An oink oink here...

It must be all the swine talk of late that made me think of these illustrations I did for Migo mugs a while back. Wash your hands folks and let's keep our sneezes to ourselves. Hopefully the news will be back to talking about happier things such as the recession before we know it.

Cute hoots

The other day I did a new little illustration for a friend's baby onesie—a little blue owl. I thought he needed some friends so I did a few more to hang out in his tree. Here are the owlies in the day and also how they look at night time. 

Bertschi School: Teaching Sustainability

My client Bertschi School in Capitol Hill has an on-going commitment to sustainability and uses a global approach to education. Recent additions to the campus include an impressive LEED certified building, water cisterns, solar panels, a green roof and more. Last year I designed an interpretive signage system to highlight these features, as well as inform students, parents and visitors. The signage functions in tandem with an interactive kiosk which gives additional information the viewer.

I created a system of 14 signs that cohesively fit with the style of the existing campus signage. Each of the signs represents one of the 5 main categories—sustainable sites, water efficiency, solar energy, air quality, materials—and has a corresponding illustration at the top of the panels.

We created the signs to be: intriguing, engaging, fun, informative and to have a 5-8 year lifespan. They also needed to have the ability to display the students' artwork year round. The signs are made from steel and allow the metal's natural finish and oxidation to show through, then were protected with a clear coat finish.

Poppy pods

I did this illustration a couple of years ago and just rediscovered it in my sketchbook. I always liked it and thought it would look nice with some color and texture added. One of these days I'll get around to planting poppies in my yard—the big frilly orange kind that are so perfect they almost don't look real.

Happy Easter!

Wishing you a peaceful Easter and sunshine on your egg hunt. Moms and Dads—keep track of where you hide them, it's no fun playing 'find the rotten egg' two weeks from now. Me, I'll be hitting the after Easter candy sales—there's nothing like stale Peeps. Mmmmmmm.... :)

Snail snack

I've often heard the old adage 'write what you know'. Sometimes when I'm stumped on what to draw I remind myself the same thing applies—'draw what you know'! So here's what's going on in my little corner of the world: starting seedlings for the garden and keeping an eye on two pet snails. I curse the snails and slugs when they're chewing holes in my hostas and ligularia in the garden, but I can't bring myself to kill them. Most often they spend their retirement in the yard waste bin.

So here's a new illustration for you. This time I incorporated painted textures, paper and a scan of a rusty background. Hope you like it.

Donuts make people happy

Here's another illustration for you inspired by the yummy donuts at Top Pot here in Seattle. Nothing like a fresh donut and good coffee! This time I scanned some origami papers and combined them with the drawing and painted textures I made. Enjoy! 

Launching DZO Strategists

I recently created this system of business papers for DZO Strategists. Their objectives were to convey a solid, confident, smart and solution-driven brand. I designed the DZO identity last fall so it was great to take it to another level and apply it to their printed materials. I selected Neenah Classic Crest in Avalanche White which is another of my favorite enviro-friendly stocks. When choosing the perfect red for their identity, we felt limited by what Pantone had to offer so a custom red ink was mixed to exactly match what my own printer had produced.