little gg draws

Before I get started on Halloween Craft Week, I wanted to introduce you to an artist who deserves a bit of spotlight. A friend of mine and Charlie's, Gina Antonelli, had a gallery opening last Friday featuring her new illustrations. She is a super talented illustrator and this is the first time I actually got to see her work.

These photos don't do her paintings justice but I tried to capture some close-ups so you can get a feel for the work. You can also see more of her illustrations on her portfolio site, Little Gg Draws.

I was able to snag a quick photo of Gina even though there were tons of people there. It was a really nice turn out! I really like these particular illustrations because they are incredibly relatable. They all feature a girl who bogged down and surrounded by life's chores like cooking and cleaning, while the real goals seem just out of reach. The beautiful detail in the dresses is just amazing.

I mean, who hasn't felt like they were falling through a vortex of laundry, dishes, and groceries? This is pretty much what the inside of my head looks like. :)

The girls' hair always gets me too. The detail in the twists and curls is incredible. Definitely stop by her portfolio site and check out the other paintings. There's also another beautiful series of the 12 Days of Christmas. Kind of amazing.

Hope everyone's week is starting off well! In other news, I finally got a call about a job! Say a prayer, knock on wood, cross your fingers, or whatever it is you do, that I get the second interview call! :)

water color fun

I can safely say I haven't touched water colors since high school art class. But I think I have just found a new love for them.


See, what happened was, I decided it'd be a great idea for Charlie and I to make anniversary presents for each other this year. We started dating five years ago this past July 7th and I thought we should honor the date by exchanging something special. And since I'm flat broke and he has a tight budget now that he has a new apartment, making something seemed to make sense.


From the beginning I knew I wanted to make a book. I really like bookbinding and have gotten better at it since binding all the books for my senior project (nightmare). The only thing I didn't know was what the book was going to contain. I originally thought of some sort of scrap book of things I've collected over the years but couldn't find a good way to go about it. Then I thought of just photos with text. The thought of full bleed photos with text on top bored me to tears though. Then I had the brilliant idea of combining my first two ideas and taking polaroid photos and then sewing them onto the pages combined with text to give it a more scrapbooky feel.

That was my favorite idea. Until I looked up the price of polaroid film. *facepalm*


When I figured out I could just get him a nice gift for the couple hundred dollars the film would've cost, I realized it was time for a new plan. I decided to illustrate the book. This doesn't seem like a problem unless you know how I feel about drawing. I actually do love it, I'm just no good at it. And I totally admire people that are good at it. I'm actually going to save that for another post though because I have too many opinions and complaints for this already growing post. But I'll try to keep it witty and lighthearted, I promise. ;)


So, as I will explain in my I Hate Drawing post, I have big issues with letting loose when it comes to drawing, and not being a totally anal retentive perfectionist. I think I'm getting better at letting go though, and the water colors helped. I've always liked painting because it's not so precise. Unless you're one of those people who makes paintings that look like photos. Which I am not. So I just told myself I'd do a simple sketch of the illustration I wanted and then have fun painting it up.


So far it's coming out pretty much the way I wanted it to. It's very relaxing and mistakes are easily fixed with a few more brushstrokes. It's nothing museum-worthy, but it's exactly what I wanted. Fun, pretty, and easy. We're obviously a little late on exchanging the gifts but I'd rather take the time to do it right than worry about deadlines. It'll kind of be like having a second celebration anyway! :)


So what have you made for special people in your lives? I need more ideas because I do love making things for people. Any inspiration is greatly welcome. :)

Have a great week!

meat america

Good ol' PA in steak form. I'd eat that. This past friday I met up with Charlie and his coworkers in Northern Liberties and we all traveled over to Bambi Gallery for Dominic Episcopo's show, Meat America. Probably not vegan friendly. There was a great turnout and the photos were amazing. The main wall when you first walk in was a map of the U.S. divided up like cuts of meat.



Down at the bottom was a cut of Louisiana, surrounded by oil X). Some of the meat was cut into portraits of famous people such as Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Jackson. Pretty impressive.


There's the man of the hour in the bottom left corner (above).


This is a chandelier in the gallery that I thought was awesome so I took a picture. Upon further inspection it could do without the questionable light sticking out of it but other than that it's pretty cool.


I heard that these photos are going to be used for other things too, such as a book. There is also a possibility that Urban Outfitters will be selling prints of them. I think that's pretty exciting and I'll definitely be looking out for that. How cool would these look in a kitchen?



I met a lot of really nice people and definitely left the gallery hungry. We went to Dos Segundos afterward and I got steak tacos :). Those were seriously the first tacos I've ever enjoyed. I don't generally care for Mexican food. I can't stand whatever that typical "taco spice" is. These were delicious though.

In other news, I've been working on my new blog design all weekend and it's almost finished. Things are actually working out and I'm stoked about it. I get along with html way better than I get along with Flash so that probably has something to do with it. All I really have left to do is shoot my banner image so I anticipate the new design being up this week, sooner rather than later. I'm excited! Now I'm off to the city to make a stop at Sailor Jerry's because supposedly they are going to stop their clothing line so I want to see if I can score anything on sale.

Happy Monday! Have a good week :)