greenbeanbaby art

a very abc baby book- pt. 2

M: 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.

N: 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.

O: 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.

P: Dawbis is a self-taught artist who enjoys making tiny works of art from all the paper she finds in the world. She loves to eat sweets and dream of becoming an environmental scientist. If you wish to say hello, please visit her site.

Q: 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.

R: 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.

S: 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.

T: 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.

U: 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.

V: Dawbis is a self-taught artist who enjoys making tiny works of art from all the paper she finds in the world. She loves to eat sweets and dream of becoming an environmental scientist. If you wish to say hello, please visit her site.

W: 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.

X: 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

Y: 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.

Z: [i did this one too... don't think you need another bio from me, eh?!]

feel free to check out the flickr group dedicated to this project for a list of participants' and their flickr pages... the links above go to their websites... thank you all!!!

 

a very abc baby book- pt. 1

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...

 

interview with mikey freedom...

A few months back, i began setting up interviews with other paper artists. This was a way [i thought] to inspire people who enjoy the same medium, as well as get a chance to see how differently people can work with paper... Having the cut paper illustration group on flickr, i have met many talented artists who push the boundaries for such a simple and common [and often inexpensive] medium... Mikey freedom is one of those artists, who happens to do an array of work, including tattoo design. But of course, you have to love this guy's collage art!!!! 

So, who is mikey freedom?
My name is actually Michael Lothian. My website is called "Enter the Sunset". My artwork is formed from the need to purely create and gain sustenance from the colour and stroke of a brush. I am Driven to paint, collage and produce works of personal and Social importance. My motivation is found within my family life, my wife Sophia (who is my partner in all of these artistic pursuits!), being of Polynesian descent, along with my three children and where opportunities to travel the South Pacific have enriched my subject matter.

You work in several mediums and styles of art. However, why collage?

Collage has always remained an intensely fond medium for me, there is something special about collage when done with attention to line, color and shape. It has the ability to cross the divide between child and adult sensibilities. It is automatically inviting and purely honest. It does not discriminate towards its viewer!

Collage is the sort of medium in which I feel all aspects of my art practice are brought together. When I cut paper I approach it as though I was drawing. I do not draw a guide or sketch to aid my scissors or scalpels, I purposely cut freehand and cut shapes by sight and intuition. I feel most comfortable collaging in this method. I rarely use pre-colored papers, preferring to paint my own papers, as I enjoy the process of mixing paint and painting paper. Collage will always remain my passion, to which I have an unending motivation for!

Who influences and/or inspires you?

My strongest influences in collage would be Henri Matisse, Romare Bearden and Pablo Picasso. I am also inspired by the work of Eric Carle, and the illustrations of Charley Harper, Bernie Fuchs and the brilliant paper engineering of Carlo Giovani, to name but a few.

Who or what inspires your theme in your artwork?

The majority of my works theme is based on the majestic islands that form modern Polynesia, many people have depicted Polynesia, though I attempt to express it in a true and honest manner, reflecting its rich culture, history and it's people!

Aside from being a collage artist, what else do you do?
For over ten years now, I has also worked as a High School Art Teacher and lectured at universities on various aspects of Art.

I have also worked extensively as a muralist and community artist, having painted for councils, welfare/youth centers, private business, festivals & concerts, facilitating workshops with marginalized and disadvantaged youth. From major business corporations such as MTV, Sony etc, to painting live on air for Foxtel’s Channel V, my experience is assuredly wide. I have appeared and done work (art) on television & Radio, including magazines and newspapers.I also do Tattoo & Graphic Design.

Lastly, where else can we find you and your work?

I have a new shop open so be sure to check it out and tell me what you think. You can also find me on flickr as well as red bubble. Of course you can check out my website, and/or my blog.

note: all images are copyrighted and belong to mikey freedom.

one year older, baby...

isabella is officially a one year old lady!!! weighing in at 17 pounds 2 oz and measuring 24.25 inches long, she is considered healthy [but a tad thin]... she has 2.5 teeth and seems to be wanting to talk to us all... on her birthday, sarah sent her some homemade cookies.... as i was taking the photo, miss baby girl snatched the cookie and took off to another room to eat it!!! with a trail of crumbs behind her, she attempted to shove the whole thing in her mouth, all the while giving me this "yeah, i'm cute" grin....

and you have to admit, she IS cute... she has so much personality packed into her lil self... she was quite involved during her birthday party too... not really fussing over the crowd of people and DEFINITELY enjoying her gifts... i don't remember diego really even wanting to SEE his toys but then again, we were at  a park with an open field for him to run... anyhow, isabella received outdoor toys for our summer fun... clothes... shoes... a burping baby doll and a cabbage patch... as well as many more goodies...

diego was in the mix of things too... and i have a confession... i was one of those people that felt strongly that ONLY the birthday kid should get gifts on their birthday... i  heard stories of moms who would get toys for ALL their kids so they wouldn't feel bad... the one day that is all about you and EVERYONE GETS PRESENTS TOO???!!!!  thus was my perception sometime after diego but before isabella...once we started buying gifts for isabella [especially big items] diego was considered... "oh this will be awesome for THE TWO to play TOGETHER".... for a moment i thought isabella was getting jipped because her big toys were for ages 1-3 so the act of sharing was inevitable...

like this one set [that she opened up the night of her birthday- two days before the party]... when diego saw the animal set, all he could think of [and declare] was isabella sharing... at first i told him that it was only HER gift... but then, i remembered how quickly he shares his brand new toys with her, even if she eats them... he gets 4 li'l iron man toys, and he took two and gave her the other two... if he is playing with a batman, he will find her another batman to play with... so why shouldn't she be able to share too, right?! when we opened up this gift, he was mad happy and more thrilled than she was!!!

point being, diego wasn't left out of the party.... he was a big helper and he even got his own set of outside toys from his grandparents... his uncle and aunt bought him a spiderman too!! it was a wonderful weekend filled with sharing and love and celebration... a celebration for my beautiful isabella who has blessed us so much throughout the year with her love, charm, personality, and individuality... she is compassionate and dotes on her brother and daddy... if diego cries, she will too... if daddy comes home, she runs to him with open arms and a pouty face... and i guess i'm her giant teddy bear :)

happy birthday isabella!!! and thank you blogworld for sharing this year with us!! if you want to see a few more pix, check out my flickr page...

note: thank you cards made by diane... thank you, diane!!!

sponsoring...

edited:
i found my two sponsors nina and simone.... i will be sponsoring miss magic voices... the info on the spring clean-a-thon has been moved to the side of the blog [under pages]

the problem

are  you tired of making to-do lists but rarely getting to cross every item off as "done?" do you have oodles of art projects in dire need of attention and completion? are you tired of feeling the incredible guilt of taking a moment to rest KNOWING there is so much you could do BESIDES actually sleep?? are you frustrated that there are far too many things undone and little motivation to push you? are you sick of not meeting deadlines and knowing all you have to do is give a handful of excuses as to why you're late? are you angry at yourself for being lazy despite the fact you do a thousand things in a day [and these thousand things are the same things you have to do EVERY day... and no matter how many times you clean that bathroom, it gets dirty... no matter how many times you do dishes, there is another dish left on the table with crusted cheese begging to be scraped off... no matter how many times you sweep, there is a little kid pretending he is cookie monster and putting crumbs on the floor] are you fed up with yourself for falling asleep and dreaming of someone yelling at you for that project they waited ages for????

if you are experiencing some or all of these symptoms, then i feel you! we are rowing the same boat and feeling the same guilt and in need of the same motivation.... of course, if only father time would grant us a few extra hours then we wouldn't be in this pickle but he isn't that generous... we all need a boost... we aren't in school and we don't get a poor grade if our project is late... we aren't getting paid by the hour for these projects so we don't get the satisfaction that on friday, we get our money's worth... we manage our time as best as possible and yet it could still use a bit more management skills...

so in saying all this, i set up a wee bit of fun for those of us who want to participate... check on the side of the blog for more info on the spring clean-a-thon...

to infinity.... and beyond

hello... hello... hello! have you missed the ramblings yet? excuse my absence but there has been so much going on... although, most of it isn't interesting enough to blog to you about... i mean, would you like to hear how we cleaned out our yard? or how my mom helped me organize and clean our basement? or how our washing machine broke? or how i had a stomach ache from drinking milk? nah, none of that is quite as intriguing... of course we could always discuss the greenbean babies but as far as art goes, there is not much to REALLY show for [just yet]...

sketch peeks:
after months of sketching, procrastinating, sketching, thinking, and dreaming about the children's book, the first process of it is finally complete... all 32 sketches are hashed out with revisions on the way... choosing a font is now the new focus of the and it's not as boring as it sounds... it's actually one of my favorite things about design- typeography... not that i'm a pro, but going through hundreds of fonts on my computer and activating the coolest ones is kinda fun... still haven't found the perfect one yet but  there are several ones on the MAYBE list... so see, work is being done [slowly but surely] this weekend, i will try to put up photos in flickr of a few of the sketches.. now that they have video on flickr, who knows??!!!!

website update:
here is the money question: that website of ellia's... will it ever be complete?! yes but i have to push the date again... the children's book took precidence and now isabella's birthday party is around the corner... i want to have some special goodies available including some stuff for the shop... a few full sized illustrations, a few special packs, maybe some notecards... i don't want to have the site up and my etsy shop void of goodness, ya know?! so please bare with me and my delay on this site.... i feel foolish that it's taking THIS long already >guilty sigh<

kid smiles:
well, here is isabella's... her, with a bit of food on her cheek... can you believe she will be one next week?? boy, how time flies!! i ordered thank you cards from diane and cannot wait to see how they turn out!!! we will be eating cupcakes and celebrating my baby girl's first year on the planet... gosh, i can still remember [vividlly] the day she was born... actually, the thought of those hours of labor, knots my stomach up... but i remember how well she blended into the family and how quick diego took to his baby sister... and now, look at them!

paper game purchases:
i haven't been able to play xbox too much, as our membership expired momentarily... as a "thank you for helping me out with my etsy shop" gift, i bought ramel the pirates game... and as a "congrats on your etsy sales" gift, ramel bought me thrillville....  thrillville is some fun stuff since you get to maintain and build up your own theme parks!! the pirates game is pretty fun too although i dislike finishing a board knowing i didn't get the achievement [shall i admit that the first board was done over 5 times just to get 25 achievement points?!] we thought it was two-player but it's not so we take turns... and ramel does all the hard parts :)

sorry this is such a bland blog post but soon, the greenbean baby will have much more to share.... [including some more paper artist interviews :)]

new week, new updates...

thank you all for your support and kind words over the weekend... the etsy re-RE-reopening was a success and there are only 14 items left... guess it's time for me to make more, right?! well, the website still needs to be divvyed up and published... once that is up, there will be [hopefully] new goodies available including a few of my illustrations... the set date for the greenbean art site is april 11th... again, i hope it's well worth the wait and not a disappointment to any of us [yep, self included]

boy, there are many projects to complete still, aside from the website... the children's book has been pushed on the backburner but is in dire need of attention... there are only a few spreads to sketch out so there isn't a need to procrastinate... time to sharpen the pencil and get to working...

there are a few custom illustrations to make, incuding my niece's birthday illustration... [i can't remember if these ramblings were blogged on recently] every year i make her an illustration and every year the illustration is late... last year, she didn't even get one... so this year, i wanted to make her a bigger one with 2 characters [to make up for last year]... i'm pretty sure it will be a superhero theme... whether its girls dressed in superhero pj's or gals dressed AS superheroes, is still unknown... i hope she likes her own lil gallery of greenbeanbaby work and will save it for years to come... i should do this for my kids too but i thought they might get sick of my work faster than ananda... my mom informed me that she enjoys my work so much that receiving one yearly would be a great tradition for her too... who can resist a mother's request?!

aside from that, we have family life busy and more busy... last week was spring break for diego... he was excited to get back to school and play with kids his own age... not to say, he didn't have a good time here but we all know i'm not a preschooler [and try as i might, i can't play or think like one]... and we know that isabella is not even a toddler, and try as SHE might, she can't keep up with her brother either...

speaking of isabella... she turns one very soon!! that means, she gets to enjoy the wonderful taste of whole milk... it wasn't until recently that i've really enjoyed the fact that her teeth came in so late... she has learned how to use them thus making nursing a fearful event [for me]... i've even called the doctor to see if we could her give her a bit of pediasure... the okay was given and lemme tell you, she loves it!!! just like diego, she clutches that sippy cup and squeals with delight... and when she drinks a bit, she seems a bit drunk- all giggly and swooning everywhere... yes, she is growing up so fast...

she's awaken from her nap so it's time for our lunch...

stay tuned for sketch peeks, kid smiles, photos of paper purchases, and website updates...