryoshka”. This was a really fun idea, executed perfectly.

matryoshka modern

If any of you have any digital art tips, feel free to shoot them my way – I’m definitely still in the “learning” phase. I’ll continue to share the new patterns I’ve been working on. I think butterflies are next!

New Work

Let The Holidays Begin

First week of the new job, mission accomplished – complete with a snazzy new bio. Check out that classy head shot. Actually, I realized upon scouring my computer for an acceptable image that finding a professional picture of myself is super hard.

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See exhibits A and B below for further proof.

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I’m one of those recluses who does all my Christmas shopping online. My heart cannot even take the trials of navigating a parking lot (and subsequently narrowly avoiding my poor little car being squished by lunatics five times over) this time of year. I seriously needed to go grocery shopping today, realized it was the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and decided “Nah, tomato soup out of the can with a salad of slimy, past-expiration-date lettuce sounds fine enough to me.” Plus, I have friends and family with distinctive tastes and it’s often hard to find unique gifts that they’d actually like or don’t already own in stores.

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If you are like me and prefer to sit in your pajamas drinking hot tea while scouring the web for unique gifts, you should check out my redbubble shop. I have a ton of fun and whimsical seasonal designs posted, and also a variety of awesome designs for year-round. I also have my first calendar ready for print. Having a calendar hung up on my bulletin board is literally the only way I know what day it is. Plus, when the year is over you can get crafty and turn the pictures into awesome art.

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New items for the holidays have also arrived at the Moongirl Designs Zazzle Shop. In my opinion, you can never have enough ornaments. When I am done decorating my tree, there is pretty much no green left to be seen. I have fun illustrated Christmas character ornaments on zazzle : Santa, angels, elves, all the nostalgic classics illustrated with a new twist.

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I wish all of you in the states a wonderful Thanksgiving this upcoming weekend, and for those going out on Black Friday … Godspeed to you – try not to get trampled.

Artists To Know

Artists To Know : Halloween Edition

In honor of Halloween, I thought an Artists To Know featuring the spookiest of artworks would be quite fun. Though I won’t be getting any trick-or-treaters due to the very non-festive large wooden sign out in front of my apartment complex reading “NO TRICK-OR-TREATERS!!!”, I do have a costume party to get to later tonight which I am quite antsy for. I’m going as a flapper this year, which I know is an “every girl ever” kind of costume, but … not every girl will have a snazzy vintage 1920s style beaded fringe dress from an antique store ;). Now, without further ado …

Ana Bagayan

Ana was born in Armenia in 1983, and earned a BFA at Art Center College in California. Her work is inspired by aliens, spirits, and ghosts and she has coined the term “Futurealism” to describe her aesthetic. She believes that whatever we can imagine can also be manifested into our physical reality.

Gus Fink

Gus Fink is a self-taught artist who has been making a living off of his work full time since 2000. His medium and subject matter varies, but each work maintains his signature creepy yet somehow endearing vibe. His “Antique Horror” collection that spans over a decade was featured in a clothing collection for select Hot Topic stores over the summer.

Michele Lynch

Michele Lynch is a multi-talented artist excelling in painting, mixed media, and sculpture. The characters she brings to life are all a little bit retro monster movie, a little bit steampunk, balanced out with a lot of sass and personality.

Mizna Wada

Japanese illustrator Mizna Wada has just mastered the cute-creepy, pastel goth world. I have always been quite a fan of the adorably eerie universe, so her art certainly struck a chord with me. Wada is another artist who brings her characters painted on canvas to life in 3D form, this time as fun plush dolls and vinyl figures. I must own one someday, when I am not on such a strict budget ;).

Leslie Ann O’Dell

Leslie Ann O’Dell combines fine art, photography, and digital design to create her haunting works. SHK Magazine summed it up nicely when they said of her work, “O’Dell’s work is comprised of haunting imagery… Ranging from dark imposing landscapes to mystifying portraitures, that evoke sensations of vulnerability, demise and the fear associated with such sentiments”. Of course, being a portrait girl myself, I am most drawn to her depictions of figures. They are truly different from anything I have ever seen.

Happy Halloween everyone! Have fun being someone new for a day, and a lovely evening to all.

Have you ever wondered what monsters dress up as for Halloween? 🙂

Travel

Artists To Know: ArtPrize 2015 Edition

My boyfriend and I visited ArtPrize in Grand Rapids this past Friday. Though I had a piece in it last year, I didn’t have a *big* project ready this year that I wanted to enter so I decided to attend simply as an art appreciator. With inspiration quite literally around every corner, I came back impressed and invigorated, as always. I wanted to share some of the pieces that really stopped me in my tracks. Keep in mind, I was only in Grand Rapids perusing for a day, and as any of you who have attended in the past know, this gave me but a small cross section of ArtPrize 2015. If any of you have been over to ArtPrize, feel free to share other artists/pieces you saw that I may have missed! I definitely left wanting more, but am glad I got to make it to the event this year, even if just for a day. I encourage you to visit these artists’ personal websites I’ve linked to and learn more about their work and the story behind why they create what they do. They explore a variety of poignant themes in a unique and engaging way.

Kristi Lynn Studios – One Hundred Faces

Ahni Sallaway – I Am You

Kate Askegaard – A Breakthrough

Little did I know until visiting her website myself, her piece in ArtPrize last year, “A Plea, Remember Me”, was also one of my favorites. Miss Kate has a new fan!

Candace Compton Pappas – 200+

Each bird represents one of the over 200 school girls that remain missing after they were kidnapped from their school in Nigeria by the terrorist group Boka Haram.

Jacqueline Baerwald – Melondy, Issues of Adolescence (You can read her like a book, or can you?)

Monica Stegeman – In Her Place

John Leben – Back To Nature

Another thing about ArtPrize I always look forward to is the installation art and large scale outdoor sculpture. Red seems to be a popular color, and so by happenstance I matched all the art.

Dream home?

This yarn room reminded me of one of those nightmares wear something about your surroundings is not quite right, but you can't seem to figure it out...

This yarn room reminded me of one of those nightmares where something about your surroundings is not quite right, but you can’t seem to figure it out…

I love the contrast between my giggling face and that none too pleased look in the eyes of my fierce dragon companion.

Eating delicious food is almost (or maybe equally as?) as exciting as looking at amazing art, and my boyfriend and I enjoyed dinner and Violin Monster at The Green Well, as well as vegan gelato from Love’s Ice Cream which is so amazing it haunts my dreams.

Exhibitions and Other News

Womens Perspective At Studio 23

Thursday night was the opening for the show I was included in at Studio 23, their yearly “Women’s Perspective” exhibition. It was a great night, and I even successfully mingled and talked about my work with a gaggle of guests without my face turning green or passing out – yay! My boyfriend, who accompanied me, was literally poking me in the back with his finger saying “Get up there, go stand over by your work and talk to people!” After much hissing back and forth, I cautiously made my way over and ended up having a fantastic time once I got into the swing of talking to a ton of random people I had never met all at once. It’s funny because being an instructor, I talk all day, but it’s all very planned and orderly and I know what I need to say. It’s the spontaneous small talk I fear, but I’ve found that despite the gigantic nerves, once I get going it’s easy to talk about my work with others and answer questions because honestly what on this earth can I possibly know more about, or love sharing with people more? I think most creatives be they artists, writers, musicians, tow a line between crippling self consciousness and an almost nauseating level of confidence ;).

Ready to go! I'd been dying for an outfit to wear that Betsey Johnson purse with - half off baby! (Which is literally the only way I'd ever bother with a designer purse) The retro barbie look got me.

Ready to go! I’d been dying for an outfit to wear that Betsey Johnson purse with – half off baby! (Which is the only way I’d ever bother with a designer purse – The retro barbie look got me.)

It’s the little things … I was over the moon excited when I saw the cool graphic detail they added to my display wall – just amazing, thanks Studio 23!

Standing like a proud parent next to my creations :).

They included information about myself and my two pieces next to the work, which I’ve included below for some additional insight:

Much of my work involves making the internal external. I enjoy visually exposing the unique mental environment of the subject in each work, and I believe art should let us see something we cannot in real life. Rather than using exaggerated facial expressions or gestures, I tend to let the external surroundings of a subject speak to the content of their mind and soul. This tendency most likely stems from my interior design background, and the idea that the external environment should reflect the internal person who inhabits it. I am currently an instructor in a variety of art programs, including a program at Creative 360 in Midland for adults with disabilities. I see every day how creation sparks joy in the creator and those around them. Everyone is an artist. Each person on earth has the ability to do something creative that can touch another person, and it is never too late to begin.

The Peacock

On My Mind

“The Peacock” is part of a series of conceptual portraits I did in which pattern and color are used to convey the subject’s personality, thoughts and emotions. This piece has a vintage feel with the hat and veil and peacock print dress. The dark stylized trees and floral pattern covering her hair merge seamlessly into the peacocks on her hat, and allow her mysterious and stoic face to become the focus. The subject is proud and dominant, similar to the animal covering her personage.

“On My Mind” is a mixed media conceptual portrait created using colored pencil, ink, metallic watercolor and acrylic, embroidery thread, and fabric. I was inspired by art nouveau design, vintage fashion, antique photographs, and the vastness of deep space. I used metallic acrylic and metallic watercolors for the background, acrylic for the space scene, colored pencil for the portrait, fabric for her dress, and embroidery. I was first inspired by an odd antique photo I found depicting a young woman holding her head as if weary or in pain, but with a hint of smile on her lips. I was drawn to the strong emotion it showed. From there, I developed what her inner psychology may look like if depicted as a physical environment. I think we can all relate at one time or another to the feeling that we have the weight and breadth of an entire universe trapped inside our head.

If you are in the area around Bay City Michigan, I’d love it if you’d check out the show! It’s running through October 23. If the travel is not feasible, at the very least you got your own (VERY)miniature “virtual tour” here. But truly, there is much more fascinating work besides just my own that I have shared, if you can it is worth a visit.

Exhibitions and Other News

Coffee Is Love.

So, I put an exhibit up in Espresso Milano for Midland Artists Guild last week. This was an especially fun venue exhibit for me because I pretty much lived here when I was in high school. For those of you unfamiliar with Midland, Michigan, it’s a nice town for sure but, well … there’s not a whole lot for young people to do! Hang out with friends on Saturdays drinking coffee all day, especially frappes in the summer? Not complaining too much. It was always either that, or spend the day at the mall reading comics and music magazines in Barnes and Noble, until they started shrink-wrapping the darn things so you actually had to pay for them to read :P.

Blast from the past : Snooty Face 2007.

My P.I.C., Erin - best friends since we were 2 and actually just had a craft day together last week!

My P.I.C. that day, Erin – best friends since we were 2, and still going strong. We actually just had a craft day together last week!

Speaking of coffee being just the best…

(a topic of conversation that I daresay never gets old, nor loses its truth), I have some really cool illustrated mugs for sale in my ebay store right now! On discount, too … sweet right? They are dishwasher safe, top rack, and really heavy and durable. I am an accidental collector of unique mugs, and can’t seem to ever stop buying drink-ware in general, so these made me super happy.

Designs available are Retro Flowers, Queenie, I’d Have Been Happier As A Bird, and Whimsical Peacock.

Other things I’ve been working on over this Labor Day weekend are, shockingly, Christmas plushies! I sell some of my fun creations at Imagine That!, also located in downtown Midland, and I need to have my holiday wares ready by mid-October. It’s weird to be thinking so far ahead already, but I can’t say I haven’t enjoyed getting in the holiday spirit a bit early :).

Whimsical trees and some pretty rad angels with halos made of strung sequins ❤

Midlanders (or Saginaw/Bay City dwellers nearby such as myself), if you happen to be downtown within the next 2 months don’t forget to check out the exhibit. And for those of you in the states, I hope you enjoy your Labor Day weekend as well!

New Work

This Is Why You Should Keep Old Work Forever.

The Beauty Of It All, 11×14 prismacolor pencil and watercolor

For about 2 years, I had an 11×14 piece of bristol board with this woman’s face covered in flowers on it, and a metallic silver world map view behind her. She was surrounded by nothing else but white space. I was convinced it looked absolutely horrible, and I had no idea what to do with the rest of the background. I chocked it up to a loss and tossed the drawing in my storage portfolio case. A couple times I ran out of paper and thought about just using the back of it when I had a new idea and didn’t want to delay inspiration with a drive to Michaels for more bristol board. Other times I almost chopped it up into pieces for scrap paper to sketch ideas onto. I thought of posting it on my artist facebook page as a giveaway for whoever wanted it, and letting them color all over it like crazy to see what happened; an impromptu collaboration over vast distances.

Luckily, I never did any of these things. I’ve been doing a lot with watercolor lately, and was wishing I had one more piece to hang in my upcoming exhibit. I didn’t have the time to start anything else from scratch, but when I found this I decided to play around with the background and see what happened. I spontaneously dripped blues and greens and metallic silvers over the entire background, throwing the paper this way and that to guide the drips. Once I stopped over-analyzing and worrying over how terrible I thought my piece looked and just started enjoying the process again, everything came together. Sometimes even something as subtle as a bold color splashed into the backdrop can turn an entire piece around. Mine went from a drawing of a girl who looked like she had a strange, alien, flower-shaped skin disease to a pretty nice finished piece.

This is why I cannot emphasize enough, don’t toss out old, unfinished work! Paper is flat, it keeps pretty easily. I’ve my seen students do some really cool things with incomplete projects they could have tossed away. In this piece below, a student cut out elements she liked from a “practice” acrylic painting from the semester before that didn’t really turn out. These made for some great smaller blooms popping out around the central focus of the pumpkin. Even if you don’t end up turning the leftover physical piece into anything, something half-finished could at the very least provide an idea or concept for a project you do later.

And again, I have the best students ever. Unique floral mixed media for autumn.

Nancy’s autumnal mixed media, salvaging cutouts from an old acrylic practice lesson the semester before.

I’m actually constantly revisiting old work, even from as far back as high school. Most of that is also unfinished because I, like any teen, had a real short attention span. This painting, which my mom fell in love with and now has hanging over the sofa in my parents’ living room, was created from scratch in 2012. But, it was based on an old colored pencil drawing from 2005 that I never finished shading in. The particular sketchbook the original drawing was in is still in the closet of my old bedroom in my parents’ house or I would post it here, but it was a color scheme of entirely red and black and the parasol people were dressed in old-timey but super goth attire, and the faces on the parasols looked like they could all be members of a My Chemical Romance copycat band. Trust me, it was something else. Behold, the reboot.

"Wait Out The Storm", 18x24 Watercolor and Ink

“Wait Out The Storm”, 18×24 Watercolor and Ink

Now that I’ve turned you all into hoarders, I have one more all-together new piece I’d like to share. I have always been deeply interested in the steampunk aesthetic, but never created any steampunk-esque art myself. This is my first, and I’m pretty excited about how it turned out.

"Dreams Of Gold", 11x14 Prismacolor Pencil and Chalk

“Dreams Of Gold”, 11×14 Prismacolor Pencil and Chalk

The deep gold is metallic, though you can’t tell in the digital image. I was heavily inspired by the Victorian aspect of Steampunk, even turning the classic Victorian lace pattern into something metallic and industrial. I am finally going to be hanging all of these pieces up tomorrow in Espresso Milano, and will be sure to take pictures. Have any cool steampunk art you yourself have created or that you’ve seen by other artists? Throw me a link! I am a long time appreciator, but creation-wise, a novice. As I’ve promised, photos soon!

Uncategorized

I’m Not The Only One Who’s Been Busy This Summer …

The summer flew by, and while I think this summer for me has been the most productive yet as far as art making, I am not the only one who has been hard at work. My Express Yourself Artshop students really applied themselves creatively, and pumped out a lot of amazing art over this past semester. Hard to believe what one can accomplish in only 6 weeks! I’ve shared some of the highlights here.

Grace, Watercolor

Nancy, Ink Drawing

Brenda, Handmade Tote Bag

Lacey, Acrylic

For those who haven’t read my blog before, Express Yourself Artshop is an art program I work with that is open to those of all abilities, and is an accepting, friendly and safe environment to artists with physical and mental disabilities. I know myself how important creating can be as a tool for expressing what you feel like you can’t with words, and how it has the ability to calm the mind and soul out of tumult and provide a reprieve from the stress and sometimes heavy weight of everyday life. One of my students loves owls, and so we collaborated on some trippy, colorful owls done in my go-to style for these birds (shown below). I drew in pencil, she outlined and painted. Along with an affinity for owls, we also share a love of Deco Art’s Glamour Dust craft paints – a win-win.

Look familiar? So glad to share my enthusiasm for quirky, surrealist owls!

Anne Marie, Ink and Acrylic With Glamor Dust

I love these people, and the unfamiliar environment of being in a truly judgement-free space … Everyone simply accepts and embraces each other as they are. I feel so loved in return while I am there, and it is one of the few places I don’t feel pressured to put on an act (Convenient, as I’ve never quite mastered the art of situationally adjusting my personality. For better or for worse, I just can’t seem to grasp that particular life skill.). I can’t wait for next semester. I’m going to be channeling my inner Mark Montano and doing a really cool DIY decor class, so hopefully that gets some interest. I am right on the cusp of finishing two new projects that will be going up with a selection of other pieces at Espresso Milano coffee shop in Midland in September, so I will be sharing that soon.

Montano, seriously, what a snazzy guy.

Exhibitions and Other News

Back to Real Life, But Excited For What’s To Come.

I just got back from one of the most fun trips yet to the charming and exciting land of Ludington, MI; hiking, swimming, sketching on the beach … my boyfriend and I were determined to jam in everything that epitomizes summer before it’s too late! I vowed to not check my email to make it a true reprieve, but I did peek just once in the car on the way there, and I’m glad I did because I got some awesome news. Two of my pieces were accepted into Studio 23 in Bay City’s Women’s Perspective show for September! If you’ve read my earlier post, ladies sometimes get forgotten in the gallery scene even today, so I am excited and honored to be a part of what I’m sure is going to be a wonderful show. Below are the two works that will be showing. If you’d like to learn more about the process of creating “On My Mind”, you can visit my earlier entry focusing on this piece.

On My Mind

The Peacock

Another fun surprise was the new murals up in Ludington to take touristy photos in front of! Art truly is everywhere, and it is wonderful. Murals aside, not to be cheesy, but one can’t look at the serene layers of bright blue water, warm yellow-beige sand, and bold green foliage and not see the very world we live in as one of the largest, most complex creations to ever exist, and truly the largest, most interactive art project.

Me posing oh-so-cool in front of my favorite mural of the bunch.

Behold, bright colors! Yes, that is Spider-man on my t-shirt.

I just ate it after a wave literally knocked me on my butt while I was wading out. There were weather warnings out all day, which of course means perfect day to go swimming! Thrill seeker 4 life.

I just ate it after a huge wave literally knocked me on my butt while I was wading out. There were weather warnings out all day, which of course means perfect time to go swimming! Thrill seeker for life, man.

New Work

New Work – The Enchantress

Behold! In progress photos from instagram (allisenoble)! It’s been quite a journey.

This piece was inspired first by the cockatoos. I then based the figure off of what I thought this bird’s matching human counterpart would look like. I wanted to use primarily pinks because pink is a color that is hardly ever found in serious art (i.e. not pretty-little-princess-time children’s picture books), and you know, it’s just light red so I don’t know what everyone is so afraid of ;). I used ink for the birds and branches, pencil for the figure’s face and hair, watercolor for the background, and accented in metallic silver acrylic. The figure is mysterious and enchanting. The word “enchantress” is often cast in a negative way, as either a fantasy villain or else scheming heart-breaker. The dictionary definition of an enchantress is a “charming, irresistible woman”. It goes on to give examples such as “dangerous, sexually exploits innocent men”. Oh really? [insert facepalm here]. A woman can be powerful and captivating, mesmerizing and awe-inspiring, without being discredited as somehow “untrustworthy” or “dangerous” because of her strengths. It’s all in how you use the power that you radiate. I wanted to show a softer, positive side to the descriptor as a beautiful, intelligent and thoughtful, creative soul that shines a light wherever she goes. Let me know what you think!

Allise Nicole's Artistic Explorations

How-Tos, Project Ideas, Interesting Artists, and a Glimpse Into My Own Inspiration and Creative Process.

Tag Archives: drawing

New Toys + Favorite Patterns On Redbubble

Let The Holidays Begin

Artists To Know : Halloween Edition

Womens Perspective At Studio 23

Coffee Is Love.

Speaking of coffee being just the best…

This Is Why You Should Keep Old Work Forever.

I’m Not The Only One Who’s Been Busy This Summer …

Back to Real Life, But Excited For What’s To Come.

New Work – The Enchantress