Unsatisfied

Monster Mash

2012-01-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I took the time to play with my watercolors a bit. A joy of mine that I can never seem to actually do these days. I like to blame it on my lack of workshop space because the taking-out or packing up of paints and supplies really makes the act of creating not as fun. And as such, I get workshop envy. My friend and artist Lalove Benedict has the perfect little work space in which she can spread her painterly goods from tables to wall to easel in one swoop and never has to clean it up (except, of course, when we came to visit and slept in said workroom).

Despite the hassle of cleaning, I took my paints out and played. And, in the end it was well worth it:
I had fun creating some silly little monster friends, a theme of which I was developing for a custom painting for friends' baby (post to come). Below is the end result:

Freebie Wallpaper for New Years Fun

2012-01-04T21:33:00.000-08:00

Better late than never, but I wanted to give all of my friends a chance to download the wallpaper version of the calendar collaboration of mine and Kyle Phillips for the month of January. We are making a new yearly tradition of combining mostly Kyle's and some of my Holga camera film shots, with a fun and simple design aesthetic. We are into year two of our calendar tradition and we hope to keep the momentum going into 2013.

A small handful of friends and family received the calendars as printed pieces, but as always, we can't supply an endless amount of calendars (although we wish we could). By giving away this free desktop wallpaper we are hoping the our creative endeavor of film meets illustration/design can be enjoyed by many more.

If you are interested in purchasing a printed calendar please email me at jennie@jennie-jacobs.com and I will be happy to custom print a new one for you for total of $15 including shipping to anywhere in the U.S.! Weeeee!

To download the free wallpaper (or this peony wallpaper) simply click on the image below to open in a new window. Then right click to save to your computer and add as your wallpaper.

Big Things

2012-01-03T10:46:00.000-08:00

Here's to big things in 2012! Cheers!

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-25T20:36:00.000-08:00

That Time of Year

2011-12-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year. The holidays have crept up yet again, announcing their arrival with signs of seasonal twinkling lights, red and green decorations and fluffy trees strapped to the rooftops of cars. Typically, I am a sucker for holiday festiveness, and while I don't celebrate the colder season with hideous knitted sweaters of dancing polar bears, I do find pleasure in a few things.

1. The creation of our new holiday tradition; Calendars. Last year we started this gift giving trend showcasing a collection of film images captured with our Holgas. This year we plan to do the same! It's in the works and will be a surprise, but friends and fam should be on the lookout for one very soon.

2. Sugar Cookies in full decorated happiness. It happens every year; 200,000,000 sugar cookies are baked by my sister Joanne and myself. We probably eat a majority of them, but the ritual is the same: We start the cookie baking process, I get bored. Joanne has to bake a million on her own. Cookies cool off. I have visions of grandeur and create 10 frosting colors, with two types of royal icing (one for borders, one for flooding). We pipe and smear and sprinkle with edible glittering bits. Then we get tired. It gets late. Our backs hurt from huddling over our sugary prison. About 2 dozen cookies get the short end of the stick and get smeared and squirted on in haste. The end.

I blame the obsession on Martha Stewart and her cookie baking empire:

3. Holiday doodles. In an unstoppable fashion I tend to create super fun Christmasy doodles every

year. Sometimes they are in watercolor, sometimes in Photoshop. And this usually isn't just limited to the winter holiday season. Some may call it a problem, but I think it's less of a problem then, say, decorating my house in a plethora of creepy Santa faces or hideous Jesus chatskis. Although I would put this up just for the fun of it.

Watercolor Women

2011-11-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

Slightly forlorn and a bit mysterious, this series of Watercolor Women illustrations was a fun process. Just like my Fall watercolor illustrations, the process begun with painted watercolor that I scanned. From there the watercolor backgrounds were transformed digitally in Photoshop adding texture and layered up for a richer color. The women have a slight Picasso-esque feel, but it wasn't intentional; the first illustration (the green girl) was the gateway for the other two, I just ran with the style. I had fun playing with interesting orientations and flowing hair. Overall, it was a fun project done solely for the pleasure of trying something new. I would love to know your thoughts!

Thanks.

2011-11-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

I am never ceased to be amazed by the wonders that this life, and this world, and this place I live in, give me on a daily basis. I am not sure what my purpose is in this great wide wonderful place or where things will end up, but the one thing I am certain of is that life is good and there is no reason why I should not embrace it. As such I would like to say a big THANKS to the things that make my life so wonderful:

Cute kitties in sinks.

Traveling here.

My love for this man.

Amazing friends.

Delicious food.

Family.

This guy.

Girlfriends you can't live without.

A glass of wine.

Exploring new places.

Good beer.

Yummy things and cooking them.

Wonderful family.

I am thankful for my health, running, music, living in a beautiful place, having so many fabulous people in my life. I am grateful for laughing and Spin Pins, San Pellegrino and all of my pillows. I am thankful for breakfast cereal, summer and the art of cooking. I am thankful for art and creativity, for lovely dreams and warm embraces. I am thankful for this life I have been given. And so much more.

You are what you eat.

2011-11-03T17:26:00.000-07:00

Just a friendly reminder to myself and anyone out there who cares to listen.

Photo credit Lilt Pepeyan

Spook

2011-10-31T11:13:00.001-07:00

Pretty Peony Pattern in a Perfect Palette

2011-10-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

Alliteration is fun. Try it out sometime. Highly recommended.

What else is highly recommended you ask?....... Pretty flowers. Lots of them.

Especially peonies. Swoon worthy, feathery peonies, in rich tones.

Highly.

Recommended.

This pattern was created in Illustrator by manipulating a photo of peony, a little copy and pasting and some abstracted leaf shapes. Fun. Easy. Pretty.

Another recommendation? Click on the image to open in a new window, right click and save as your computer wallpaper.

You're welcome. ;)

Fall is Here!

2011-10-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

My closest friends and family know that I am a summer weather girl to the core. I love running around in summer dresses, flip flops and keeping my curly hair in a dry, un-frizzy state. But what they also know is my pure, unadulterated love of Halloween. And actually, anyone who has ever read my blog can witness that love with my digital illustrations, custom Halloween cards, my ode to candy corn, and my Halloween paper collages just to name a few.

As the weather changes, and Kyle and I get ready for our first road trip up to Oregon, I couldn't help but play with some digital illustrations in the name of fall and the Halloween spirit. These illustrations started with actual watercolor scans and I played with them in Photoshop before pulling them into Illustrator for the vectored white drawings. I hope to pursue some more of these in my free time. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in what I am doing for work that I forget my passion for art and creation.

Close up detail:

Baby Cakes

2011-10-04T14:59:00.000-07:00

My friend and co-worker/boss lady, Lorrie Thomas Ross is expecting her first baby very soon. Her little girl will be arriving at the end of the month and my friends and I at the agency are so excited for her to be here. In honor of Lorrie and her sweet baby we put together a lovely baby shower. Of course I volunteered to make the invites and I wanted to share with everyone the end results:

A jungle theme was agreed upon and from that I let my drawing run wild.... wink wink. A hand drawn illustration was scanned and colored digitally in Photoshop. Each invite was printed by me on scalloped edge cardstock and sent to the recipients in a pale purple envelope (sorry for the terrible photo quality).

My original plan called for a hand lettered invite, but the changes in the details of the shower made it too complicated. Instead I went for a combination of a script font and a more hand lettered one to create a laid back delicateness (is that a thing?).

As a gift to Mamma, Daddy and Baby I printed an isolated image of the invite illustration on the same scallop edged cardstock and floated it in a frame over textured yellow paper. It was a special way to memorialize the baby shower and this exciting time parents experience before the baby arrives.

For an added fun project, and gift for Baby Ross, my friends Nicki and David and I all made some customized onesies! Using fabric paint markers and puffy paint we made some cute little onesies for the newborn to sport in stylish fashion during her first days out in this bright new world. I only managed to get one shot of them before we wrapped them up:

If you are interested in a custom invitation set for your next event I would love to help you out. You can email me at jennie@jennie-jacobs.com for more info.

Lily's Busy Day

2011-09-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

Back in May I was approached by a professor of computer science from University California Santa Barbara about helping to create a children's book for a new iPad app he was developing with the help of the computer science students at UCSB. I agreed and am excited to share with you some of the illustrations I developed for my interactive book.

Lily's Busy Day is essentially an interactive "paper-doll dress up" book for small children. The premise is that Lily needs different clothing items and accessories to complete her favorite activities. Each of the components will be able to be dragged and placed on to Lily's form.

The app called Bookaroo is a fun and toddler friendly childrens book read and book creator. To learn more about the Bookaroo app by GreenPangolin please visit the website here.

The app is still in the works and should be releasing soon (fingers crossed). I will be sure to let you know when it is up and running and available for purchase.

Orange you glad?

2011-09-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Something I forgot to share with all of my darlings... Another design tidbit from the wedding of Sonja and AJ; custom made orangecello labels for their custom made orangecello! AJ's dad Joe is quite the booze maker apparently and not a bottle was left full at the end of the night.

The labels took their design direction directly from the invite suite with the addition of Sonja and AJ cute little heart leaf. Below is an actual bottle from the wedding tables, decorated with the same raffia that adorned the invites. Unfortunately the picture is hideous, but the labels were perfection. Printed on matte vinyl, with an adhesive back, and cut with rounded corners by the boys at Goodland Signs and Designs. All we had to do was peel and stick our way to custom labels!

Enjoy Life!

2011-09-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

Falling in Love

2011-09-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

More wedding designing to share with my followers! My BFF Sonja and her wonderful hubby AJ tied the knot at the beginning of the month. Their wedding was beautiful and decadent and fun and romantic.

As a gift for this great couple I offered to do their entire wedding suite. Sonja knew from the start that she wanted to embrace a fall color palette and play around with fall leaves. I actually blogged months ago about the watercolors I was doing in prep for the invites here. Overall Sonja and AJ were the ideal clients. They knew what they wanted in terms of design direction and they (pay attention here people) trusted me as a professional to do what I do best; design! (Love them for that).

The result was a beautiful suite that represented them and their special day. Detail below:

Hand painted watercolor was digitally manipulated to create a plethora of falling leaves.

Translucent vellum was tied over the fiber laden, natural color, cardstock for the invites. (AJ had tied all of the invites together by hand, hows that for a pro-active husband ladies?!)

The entire suite consisted of front and back printed save the dates, vellum and cardstock invitations tied with fall colored raffia, folded RSVPs and thanks you's consisting of the single falling heart leaf from the Save the Date.

Inexpensive and rustic feeling kraft envelopes were the perfect package to deliver to the invitees.

2 Peas in a Pod

2011-09-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

My cousin is expecting twins, her 4th and 5th babies, and the whole family is excited for the arrival of our family's first set of twinzies! What is even more exciting is that the babies sexes are a mystery! So what do you give a women expecting mystery twins? Well, in my case, it's a custom made illustration and print to decorate their room. Duh! :)

Here is a close up of the baby peas:

Joanne and Matt - Button Wedding

2011-09-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

So if any of you ever follow my blog you know it is usually a random assortment of some of my sketches and doodles these days. However, the work outside of my blog posting has been devoted to an assortment of design work, illustrations, web design and identity.

This summer I had the pleasure of creating two separate wedding invitation suites for two people I am very close to; my sister and my BFF. Both of these projects were a blast to do and it was the best gift I could give to both of them for their special days.

Today I wanted to highlight the work I did for my sister Joanne and her husband Matt. Their wedding was held at a beautiful private park in Carpinteria, CA. My sister, an avid sewer and quilter, decided to incorporate a button theme to her big day. The end result was a hand illustrated and hand lettered suite.

The Save the Date was the jumping point for the rest of the suite. It set an overall tone in terms of illustration style and lettering, but actually contained a more complex color palette. Paper liners were created for the envelopes in a purple striped paper and we hand glued to all of the envelopes by my sister.

The invitation itself consisted of a gated fold card kept shut by a button band. The wedding date was hidden on the back side of the invite for a fun surprise. RSVP cards emulated the same button banner from the invite band for a consitent feel that wasn't cookie cutter throughout the suite.

Custom return address labels were also printed and used throughout the entire suite.

The end result was a casual and unique suite that helped shape the wedding details:
>

Be You

2011-08-11T20:42:00.001-07:00

Digital Illustrations created on the Bamboo Paper app for iPad. A little rough around the edges because they were done with my finger tip... but I would say that being rough around the edges suits me well.

I love you.

2011-08-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

Beast

2011-06-26T23:14:00.001-07:00

While looking through my iPhone photos today I came to a new realization....apparently I am a crazy cat photographer. Who knew?!

Introducing (not in order) Riley aka Meowston, Chitty Mew aka Plumpy, Kobe aka Squeaky, Lilyfern and random vineyard cat.

And you probably guessed already, but that isn't even all of them.

Silly kitties. They make easy subjects with all of their damn cat napping and laying around.

Heat Stroke

2011-03-31T15:59:00.000-07:00

Dear People (or person) Who Reads My Blog,
It's hot today. Very hot. And I am in this little tiny office (a sweltering death trap is more like it) sweating profusely. So in the spirit of hot hot heat I made some desert illustrations.

And all those kids running around on spring break outside right now can bite me.
Sincerely,
Jennie J

Follow my blog with bloglovin

City Scene

2011-03-30T16:29:00.001-07:00

I've been known to procrastinate/kill time on the job. This usually doesn't bother my boss as long as I answer the phone when necessary. Today this included making a doodle, taking a picture of it with my iPhone, tweaking and cropping with my Photoshop app, and proceeding to color it in using my Sketchbook app. Funzies!!

The photo of the doodle:
Playing around with some color using Autodesk's Sketchbook app:

Knotty

2011-03-25T14:40:00.000-07:00

An up and coming cruise paired with a currently high stress level has me dreaming of cute nautical paraphernalia. There is something so very soothing and refreshing about the blue, white and red color scheme of ocean fare. The look is always classic and can fit in beautifully in ones wardrobe, home or art without being too preppy or stuffy. Above is a collection of fun image inspirations I discovered while sailing away in the world that is the internet.

Victoria Secret swimsuit, striped dress, New England Ropes logo, Ralph Lauren belt, Canvas bag, Tahoe basin map, jelly fish wall hanging, anchor pillow, lobster illustration

Bon Voyage!

Rainy Day Recovery

2011-03-23T14:30:00.001-07:00

Most of the time a rainy day sucks the happiness from my heart. Some people love them so dearly, even covet them in a place like Santa Barbara, but not I. I like sunbeams and little dresses that you wear in warm weather and sandals and ice cream cones.

So what do you do when the winter season brings copious amounts of rain into your life? Usually I would say sulk and wait for the sun, but with the unusual amount of wetness this season I just have to find ways to cope. Today I managed my mood with these little nuggets of joy:

Puppy dog doodles on To Do lists:

A gift of a totally delicious rice krispie treat:

Reading someone else's cute blog when no one is looking:
http://cupcakesandcashmere.com/classic-chocolate-cake/

Wet weather window shots:

Moral of the story: weather happens, so deal with it.

Honey Bunny

2011-03-22T15:06:00.001-07:00

Sitting on my desk is a catalog for a well known, "kitchen-stuff" chain store, chock full of cute little Easter doo-dads and chocolate goodies. Out of all of the holidays Easter really isn't my fave (although I do enjoy the tasty basket of candy from my parents every year), but I couldn't help
being inspired by all of the pastel colors and bunny shaped crap in the catalog. So I doodled on my Sketch Phone:

In addition to being inspired to draw something, I was also sucked in to purchasing some cute little sea urchin salt and pepper shakers, see below.

Sketch Phone

2011-03-18T20:51:00.001-07:00

One of the joys of being an out of date loser is the transition from a lame, pink, dented, 5 year old phone (ancient in phone years) to the magical and wondrous world of an iPhone. The pure joy of a phone that keeps some of my favorite things at my fingertips is sheer delight; Photos and music, recipes and pissed off fowl launched through the air via sling shot....

But my favorite thing of all is the ability to carry around a portable and fully stocked art supply box at all times. My SketchBook app by Autodesk has been an absolutely integral part to my life since it was downloaded. Now moments of boredom or the instance of inspiration can be filled with a fun and portable sketch.

It's fun and easy and creative and it makes me happy. So I share with you some of my random sketches that emerged from life's little pauses.

Us.

2011-02-15T14:00:00.000-08:00

Love's Road Map

2011-02-10T15:17:00.000-08:00

I can say that without a doubt that I love Valentine's day. I know many people out there, single or taken, absolutely despise the holiday (or whatever you want to call it). But I myself see nothing wrong to devoting a day to chocolates and wine and sweet hand written notes. I am also an artsy-crafter type, so that may have something to do with my appreciation of the day. Valentines day doesn't have to be about falling into the grasp of the evil card companies and their idea of sucking money out of your pocket, it can be about taking the time to tell someone you're thinking of them and for me, that includes crafting cards with lots of cute and pink and heart shaped dealy-boppers (official crafting term).

This year my creative little sister came home from college for a month and did lots of thrift shopping. On her exploits she found some discarded maps and gave them to me to play with. So I did.

My friend Holly happened to be over for dinner when I busted out the craft supplies and here are the results:

Inside My Dream

2011-02-09T16:18:00.000-08:00

A friend near and dear to my heart, the lovely and wondrous Holly Finley, has been making music magic for as long as I can remember. In high school we would sit cross legged on the floor of her bedroom, a group of three or four of us, and sing ridiculous songs ranging from reggae to punk while Holly played her guitar. Often we would record these spontaneous bursts of fun onto cassette tapes to replay for our amusement at later dates.
After high school we all went off to college each in our own little educational direction. Without a second thought Holly started taking song writing and music history and guitar and cello and any music class she could absorb. She became involved with choirs in the area and started performing in town and around the world.
After years of dedication and hard work Holly has officially announced the release of her debut album EP; Inside My Dream. The title of the album lends itself so fittingly to the sounds within; melodic and dreamy vocals paired with personal and metaphorical lyrics, the exact things dreams are made of.
I myself have been a great supporter of all things Holly Finely since long before her musical debut. She is a wonderful and warm person with exceptional talents. As a long time friend I offered to make the album artwork for Holly and, in her true trustworthy style, she let me do what I wanted. The result is album art that speaks as true to Holly's title as her music.

So please, check out Holly Finley's Inside My Dream available on CDBaby and iTunes, follow her on Facebook and give a budding artist the chance to shine like she deserves.

Instant Gratification

2011-02-06T19:51:00.001-08:00

Tide pooling with Holly Finley. Deveraux beach, Isla Vista, CA.
Kyle and Holly looking for creatures under a black hole sun.
Kyle. My love. :)
Pelicans on the horizon.
I could spend countless hours at the Deveraux tide pools.
A big pink star fish trapped by the low tide.
My darling friend Alison and I after margaritas and greasy Mexican food. Not a good combo the night before a half marathon. Carlsbad, CA.
The Gabster and I at Kyoto in Santa Barbara for her sake bombing birthday bash.
The evidence of a delicious sushi dinner.

The fun of an instant camera never dies. It's magical and exciting. It's instance gratification... but the kind of the past. Because, really, the new instant camera is on your iPhone or HTC and it doesn't just take the picture and show you the results in nano seconds, but, bing bang boom! and it's on the web or sent via email. I accept the "new" instant camera because it is fun and easy, but I am happy that companies and buyers (like myself) are still embracing the idea of old skool film variety.

Below, a "new" instant camera shot taken by my friend Patrick Parkinson, regularly featured on the wonderful blog of his wife Lalove "Lawless" Benedict.

Falling For You

2011-02-05T14:38:00.000-08:00

I am in the process of creating the stationery suite for my BFF's wedding. It is a pleasure to do this for her and her wonderful fiancé and I can't wait to get the "Save the Dates" finished and ready for her proofing. Her fall wedding lends itself perfectly toward the colors and shapes of the season and so we are playing with the fun idea of fall leaves. Here are a few of the leaves that will be used throughout the stationery. The leaves were hand drawn and painted with watercolor by me.

Ethereal Inspiration

2011-02-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

Design and art isn't just about pen and paper. A lot of great design comes from inspiration of things all around us. Currently my life has been incredibly busy, but every once in a while I get a chance to explore my guilty pleasure; reading blogs. Any type of blog really. But usually a mixture of fashion, design, food, art and lifestyle.

Last night I took a small amount of time to peruse the internet and stumbled upon the latest Elie Saab couture collection. Fashion at its finest, I was instantaneously rendered with an urge to wear every single dress available. But not only would the collection be pure heaven to wear, it is pure inspiration to look at. Particularly fun for me was the muted/bright color combination of the line. Pair that with the flowy, gauzy, soft edges of the gowns and you have an awesome watercolor painting to happen. See the full collection here.

So take a breath, look around you and find something inspirational today. Happy hunting.

Yellow Cat Creations

2011-01-03T14:22:00.000-08:00

Announcing the opening of my new Etsy shop; Yellow Cat Creations.

My shop is filled with prints and paper goods of all of my favorite illustrations and designs. Expect to find lots of greeting cards, wall art, stationery, calendars and even some original art and illustrations. To check out whats available at my shop please notice the new Etsy mini shop in the right column of this blog or you can visit my shop here.

My first and current available listings are from my Sweet Things collection. If you remember this and this and fell in love, please cruise over to the shop and pick up a greeting card pack or some adorable wall cards!

Happy Shopping!

Peppermint Love

2010-12-20T21:27:00.000-08:00

Reflections

2010-12-20T20:54:00.000-08:00

I can't stop playing with these new brushes in Photoshop CS5. I am addicted. I can get such great layers of color, it's like drawing with markers or highlighter and pencil or painting with fun brushes and ink or watercolor. Too fun. You'll probably see more of these posts in the future. Ultimately it is a reflection of my "real life" style of playing around with pigment.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

2010-12-20T12:46:00.000-08:00

A constant rain has been falling upon us in California for days now. It is weather pattern that consistently makes me want to doodle in my robe for hours instead of productively getting things done. It also puts a "damper" (haha) on my half marathon training. Trust me when I say running anything over 3 miles on a treadmill sucks. So I doodle in procrastination of heading to the gym and in true holiday spirit choose to illustrate a tree.

Wishing everyone a dry week before Christmas arrives and hope that everyone takes a minute to celebrate the joys in life, in my case, doodling. :)

Doodle Portraits

2010-12-17T19:31:00.001-08:00

Playing around with the new bristle brushes in Photoshop CS5 tonight. It is so fun to see these doodles looking like paint without the mess or the hassle of setting everything up. Although nothing beats real paint and paper, this is super fun and easy alternative to idea. This is exceptionally fun when paired with a drawing tablet like this one.

I hope everyone is in a good holiday spirit. Personally I have been busy hand assmbling Christmas presents and it's starting to get a little tideous. Luckily the gifts will be worth the work. :)

Happy Halloweeny.

2010-10-31T09:30:00.001-07:00

Wishing everyone a fun filled Halloween. Costume pictures to come!!

Happy Birthday Rich!

2010-10-27T08:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Rich!

An Ode to Candy Corn

2010-10-23T17:49:00.001-07:00

With my countless festive posts this month I asked some of you what delights you about Halloween. My cool friend Lalove responded by mentioning her love of candy corn (but only during the Halloween season, of course). Bang! Just like that I was inspired to draw ridiculous digital illustrations of candy corn.

So, candy corn.... you tasty, chalky, tri-colored, chewy nuggets of love...... this post is an ode to you!

(c) Jennie Jacobs 2010

Halloween Greetings

2010-10-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

So I wasn't lying when I said I loved Halloween.

A couple of weekends ago I went to the local craft store and had a little Halloween craft supplies moment. The store carried a pad of amazing scrap booking paper and I couldn't resist. Coupled with some sparkly foam Halloween stickers and voila!, I had some fun and easy to assemble Halloween greeting cards. The card with the cemetery-scape was drawn on the backside of black paper and then cut out using an exacto-knife. As for the rest; simple straight cuts made on my paper cutter, glitter alphabet stickers and foam creatures placed on ready made greeting card stock. Fun and easy! Happy crafting.

Haunted!

2010-10-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

There is no way around it; I LOVE Halloween. I love the advance of fall before the time change, orange and black and purple, the fun of costumes, carving pumpkins and the smell of their seeds roasting in the oven. I love wigs and glow in the dark creepy crawlies dangling from fake cob webs. I love the bowls overflowing with candy and the shouting of trick or treat at the door.

Due to my love of Halloween I usually devote a majority of my October to crafting, doodling, carving, baking, decorating and dressing things up in all things Halloween. Yesterday I spent time doodling away on my amazing writing tablet, exploring some haunts of the halloween world.

So tell me, what do you love about Halloween?

Oktoberfest @ Home

2010-10-17T08:58:00.001-07:00

We needed a little Oktoberfest at home. So we made it happen; homemade pretzels that blew my mind (you can find the recipe here), a plethora of German beer, brauts, roasted red potatoes, and sauerkraut. Warm and comforting on a drizzly, gray, fall day. Simply perfect.

Happy Birthday Fifus!!!

2010-10-08T09:20:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday!!!! to my cute little sister Amanda who turned a whopping 20 years old today. I love you Fifi!!

Xoxo, Jen

Feel Free.

2010-10-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

Let's feel free. Let your hair down. Shake your rump. Release your inhibitions. Take a deep breath and let it all go. Let your mind be still and relish in this moment, because it is the only one we know we have for sure. Remember what you love. Remember who you love. And be grateful.

J & D

2010-09-21T18:03:00.001-07:00

Some really great friends of ours (ours, meaning me and my loverly boy toy) got married last month and we wanted to do something special for them (aka: we didn't want to just get them a blender). Putting our noggins together we decided to have fun with sparklers, our amateur photog skills and the dark of night. So, I know that this idea has been done before, but we had a blast. Kyle manned the camera while I whisked probably a total of 20 sparklers in the air (in total) like a crack head on the fourth of July. Each image was printed separately and then framed together in a triptych style.

Funny side note: after we gave J & D the present, they informed us that the night of their wedding they forgot to bust out the huge box of sparklers they had bought for guests to play with. I guess they have some presents to make. ;)

Congats John and Danielle!!

Even Sweeter

2010-09-18T14:01:00.001-07:00

More visual goodies for your viewing pleasure.

I am hoping to turn this series of sweet treat illustrations into a collection of greeting cards. Ill let you know the outcome of that desire.

Too Sweet.

2010-09-16T08:58:00.001-07:00

On a foggy morning, during a stressful week, sometimes you crave that feeling of youthful summer. Bike rides along the beach. Rompers. Carnivals. And that sweet taste of creamy, cool ice cream.

These two fun filled illustrations are reminiscent of days of the past and a have a carefree look of silk screened prints. Enjoy.

Notebook Doodle Series III

2010-09-04T09:26:00.000-07:00

Dreams on Film

2010-07-22T17:11:00.000-07:00

Palise de Papes, Avignon
Hotel de Ville, Aix en Provence
Barcelona, Spain
Beautiful colors. Barcelona, Spain.
Sagrada Familia Church by Gaudi. So interesting! Barcelona, Spain.
3 Ducks Hostel, Paris.

3 Ducks Hostel, courtyard. Paris, France.
Paris.
Paris (obvi!)
Paris.

I took an excursion to Europe recently and brought along a Holga and some film. Thought I would share some of the moments from Paris, Provence and Barcelona. I brought 4 rolls of film with me and the majority of the pictures turned out ok, which is amazing. (Apparently, no one travels with film these days and it was hard to ask the airport employees to hand inspect your film (instead of x-ray) when you don't speak the language. )

So the above photos are a few of my favorites from my amazing adventure. Please enjoy.
xoxo.

His and Hers

2010-07-04T03:09:00.000-07:00

Bridal shower gifts I made for my cute friend Mel! I hope she loves them.

Button to Button

2010-06-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

Per my sisters request, here are some adorable and creative button images to delight and inspire:

This cake below is so adorable, a personal fave, and what intially got me started on this whole button idea. Can't you image a plethora of matching invites, save the dates, and bouquets to melt your heart?

images (in almost order) via jessicaclair.net, hellocrafty, marthastewart.com, the knot, prettychicky.com, loveandlavendar.com and brides.com

Giddy.

2010-06-25T07:54:00.000-07:00

One of my sisters is engaged and I have guilty pleasure; I can't help looking at adorable wedding blogs all morning long!! I envision her wedding in a thousand fun and creative ways and I hope she lets me bring some of those to fruition, including designing her "Save the Dates" and invites. :) Anyway, I stumbled upon this adorable and uber colorful dessert spread. Who doesn't love the idea of rock candy adorning a cake?? Seriously, it delights me. You can find all of the wedding info here.

Image via stylemepretty.com, a fun wedding inspiration website that is sure to prick your creativity, whether you are engaged or not!

Sew Intriguing

2010-06-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

Sort of amazed by this work by Diem Chau. A whimiscal combination of silk thread and common ceramic and porcelain pieces makes me quite curious about the exact methods of creation. None the less the illustrative qualities of the embroidery paired with the commonalities of plates and tea cups creates a delightful narrative about, perhaps, the memories and characters behind these simple eating receptacles.

Real Funk

2010-06-16T09:11:00.001-07:00

Makin' posters for friends is funzies.

Fa la la la! Life is Good.

2010-05-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

Hello world,
Life is good. I am done with school at the end of this week, an official education in graphic design. Woot! The summer is looking grand with a week long beach house trip, a 2 week excursion to France (Paris and Provence) and Spain (Barcelona), a wedding in Spokane, WA for a lovely couple and diving into a career as a designer.
It's drizzling and cold here today, but the garden is looking amazing. I'd thought I'd share a spring time illustration to brighten your day.

Xoxo, Jen

PS: Please check out my brand new website: www.jennie-jacobs.com

Holga Time

2010-04-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots I took from a recent Holga workshop Kyle and I took with Specialty Color Services in Santa Barbara one Saturday. You can visit their website here http://www.colorservices.com/. It was a fun adventure, and although my pics weren't outstanding, it was fun to experiment with the plastic film camera. The film was then processed using a unique combo of coffee, vitamin C and some soda ash. Pretty cool.

One of the coolest things about Holgas, at least to me, is the ability to double expose. You get a glimpse of that in some of my photos above. I haven't quite figured out the technique, but maybe that's the fun of it all.

Notebook Doodle Series II

2010-04-26T08:23:00.001-07:00

Mew.

Notebook Doodle Series

2010-04-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

I was inspired to create a series of blog posts based on my notebook doodles when my friend Nicki took an iPhone snapshot of one of my scribbles during web design, and instantaneously uploaded it to Facebook. Sooooo here we go.

4.10.2010

2010-04-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

My dear friends Matt and Erica were married this past Saturday. As a way to show them the love, I made them a painting for their wedding gift. White tulips are Erica's favorite flower and were used in the wedding bouquets.

So, to Erica and Matt! I love you guys mucho and wish you the most amazing and fulfilling marriage life can offer.

PS: Have fun getting tan in the Caribbean! (I'm so jealous.)

PSS: If anyone is interested in a custom wedding watercolor, please let me know.

Fancy Schmancy

2010-02-19T17:54:00.000-08:00

Hey Hey. Just wanted to share with everyone my fancy new logo. Soon to be featured on my fancy new website, business card, letter head etc. Who's stoked? Me.

Metaphoria

2010-02-15T19:00:00.001-08:00

Metaphorical self portrait for a class assignment. Usually I'm not one to create a completely digital watercolor, but I thought I would try something new and refresh my somewhat stale Photoshop skills. My metaphor isn't very clever, but my vision wasn't focused on that so much as the pretty colors.......meep.....

OMG! I love this song.

2010-02-15T17:33:00.001-08:00

Sometimes, for the sake of a homework assignment we are to forced to use our likeness in our work. These are an example of just that. The idea was to play with the negative/positive space of our document size, utilizing the image and two lines of text. So this is what I did.......

Swim with the fishes.

2010-01-11T17:43:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-01T18:42:00.000-08:00

Ringing in the New Year with a brand new illustration! Hope everyone had a safe and festive time celebrating the arrival of 2010!

Hedwig

2009-11-18T17:27:00.000-08:00

Here is a design I made for a Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone bookmark. The bookmark was for a class assignment in which we were to design a bookmark for a specific book. The white owl is supposed to be Hedwig from the book and is digital collage comprised of different textured paper scans and photos.

Cupcake Says Hello

2009-11-12T14:19:00.000-08:00

Hello! Here is my first little animation! I had to make an animated .gif using Photoshop for my media arts design class. Anyone who has done this before knows that Photoshop makes this really easy. This is my first attempt so it is really rough, but I wanted to share it anyway because it is was so exciting to me!

My dove.

2009-11-09T19:39:00.001-08:00

Metamorphosis

2009-11-06T14:59:00.001-08:00

The Birds and the Bees.

2009-10-30T13:20:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-30T10:00:00.001-07:00

Feelin' Saucy

2009-10-08T15:12:00.001-07:00

What a hoot!

2009-09-25T14:50:00.000-07:00

I'm currently going back to school for graphic design and am having a blast. Here is a cute little owl I did for an assignment utilizing different textures we generated digitally and handmade.

Wow

2009-09-25T14:42:00.001-07:00

I am a loser who never updates my blog.

Here are some pics of a commissioned painting I did.

Work in Progress

2009-05-19T09:08:00.000-07:00

A birthday present I'm working on. It's in the beginning stages, so I will be posting updates as they come.

Compare & Contrast

2009-05-17T20:06:00.001-07:00

The beginning and finished stages of my pear painting.

Booze Hounds.

2009-04-30T19:32:00.000-07:00

I recently had an illustration featured in the Santa Barbara City College newspaper The Channels. It is seen both online and in print for an article discussing the issue of underage drinking and lowering the drinking age. Read the article here and enjoy other great journalistic endeavors produced by The Channels staff!

A big thanks to my little sis!

Secret Garden

2009-04-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

Succulent. A fun word to say. What's even more fun? Actual succulents! Ok, maybe not everyone will agree with me on that one, but I really do love succulents. Their wonderful plump and waxy leaves lend so much to the imagination. For instance, in the pictures of above, look at the silly sage green ones that look like small rocks (or little butts!).
Because my friend Sonja loves and appreciates succulents as much as I do, I made her a small desktop succulent garden for her day of birth. The ceramic pot was made by me; dark brown clay, tony's copper glaze with a rim of chun white glaze. The colors and textures of the pot lend themselves nicely to a southwestern-ish aesthetic and complement the plant colors. I think it turned out quite darling and I am excited because I have found a way to use all of my extra pots! :)

Sketchy.

2009-04-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a glimpse of how I start one of my paintings. Easy going, thumbnail sketches make up the majority of my pre-painting ritual. I have never been one to do a comprehensive sketch, just because I find a simple one usually works itself out in my head. And besides, painting is the fun part.

Quite the Pair

2009-04-20T17:16:00.001-07:00

It is a very, very hot day here today. Because of the ridiculous heat I feel like I have been shuffling around, barely able to work my limbs correctly. However, this morning before the major heat set in, I was in my oil painting class painting a delightfully lumpy pair of pears. It has been about 5 years since I have painted with oils and I found it really fun to blend and blend and blend. I hope you enjoy what I have so far, I plan on tweaking a few things here and there, but this is probably really close to the finish work.

Ciao!

Creature Feature

2009-04-16T23:09:00.001-07:00

Meet my silly little hedgehog. Not a standard garden gnome, but he will probably end up living next to the vegetable patch.

Fish Face

2009-04-14T09:43:00.000-07:00

Good morning! I finally took some pictures of my fish sculpture. I would say that the glaze turned out the way I was hoping, but overall my fish falls short of my original ideal. For a first attempt at hand building I would say it was a good learning experience though.

I have started an oil painting class this week and will be experimenting with oils for the first time in 5 years. It should be an interesting departure from my watercolor work. Annnnndddd, this evening I will begin my ceramics/pottery class for the third time. I am hoping that during this round I will have some decent looking pottery to post up here (key word here: hoping!).

Lush

2009-03-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

The dahlia painting is done. In fact it has been so for a while now, but today is the day I have decided to share it. My pictures of it are horrendous and I am so very sorry about that. However, I am just glad to be finished with it. I would love to know how you all feel about it.

Ciao! Jennie

FYI: click on the images for a full view. :)

Blue Steel

2009-03-02T09:55:00.001-08:00

Here is quick study I did of a steel guitar this weekend. I am thinking of expanding upon the idea to make a much larger, more detailed painting at the request of my bf.

On a happy note, I think I have completed the dahlia painting. I say that I think I have because I want to sit with a bit more before I decide. When the time comes I will post it up here for you all to see.

Anyone partake in some creative projects this weekend? I want to hear about them!

Lemon Sky

2009-02-27T10:43:00.000-08:00

This painting is done using a really easy transfer technique and a xerox of a photograph. The transfer process lends a very soft, fuzzy edge to the piece. After the transfer is complete I add pigment in the form of water soluble crayons and pencils and of course, watercolor.

The photograph was taken by Amanda Jacobs.

Fresh Face: Christine Chapman

2009-02-26T09:04:00.000-08:00

I did a little interview with up and coming photographer Christine Chapman. Curious as to what brings people to their work in the first place, especially students, I asked her some questions to uncover the artistic direction she sees herself going in the future.

Christine Chapman is a Santa Barbara, CA area native with a love for fashion photography and a spunk for life. She is currently attending Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara where she builds her portfolio and paves her path to her professional photography career.

What got you into photography?

"I've always loved and been involved in art whether it was painting, drawing, music, or dance. My parent's made me get a "real" degree at UC Santa Cruz in Psychology where I realized after changing my major 5 times that I was not going to be satisfied working in a lab or as a therapist. My senior year in psychology I decided that I was going to pursue my dream of being a professional photographer after I graduated. I worked in a graduate lab studying how photographs affect emotion and memory, and all of my classes were focused on social influence, the power of the media, and anything else that involved photography in psychology.

What do you wish to accomplish after your time at Brooks?

I want to be famous! It may sound dumb, but I'm serious! haha! I truly hope to be a greatly influential photographer such as Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino or Ansel Adams. I hope to shoot for large editorial magazines and high end designers such as Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Armani. It's very, very hard to make it in the business, much less become a well known name, but knowing this [isn't] stopping me from working my butt off to get there :) Although the ocean is my #1 love, I will most likely leave California for New York or even Europe to pursue my dream once [I'm] done with Brooks.

Name 3 of your most influential photographers:

Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino, and Elliot Erwitt

What are your favorite subject matters and types of photography?

I am more focused on fashion and character portraits, things you will see in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Marie Clare. I like to bring out a very natural, glamorous feel with my models, as well as use a lot of design and movement in my photographs. I want to keep the viewer entertained as well as bring a sort of majestic feel from looking at my images.

What type of camera(s) do you use?

I use a Nikon D700 and my favorite lenses are the 24-70mm (for photos that incorporate more of the models surroundings or numerous models) and the 105mm for single model portraits and beauty shots. In the studio I use a hasselblad h2 with a digital back. I'm all digital! It's faster :)

Do you partake in any other types of creative work (ie; painting, writing etc)?

I wish I could write better, haha! But I do paint (that's how we met; in painting class my freshman year of HS) although I don't really have time to do it as much anymore with photography taking up my time. I did dance for 12 years and I try to surf as often as I can. I know it sounds silly, but I believe surfing is an awesome art form, as you'll see many professional surfers also play music, paint, draw, etc. You're free to move and almost dance about the wave any way you like. Surfing is definitely my down time activity and I get a lot of great ideas when I'm in the water because all the stress and pressure of work and school disappear and I can think freely"

Christine Chapman's portfolio and contact information can be seen on her website cchapmanphoto.com.

Splish Splash

2009-02-25T10:28:00.000-08:00

Yay! I am so happy to announce that the sun is shining here today. Sadly, I understand this may not be the the case for everyone. Regardless, this got me daydreaming of summer and swimming and outdoor fun and so I decided to post this little painting; a fairly quick study of some koi-esq fish. This painting actually developed into two more paintings, both of which reside with my bf who seems quite smitten with them.

For All You Winos

2009-02-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

I made some nifty little paintings for use over at The Wine Rack; a blog devoted to the savvy review of affordable, delicious wines from around the world. It is a great blog to check out if you are interested in anything wine related, especially affordability. So check it out and see some of my art in action! And as always, I would love to know what you think!

In the Clouds

2009-02-23T17:09:00.001-08:00

Here is a quaint little painting I did of a giraffe yesterday afternoon. I can't quite remember where I got my inspiration for this silly thing, but I just had to paint it. The funny thing is, I feel like my head is amongst the clouds as I write this due to a lovely little cold.

Earthy

2009-02-22T11:19:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone is having a lovely and fun filled weekend.
Above is a mushroom painting I did for a class assignment sometime last year.
Let me know what you think!

It's All In Your Head

2009-02-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

No Excuses

2009-02-19T09:20:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone,
I am sorry that I haven't posted anything new in a couple of days. I have been working on some website stuff for a singer/song writer friend of mine Rich Phillips.

You can check out his website at www.richphillips.net

In other news, there really isn't any. However, I have started working on all the plant matter in my dahlia painting. It is proving to be a bit of challenge and I will definitely have to play with my technique and the painting more to get my desired effect. I find that the biggest obstacle for me is finding the motivation to finish the thing. I get incredibly bored painting the same stuff over and over again, but for the sake of my blog I will complete it.

I just wanted to thank everyone who has decided to check my blog out! It is cool to see that people are (slightly) interested.

Gracias!

My Noggin

2009-02-16T21:14:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the lovely Kyle Phillips for turning my noggin into a cool piece of photo-shopped artwork!

XOXO

2009-02-16T20:05:00.000-08:00

Kisses my little chickadees. So with the permission of my darling Kyle I am sharing with all of you the valentine's that were exchanged between us this weekend.

Kyle has been on a roll making super cool paintings on sheets of metal, and so, in super manly man fashion, he made me a valentine on..... a sheet of metal! A dremel tool was used to gouge in the heart outline and was also used to create the swirly little pattern around it. I absolutely love it! It is so creative and sweet of him. The back was painted in a solid red and a sweet little love note was written on it. Swoon.

Kyle Phillips

Below is the Babe-a-tron 3000 Valentine card I made for him. It is constructed out of different high qua-la-teeee card stock that I simply cut out and glued together. I added brads and silver ink to make it even more authentic and robot-ey. The card actually opens up, but I didn't take any shots of that.

Inside Your Hand

2009-02-15T20:41:00.001-08:00

Happy Sunday Evening! Woot! (Because I can!)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a love filled Valentine's day. My V-day was celebrated true to the style of my lovely bf and myself (aka: lots of wine, a yummy dinner and some amazing homemade valentines. I am hoping to post them up here so you can all get a look!) I was thoroughly surprised by Kyle's amazing gift of some knee high moccasin boots. So rad. You know it's love when a man buys you a gift that he knows you will love, despite the fact that he may despise it!

Above is a painting I did for a class last year. The stormy weather that is a-brewin' outside kinda reminds me of the background on this....
On another random note; the prompt for the painting was Nest.

Watercolor.

A Fish Out of Water

2009-02-12T09:40:00.000-08:00

Soooo, I just consumed a ridiculously huge bowl of peanut butter puffins with banana and I have yoga in a half an hour. Smart move.

Anyway the point of this post isn't to rant about my obese breakfast, but to share with you my so super silly fish sculpture I made in ceramics. It is only in it's first stage of life, but a couple of firings in the kiln and some glaze and bam! I hope it turns out cool. We shall see and I will keep you all updated.

Lacey Valentine Heart How To

2009-02-11T15:22:00.001-08:00

I came up with this idea while making some Valentine's for some special people. Who wants a cheesy heart shaped lace doily for V-day when you can make your own unique version??

You will need:
- watercolor paint
-masking fluid, preferably in a squeeze bottle with a small tip
-Paint brush
- watercolor paper or card

Step 1: Draw out two concentric heart shapes lightly with pencil. Using a squeeze bottle of masking fluid with a small tip, draw a lace pattern around the inner circle. The masking fluid is seen in blue.

Step 2: Once the masking fluid is completely dry (it will feel like rubber cement) you can paint the inner heart with your choice of colors. I used Winsor Newton Quinacradone Red and Alizarin Crimson. Let dry completely.Step 3: Paint the outer heart with another color. I used Winsor Newton Violet and Cotman Ultramarine.

Step 4: While the paint is still wet, paint on some lace detail on the outside of the heart.

Step 5: When all the paint is completely dry peel and rub off your masking fluid.

Here is the completed card!
I would love to hear from anyone who gives it a try!

Love Tree

2009-02-10T10:37:00.000-08:00

This is a small painting I did for my friend Alexis' little baby that will be on the way soon. It is hard to tell from the picture, but the tree and it's little love fruits are actually cut outs with another layer of paper underneath. The texture of the tree was created using moist cheese cloth, dropping pigment onto it and once dry, removing the cheese cloth.

Watercolor.

Below are a couple of closeups, sorry for the reflections, I remembered to take pics after i had framed it.

Art Museum

2009-02-09T09:45:00.000-08:00

Above are a few pieces I was drawn to at the S.B. Art Museum on Friday. Please excuse my crappy picture taking! :)