Cheers to a Happy Holiday and a Festive New Year

Happy holidays from Jennie, Kyle, Remy the Spinone and Riley the Tabby Cat.

This year we sent out illustrated holiday cards of our little furry family. The illustrations were hand drawn and colored digitally before being printed on a warm-white stock on my Canon Pro 9000. The colors were beautiful rich jewel tones when printed.

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).

Blue Haired Girl

The past couple of weeks have been a blur. Kyle and I picked up a puppy on July 6th and our lives have been forever changed. With a hiatus from working planned perfectly for the arrival of our furry baby, I had grandiose dreams of lots of blogging and painting. However, I didn't realize the magnitude of lack of sleep from having an 8 week old puppy come home with us. Despite the bags under my eyes, we are so very smitten with our pup and I will be happy to share a post about him in a couple of days.

Now that we are in the rhythm of puppy rearing I got a chance to work on some stuff and get it up on the blog.

This blue haired girl is a play on a creative series I did a few years ago. You can see similar style in this album cover illustration for Holly Finley and this starry night watercolor illustration.  For this illustration/painting I started with a watercolor piece that I scanned and then enhanced digitally using photoshop. It's always fun for me to bring a rather subdued watercolor to life with a little digital love. You can see the original base painting under the final piece below.

Below is the painting before being digitally enhanced in Photoshop. My goal was to heighten the mood of the painting by increasing the contrast and texture; making it a bit more nitty gritty.

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??

Independence Day Sweets

The Fourth of July is about getting patriotic, throwing on some red, white and blue and celebrating our amazing country. It is also a day to enjoy family, friends and delicious food at the peak of summer.

Hoping your Independence Day is filled with sweet treats and fireworks!

Pink Ink: Peony Ink Illustrations

Happy Monday my creative friends! Hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing summer weekend.

We kicked off the summer season with margaritas during Santa Barbara's Summer Solstice parade and ended Saturday with a dip in the pool with fabulous friends.

In a nod to the free spirited nature of the parade I created a couple of flower crowns for me and my BFF to rock during the festival. Wired faux flowers and some extra wire for tying it all together are all you need! (Can you tell I shot this in the car?)

In between outdoor gatherings with friends I have been playing around with some of Prismacolors' super fun art markers. The doubled ended (chisel and fine tip) pens make for some fun contrasting texture. So far I have been experimenting with loose floral shapes using the large chisel edges. I plan on framing this sketch to hang in my bathroom. I kinda love its vintage 70's feel.

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.

Santa Barbara Chardonnay

Happy Friday!
This weekend I will be running in the Santa Barbara Chardonnay 10-miler with some family and friends. This is something like my 4th year in a row running the race down by the beach. It's a gorgeous route, fairly flat and out-and-back. The course takes runners right past the Four Season's Biltmore and the lovely local gem of Butterfly Beach (both featured on the the cover of Travel + Leisure magazine this month).

Despite this being a race I have done a few times, I still get nervous. My training hasn't been spectacular this round, so I am just going to out there and have a good time, enjoy the morning and the accomplishment (and reward myself with some wine tasting at Municipal Winemakers at the end of the day).

This Daily Art Practice doodle captures my internal race day apprehension. 
Orange colored pencil and white charcoal on goldenrod paper.

Do any of you have some fun plans for the weekend?
If you are in Santa Barbara and a small business owner I recommend stopping by the Santa Barbara Business Expo on Saturday morning at the Fess Parker Double Tree. My colleague Lorrie Thomas Ross is the keynote speaker and not to be missed. I'll wave from the beach as I run by!