Keeping it fresh...

Lovelies~

I hope you are all well this fine Monday! I have the day off for President's Day here and boy, am I glad I do. I was shooting various things all weekend long and it's time to play catch-up.

The shoot I'm most excited about, is a series of personal work that I mentioned a couple of posts back. Inspired by Westworld, a 70's sci fi classic, and featuring a killer robot cowboy, my crew and I braved snow showers and a dusty coal furnace to get these shots. And it was totally worth it! (But, if you ever do same, take note: bring Kleenex and something hot to drink!) Here is a trailer for that movie just to give you an idea of where I'm headed...



What else? Oh! I also did some client head shots and while I was in there, I took a new one of myself to keep my portfolio fresh. It came out alright, but photographing yourself is one of the hardest things you can do, Folks. Barf. Trust me. Take a peek. I was trying out a new lighting arrangement and background. What do you think?

All of this shooting hasn't taken me away from my other venture: STAG. A great group of items has been listed in the shop this week! It was a pretty clothing-centric group, but I will be back to listing things for the home next week! Take a look. That Dickie work coat is a classic, no?

I have found some amazing things that I wanted to share with you too. To start, if I ever have an actual budget for business cards that's bigger than $1, I would love some like these. Wow. Belinda Love Lee designed these cards for prop stylist Christina Yan and they have all the bells and whistles that make greeting card/graphic designers/artists like myself go weak in the knees; 100+ lb. card stock, gold foil and blind embossing. Goodness. Take a look... So classy.

Any of you have wee baby ones out there? Because one of my favorite design firms House Industries, has partnered with Uncle Goose (a high-end building block maker), to produce limited edition House building blocks. And they are cute and amazing and I want that set of Alphabet Factory Blocks like it's my job. So nice.

And I'm going to wrap up with some of the cutest Valentine's Day design I saw this season from another favorite design team: Lab Partners, out of San Francisco. I mean, just look at it! It's a 1960's era illustrated animal band... I mean, come on. That elephant? More importantly, that mouse? And those colors. This work makes me happy for sure...

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Sweet Babies & Bright Colors...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all well out there this week, as usual! I am busy as per usual over here with a ton of things to share. To start, I recently photographed an absolutely beautiful newborn baby girl and unlike most very wee babies who sleep through shoots, she was awake the entire time. Which presented its challenges, but they were far outweighed by her awake and alert little face. (People who follow my work on Facebook seemed surprised to find I can do traditional portraiture too. You learn something new every day, huh? Ha!) Here are just a couple from the shoot. Her Mom and Dad were delighted, so of course, so am I.

What else? Oh! A friend turned me on to an amazing blog that features Autochrome photography of Paris from 1890-1930 and here's the best part... it's in full color! That's right, the technology of photography itself had only just been invented and yet, color had already been introduced. And what beautiful photography it is too. My favorites are below, and the rest can be found here. Amazing, truly, amazing.

And so as not to dwell too long on photography, I have also discovered an amazing painter and portrait artist who I want to share: Gottfried Helnwein. When I first happened upon his work, I thought it was photography. But no. These are photo-realistic works in acrylic and watercolor(?!?!!) and to make it even more amazing (is it possible? No. Okay, I guess so), the scale of these pieces is huge. I've posted a couple of pieces below, and also a process shot so you can see how big these are. I just... before I got into photography, I was a pencil portrait artist at 1/1 scale. This is just mind-blowing to me... Enjoy.

Compared to all the greatness above, my weekend was pretty tame! But we had a pretty clear couple of days, so I ventured out to the abandoned beaches of Old Orchard Beach (a sea of tanning oil-slathered tourists in the summer) and took some pictures. Man was it cold. And while I was out there, someone in one of the beach houses had a radio on full-volume, so this radio talk show was blaring and reverberating off all that loneliness. It was eerie. And then I found these boots. I think they're men's, but I do not care. They are worn and comfortable and have a non-slip sole. (I guess I found the one advantage to having skis for feet!) Love them.

Let's wrap up with some great typography that was in a recent issue of GQ. (I know, I know, with Beyonce right there, it's like, who notices the typography? The answer: This girl does.) What a great color scheme and mix of vintage and new typefaces (some from House Industries, my favorite type design house... *drool*) and the layout and breathing room in the design is pitch-perfect. I am in love...

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

The Holidays Are Coming...

Hello Lovelies!

I hope you are all doing well out there and that those of you in the U.S. had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving holiday and long weekend! My weekend was busy, but good. I spent time with good friends having a good time. (It doesn't get much better than that, does it?) I love going on long drives in the winter (they're a nice stand-in for walks when it's too cold for those) and I caught this beautiful, winter sunset up here in Maine I thought I'd share. This really is a beautiful place to live.

What's new? Well, I just posted some new promotional work I did for the holidays for my STAG shop! I decided to make work for both Halloween and the holidays to show how good vintage can look and also to showcase some of the items in the shop right now. I really like how these came out, they really channel a 1960's vibe (which was my goal), with a fun twist. The rest of the pieces in this series can be seen over at Flickr. (A huge thank you to my models Katy and John and my makeup artist Christina! You guys are amazing.)

I have a couple of other exciting projects for clients that I've shot recently that are in the editing stage. I can't wait to show those off, but for now, you'll have to be okay with some candid teasers...




Here in Maine, there is a local photography collective called the Bakery Photographic Collective that provides photo space, dark room equipment and other resources for local photographers. It's a great resource and they have an annual fundraiser called Photo A-Go-Go that accepts donations from local photographers to be sold to benefit the collective. I have donated a framed print of Ms. Peacock this year to support the cause! If you're local, check it out. It's December 14th and the details can be found at the link above! So many talented people are represented.

Speaking of the holidays, one of my favorite companies House Industries (a typography & design powerhouse), has some wonderful products available this season for holiday gift-giving. Prints, bags, even a modern nativity! Check out their site. Here are just a few of the prints available right now:

Let's wrap up with some great vintage Firestone Christmas gift spreads that I found recently on one of my favorite blogs: Retro-A-Rama, shall we? Talk about eye-candy! The colors and the typography and the fact that they are entirely illustrated, really made me realize how much went into those old ads. We really don't bother anymore, do we? Ah, well...

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Some Art Openings...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are doing well out there as usual. Things are getting even busier here as I am juggling some openings in addition to various shoots and projects that have fallen into my lap. That equals long hours, but I am happy for the work! My opening for my Godfather work at the Motorland Vintage American space was a success! Almost 300 people showed up to look at the old cars and to look at my work, which is great. We had a beautiful night for it and I was so happy (and honored) to be the first artist to be featured in this newly remodeled and uniquely industrial space. Here are some shots from the opening!

I have another opening for my CLUE series at the Masonic Lodge in downtown Portland, Maine this Friday, September 7th for the First Friday Art Walk! I am also the first artist to be featured at this unique venue and I am really excited to show this work right in the location where it was shot! Come if you're local: 415 Congress Street, 5-8pm. I think there may even be food and beverages.

And after a couple of setbacks, I finally shot my most recent secret project. You remember the one, here was the hint I gave. So, that should be up this week or early next. Keep an eye out, it's a funny one!

As you all may or may not know, I am a huge fan of House Industries. Their entire look is perfect and I've used several of their Photo Lettering offerings in various projects in the past. They're just too good. Well, imagine my pleasant surprise when I found an entire Instagram feed dedicated to House eye candy! I really can't get enough... here are just a few of the pics they've posted recently...

And since we're approaching my favorite season (Fall) and my favorite holiday (Halloween), I have some darker things I want to share to start getting you in the mood! To start, I am a huge fan of EC Comics (the comics from the 40's and 50's that produced all the material for Tales from the Crypt), as I think I've mentioned. Well, I stumbled upon this great set of masks recently, inspired by some of the scenes and characters from the original comic book. I love these, but they are (sadly) sold out.

Let's wrap up with an amazing photo I found recently of one of my favorites: Vincent Price. I love everything about this shot; his face, that bat, the lighting?! It's making me happy today...

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...