Hand Lettering is HOT

Trend Alert!

When you think of calligraphy, your mind may conjure up visions of old English script or formal wedding invitations. Not so any more.

What is Calligraphy?

Calligraphy really means lettering by hand. Talented calligraphers are creating tons of beautiful letters and fonts these days, it's hard to miss this trend. But it's also the type of thing you may not notice unless you have an eye for it. Look for it and you'll see it everywhere. Here are some beautiful examples of hand lettering:

Source: Dana Tamachi | tanamachistudio.com

Source: Lisa Congdon | 2012 : A Year In review

Source: Mary Kate McDevitt | marykatemcdevitt.com

Source: Alexandra Snowdon | flickr.com

BOOK DESIGN: The Angry Island | Lettering by Marion Deuchars

Hand Lettering Forever

You’ll find hand lettering in book design, posters, magazines, restaurants, business logos and much more! In a later post I’ll share some of my favorite examples of hand lettering on product packaging.

Let's hope calligraphy / hand lettering survives this age of new technology. This art form requires mad art skills and intense concentration and focus. I, for one, hope hand lettering lives on forever…

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January is International Creativity Month

Happy January! Here I go again, setting goals for the year, both personal and professional. This year I’m trying something new. Instead of making a list of resolutions that will all be broken by the end of January, I’m picking one word that will guide me throughout the year. My word for 2013 is CREATE.
Did you know that January is International Creativity Month? Perfect timing for me and my word of the year. We all have creative ideas, the trick is to go for it, don’t let the fear of doing something wrong or silly hold you back.

‘If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.’ – Vincent Van Gogh

In honor of International Creativity Month, I’ve been trying to do more calligraphy and hand lettering. I’ll post some of my creations here. Stay tuned! What are you doing for International Creativity Month?

Lyrics Art – I Wanna Be Sedated

This lyric art print is inspired by 1970’s and 80’s punk band The Ramones.


 

Trivia Time!

• "I Wanna Be Sedated" was named one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (#145).
• National Public Radio included the song in the "NPR 100" - the one hundred most important American musical works of the 20th century.
• The Ramones were ranked the second-greatest band of all time by Spin magazine (the Beatles were number 1).
• The Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

Unfortunately the Ramones have disbanded and three of the original founding members are gone too soon. But you can find their songs on Spotify, iTunes or YouTube if you don’t already have it in your music collection!

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i ♥ letterpress

As you may have noticed, I’ve been having a lot of fun with Illustrator and Photoshop lately. My latest masterpiece is the result of following Pugly Pixel’s tutorial on creating a letterpress effect using Adobe Photoshop (www.puglypixel.com). This is a really nice look. I’ll have to use it in future projects.

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Hungry Panda

Here's a cool little project I did on the weekend. My first animated panda:) It was inspired by an Adobe Illustrator tutorial posted on Chris Spooner's blog at spoongraphics.co.uk. I like the subtle shading that gives this cute panda an animated look. Fun!

Here's a link to the tutorial create a cool vector panda.

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Ombre is Everywhere

Suddenly, ombre is everywhere – and that’s fine with me! What is ombre? Beautiful graduated layers of color. You’ll find it in home décor, fashion, hair color and more. Add a little ombre to your life!

1. DUSK DELIGHT	Sunset hues make this artwork pop. Ombre Art Print, $20; Retro Menagerie
2. FULL SPECTRUM	Ombre lips? Go for it! Dolce & Gabbana Classic Cream Lipstick, $32; Saks Fifth Avenue
3. TRY TO RESIST	Pretty cake is ombre-licious. Pink Ombre Swirl Cake, DIY; as seen on Glorious Treats
4. FLOWER POWER	Oh my ombre! Red & Pink Flower Box Centerpiece, as seen on marthastewart.com
5. LIGHT BRIGHT	Illuminated in ombre. Ombre Pendant Lampshade, DIY; as seen on marthastewart.com
6. SNUG RUG	Warm up with orange ombre. Orange Ombre India Rug, $25; Chandra Rugs
7. MOD SQUAD	Yummy ice cream ombre. Mid-Century Modern Desk and Chair, DIY; Natty By Design
8. SATURATED	Shower yourself in ombre. Smoldering Hues Shower Curtain, $118; Anthropologie

For more ombre inspiration, visit my Pinterest Board and Fancy List.

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Pantone Color of the Year 2012

Pantone has just announced their color of the year for 2012 – Tangerine Tango! It’s orange, it’s red, it’s hot! Pantone describes it this way:

“The 2011 color of the year, Honeysuckle, encouraged us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor. Tangerine Tango, a spirited reddish orange, continues to provide the energy boost we need to recharge and move forward.”

You can expect to see lots of this color in stores coming soon. Fashion designers recently showed a lot of hot reddish orange in their Spring collections and cosmetics manufacturers have used it for lipsticks and nail polish. A great way to add a pop of color to your interior spaces is to look for Tangerine Tango in pillows, tabletop accessories and of course, art prints! ColorBee will definitely use this spicy color in more than a few new prints next year. In fact, here are a few ideas…Enjoy!

 

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Pantone Color of the Year

HONEYSUCKLE has been announced as Pantone's 2011 Color of the Year!
"A dynamic reddish pink, Honeysuckle is encouraging and uplifting. It elevates our psyche beyond escape, instilling the confidence, courage and spirit to meet the exhaustive challenges that have become part of everyday life."

And check out Pantone's color forecast for Spring... These beautiful colors will help you get through any dreary winter day!

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Fun with Color

Here's a neat little optical trick from Before & After magazine, demonstrating how our eyes and minds interpret color.

When a shadow crosses the wall, what happens? Our minds compensate for the shifting light. Result: Circle B appears much lighter than circle A.

But...

Removing the shadow tells a very different story.  Below are swatches of the colors.  Color B is actually darker and grayer than Color A.

Hard to believe isn't it? I know!

Being the skeptic that I am, I did my own little experiment and cut circle A and circle B out of the original image, so I could look at them beside each other.

Hmm.  Well what do you know, it's true:)  

Have a fun day!

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September Treasuries

I just had to share with you some really nice treasuries I've been featured in lately.  They're all great collections, especially since they included one of my prints LOL:))

Sunday Favorites by magalerie
Featuring Ctrl Alt Delete - by ColorBee

September Sapphire by eireanneilis
Featuring Change The World - by ColorBee

Pucker Up by miascloset
Featuring Love Is All You Need - by ColorBee

Art Only - Pink and Orange

Here's a beautiful, bold, bright treasury created by lesleysico on Etsy today.

Isn't this great?  A big thank you to lesleysico for including my Colorful Cubes print.   Don't know how she found it - it's been listed for quite a while.  But I'm glad she did. :)

I think the pink and orange color combo is totally funky, which is what motivated me to create my Colorful Cubes print with a pink and orange theme way back when.  I think I'll create another print with this color scheme soon!  This abstract print would really make an impact in any space.

Three Things
I took some time to visit lesleysico's shop today.  She is a very talented photographer and has many gorgeous photos of Paris and other cities in her shop.  Here are a few of my favorites. Enjoy!

Lemon and Turquoise

Check out this awesome treasury created by EllaScottJewels on Etsy. It's perfect for the first day of summer isn't it?  EllaScottJewels was nice enough to feature my Peace By Popular Demand print in this treasury. 



Yellow/Turquoise is my favorite color combo right now.  In fact, I created my Peace print in Turquoise and Yellow because I had worn a yellow and aqua outfit that day and thought they looked great together.  My clothing inspired me!  It's nice to see someone else likes this color combo too!  Peace By Popular Demand would look great in a teen's room or dorm room.

Three Things
Here are three things from EllaScottJewels shop that I really like. Ella Scott Jewels has a wide variety of wearable art including necklaces, earrings, rings and hairpins (great photos too).  Enjoy!

How Sweet It Is

 Hooray! ColorBee was on the Etsy Front Page today!  My sweet print called "How Sweet It Is" was featured in a graduation-themed treasury created by KathleenCavalaro.  Personally, I think "How Sweet It Is" perfectly summed up my feelings on graduation day.  Maybe someday I'll be thinking the same thought when I retire from corporate America. :)  And today it definitely summed up my feelings when I found out How Sweet It Is was on the Front Page.
Thanks to Kathleen for creating such a nice treasury.  I visited Kathleen's shop today, she creates really groovy jewelry and has some cute dog tags for charity too.  If you haven't seen her shop, please visit soon!  

       

Treasury West

Did you know that Etsy has 3 treasuries - Treasury Main, Treasury West and the new Treasury East.  There are a lot of members out there curating treasuries.  It's a lot of fun.  I especially like the treasuries that are based on a color combo.  Today I was featured in Treasury West in a treasury curated by DearGeorgette.  I LOVE the colors in this treasury.  In fact I love them so much I created a painting using olive and grey :)  If you haven't been to DearGeorgette's shop, check it out soon.  She has an adorable shop.  Here's a screen shot of DearGeorgette's treasury.  Gorgeous! 



Also my print called Blue Skies was featured on the Etsy front page this morning!  This treasury was curated by lizzimarie.  Thank you lizzimarie, it's a really cute treasury.  Thanks for making this a beautiful Sunday!

Front Page

It's fun to find out one of your items has made it to Etsy's front page.  This is the second time it's happened for me, not bad considering I've only been on Etsy for about 6 weeks.  This time, Etsy picked up a treasury curated by Ceylan of packageinstyle.  She created a really nice treasury of colorful items as you can see in the photo below.  Too bad this front page was up at 2:00 am PDT and 5:00 am EDT.  Perhaps some of our European buyers enjoyed it, most of North America was sound asleep at that time. :) :)  Thank you Ceylan!  Please visit packageinstyle when you have a chance, she has a beautiful shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop/packageinstyle

Treasury East

If you haven't checked out the new Treasury East feature on etsy, do it today.  It's fun and easy to view a collection of etsy items created by etsy buyers and sellers.  Or create your own treasury!  :)
Here's one I created to celebrate Earth Week - it's called "Mother Earth".  Have fun!

Mother Earth Treasury

Etsy Treasury

I'm excited, one of my items has been selected for a treasury on Etsy.  As a newbie, this is a real compliment.  The treasury is called NEED vs WANT, created by Gisele of SilverSistersStudio.  She selected my print "All You Need is Love".  Fun!  Hopefully this will get me a lot more views and maybe even a sale. :)