a while back ago, my good flickr friends blake and kristen said they were expecting a baby boy to be named ronan... immediately, i wanted to send them something meaningful, just as many other flickr friends did for my isabella... i began to ask several of our mutual online friends for their assistance and came up with the abc baby book project... 14 artists were assigned one to two letters in the alphabet to illustrate.... the originals were sent to me and assembled into a standard scrapbook book... although the book didn't make it to blake and kristen BEFORE ronan was born [as hoped for], it did finally make it to their home...
so now, here are half of the pictures along with a short biography of the contributing artists...
Cover R: Dan May is an artist living in Atlanta, Ga. He spends his days (and nights) painting dreamlike environments that transcend space and time. These delightful yet haunting images are often based in personal observations of both human's and nature's relationships with each other,blended with a healthy dose of whimsy, fantasy and cautious relevance.
A: Shahab Zargari writes words and music sporadically, HE runs GC Records with his wife Heela, and they both have a hand in raising their daughters, Mahtab and Arezu.
B: Shane Vorhaben was "raised by a pack of wild sasquatch until the tender age of 12, when he was discovered by a herd of traveling gypsy artists. They taught him the important lesson of thinking for himself and sharing his ideas... because all living things are connected, and if you can reach just one person you can begin to change the world... they also taught him to juggle." He works primarily in ink and watercolor.
C: Colin Johnson is a professional Freelance Illustrator and Gallery Artist who has received many honors including the the Gold Award in the Editorial category for the Illustration West 43 contest from the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles. Colin enjoys collecting art and toys, and is also a huge fan of both music and film. He lives and works in Minnesota.
D: Ramel Hill is [the husband of the infamous greenbaby] an artist and dad from milwaukee, WI. He works primarily in water color and inks. When he is not chasing his kids around or cracking heads in halo, he enjoys spending time sketching and painting.
E: Tim Haugen is an artis who works mainly with felt. His passion for the arts include illustration, sculpture and graphic design which he combines into his online business making vintage toys. All of His soft toys are made from his original patterns. He enjoys designing paper toys as well. During his spare time, he likes taking walks and going to craft shows.
F: Eric Hancock in an illustrator who is currently in development on a series of completely unrelated children's books for adults. Working with traditionally drawn images, he sometimes dabbles in the digital medium usually creating mixed media pieces in the end. Most are figurative with animals and creatures of all kinds incorporating magical realistic themes. Some would call his work playful and he agrees.
G: Nina Domena is a collector of many things. From vintage dolls to modern action figures, old toys and new, she finds beauty from all eras. She can find the most amazing and unique things on her weekly excursions to thrift stores and rummage sales. Her house is filled with games, toys, figurines, antique household goods, and beautiful advertising prints. Like a museum, her house is full of wonder and organization.
H: Scott Neff has been a stay-at-home dad since his son Cameron arrived nearly two years ago. After leaving the corporate world behind, Scott now prefers working for the little ‘man’ and making art when time allows. He is primarily a collage artists working in various mediums.
I: Matt Hill is a often called a modern ‘renaissance man’, with pursuits ranging from photography to music, 2D art to stop-motion, Web to print, film to writing and more. His current passion is making surreal Cut Paper art. What looks simple on the surface often becomes complex upon inspection. Shapes become figure and ideas. Groups become emotionally charged explorations of life.
J: Daniel Kyle is an artist by trade with the assumtion that it might go somewhere someday! A friend once told him that "to be true you must paint 1000 bad paintings and you will enlighten yourself with ability!" This is Dan's goal. He recently began his own business in Milwaukee WI and is having lots of fun learning every aspect of the never ending challenges.
K: Ellia Hill is a cut paper illustrator who works in the wee hours of the night when the world sleeps. She collects oodles of paper to create whimsical and happy illustrations to share with others. She maintains a rambling blog filled with an array of topics including superheroes,dvds, video games, family life, vintage goodness, and of course, art. She lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her talented husband Ramel and two loving kids, Diego and Isabella. They make up her greenbean world.
L: Diane Duda is a self-taught artist who enjoys making pretty little pieces of art and sharing them with others. She has a wonderful, supportive husband and three, rapidly growing boys. Thus, her art is a way of getting some girly-ness into her life. She successfully sells her work in many places including ebay, etsy, and zazzle.
please note that it was hard to take photos with such a glare... give me a sunny day, a cloudy day, or a well lit studio and the photos did not do the actual illustrations justice... you can check out more pix here including some of the originals...
