Featured Artist :: Emily Finan Art & Illustration

This week's featured artist is Emily Finan Art & Illustration!

Senioritis: Name and location please.
Emily Finan: Emily Finan and I live just outside of Detroit, Michigan.
Senioritis: Hey Emily!

Senioritis: Can you tell us a little about yourself Emily?
Emily Finan: I'm a 20-something artist, art student, and teacher from Detroit, Michigan. I'm working on a degree in studio art as well as art education; and I spend all my free time drawing, painting, and playing with my puppy Vinnie. Lately I have been working on a series of drawings inspired by old photographs of little Victorian girls. After working with a fantastic print house I'm excited to be offering prints in my Etsy shop.
Senioritis: Very cool, what type od dog is Vinnie? Your Victorian inspired drawings are great. We especially like the way you can see the textures on the bows, clothing and accessories. It's as if a real bow is placed on the drawing, sweet work.

Senioritis: Curious George or Cat in the Hat?
Emily Finan: Book wise, Cat in the Hat. It was my absolute favorite as a toddler! Movie wise, Curious George; so much cuter than Mike Meyers in a cat costume.



Senioritis: Which words would best describe your style?
Emily Finan: Cute, Simple, Awkward, and Illustrative.

Senioritis: What's the best business tip you have ever received and who gave it to you?
Emily Finan: When I was starting to think about selling my work, my financial guru of a father told me "You'll work twice as hard as you expect, spend twice as much as you planned, and in the first year or so the best you can hope for is to break even (but you'll probably lose money.) Know this, and never give up." And he was absolutely right.
Senioritis: Excellent words of wisdom. We think it's pretty common to underestimate how much time and effort it will take to create, market, and sell our work. Sometimes the results don't show right away but we have found that if you love what you do and never give up people will start to take notice!



Senioritis: Emily, what's your favorite sport to either watch or play?
Emily Finan: Gotta love watching Detroit Red Wings hockey, and despite my lack of hand-eye coordination I really love playing badminton.
Senioritis: Wow, I haven't played badminton in ages. I always enjoy watching it in the Olympics, the athletes make you appreciate how much strategy is involved in the sport.

Senioritis: Alice in Wonderland or Charlie & the Chocolate Factory?
Emily Finan: The original Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, hands down. The movie entranced and appalled me as a child and as much as I love Johnny Depp you just can't beat Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka.
Senioritis: We would have to agree, original Charlie & the Chocolate Factory for the win!

Senioritis: Do you have a favorite quote?
Emily Finan: "Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with dry, uninspiring books on algebra, history, etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the 'creative bug' is just a wee voice telling you, 'I'd like my crayons back, please.'"
— Hugh MacLeod
Senioritis: Great quote. With art programs taking a back seat in many schools it seems that the crayons are being taken away at an even younger age these days.



Senioritis: If you could jump in the DeLorean and go back in time; what’s one thing you would do differently in your business Emily?
Emily Finan: If I could hop in the DeLorean I would probably pack it full of sketchbooks and go back in time and draw; draw everything I possibly could. As far as my business, I don't think I'd change a thing. It took a while, but I've finally found some sort of balance between making art and starting a business.

Senioritis: If the $100 bill needed a redesign, who would you put on it?
Emily Finan: I think it would be really cool to do away with faces on currency; or maybe do away with currency all together and trade vegetables and fire wood instead, hehe.
Senioritis: Hmm, an advocate of the barter system ;)

Senioritis: Where can we find you on the web Emily?
Emily Finan: My website, on flickr, and on Etsy.



Senioritis: The Flinstones of the Jetsons?
Emily Finan: Though I watched both shows equally, I think I would have to vote for the Flinstones. Dinosaurs are cool :)

Senioritis: Any shoutouts Emily?
Emily Finan: I'd love to say hi to my supportive family and amazing friends! You guys are the best :)

Thanks for spending some time with us Emily; your work rocks and we wish you continued success. Be sure to swing by Emily's Etsy shop to view more of her work!

And the answer is...

A little earlier we asked if anyone could guess how many prints we cut today without going over:



Well, the answer is:



We didn't get many high guesses so the winner is HeatherKingPhoto! Thanks for taking a guess Heather, your bookmark will be mailed out tomorrow ;)

Sketchbook Project :: Part 3

This marks the third week with our moleskin sketchbook; but sadly we don't have many updates to report this week.

After doing a bit of research online we were able to pick up a set of needles and wire that we plan to use when it comes time to re-bind our sketchbook:



I described what we're looking to do as far as the re-binding to a lady at the store and she basically said 'Oh, as long as you can sew a button you should be fine.' I've never sewn a button so we'll see how this one goes ;) If anyone has some sewing tips for sewing paper into a moleskin sketchbook we're all ears!

Hopefully next week we'll be able to make a bit more progress with our sketchbook.

We'll be giving a weekly update on the project here on our blog as well as posting progress photos on our Arthouse Co-op page.

If you're participating in the Sketchbook Project please let us know as we would love to follow your progress as well!

Happy Sunday ;)

Featured Artist :: Watercolors, Fine Art & Prints by Carla Lovato

This week's featured artist is Watercolors, Fine Art & Prints by Carla Lovato!

Watercolors, Fine Art & Prints by Carla Lovato - Enjoy the luscious colors and imagery of the whimsical creatures that inhabit the fantasy paintings of Carla Lovato.

Senioritis: Name and location please.
Carla Lovato: Carla Lovato, Oregon Coast.
Senioritis: Hi Carla, thanks for sitting down with us!

Senioritis: Can you tell us a little about yourself please?
Carla Lovato: I am a self-taught artist working in sculpture, watercolor and oil. I was born a Navy brat, in Hawaii, traveling most of my childhood from one coastline to the other. Long trips through the night in an old station wagon, I truly thought the moon followed me. I had never known what it meant to be “from somewhere” and learned very early, that life is about constant change.

Art always gave me comfort - a place to be “from,” perhaps this is why many of my images are about change, growth and energy. I no longer move every year, I spend time as a teacher and graphic designer. One day after many years of day-dreaming about this old derelict building, my husband and I purchased it. We fixed it up ourselves, paying as we went for all of the construction materials. We now live and work in the same building, doing what we love; creating art in a small coastal community. I recently found Etsy and it's a great way to get your artwork seen by a global community.
Senioritis: That's very interesting that you describe art as providing you with a place to be from. We have spoken to, and read about, many people who do a good amount of traveling and many have expressed similar feelings. No matter which coast or continent you may be on a blank canvas and a new sketchbook will always look the same. Art can provide consistency no matter where life may take you.

Congrats to you and your husband on breathing new life into a run-down building and doing it all on your own, that's awesome!

Senioritis: Marlon Brando: Streetcar Named Desire or the Godfather?
Carla Lovato: Streetcar Named Desire, I always depended on the kindness of others...



Senioritis: Which words would best describe your style Carla?
Carla Lovato: Colorful, Whimsical, Joyful and at times Surreal.

Senioritis: What's the best business tip you have ever received and who gave it to you?
Carla Lovato: An older gentleman who worked for SCORE (an organization that offers free help, guidance, and mentorship for small businesses) once told me:

*Be carful of what you spend on advertising - aim it at the right audience for what you sell
*Watch out for the hidden costs of doing business - insurance, fees, equipment, interest, shipping, re-stocking, supplies and utilities
I thought how can these relate to me an artist? Trust me they do.
Senioritis: SCORE is an excellent resource and those are some great tips. We think that with the advent of tools like twitter, facebook, and google adwords it has become easier for small businesses to reach their target audience on a global level; the trick still remains figuring out who that audience is ;)



Senioritis: Carla, what's your favorite sport to either watch or play?
Carla Lovato: Sport. . . hum . . . can I say Fiddle playing? Yes I know that is not a sport, but if you consider some fast fiddle licks, and dodging drunken customers while playing, it does occasionally appear to be like a sport.
Senioritis: Hmm, we were skeptical at first but if it involves dodging drunks we'll count it, not to mention the fact that it takes some athleticism to do anything this quickly.

Senioritis: Chevy Chase: Fletch or Three Amigos
Carla Lovato: Hum, how about Saturday Night Live? I loved his rendition of the clumsy president. If I had to pick one of these, it would probably be Three Amigos.

Senioritis: Carla, do you have a favorite quote?
Carla Lovato: Because our building was hit by a freak tornado while we were under construction my favorite quote is “Toto, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore” said by Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of OZ.
Senioritis: Oh wow, there was some pretty crazy weather here in NY last week that we haven't seen in a while. Hopefully everything was ok and you didn't notice any witch's feet sticking out from under the building ;)



Senioritis: If you could jump in the DeLorean and go back in time; what’s one thing you would do differently in your business Carla?
Carla Lovato: Back in time...High School: I would hang out and work harder in math class instead of drawing cartoons on the black board for that "pity C” from the teacher. I sure could use the math now for doing taxes and bookkeeping. I lived in the art department.

Senioritis: If the $100 bill needed a redesign, who would you put on it?
Carla Lovato: I was rather fond of “Bill the Cat” from Bloom county. I think he would be fabulous, that eternal look of suprise, being stoned or run over by a car. It’s how I feel at times when I see one of those bills, especially in this economy.
Senioritis: We think Bill the Cat would work well on the $100!

Senioritis: Where can we find you on the web Carla?
Carla Lovato: My Etsy shop, and on twitter.



Senioritis: James Bond: Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, or Daniel Craig?
Carla Lovato: No doubt on this one Sean Connery! Does that date me?
Senioritis: Nope, apparently the love of Mr. Connery transcends all ages!

Senioritis: Any shoutouts Carla?
Carla Lovato: I love our area here in Lincoln City Oregon! It is a great place to live and vacation: Taft Beach, Oregoncoast.org and my favorite Tavern for playing fiddle: Snug harbor Bar and Grill.

Thanks for sitting down with us and letting us know more about the person behind all of your great work. If you find yourself out on the Oregon Coast pay Carla a visit at the Once in a Blue Moon gallery where you'll find a great collection of whimsical, unique gifts & fine art!

Sketchbook Project :: Part 2

We've now had our sketchbook for one week. Let us begin by saying we have no previous sketchbook experience and our immediate reaction when we opened our moleskin was, 'Wow, this paper is pretty thin.' Well, the paper IS very thin. We tried a pen on a couple of the sketchbook pages and tore right through; so, we made our first big sketchbook decision: we are going to use thicker paper.

This first decision paved the way for our second big sketchbook decision: we will be creating our sketchbook digitally. Much of our work is currently done digitally so we figured it's only natural to carry this style over to our sketchbook. We will ultimately print out our work and have to figure out how to rebind our sketchbook (sure that will be fun).

Enough of this rambling though, this is what we accomplished this week:

Photographed a pen & pencil drawing of Jack that we had so we could get him onto the computer:



After we got Jack onto the computer we redrew him in crisp black and white:



We then gave Jack a bit of color:



That's pretty much where we're at for now but we're excited to see where this week takes us ;)

We'll be giving a weekly update on the project here on our blog as well as posting progress photos on our Arthouse Co-op page.

If you're participating in the Sketchbook Project please let us know as we would love to follow your progress as well!

Happy Sunday ;)