Big Foot Birthday

For: Uncle Jer
Occasion: his birthday

Uncle Jer has been photoshopping Big Foot into my pictures lately--he shows up in one of Mike and I in front of some Aspen and is even lurking in the corner at the bar. I had no choice but to feature the mythical creature in Uncle Jer's birthday card this year. 

Like the inside of the card suggested, I believe in Uncle Jer. 

Flower Birthday

For: Claire
Occasion: her birthday

I have such a hard time capturing Claire's wonderful and quirky spirit in her birthday cards. This year, she got a floral card with a couple stand-out, bright, and fun flowers! The blue background has a few less prominent flowers, signifying Clarity's depth and subtlety. 

I love Claire oh-so-much, miss her every day, and hope she kicks this year's butt. 

Christmas Bear

For: Brother Bear (Nathan Curry)
Occasion: Christmas

To round out my snowy and white watercolor feats for the year, I painted Nathan Curry a holiday polar bear. This little guy was so much fun to paint with the subtle blues and browns giving him shape.

It was so much fun to see Nathan and stay at his and Twin's house, despite my many efforts to destroy their property. I hope Brother Bear had a great Christmas!

Snow Angel Christmas

For: Ames
Occasion: Christmas

Amy is a wonderfully playful person, so for her Christmas card, I created a little girl making a snow angel in the snow! It's really challenging to do subtleties in watercolored snow, but I think I pulled it off.

I had such a good time seeing Ames over break--I hope her dreams come true in 2014!

Snowy Tree Christmas

For: The Keanes
Occasion: Christmas

I wanted to make Mike's parents a Christmas card and spent considerable time considering the right subject matter (I want to make a good impression on them, you see!). When Mike and I went to the Botanic Gardens earlier this month, I was struck by how cool the lights looked when covered by snow. I decided to give it a try in watercolor and am very pleased with the results.

I hope the Keanes had a great Christmas and I am excited to meet them next week!

Christmas Owl

For: Dad
Occasion: Christmas

My dad is one of the smartest people I know; to honor his sage-ness this Christmas, I created a wintery owl watercolor. It was really great to see dad while I was home and I hope the new year brings him all kinds of happiness and adventures!

Christmas Trees

For: The Twin
Occasion: Christmas

For Twin's Christmas card, I painted a watercolor of two Christmas trees holding up one special heart ornament between them. This year's Christmas gift featured pairs (I made her a calendar of doubles) and I couldn't resist one last duo.

I love The Twin so and can't wait to see her again--hopefully soon!

Lights Christmas

For: Mom
Occasion: Christmas

My mom is a staunch proponent of colored Christmas lights. To honor her deeply held beliefs, I created a watercolor of the most colorful bulbs my paints would offer. 

It was lovely seeing Mom over the holidays and I hope she enjoys the Doctor Who fare I gave her!

Elf Christmas

For: The Currys
Occasion: Christmas

For Mark and Becky's Christmas card, I created a foresty watercolor that features some elves decorating a Christmas tree by lantern-light. I love the Currys a lot and hope they had a wonderful holiday on the farm!

Mistletoe Christmas

For: Mike
Occasion: Christmas

For Mike's first Christmas card from me, I created a playful watercolor of the two of us underneath some mistletoe. He's wearing one of his sweaters and his favorite boots! I love this card, I love Mike, and I had a wonderful time celebrating our little Christmas this year.

Window Birthday

For: Rukiyah
Occasion: her birthday

Rukiyah is a phenomenally lovely person who I admire and adore. She's currently living in Japan, so her card was a little late this year--but I hope it was worth the wait! 

I created a watercolor of Rukiyah looking out a window--her hands are up against the glass and she's wiped away a crescent to look through. This card was technically awesome to make--the look all comes from the painting, but I put a layer of saran wrap for extra glass effect.

I miss Rukiyah a lot and hope she had a great day!

Candle Birthday

For: Aunt Katy
Occasion: her birthday

For Aunt Katy's birthday, I decided to try my pencils on white cardstock and created some playfully imperfect birthday candles. Each flame is topped by a letter of "birthday" to complete the "happy birthday wish."

I love my aunt, hope she had a great day, and can't wait to see her over Christmas!

Little Shoe Birthday

For: Grandpa Jerry
Occasion: his birthday

Grandpa had a lot of young women in his life who liked to play with Barbies. Because we didn't have any real Ken dolls, Grandpa would put shoes on two of his fingers and play along if we ever needed a male role. I can still remember the silly voice he would use! This card is to play homage to those times playing together on his living room floor (though I think the shoes were really pink). I hope Gramps had a great day and I'm looking forward to seeing him over Christmas.

Celebration Birthday

For: Aunt Glor
Occasion: her birthday

This image perfectly captured my ideas for Aunt Glor's birthday card: fun, bright, colorful and celebratory. She is such an awesome lady and I really look up to her and hope I can emulate a lot of the things she has done as a mother (namely an awesome and creative house!). I can't wait to see her over Christmas!

Funky Bird Birthday

For: Charles
Occasion: his birthday

I haven't heard from Charles in a while, and thinking about how much I miss him got me in a strange mood, which highly influenced the bizarre bird I painted for his birthday card. It actually turned out pretty neat I think--I'm not really sure what's going on, but I hope Charles liked getting a message from me for his big day. 

Nutcracker Thank You

For: Richardson
Occasion: Thank You

Richardson overbooked himself on the opening of The Nutcracker downtown, so he gave me his tickets to the ballet! I got to take The Twin and it was a phenomenal show--just the thing to start off the Christmas season. I made him this little fella in watercolor to help say thank you for the tickets--the seats were phenomenal!

NASCAR Birthday

For: Mark
Occasion: his birthday

Mark is my father-twin-law, and I wanted to make him a special birthday card this year, given we're basically related now. Twin told me he likes NASCAR so--BAM!--Mark's name takes over the logo in watercolor.

I hope he had a great day and I can't wait until our paths cross again!

Six Month Sheep

For: Katelyn
Occasion: her 6 month work anniversary

At MHCD, you're not a "real" person until you've been on the job for half a year, and my officemate Katelyn just passed that milestone! Turns out, a baby sheep's gestation period is around six months, so naturally I painted her her very own baby sheep.

Congrats to Katelyn on making it this far (it's a tough job!) and here's to some PTO!

Funky Floral Birthday

For: Aunt Kat
Occasion: her birthday

Aunt Kat has a very cool presence and I wanted to try to capture that in her birthday card this year. To do so, I created a watercolor of some really unique-looking flowers. I love the overall feel of this card, and hope Aunt Kat had an awesome day! I'm really looking forward to seeing her over the holidays!

Birthday Dog

For: Paul
Occasion: his birthday

For Paul's birthday card, I used one of my favorite techniques where I watercolor an image, Xacto-knife it, then lay it on top of a background paper. How cool does that look? This little dog was meant to usher in some birthday fun for Paul on his big day and I hope it did the trick!

Cardinal Birthday

For: Uncle Jim
Occasion: his birthday

For Uncle Jim's birthday card, I could not get the idea of a cardinal out of my head. After about an hour of brainstorming other ideas, I decided to just go for it--and I'm glad I did! This playful guy is colorful and full of wisdom, not unlike Uncle Jim. I hope he had a great day and it was awesome to see the entire Kansas crowd at The Twin's wedding!

Tree Birthday

For: Aunt Joan
Occasion: her birthday

For Aunt Joan's birthday card, I created a colorful watercolor of a tree with some delicate gold detailing. I love, love, love how this card turned out, which is brilliant because I love, love, love my aunt! I hope she had a great birthday and I hope to see her again over the holidays!