A corner of my sketchbook.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
new print + pinterest giveaway
I painted this piece earlier this year after Mike and I took a vacation to snowboard and visit friends in Colorado. In my head, Colorado was nothing but mountains and rocks and snow, but in real life a lot of it is really beautiful prairie crosscrossed by fences and train tracks, and nothing but big huge sky from the horizon up. I scribbled down a poem and later used it for this piece, which is a little more rustic and organic than most of my other work. Lots of graphite, metal, rust, etc.
To enter:
- All you have to do is pin your favorite print from my Etsy shop. If you've pinned my work anytime before this, I very much appreciate it but also ask that you pin again to enter this giveaway.
- Put the title of the print and @mae chevrette somewhere in the description.
- Make sure to comment just once below with a link to your board or Pinterest profile to let me know you've pinned. I'll pick two comments randomly and announce the winners on Monday :)
Good luck!
Under the Open Sky is available in my shop as a print in three sizes.
The original will be available later this week.
Also, thank you to everyone who started following me on Pinterest! I'm still fighting off this cold and and had a blast chilling on the couch and looking through all of your boards. I decided to do a Pinterest giveaway today as well... two winners will win their favorite 14"x11" print from my shop!
This giveaway is now over at 1am EST - I'll announce the winners on Monday afternoon. If you didn't get to enter, don't worry, there will be another one soon!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
inspired by: handcrafted typography
I have a lot on my plate right now - two magazine interviews in the works, two commissioned artworks to finish by the end of the month, a state tax oops to deal with, an original piece to get shipped to Australia, a wholesale order to get out the door and some work to finish up and make into prints before the holiday rush - but I had to force myself to totally chill out for the day because I was so groggy I probably would have royally screwed up each of those things.
There was no way a creative thought was going to make it through this many layers of blankets and DayQuil, so I went through some old bookmarks and caught up on blogs and lived vicariously through other people's creativity for a couple hours. Here's some cool typography stuff I found or re-found today...
Hand Lettering for Uppercase Magazine by illustrator Darren Booth:
Intricate papercut typography and portraits by Julene Harrison:
Screen print by Jon Contino (who also has an awesome inspiration/in-process blog):
The chalk art and lettering of Dana Tanamachi (whose time-lapse process videos are literally jaw-dropping):
Brushy scripty illustration and watercolors by Chris Ballasiotes:
Illustration and hand-lettering by Eduardo Recife:
Linen paintings by Kristina and Jason of Inaluxe (I have been wanting this pair FOR LIKE EVER):
"Locals Only" by David Fullarton, who also has a super hilarious blog:
It's kinda obvious to write (not that deep thoughts are my strong point right now) but there are so many talented artists out there it blows my mind! Since all of my artwork and lettering is handcrafted with paper and ink on a canvas (as opposed to digitally rendered on a computer) it is really inspiring to see that even in the time of digital everything, all of these artists are finding commercial success creating work with an organic, rustic, handcrafted feel. Maybe the over-saturation of glossy, sleek sans-serifed design is creating a demand for products that actually look like they were made by humans? Awesome.
Each one of these artists has a really incredible portfolio worth spending some time looking through if you're inspired by interesting hand-lettered design and illustration... definitely check out David Fullarton's and try not to laugh when you think about me trying to navigate it with my eyes half shut and a brain full of antihistamines.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
the white mountains
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
inspired by: liz brizzi
It isn't often that you can look through an artist's entire portfolio and just really love absolutely everything you see, but that is how I felt after coming across the artwork of Los Angeles based mixed media artist Liz Brizzi.
The Gateway
Untitled
The Last Train
Allegory
Fragments
Water Tower
Outskirts
Delusion
I'm not an art critic, a trained writer or anything in between so you'll have to bear with me while I try to describe everything I appreciate about Liz's artwork and how it makes me feel (which is a lot!)
Like previously featured artist Jessica Hess, Liz's work explores the often overlooked beauty of urban landscapes, layering the solemn shapes of industrial architecture over vibrant acrylic washes and street-art inspired textures. Born in France to Italian parents, she's lived in Los Angeles but travels to various metropolitan areas (even moving alone to Italy for almost a year) to gain inspiration for different approaches to her art.
My favorite aspect of her work is how the roughness and visible tactility of multiple layers of paint, paper, and her original photography are the perfect catalyst for her subject matter... In each painting, raw silhouettes of bridges, streetlights and buildings area easily transformed from potentially solemn scenes into really bright, bold urban dreamscapes. I also love that there is sort of a pop-art aspect to a lot of her pieces too... she doesn't shy away from incorporating text, faces, fragmented lines and images to give each piece a gritty abstract feel.
The brighter pieces in particular make me think of those rare, awesome moments after an evening storm passes through a city, when light and color seems to bounce off wet concrete and brighten the normally grey surfaces sparkle with sunset color. The colors are dramatic and vivid without being an eyesore. Her work is just awesome! I can't get over it. I'm pretty obsessed with "The Gateway" and though the original is a little out of my reach, I'm buying a print for our apartment from Liz's Society 6 print shop. You can check out the rest of her portfolio here or keep up with her new work on her Facebook fan page.
Monday, October 3, 2011
six new artworks
Six small artworks inspired by my recent roadtrip. All are 8"x10" on a flat, rigid canvas panel and are for sale in my Etsy shop.
"In Harbor" $125 (SOLD)
"Find Ourselves" $95 SOLD
"The Earth Laughs In Flowers #2" $45 SOLD
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