Hi all. I've been out of town for the past two weeks and the only thing I've accomplished for my business is putting my new greeting cards into bags. Oops. Oh well. For the past three years, I haven't accomplished anything for the second and third weeks of July because I teach art at a summer camp near Rochester, NY. And I love it. If you don't know, I'm not just your friendly neighborhood monster maker! I went to school for Art Education and LOVE teaching. Problem: there aren't too many teaching jobs for art in my area. This is the two weeks out of the summer that I get to put my Master's degree in teaching to work! And I don't have to give standardized tests! [Grumble, grumble, NYS... but that's another rant for another day.]

Here's some pictures! First, if you follow me on Instagram, you know I got some new greeting cards! They'll be for sale at my next events in August!
[Chalk Art Fest Aug. 3 and during the Elmwood Arts Fest Aug. 24+25]

I got new business cards too:

And redesigned the top header on this page and on Facebook:

I did all of the above in a bout of nervous energy while I was getting prepared for camp. I don't know why I get nervous because the kids at camp are always great and fun and wonderful and I already miss them and they make super fun stuff like this:

We accidentally -but kinda on purpose- had a bit of a lizard theme this year, which was really fun! The drawings were done on tagboard and campers created backgrounds using Zentangles or "marker painting" techniques. They lizards were made using Sculpey clay and then painted with acrylics. I love kid art.

I had a really great stay in Rochester! Every night was busy! I got to see a lot of friends [including @merrypad and @dadand] and I even was able to go sailing! Here's a pretty sunset at the Yacht Club:

The two weeks ended with the very nice outdoor wedding of two of my college friends. They were married on a farm near Utica, NY. They seemed to like the Name Design that I gifted to them. I wish them many years of happiness! Congrats Amanda + Greg!

Now back to business. The Chalk Art Festival and Billapalooza are this weekend. Play time is over. Time to get back to work!

It has been a busy summer so far. I haven't done any big shows yet, but I've had enough on my plate to keep me busy. A lot of the things I have been doing are very different than what I usually and I am learning a lot. I volunteered my skills to help with all the design work for Billapalooza: The Sheehan Sunshine Music Festival, a benefit to help out a retired teacher from my old high school who suffered severe brain injuries after he was hit by a drunk driver. Even though I never had this man as a teacher, I really relate to his struggle. I was in a very bad accident last year and know how quickly your life can change from something that is completely beyond your control. It is a miracle that I am even here and I thank God every day that I am. So many people helped me out then. Now it's my turn to help someone else.

My work started with a poster. The event is called "Billapalooza: The Sheehan Sunshine Music Festival" and the organizers wanted the poster to be bright and colorful. I drew the design for the poster freehand on a big piece of Bristol board and then colored it in Photoshop. Everyone liked the poster so much that I was asked to design other merchandise to sell at the event. I designed a tshirt, bag, bumper sticker, magnet and pin which will all be included in a "Sunshine Pack" people can purchase with their ticket. It has been a lot of work, but very rewarding. As each item is delivered, it is a lot of fun to see how it turned out.

I hope that I can do more work like this in the future. I've already utilized some of what I've learned to design new cards for my business. More about that later! But that's a small snippet of what I've been working on. If you'd like to make a donation to the Billapalooza benefit, here's a link.

The monsters want to wish you a happy day! This will be one of my new greeting cards! :) I'm excited to see how they turn out.