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Whoosh! March is gone and April looks like it's going to be a whirlwind adventure. I've got a LOT in the works and a bunch of upcoming events to note: First up is the April Open Studio at Western Avenue Studios and Lofts : THIS Saturday, April 4th, from noon - 5pm. Please stop by and say hi … and buy some art from me and/or the 150+ other artists on site. ;-) I will be in my studio (#112) working on costumes and more picture book portfolio (more on that shortly). Next up, I have a piece in the Four By Four for Education show over at the Brush Gallery . The show has been up a few weeks. The final day/fundraising reception: Saturday, April 11th, from 2 − 5pm. My piece on display is the Woven Heart ( #141 in the slideshow ). Admission is $25 which benefits a UMASS Lowell (art) scholarship. The admission fee also gets you one of the original pieces from the show. Woven Heart © Samantha Grenier 2015 To cap off my month, the  Society of Children's Book Writers and Il...

Morning collaging - torn papers and glue. I'm still here. Quietly working on my portfolio… neglecting my blog. The past month was filled with doodling and other paper-cutting activities. On top of that I'm slowly, slowly, slowly building out my studio space to make it viewer-friendly. Priority number one is polishing off my portfolio for the New England chapter Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrator's conference . I've only got one more week left on the timeline, but I'm feeling confident with the book organization as it stands. Though I still have oodles of work to complete by next Friday, I'm close to press and assembly, so the deadline doesn't feel scary-close (this time around). Fingers crossed for my postcards. They should be landing some time Friday or Saturday, so let's keep our eyes on the mailbox for them. ~Samantha

Make Art That Sells Assignment 5 Final - Party Goods. It's all over now :*{ No more Make Art That Sells class work. I had a BLAST on this last project. I decided to work on bits which would be appropriate for a little girl's party. So I came up with these three Flower Girl characters and laced some of the little icons from their dresses into the ribbon-like patterns on the paper goods: Flower Girl character designs. © Samantha Grenier My favorite part of this assignment sketching out ideas. I became fascinated with folk art and florals. Below are a couple pages from my books: Party Paper Sketches 1 Assorted Icons - © Samantha Grenier Party Paper Sketches 2 Birds and Girls - © Samantha Grenier I was tempted to render my final pieces in paint, (I have Folk Art brand paint sitting on my desk!) but I'm kind of a novice with the "finished" look in paint, so I shy'ed away from it. I can see this in my cut paper technique too. Party-party!...

Map of Amherst, NH - Editorial Illustration Assignment I can hardly believe Lilla's course is nearly over. This session has been challenging but very rewarding. I'm THRILLED I took up a spot in Part B. I was nervous just before the class started up because I struggled with conceptualizing my finals for Part A, and I've got a big side project on my hands which I had to juggle into the mixture of drawing. Above everything else in the course, I really looked forward to this past week's assignment: Editorial. I've been so focused the past couple years on Children's Book illustration, but I have a strong attraction to editorial work which I'm starting to re-investigate while I build up my Picture Book portfolio. This week's assignment was to design a map of our home town. So WELCOME to Amherst, New Hampshire: Close-up of some of the colonial buildings from the historical district. And a Pine branch. Amherst prides itself on it's rich colo...

Scrapbooking bits - final assignment Who doesn't like scoping out the towers of loose papers at the craft shop? It's a pretty big area to avoid. Scrapbooking is usually my first stop: search for paper textures and eye the motifs. What surprised me most about this week is that there are still scrapbooking companies licensing from freelancers for there collections. I thought this was an area where companies relied on in-house designers. Well... surprise ! They also find artist inspiration to make accessories too. How about that? This week's assignment was to design a sheet of icons which could be suitable for chipboard pieces or stickers, or inspiration bits and pieces. I started with a LOT of drawings... here's a snippet: Sketchbook spread with scrapbooking inspirations. Then I went nuts on PATTERNS to apply to my digital cuts: Pink-pink-pink herringbone pattern Assorted patterns which could be used for washi tape, paper, icon decorations, etc. ...

Holiday Card -- First Assignments Yep! Back in class :-) I'm back to taking Lilla Roger's eCourse Make Art The Sells (or MATS for short). The first assignment had me whittling away at Holiday cards. I LOVED making this card! I know I may have gotten a little too ambitious with this assignment, but I had a vision and I just had to go for it. I don't want to burn out after assignment #1... I've got four more weeks to tackle! This is definitely one of the market niches I've really taken to. Though the assignment was to make 2 cards, my second composition never left the sketchbook because I became so consumed by this one. I did struggle with background quite a bit. Here are some of the samples: Holiday card background samples. Right to left - flat navy, silver lacy, and assorted darks (shown here with lace detail). The navy is a little different for a Christmasy card. All the bits and pieces were originally pooled together against a white background, bu...

Meet my egotistical snail! So week #3 from Lilla Rogers' Make Art That Sells eCourse was all about the Picture Book. "Yay!" I thought. I thought.... Almost there, but no lollipop! We were to either illustrate a book cover or interior spread to a Hans Christen Andersen fable. I chose the spread because I really liked the assortment of possibilities, but I feel like I tried to show too much: "Finished" illustration spread for The Snail and the Rose Tree , by Hans Christen Andersen. The bit I enjoyed the most about this assignment was that we needed to somehow integrate hand-lettering - whether it be the title of the book or text within the story.  I can't explain why I've been dragging my feet on about testing out hand lettering, but I really had fun with this, I just wish I tried illustrating type and hand lettering sooner: Text "Bear Nuts" - Those are Hazelnuts. Text "Give Milk". Text "Grow Roses". ...

Plate Designs for Home Decor Assignment Dinnerware screams "Paint ME!" so I took a shot at watercolors for my second assignment in the Make Art That Sells eCourse. When I couldn't get just the right colors I wanted, I took my designs to the computer. This turned into a week-long mini war with messy (paints) versus clean (digital). At the moment I'm struggling with my assessment of the Home Decor Market because I know I'll be a good fit for it, but I need to follow my gut. As inspiring as flowers can be, I overwhelmed myself with too many concepts and ended up picking none of them. My first reaction to an idea (generally) is to get it down on paper. But my first reaction to this assignment was "Get flower buds!" I sketched a bit in marker, took to watercolors, (which I'm madly in love with by-the-way,) and then eventually sketched out my designs in pencil. A little backwards for me. For the curious eyes, here are some of my watercolor doodle...

Submitted Bolt Fabric Assignment My first week of Lilla Rogers' eCourse  (Make Art That Sells) is winding down now. It was enlightening while challenging. I'm in LOVE with fabric designing and I'll most certainly begin exploring this area later this summer. For now I've got to get through weeks 2-5 and the  LA SCBWI Conference  - one focus at a time right now! Probably the most challenging bit was suffering through another cold, while juggling the work-load. What is this? #3 or 4 this year? It was the type of distraction which could derail creativity.... Could, but didn't. I did drift off to sleep thinking of the assignments very often, so there are some things I failed to capture just due to the fatigue. Of course a giant head cold strikes as soon as I've got to busy myself with a looming deadline!  Blah ! Well I'm surviving. I'm pretty sure the cold is starting to taper. At least I got SOME rest this weekend. I've been sneaking e...

Sketching tortoise's shell. The past couple weeks, I've been steadily working on my own picture book. Some questions which keep appearing in my head consist of: Can a tortoise REALLY balance like that? If a giraffe could move like that, how would his legs bend? Should the tortoise have a top hat? I want my characters to look playful, but have some realistic value, so the top hat is a no-go. As for movement questions, I cannot rely on image searches, nor do I have regular interactions with these animals, so I'm making my own models: Giraffe skeleton doodle (left) and giraffe wire armature. I'm still working on this little guy (above). So far, I've bulked up his torso to help me with scale. Ideally, the giraffe will serve as a resource for consistent spot placement... same with the tortoise, who's still in the works - currently just a paper shell form. I am looking for some assistance with one of my animal studies. The giraffe has been V...

Basking Lion doodle (left). Actual Basking Lion (right) from the Franklin Park Zoo. Here's a mini rewind of the past couple weeks: Unfortunately, The Elephant Listening Project and I did not win the AE Roastery and Tea Earth Day coffee label contest . We'll get 'em next time! Congratulations to the winning Daddy-Daughter team (aww!) A teeny-tiny visit to the MFA (so small in fact, I'm plotting a re-visit for mid-April). I made a brief trip to the Franklin Park Zoo to spy on some of the cool-temp tolerant critters. The Zoo trip was very brief, due to my sudden spite for the cold weather. It probably didn't help that I lacked a hat and scarf, and had to keep pulling my mittens off to take a picture, or doodle in my sketchbook. I visited for the wildebeest, and I'm planning a return when the zoo "unpacks" the giraffe. Shocked, I was to see Zebras (one of which wasn't even a month old!) and Ostriches, romping around in the New England bree...

Hi everyone! Out of the B L U E popped this local contest to design a label for an Earth Day-related coffee blend. Relying on Facebook and the social media, A&E Roastery and Tea will is allowing the public to vote on their favorite design. The winning design will be printed, AND $2.00 from every Earth Day Blend bag sold between April & May will be donated to a charity of the artist's choice. Not only that, but A&E Roastery and Tea will match the contribution, so a total of $4.00 per bag sold, will be going towards charity!  The label I created is based on the concept of GROWTH and "sweet citrus aroma". Featuring flowers made from orange peels and (cut-paper) coffee beans, I paired the arrangement with the bright blue background so that the oranges and yellows really stand out.:    Should I win, charity donations will be going towards The Elephant Listening Project : The Elephant Listening Project website. Voting started TODAY...

Here's a mini Homage to Ms. Potter: Shelldon the Sulcata Tortoise study sketches - from RISD Live Animal Drawing Session - Feb. 2013 I recently picked up a book of Beatrix Potter's art plates from the library for an inspiration spark. Naturally, I mulled over the book the whole week leading up to a trip to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) for Christina Rodriguez's Live Animal Drawing sessions.  Sketches above are of the Sulcata Tortoise (Shelldon) from the center of my mini collage. Taxidermy and live animals in attendance at the RISD drawing sessions I did not bring my watercolors this year. If I had, I doubt they would look much like Beatrix Potter's studies anyhow.   The (blurry) images here are from The Art of Beatrix Potter . The book delves into her life a little bit, but it's mainly a book of plates showcasing her early works, letters and picture book studies. I LOVE Potter's fungi studies! I would have liked to read more from h...

I'm starting my 2013 with a made up word. Portfolio-izing is the act of "accessorizing" or enhancing one's portfolio. By "one" I mean my own. As you can see in my snippet above, I've transformed my portfolio into a giraffe pelt. The WHOLE portfolio looks like a giraffe now. This is just a close-up of the finished patterning: Lately I've been playfully gussying up my portfolio for the Annual SCBWI NY Conference. I'm beside myself with giddiness to get back into the city to show off my collection. I'm spending my weekend deciding on the interior pages and assembling my dummy book. This is what it looks like for me to "plot" out my portfolio pagination: I've got a lot of work to do, but I'm confident with the pieces I have completed. I can hardly wait to have my completed giraffe portfolio. Some of the "interior" bits can be found in my online portfolio . A few more pages will be making their way into ...