250 Drawings for Therapro

For a while I've been working with a great design firm - Milk Row Studios - on a large project for Therapro Inc.  Over the course of many months they had me draw up somewhere around 250 black + white drawings for a project involving self-care tips for young children with autism.


At the museum, I often have at least one student who is autistic, and you may know that many autistic kids are excellent visual learners.  This project is made up of many pictorial instructions!  How to tie your shoes, how to button things, zippers, all that jazz.


I gotta tell you, I'm not even sure how to tie my shoes.  Keith asked me to send over some samples and I thought - "Wait... how do you do it again??"  After taking lots of pictures of myself (suddenly realizing my Jack Purcells were velcro...) we got it down.

It was a great project, and I hope it ends up being helpful to a lot of little kids

(and well, me since now I know how to tie my shoes again)

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I got a great deal on some WESC headphones a little while back.  One of the plus sides to working in your studio all day is that you can monitor eBay auctions that are ending while the rest of the world is working 9 - 5.  (Yay $15!)  It also helps to do all your shopping on a Tuesday morning while the only other shoppers are 90 year old men looking for hedge clippers.

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I can't believe the wedding is less than two weeks away!

 There is so much to do, it's almost overwhelming - but in a really wonderful way.

We are going to another wedding the day before ours - and I am so happy to say it's a gay wedding (Rock on Massachusetts - have I mentioned my fervent support of gay marriage, yet?)  It's going to be a weekend of lovely love!

[Also - there are lots of blogs that aren't letting me comment! I'm sorry guys! Mishi, Zoraida, Becca - I'm not sure what the deal is ...]

Travel light

my day bag that fits inside my carry-on [above] 

found this cool old travel wallet at a thrift store for $3 - it includes a mini address book + stamp fold [below]

My dad travels for business all the time, and it amazes me how he knows things like who has the worst airline food, who has the fastest check-in, and who serves you just a tiny bag of peanuts and flat ginger ale on a 10 hour flight.  Happily, Andy and I haven't traveled enough to be world-weary about airports - our honeymoon will be the first time Andy and I fly together!  [I'm terrified of flying, but I love the airport.]

Seeing people run to each others' arms, wondering where people are going to and coming from, the adrenaline rush at take off - it's awesome.

And what else is awesome is packing for it.  Yeah I know, it's weird, but I love to organize things.  When I get stressed out about artwork, I have to clean my studio.  If stressed about the apartment, I have to clean it.  It sorts out stuff rattling around in my brain and I can get back to painting again.  That probably qualifies as OCD.

Personally - I'm a big believer in zen travel - I carry absolutely the least amount of things possible, in the most economical way.  Here are some lovely travel things I've come across - mostly Korean + British ware - if you are looking for ways to voyager mode.

Himori eBay store  ++++  Cath Kidston USA   ++++  Jetoy Korea

  Click to see some montages I put together for you -
- luggage tags, passport cases, travel wallets and whatnots that are pretty cool 

Pirates of Mars - process work

Would you like to see some terrible sketches?  'Of course!', you say

thumbnails + finishes for pages 1 - 4 of Pirates of Mars vol 1

I can't believe these were done waaaay back around last Christmas! 

  

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read the comic online at PIRATESOFMARS.COM

I'm almost finished with the cover painting - it's really exciting!  This is a preview, and yes, I'm being annoyingly secretive...
But it's also a promotional image for you!  If you would like to help spread the word about our new comic, please feel free to take it and link!

Thanks guys so much for your support!

Back Bay

my parents old digs in Boston's Back Bay - still the same from the 70s

My mom recently showed me her old neighborhood in Boston when she and my dad were newlyweds

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Right now I'm struggling through a series of paintings.  I guess it's hard for me to focus on anything but the wedding. 

I've completely redone my portfolio site, have a new design for this blog in place and made a web-store, but now it's time to create off of the laptop and I just can't.


I was so thrilled when Gallery 1988 San Francisco asked me last month if I'd be interested in being in a 4-woman show to close out their last season - before they move to a new space near Los Angeles.  I immediately set to work, doing sketch after sketch of new ideas, mostly in colored pencil. 


Now as I get ready to transfer these little sketches into paintings - I'm hitting a wall.  I can't seem to get my hand to work right.  Everything I make seems awkward and rushed.  


The hard part is, they need to bump the show from February 2011 to November 2010 - which means when I'm back from the honeymoon I'll have 2 weeks to paint 8 pieces!  


So I don't know what's wrong with me, but I have to get my fires stoked and at least make some progress before October.

Inspiration - Meiji prints

Getting ready for our trip to Japan has put me in all-Nippon mode, so I wanted to share a book I recently bought from Harvard Booksmith.

Prints of the Meiji Restoration features the most vibrant, saturated, exciting woodblock prints I had ever seen - mostly from the collection of a former Harvard alum who went far, far East to purchase many amazing things for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  (If you haven't been to the MFA - they have one of the greatest Japanese print collections in the US and a philosopher's garden in the back!)

 just right for fall, I think

Have you ever seen Japanese prints with so many Victorian outfits?


We have lots of great ukiyo-e books of contemplative subject matter like flowers and birds, but demons and ghost prints too.  I knew my grandpa was a cool dude when he sent me a print from Japan of a woman holding a possessed baby oni.

Store Open + Love Hurts Winners

Hello friends!

 ////////////UPDATE/////////////

 Congrats to Ami + Alison Undercover for winning posters in the "Love Hurts" Giveaway!

I will email you very soon for contact information!

If you are interested in an 18"x24" poster print of "Love Hurts"

you can find them on sale for only $10 each on my web-store!

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After a few weeks of photographing, scanning, and hard-coding (wow, I need to get off this computer) my new website and web-store are finished!  The website will be launching shortly, as I'm waiting for a few new paintings to be completed and want to make sure it loads across all formats.  (and the blog is getting a face lift, too)

To celebrate the web-store launch I'm having a Works on Paper sale!

> Everything in the store is $20 or under!  
> Each item is an original drawing or mixed media on paper
> As each item sells a new one will replace it - so check back for more!

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My Studio

It's nice having the place crazy clean for a change. Andy has an old department store counter in our place, so we turned it into my supply shelves. It's like living in a little shop ♥

Alright, now that that's done - time to make some new work!

When the Internet Claimed Me

Oh friends, I was going to write all about my new studio and how my intern has started and how I'm working on all these great projects before the wedding - but no, I am holding off on posting those.   Because I got inspired.

By the internet.

Let me take you back to 2003.  I was just starting my college days at the School of Visual Arts, a little freshman at 18, my first apartment.  And my first time having ... the internet.

Gray's Papaya + Franks Pizza - my cheap eats in college.  Wasn't into the DVD store, though

I was never a big internet person like people I knew in high school or even middle school.  My family actually just had basic cable and a land line, so for the new millenium we were pretty modest.  So here I was, hearing about this thing called "Youtube" and friends would show me videos they loved.

Cut to 2010 - this week.  I made a Youtube account (yes, 7 years later) to upload my animated wedding card that I'll be posting here in October, and right in front of me, was a link to the first web animations I had ever seen - the ones from way back in '03.

So I thought I'd share with you the first videos that exposed me to the wonder of the internet almost a decade ago - specifically the ones that made me laugh so hard no sound came out and I thought I'd have to be hospitalized.

Much love,
V

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My print give-away is still open if you'd like to enter!

Love Hurts Giveaway!

Hi everyone,

Well I'm in a love-y mood with all things wedding-related!  In a massive studio overhaul, I was going through all kinds of old artwork from college when I happened upon the last prints of my SNES homage "Love Hurts". These prints were proofs used to advertise, so they're technically VERY FINE condition instead of MINT (comic book language)

And I'd like you to have them!

• I'll be giving away one 18x24 poster to two different winners
• To enter, please leave a comment with a valid contact email
• Winners 1 + 2 chosen at random by list number using random.org/list
• Giveaway open from time of post Sept. 11 through noon Sept. 18
• I will ship internationally using Parcel Post, contact me if you wish to upgrade

CONDITIONS

• follow this blog or follow me on twitter
• mention this giveaway in a post or tweet

♥ There are lots of great things I am excited to share with you really soon, including a new website, new webstore, new blog design, and even pictures of the new studio!

Wedding Invitations - for Alex and Lindsay

Last time I posted about Lindsay and Alex's amazingly lovely wedding, and about how they animated our wedding invitation (which I will show you all very soon)  but what I didn't say was that I did theirs as well!

They sent me their thoughts ...

My own wedding is just about a month away!  Oh my goodness!

PIRATES OF MARS Vol. 1 is finished and I've started work on the cover painting - so I'll have lots of things to talk about soon - have a good weekend :)

Lindsay + Alex

Sudbury, MA 8.28.2010


If you have seen Baman + Piderman on YouTube or featured on G4's Attack of the Show - you already know Alex and Lindsay Small-Butera.  They are dear friends of ours, (who also animated our wedding card! sweet!) and we were so happy to see them tie the knot.  (Literally - Celtic tradition n' whatnot)

Continue reading ...