A Quick Update

I will mostly be posting my illustration and design images on Instagram: @miorats
This blog will still be a place for my longer posts and more in-depth discussions of my current projects.

-Thank You

Krampus Christmas

Happy holidays everyone!

I've been working on some fairly long term projects recently.

This holiday season I will be sending out a little Snail Mail gift envelope of little stickers and such to those of you on my mailing list.

Just add your self to my (E-mail Signup) http://eepurl.com/CZ0Tr with your address before 12/14/2013.
(I will only ship to US mailing addresses)

For my holiday card I've been doing a little bit of research on Krampus.
Here is the finished card:

Krampus is a goatish devily creature from German folklore. Krampus acts as Saint Nicholas's opposite. Insted of rewarding good children with presents he punishes naughty children swatting them with switches and rusty chains before dragging them in baskets to a fiery place below.

Krampus grew to be a part of many familys' Christmas traditions.  In the late 1800's, the invention of color printing and postcards wound up making Krampus a Christmas icon.  German-speaking people around the world took to sending their friends and children postcards that featured the Krampus.  The postcards would often read;  GRUSS VOM KRAMPUS, meaning  Greetings From Krampus.  The message was intended to be a humorous reminder to be good.

Who is Krampus?

 

In these regions it also became fairly common for the young men of the town to dress up and run through the streets. Whenever the first people decided to dress up as Krampus, they would have created a monster defined by whatever easily available materials could be used for a startling effect. In some cases those materials were the horns and pelts of mountain goats, and in others, straw or hay set aside as winter fodder. Today, though some costumes may be produced by mass production, they still imitate the look established by materials regionally available in Alpine valleys.

Their traditional costumes and masks are elaborately handcrafted. Krampusses can usually be encountered on and a few days before December 6

The Truth About Krampus

Atlas Obscura

 

Krampus Run

Europe's Wild Men

National Geographic

Beard of Moss

For the children of the Alps, Krampus isn't purely a figure of terror. No, he's also a sugary treat, factoring into a whole host of traditional chocolates, cookies and breads.

http://www.gragger.at/?s=krampus

http://www.zauner.at/english/backstube

 

Decorations from Salzburg 

The Caked Crusader 

 

Croshame Krampus on Etsy

If you like Krampus, I recommend the movie "Rare Exports"

All the best winter wishes and holiday traditions!

-Jen

Work Sent Out

I Just mailed my work out to the Three Graces Gallery.

The below pieces will be included in the Tiny Tiny Art Show 9

105 Market St.
Portsmouth, NH

Below are some of my process images, sketches and such.

One arting evening I came home with some cupcakes from Sweet bakery.  I made some holiday tea in out new wedding gift Anthropologie octopus mugs. I painted and nibbled on sweets while Tom played his video games, keeping warm with a cup of hot tea, what a lovely evening.

 

Below are the octopus mugs. look! They have ships on the inside!

The cupcake flavors were; cookies and cream, chocolate chip cookie dough, mint chip ice cream and bananas foster. I think the banana or the cookies and cream was the best.  My all time favorite is the strawberry shortcake.

 

Here are my finished pieces ready to be shipped out. I framed my Blue Squirrel in a cute shadow box frame.

 

 

Hope you can make it to the show, some other great artists will have their work there ad well, including  Kelly Vivanco and Amanda Atkins.

Disney/Pixar, Brave

I just saw a preview for the Disney/Pixar movie, Brave. The imagery looks like something I would really enjoy, bears, archers red headed girls and dark landscapes. eeek!

I can only hope that there will be numerous woodland creatures included.

Below is one of my pieces... my own interpretation of a wild woodland girl.

In other news I am working on a short comic.

I have posted some sketches below. They are not the best quality photos, but I usually end up taking photos at night after the sun has gone down.

Process Photos

Almost Time

It is almost time to send out the paintings to Gallery Meltdown. I'm getting the final touches finished, Windexing glass, making sure I have records of everything, writing labels and sorting out the price list. Above are some preview images of "Stormy Seas" and "Blackbirds". -almost done -Jen

Meltdown Gallery Show

New works are emerging. I just ordered some fancy new picture frames and my pieces for the show are steadily developing into shiny little jewels. The next few weeks will be full of painting. Below is a little sneak peek of some of my pieces in the process of being painted.

Sketch Book Project

I always enjoy participating in little projects and viewing other people's work, especially if it involves mailing things. I rarely have the time, but what fun! Currently, in-between work and preparing for my Sep. show, I have been filling up a little Moleskin sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project. I figured that I would try and put together a little comic book of mini stories. Working on a comic has been on my to-do list for a while.

Process Moustache and Cherries

Here are some process images of my pieces. I'm continuning a seres of these little circus theamed paintings that I started for the show at the Monkeyhouse gallery ( I currently still have two pieces from this series there). After these two pieces I think I will do some more paintings of animals at carnival games. I love having a reason to incorporate text into my images.

Process Pictures

Here are some pictures of my pieces in progress, for the Carnival/Sideshow at the Monkeyhouse gallery. On the top is "Wolf Boy" a side show attraction that is only fed meat. Next to the painting is a neet looking swirly-purple taro bun. Below him is the painting "Sword Swallower" and "Carnival Fox".

New Pieces

Here is a little preview of the paintings I am working on for the Gallery 242 show in Feb. So far the title is Sweet Meats. Above is a picture of some tiny unfinished woodland themed pieces, they are all under 4". This is a pencil sketch on Bristol that I'm starting to paint with acrylics, on the right is a cute plastic frame. The title of this piece is "The Little Things", a girl is opening an acorn to find a grub. I have been working on this painting for ever, oils take so long to dry. I think this is about a 12" square piece, a little cat carnival.. the frame I have for this is amazing! Enjoy the preview.. More updates to come