Insta Round Up: Fave Creatives on Instagram

I love Instagram. As a visual person it allows me to experience all kinds of fabulous in my favorite way. Unlike Facebook I get to filter out all of the fluff and just stick to the good stuff; the pictures. With that said, I would like to share some of my favorite Instagram creatives with you. From food and lifestyle photography to fashion illustration and fine art, these Instagrammers inspire awe and envy in me with their amazing talents and creativity.

If you are looking for some artistic inspiration in your Instagram feed I highly suggest you check out the following:

@paperfashion

@tadwagner

@toolkit04

@alice_gao

@dolcepress

 @glennarthurart

 @heatherbethtay

 @samesjc

I would love to hear your favorite Instagram creatives. Please share in the comments below.  

For puppy pictures, doodles and inspired lifestyle snapshots you can follow me on Instagram @jennielynnjacobs 

Pink Ink: More Peony Illustrations

Happy Monday everyone! Starting off a fresh week with some pretty floral ink drawings for everyone. These peony illustrations were a continuation of an ink peony drawing a I did a few weeks ago after being inspired by peony season. 

I'm thinking of making a set of greeting cards with some of these images and getting my Etsy shop back in action. Thoughts?

These drawings were created using  Prismacolors' dual ended art markers. The wide, chiseled tip can give a really great painterly quality to the drawings when utilized at its thickest point and with some brush-like strokes. 

Meet Remy - The Spinone Italiano Pup

I'd like to introduce you to Remy. The newest and cutest member of the family - sure give us lots of inspiration and keep us very busy with our cameras.

Remy is our 9 week old Spinone Italiano puppy. We got him at just under 8 weeks and he has been quite the handful and totally entertaining. 

Spinone Italianos are an AKC recognized breed. Bred for hunting and retrieving, the Spinone is a versatile and gentle breed often known for their human like eyes. You can learn more by visiting the Spinone Club of America.

Our top three questions when we take Remy out and about:

1. What kind of dog is that? 
Spinone Italianos are a fairly rare breed. We happened to meet this breed and some breeders last summer by chance. After a lot of research we decided this was the breed for us for is gentle nature and ability to a be great jogging and hiking companion. 

2. Will he stay that size?
Remy will be a big boy. His parents were 71 and 73 pounds and are quite tall.

3. Is he a lot of work?
Yes! All puppies are a lot of work. They take patience and lots of time to train. If you are interested in adopting a puppy from a breeder or local shelter please take the time to do your research! Puppies are a 10-15 year investment in your lives - they are not meant to be discarded or abandoned.

ALWAYS neuter and spay your pets!!!! 6 - 8 million cats and dogs enter shelters in the US each year (learn more at The Humane Society of The United States).

Fresh Typography

fresh  [fresh]  adjective, fresh·er, fresh·est, noun, verb, adverb
adjective
1. newly made or obtained: fresh footprints.
2. recently arrived; just come: fresh from school.
3. new; not previously known, met with, etc.; novel: to uncover fresh facts; to seek fresh experiences.
4. additional or further: fresh supplies.
5. not salty, as water.

Feeling fresh this week and decided to play with a little hand lettered typography to capture the feeling!

Fresh Melon

Many of my illustrations, doodles and paintings are inspired by the world around me - seasons, holidays, weather, travels, life experiences and food. After camping last weekend in over 100 degree heat my friends and I found respite in fresh and cool watermelon slices from the depths of the cooler.

Nothing beats the heat like the cool juice of a watermelon drizzling down your chin!

What are some of your fave creative inspirations??

Happy Summer Solstice

Wishing you a beautiful and celebratory Summer Solstice!

Santa Barbara Summer Solstice is know for its wild, wacky and free sprited celebrations. This year we will head down to State Street with friends to watch the parade of half naked locals dance in honor of my favorite season, before heading to Alameda Park for refreshments and Santa Barbara's food truck deliciousness.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Retro Pool Parties

Ever dream of simpler times? Before computers, before cell phones, before things got complicated? Well, sometimes I do. And it mostly looks like this:

All of this pretty retro imagery inspired my own retro pool girl illustration. Done in white charcoal and colored pencil on a pool blue paper.

Image sources - source, source, source, source, source

Pink Summer Peonies

I broke out the watercolors this weekend in an attempt to capture the pink petaled beauties stuck in my mind. It is peony season here and here in Santa Barbara the farmers markets and store displays are filled with the feathery petaled blooms in pink and blush and white and burgundy.

According to the all knowing Wikipedia, I have gathered some interesting facts on peonies for your next trivia night:

• Peonies are native to Asia, Southern Europe and Western North America.
• The peony is among the longest-used flowers in Eastern culture.
• The peony is named after Paeon, a student of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing.
• In 1957, the peony was voted as the state flower of Indiana, and still is today.

Now that your brains are filled with facts, I will fill them with pretty colors to dull the throbbing.

My first play was a loose and bright swash of paint to allude to soft and delicately, layered petals of the peony.

Round two was slightly more detailed - with a desire to both let the paint do its thing while also capturing the feathering look of the peony petals. 

It's been a while since I painted - primarily because my paints and brushes were tucked away in storage, but it feels good to paint, and I plan on leave the kitchen table a mess for some time. I am working on a quick study for another painting, larger painting I hope to get to soon. I'll keep you guys posted on that one. 

Spring to Summer Flower Crowns

Happy summer everyone!
Spring, and May in particular, was a bustling month for me. A trip to Italy and Amsterdam for 3 weeks, topped off with a beach house excursion and a trip to Philadelphia for a design conference (AIGA, anyone?). It was a great way to kick off the beginning of my favorite time of year.

In recent spring and summery months on the fashion blog scene I have seen an increase in the oh, so fancy flower crown. I make no judgements. In fact, I find the wearing of flowers on ones head to be a delightful way to showcase flower blooms. Why hide them away in your unvisited kitchen when you can top your crop with the seasons bounty?

Some of my favorite flower crown looks  from the blogs I regularly visit:

  

Kelli Murray

  

Late Afternoon

Fashion Toast

From all this lovely flower crown inspiration I illustrated my Spring and Summer Princesses. These lovely ladies embody the feeling of the seasons, all topped off with a royal crown of flowers.

Summer Berries and Yellow Fashion Fun

I took care of my in-laws garden a couple of weeks ago while they escaped on a much needed beach house vacay. I have never been a green thumb, but I do relish in making my small collection of house plants thrive(ish), so I delighted in the chance to participate in the creation of food that I would surely eat at some point this summer.

The Phillips' ranch garden was blossoming with soon-to-be, edible abundance - a sure sign of spring in Santa Barbara. The asparagus spears were popping from the dirt and the strawberries were already becoming prolific. As I watered the flowering blooms I could NOT resist plucking a few of the ripe berries right off the plants and straight into my mouth. They weren't at peak season sweetness, but I couldn't resist the fun of feeling like a 5 year old in the garden.

You can watch my gardening in action with my fun Vine video. 

As a fun part of my daily art practice I drew this sweet summer girl savoring a ripe strawberry. I have been having a ton of fun playing with the colored paper in my doodles. Often I pick a color solely based on a snap decision of a feeling I want to capture. In the case of my summer berry girl, I chose a lovely sunny yellow.

Building up the lush green grass behind her and letting the yellow shine through is what keeps her garments so vibrant.

Prismacolor colored pencils on yellow paper, with some finishing touches of ink pens.

Daily Art Practice: Fruit Salad

Although my daily art practice has been wavering (especially the part where I share it with everyone) I am still drawing nearly every day. Part of this practice is because I have a nice little art station set up that I never take down. I know that some people enjoy more of a ritual with their art practice; the setting up and taking down helps begin and end the process. I am the opposite. I like the call of the colored pencils,  the wanderlust of watercolor exposed to my eye. I love the inspiration of teal paper on the tabletop. That is what pulls me in,  inspires, and motivates me to keep the art and doodles alive.

Often, once the paper and pencils call me over, I let my imagination run amok. As the weather shifts, and spring hits us full force, I am inspired by all things summer, and bright and warm; and fruity! I love the kitsch and nostalgia of drawing fruit. It reminds of another decade and is the type of thing I love to create and it always reminds me of freshness and summer. 

And as subject matter, I always have it hanging around ;)

 Cherries were done in a mix of opaque ink and colored pencil. I love the color combo of pink and red.

 My funky fresh banana in retro 80's fun. In this doodle I was inspired to let the yellow of the paper shine through as the fruit color.

A little tropicana fun with this fruity pattern. Colored pencil and a touch of pen on lime paper. It reminds of the late Lilly Pultizer's prized preppy patterns.

Daily Doodles: Taylor Swift Inspired

Feeling a little uncreative lately and looking for a fresh way to start my days, I decided to dive into a daily art practice. The concept is simple - paper, some fun pens and pencils, and a free sketch of whatever I choose. I am deeply inspired by the daily art practices of my Santa Barbara illustrator friends Tad Wagner and Molly Hanh who's blog posts and Instagram snapshots of their doodle brighten my day and I thank them for inspiring me to do this.

Today's kick off doodle was inspired by the adorable Taylor Swift on the cover of Elle Magazine. It was on my table, right next to my pens and I couldn't stop myself from a quick sketch inspired by her  in that that mod style Louis Vuitton shift.

Happy week everyone!

Autumnal Insta-Roundup

 I, like most people these days, have an unwavering love/obsession/sickness for Instagram. It's fricken genius - don't try to deny it (even if you did try to deny it and it were right on any sort of level I would still strongly disagree with you because that's just how obsessed I am with it).

That paired with an intense passion for Halloween-esque happy times I find myself

1. gathering/making/surrounding myself with all things cutesy-fall 
2.  proceeding to take pictures of it

Enjoy!