feral type.

hey so i've been taking a class to learn how to help students develop independent portfolios and to help them really understand the idea of a body of work (rather than reiterations of one idea) and our assignment was to begin exploring an idea for a body of work ourselves. so! maybe you haven't heard, but i really like type and lettering (best kept secret in the world, right?) i have a habit of snapping photos of what i like to call "feral type" of different letters and signage "in the wild" when i am walking around the city (my own, or as a guest). i started with these images and then looked at the implications of cropping, environment/context, and other factors on how we "read" the letters. anyway. so this is what i came up with:

and of course they're squares because really, have you met me? each one has a little bit of a story behind it and together represent three different cities. there's a great kickstarter project that i backed after starting this body of work that is working to create a map structure in NYC that would be searchable/geotagged to build a collaborative representation of these feral letters... i think placement/mapping would definitely have something to do with the display of these pieces in context of one another/in a physical installation.

so, that's a thing! i have my favorites, but i'm interested to know what you think. happy mlk day, everybody! 

dailies 11/27-12/3 + artmarket 2011!

here are the dailies, on the tail end of a busy, busy weekend! i have been running around getting everything together for artmarket, which starts on wednesday! more on that later, let's get to the dailies:

(sunday, november 27th)

 (monday, november 28th)

(tuesday, november 29th)

 (wednesday, november 30th)

 (thursday, december 1st)

 (friday, december 2nd)

(saturday, december 3rd)

now the really exciting part: a sneak peek at all the goods i've been prepping, printing, trimming, mounting, wrapping, packaging, tagging, and hopefully selling this week at mica's annual artmarket!

in addition to some of my favorite old-school illustrations (both as ready-to-frame prints and mounted on wooden cradles for display on bookshelves, windowsills, or easily hung on a wall), this year i am rolling out two hand-lettered posters featuring the best of the dailies 2011 (in a "you can do it!" theme and an "wow i love you" theme), thank you notes (in full color!), and two sets of love notes: a sweet variety full of adorably hand-lettered affectionate sayings, and a sassy variety full of the same affection, plus expletives.

be sure to stop by the art education table (on the second floor of mica's brown center) wednesday-saturday to see my work. if you stop by thursday evening or saturday, you'll even see me! if you can't make it, but are interested in something you see here, please let me know! have a great week, everybody.

the old switcheroo!

so, i know you've all probably been grumbling to yourself, "GIVE ME THE DAILIES I WANT THE DAILIES" but unfortunately, i don't have them for you yet. they are stuck in the blue pencil stage right now because, for the end of the pre-college program i decided to take my gentle obsession with making/writing love notes (which littered our office by the end of the program, doodled on post-its, scrap paper, and even a toilet paper roll fashioned into a tiny owl speaking words of love & adoration) and make hand-lettered thank yous for my incredible staff members (slash friends).

below is a sampling of some of them which i present as a peace offering and also proof that i am in fact not a big fat slacker. i hope they liked getting them as much as i liked making them.

the dailies will be coming, i promise. i am hoping to sneak this week's in before i head to the beach for some legit vacation-time like a real-live grown-up (without internet or a scanner).
have a great (rest of) your week, everyone!

OMG WOW NEW dailies 2011: 1/01-1/08.

so here it is: the slightly less time-consuming/first-year teacher-friendly version of the dailies for 2011. hopefully the visual-journal-esque part of the project that is so therapeutic and meditative (and possibly appealing to you, dear readers?) will still come through in this new form. it definitely fits in my schedule better than the 2010 dailies did, and perhaps as time goes on and i become a better slash more time-effective teacher (see sunday, january 2nd), i will be able to further develop the best sketch of the week into a more finished composition digitally (with color! and other things!). for now, here's what we have:

 (saturday, january 1st)

 (sunday, january 2nd)

  (monday, january 3rd)

  (tuesday, january 4th)

 

  (wednesday, january 5th)

   (thursday, january 6th)

  (friday, january 7th)

  (saturday, january 8th)

for the record, on wednesday,  i really did wear pants to work FOR THE FIRST TIME ALL YEAR and on saturday, we played "mustache television" where you stick a mustache (ours was made of duct tape so it was like a sweet shiny future 'stache) to the tv and wait for it to line up with somebody's face. believe me this is way more awesome than it seems. 

see? narrative! fun! right? please let me know what you think about the 2011 game plan, and have a great week,  everybody.

dailies 6/8-6/14.

dailies week two wahoo! this will be a quick one because i am very sleepy, even though it is very early. fun fact: the last pattern-y drawing was loosely inspired by staring into the middle distance at my bookshelf, and the first hand-lettering one is me lamenting and/or punishing myself for getting my car towed. because i am a genius.

thank you ladies and gentlemen goodnight!