Category: Illustration

Illustrator bucks current!  Sort of…

Published on by awsstudiosartLeave a comment

Like my old friend and colleague, illustrator, Jerry Russell, who chooses to work in different illustration styles  dismissing the adage that illustrators should settle into one or two styles, I too have worked in a variety of media and, overtime, have shown different styles.  (Though, I admit that, currently, I have settled comfortably into collage as my style du jour.) 

My Sewing Machine

“My Sewing Machine” is an example of my foray into computer generated art and design.  For a while, I liked using the computer to make art.  At the time, I was just beginning my venture into fabric and paper collage, and making pictures using  the  computer was, to me, a lot like making collages (or maybe that’s just how I approached the media).  But, alas, it didn’t last and back to the tactile I went, liking the  handling, cutting and gluing of fabric and paper over the point and click of a computer mouse (styluses and tablets were just coming on the market).  As one of only  a few of my computer illustrated works,  “My Sewing Machine” was a representation of another important media I worked in – sewing.  I did all sorts of sewing including costume construction (for the Syracuse Stage Costume Department), dressmaking, appliqué and machine embroidery.  (For a  while, I had a dressmaking business designing and making one-of-a-kind gowns ultimately providing a niche fashion market designing and constructing wedding gowns for the “Pregnant Bride”!  [More on that maybe in another post!])

The applique and machine embroidery lend well to illustration, though, they are much more time consuming.  Instead of quickly (somewhat) gluing paper or fabric down on a surface,  applique and machine embroidery rely on sewing, either thick “lines” of thread to secure pieces of fabric to another base fabric “canvas”  for applique,  and “lines” of thread to “draw,” “sketch” or “paint” pictures on a fabric “canvas” for machine embroidery.  These sewing methods require more time than the typical collage method.  (Knowing the work and time required for these illustration techniques provides me with ample respect and appreciation for fabric artists like Bisa Butler and her detailed and colorful applique portraits.  Amazing and beautiful!)

Boot Shot applique
Friends machine embroidery

Both of my sewing machine-made art pictured here were “squares” for a “Bon Voyage” quilt I coordinated and made for friends who  were leaving to sail their sailboat around the world.  I coordinated the making of the quilt by asking other friends of the sailors to each pitch in a square.  The “Friends” square is a machine embroidery portrait collage of the friends who “spared a square” for the BV quilt.  “Boot Shot” is an applique I created representing a favorite shared activity between many of the quilt making friends – our love of hiking in the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York.  (Later, I made a print of this square and entered it into a t-shirt contest sponsored by The Adirondack Mountain Club.  Like my entry in the Dali Museum contest, again, my design wasn’t selected! But as usual, it didn’t stop me from more creating and entering!)

I don’t think I will go back to these media and methods.  Though, you never know!  What do you think?  Should I do more of the computer-generated art, the applique or the machine embroidery?  Illustrators, do you have just one or two styles or, like Jerry and me, do you, too, buck the norm?  I’d love to hear about it in the Comments section below.

This is a picture of the inside spread of the Beyond the Gate at Casey Key See and Say booklet by aws Studios

“Beyond the Gate on Casey Key” © 2020, A children’s “See and Say ™ ” booklet

Published on by awsstudiosart1 Comment

In the winter, my husband and I leave our cherished cottage on “The Great Sodus Bay” (as it’s termed in Google Maps) off Lake Ontario for the warmer climes of the Gulf of Mexico.  My favorite bike ride there is to leave my home in Venice, Florida, hop on the wonderful “Legacy Trail” and make my way over to Casey Key.  Casey Key is one of the many unique Keys running along the intercostal waterway on Florida’s “Gulf” side.  Casey Key in Nokomis, Florida is known for its narrow motorway with gorgeous views of the Gulf and its spectacular and lovely oceanside (and intercostal side) mansions (it’s also a winter home to Steven King).  On one of my biweekly rides, I finally took the time to snap some shots along the way.  The picture of the iron gate inspired me to make a “See and Say” booklet for my toddler granddaughter. 

The “Beyond the Gate on Casey Key See and Say” booklet’s front cover is the shot of the gate beckoning the reader to open the gate to “see” what’s beyond.  Once open, I collaged a fantasy view of the Gulf with, well, like the rhyme says, the sun, the waves, the sand and shells, sailboats, dolphins and seagulls.  I enjoyed making this fun booklet and made a few copies for friends’ children and grandchildren and a few of my adult friends received a copy as a greeting card.  If you are interested in a copy of the “Beyond the Gate on Casey Key See and Say” booklet, contact me here.

Have you been to Casey Key?  If so, have you ever spotted the gate there?  

Beyond the gate on Casey Key, tell me now, what do you see?

Do you see a butterfly kite? And a big yellow sun shining bright?

On the shore some seashells gather while dancing waves make a lather.

Count the starfish if you can. They are hiding in the sand!

Out on the Gulf of Mexico, where the winds begin to blow,

Sailboats chase the dolphins gray all through the blue green ocean spray.

Feathery gulls fly up high as the clouds go drifting by.

It’s a beautiful day for you and me beyond the gate on Casey Key!

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

DIY Kitchen Sign

Published on by awsstudiosart6 Comments

My Kitchen Sign

My very own “kitchen sign”
My great grandfather’s grocery wagon
Layout for the grocer chalkboard sign
My Aunt Evelyn (left) and my mother Lucy in front of my family’s grocery store

A Personal Kitchen Sign

For a while, I was obsessed with watching home renovation shows (I think my interest is finally waning, but I continue to love a good transformation).  Framed signs hanging in the kitchen became quite the thing on those shows and I wanted one.

 Most of these signs said things like, “FARM” or “Kitchen”, “Eats”, or “Ma’s Diner” etc.  But, as an artist and someone who often tries to be different than the mainstream, I wanted my sign to be unique, maybe something more personal. 

I remembered a photo my sister Sue had of my great grandfather’s horse-drawn grocery wagon with a sign on the side advertising his business.  It became the inspiration for my very own “kitchen sign”.

My Great Grandfather’s Sign

I used the photo of the sign on the wagon as the basis for my sign design.  Since the photo was old and out of focus, I could only follow the general layout of the original. 

I found fonts on Word to assimilate those used on the original sign and printed them out in extra-large point.  I then traced the text onto a chalkboard I had prepared with chalkboard paint on an old, recycled framed board. 

I had made chalkboard signs before and had tried using just chalk with a sealer (so the chalk would not smudge) and using white paint pens that give the look of chalk.  The sealer on the chalk never seemed to do its job so I ended up choosing the paint pens.  I also designed the filigree-like ornamentation adorning the middle and corners of the sign. 

Learning Family History

One of the best outcomes of this project was learning more about my great grandfather from my sister who is a genealogist.  She told me my great grandfather William Fisher ran a grocery business in Glendon, Pennsylvania, a small town along the Lehigh River, north of Philadelphia. 

At 18, he ran away from his home in England to America and, once in the states, he changed his last name from Woods to Fisher (my mother claimed it was because he thought it was more “American”; how that is, I’m not sure).  He started working at an iron factory and in 1874, he married a widow with two young daughters who both died about ten years later. 

Elizabeth (the widow) and William had a child of their own named Evelyn Hepzibah (they called her “Eppie”).  Eppie was my grandmother.   In the 1890s, William became a farmer, started a grocery delivery business and bought a grocery store in Easton, PA.  When he retired, my grandparents, Eppie and her husband John Edinger took over the store.

I liked creating my own kitchen sign and, even better, I enjoyed learning more about my family history and my great grandfather William.

see more of my aws studios art here