"Oh the cleverness of me..."

2011-05-24T18:37:00.000-07:00

Some things are done so beautifully you can't help but wish with an ache in your heart that you had done it yourself. Check this out by Ryan Woodward.

changes

2011-05-11T08:01:00.001-07:00

Some big things have happened lately and one of them is that I have shut down my design studio. After 7 years of tann|design it was time to say good bye. Why you ask? Well things were going really well and I could see my little firm growing and heading somewhere really big. The problem was that it was not what I wanted any longer. I used to want to own my own design firm, I use to want success in the design field, and I achieved it, and was one my way to achieve more. However during that time I also became a mother to two incredible boys.

I realized that they were my new priority and I only had them for a short time. Then I realized that they had no idea that they were my top priority! By all appearances my business was my top priority. I had to ask myself, "do I want to raise two amazing kids that can grow in a loving home and be the best they can be, or do I want to raise a business." The answer was no. No I do not want to raise a business....right now. Who knows what the future holds, but for now my future is my kids. Once they are gone I can start again. I can raise 500 businesses at that time. But I only get one chance to teach and guide these little guys. So I am going to do my best to achieve that by giving them my full attention, because up till now they have only had 50%. When I told the boys what my plans were they both jumped for joy and said "YAAAAAAYYYY!!!!" So already I know I did the right thing. :-)

What does that mean for you? Well that means I should have time to do more personal art work and post on this blog. So below are some things I did recently and one I did a while ago and never shared.

Another change is that I am going to start including watermarks on all of my displayed art. It is not my favorite thing to do as it distracts from the work. However due to the unfortunate dishonesty of some, the rest must suffer. So please do your best to appreciate the work around my name displayed over it.

This is a poster I did that is exactly what the title is, Faith is Simple. I just was thinking about a way to express what faith is and I thought how really it starts in the heart and is simple. Nothing complicated. So the art itself is simple. It is actually a rather large poster and looks pretty dramatic in real life with the red image in a white field.

I made this little guy for one of my sons who wanted a Robot Shirt.

This was an illustration that was published by Texas Coop Magazine. I just never got around to showing it. This was actually the very first art work I ever had published. So it holds a special place in my heart. It is kind of weird I have never posted it before.

More to come!

Mormon Prom

2011-03-16T09:55:00.001-07:00

Wow I haven't posted in a while. Never fear I am still working, just not on personal stuff. Here is a poster I just completed for my church. Every year they put on a formal for teens 16-18 who want an alternative to High School Prom. It is sometimes called Mormon Prom. This year they asked me to do the poster. So here it is!

Leon Honey

2010-05-16T11:02:00.000-07:00

In honor of my Grandpa and the life he lead.

Park Clean Up

2010-04-24T19:05:00.001-07:00

This is a poster I just completed for a church service project. It was fun trying to recreate the old school Fisher Price Little People.

Finished

2009-09-10T21:03:00.001-07:00

So I redid the Austin one like I mentioned before and I feel really happy about the outcome. So here they are together and I will get them printed out soon. You can compare the older version here.

Completed

2009-08-09T15:19:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who gave me input. I made a few minor changes and one major change based on all the feedback and now I can say I am finished. It is nice to be done with something that has been hanging over my head for a while. So anyway you can see the completed series. The plan was to make these available to the public, that is why they come in different colors. We will see if that still happens or not. If you are interested in one let me know. It is a 15x18 poster. If I get enough requests I will put some pricing and an order together. Thanks!

Circle of life

2009-08-08T13:58:00.001-07:00

I am not sure what to think of this. I like it, but something doesn't sit right with me. Maybe I am just trying too hard. Blah blah. It was originally a series of illustrations I did, and I have always wanted to combine them in someway as they were originally linked to one another in my head. The idea is that everything relies on everything. First we must follow the Spirit/ God, which gives us strength. Strength/confidence leads to beauty (more like awareness in beauty, not so much as outer beauty, but a appreciation of it and inner beauty), which leads to friendship or connections which in turn helps you have energy, humor and love for the things around you. All becoming a sum total of our lives. I don't know if that makes sense or what. Like I said maybe I am trying too hard, if something needs that much explanation then it is not working. Any feedback would be appreciated. BTW this was done in a series of colors but I just posted this one.

Logan's Turn

2009-08-03T15:01:00.001-07:00

A while back I posted a similar piece featuring my other son Austin and now here is the second one. Now that this one is complete I like it better and will have to go back and re-do the Austin one. Bummer, I was hoping I was done. Oh well.

Rocket

2009-05-31T17:01:00.000-07:00

Erik the Red

2009-05-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

The beginnings of a project I am working on with my cousin.

Water colors

2009-03-31T20:58:00.000-07:00

Just practicing some watercolors. Getting to know face positioning, ect. Also on a side note, my self-portraits never look anything like me at all. So I have no idea who this is supposed to be.

Type and kids

2009-02-16T22:17:00.001-08:00

This is just a little project I have been doing for myself. I just completed the Austin version and am now working on the Logan version. I will eventually print these up and hang them by their rooms. In case you haven't noticed, I love mixing type and images.

Fun with type

2008-11-12T21:26:00.000-08:00

Just a little project I made for my church. It is actually a 3-d piece with a declaration on families placed about two inches in front of it on transparency, but it looks no good on computer. So here is just the background. Fun with type... and you will just have to take my word on the fact that the final outcome came out pretty good.

The Steel Inquisitor II

2008-10-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

Alright so a couple posts ago I already talked about this guy. Here is the finished product. I am pretty pleased with it. I think that it could use a little bit more work, but sometimes you just have to be done with something so you can move on. I know I promised to show the step by step, perhaps I will in another post. If any of you have not read Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy then you must stop everything and do it now. Truly the best fantasy writer I have ever read.

Squirrel Cat thingy

2008-09-24T15:41:00.000-07:00

Just a little guy I saw peeking at me in the tile floor of my bathroom. I don't think it is quite finished but I am tired of working on it and ready to move on to the next thing. So maybe I will come back to it later.

Kinetic Typography makes me drool

2008-08-07T18:09:00.000-07:00

I love typography and it is even cooler when it moves. So even though I didn't create this it is still worth looking at. So check out this sweet video and see if you too could drool over typography.

Click Here

Also I know there is a way to embed You Tube videos, I just don't feel like figuring it out right now. If someone knows and wanted to tell me that would be great.

The Steel Inquisitor

2008-06-30T14:10:00.001-07:00

I am trying something totally new. I have a new favorite Author and his name is Brandon Sanderson. I love love love love love love (did I mention love?) his books. He creates some of the best characters I have ever read. So for the first time ever I am going to attempt some "fan art" This is a first on many levels. First -I usually don't do fan art type stuff as most looks like sketches from middle school art class. The one most awesome exception I have seen is Seamas Gallagher and his incredible Wheel of Time characters, literally the best I have ever seen. Also I have never wanted to see a character enough to attempt it. Another first is that I have never drawn a "bad guy" before, I always feel they end up looking too much like a girl drew them, which makes sense as I am a girl. The last first is that while there is some stuff I am pretty good at, the thing I am weak at, and it is embarrassing, is shading. I never seem to be able to push it enough. So this piece will be my attempt at finally doing something well in shading. So since this will be a series of firsts for me I thought I would just post the steps as I worked on it. So here is the initial sketch. I am old school and just use pencil and tracing paper. I know, it is almost as if I still carry a pager, or listen to eight tracks, but nevertheless it works better for me. Oh yea, and this guy is a Steel Inquisitor, major bad guy from the Mistborn Series. I am sure a lot of tweaking will occur as I go along. So wish me luck, and I am always open to suggestions as I go along.

Ahhh summertime...

2008-05-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

Well it is that time of year and all of you are wondering why the lady in this illustration looks vaguely familiar. Well that is because she is at every pool you have been to. You know that mom who used to be hot, but forgot that she no longer is, yet still dressed as she was before the sweet kiddos. It is the same mom, who cannot make the effort to walk the five feet to her kids, but instead screeches at them from her towel "I see you! You better knock it off (insert name) or I will tell you what, don't you look at me that way, I am going to tell your father!" Repeats this several times and then finally stomps over in all her jiggly glory and really scolds them. Then sits down, pulls down her Armani shades, opens her Gucci bag and starts reading vogue.

Beautiful Butterfly

2008-04-24T05:21:00.001-07:00

Dan left a glass on the couch and it left a double water ring in the material. I was staring at the rings and thought "those sure look like eyes." And then I drew this guy. Still needs a background or something. (any suggestions?) But I did have fun using my new Tablet! I can't believe I ever got along without one. Thanks Adam, for pointing me in the right direction!

Just a funny lady.

2008-04-08T22:17:00.001-07:00

Austin in contour

2008-04-08T22:13:00.001-07:00

So these are really just Photoshop and Illustrator tricks, but they were still fun a to do, even if it felt like cheating. The first one isn't showing up as well as I would like so click on it to see it better if you want.

Darlings and Divas

2008-04-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

O.k. so I wanted a chance to display my fine art and illustration talents and of course I start off with a logo. The difference is I got to use the following stuff for it and since the project got canceled I wanted a chance to put them out there anyway.

So the project was for a fashion show/fundraiser called "Divas and Darlings" since the models were both adults and young children. So I really researched a lot of Fashion Design and tried a bunch of different styles. I just really liked this messy one and mostly did if for myself, since I knew the client wanted a pretty clean look.
The next one was more of a graphic style similar to Robert Weiss, etc. It was okay, but I feel like it is being done a lot and didn't seem to fit the clientele they were looking for.
So this is the one that was chosen. I liked working with the water colors and paints that I haven't opened in years. So it felt good to just stretch those muscles again. I know that most everything is digital these days, but sometimes it is just nice to smell paint again and also I don't have a tablet so all my digital fine art comes out very...boring.