ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY- Modify

If there's anything that will modify your life, it's new baby!

Here are more stationery illustrations I recently created for moms and moms-to-be (the calligraphy is by the talented Crystal Kluge), all available for purchase at Pretty Girl Designs. Check it out - there are pages and pages of cute illustrations (most of them created by Pretty Girl's original illustrator, the above mentioned fabulous Crystal Kluge) that you can select for your very own customized invitations, announcements and general all-purpose happy day greeting cards!

Pretty Girl Designs

I'm switching gears today, showing you a post from my other blog, andreesillustration. I'm so thrilled to have my illustrations included in Pretty Girl Designs! Creator Darcy Jerome began her stationery/gift business with the motto, "Happy girls are pretty girls", and when you see these sparkling creations, you will just light up! She has taken glitter to the next dimension, finishing each piece by hand. Be sure to visit her shop and blog and check out the fun announcements, invitations and cards available for purchase.


Crystal Kluge has been illustrating for Pretty Girl Designs from the start, and I am totally awed by her playful style and versatility. Check out her blog for an artistic treat.

Big Talker

This is Norman, someone my family knew in the 40's. Nobody liked Norman particularly because he didn't have a very good personality. Norman sold real estate in Ojai, California in the 40's. I don't know where he is now, but if he is still living, he's probably in a very expensive retirement community.

Devastating Charm

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I am so totally charmed by the word charm. As a noun, it means (1)the power to attract or delight people. Now isn't that a really useful and important trait? Who cares if your IQ is less than your waistline, or you are homely or unemployed ...none of that matters if you are charming. (not that any of that matters anyway). I love charming people, they make me feel as if I am charming, too and they make the world a more interesting place.

Charm also means (2) an object that brings good luck or wards off evil. We could use more of this in our world of uncertainty and negativity.

And (3), charm is a phrase that is believed to have magical powers. I'm all for that.

So this week, let's all be a little more charming, please.

What the Heck is this Code For?

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Pardon me while I interrupt the dazzling stream of posts to put this code here. It's so rude, I know. This is to connect my blog to Technorati.com. Technorati is a search engine and blog directory. A better (and definitely longer) definition is here.

So now my blog will be easier accessed by those seeking collage work, and I can find other blogs with similar interests to link to.

If you'd like check out the indexing and search for blogs and specific subject matter, it's an amazing directory! Check it out: technorati.com

Beluga

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Isn't that just the greatest word? Beluga. Say it, and your lips puff out and it pops right out into the air and floats there, just like this magical flying creature. This is another illustration/collage for my buddy Bonny (hmmm, that's kinda fun to say, too. "buddy Bonny"). Her terrific manuscript, Somewhere in These Days of Morning is the perfect home for my collages, and I'm so happy to be able to contribute. If you'd like to visit her blog and read a few more chapters, by all means, go here.

Meanwhile, here's the chapter that accompanies this collage in its entirety:

Beluga is a secret word for ultimatum.

Guess it's not a secret anymore. If you meet up with one, be prepared to act fast and decisively. Because a beluga does not attempt to harness its rage at helplessness. She rides belugas to get her where she wants to go. The view is glorious, and the speed is high. The ride is squeaky and breezy, smooth and violent. She doesn't care that belugas take her where the answers are. She doesn't have any questions.
©2009 Excerpt from Somewhere in these Days of Morning by Bonny Belgum (author) and Andrée Tracey (illustrator)

Now if you will excuse me, I must go and saddle up my beluga and go for a ride.

Mushroom Girl

She's a princess in her court. She's actually a work in progress, a collage that has been shuffled to the back of my studio because I can't figure out how to finish it. So I just played around with a Photoshop background for now, although the actual collage will be quite different when I am finished. But for now, I do like the mysterious feeling evoked with the sky.

Ticket to Paradise

I had an out-of-body experience the other day. I didn't exactly leave my body, but I seemed to leave my house. I was transported out of my neighborhood - out of the U.S! And I wasn't doing anything stronger than my first cup of homemade French Roast coffee.

I was sitting on my sofa, staring out the window, and here is a photo of my window. Not exactly a great view, is it? But I like it, I've been staring at it for the last 15 years. Just a bunch of old trees now blocking the view of my neighbors' homes and not much else to see unless a squirrel makes an appearance.

All of a sudden the view looked different. A mist was rising from behind the neighbor's house, the sun broke through after a morning rain, and I thought I had been transported to somewhere totally foreign. Somehow the view lost it's familiarity, and it looked totally strange and exotic to me. Magical. I knew it was my own neighborhood, but still, I felt like I was in a rain forest or some tropical faraway place. It wasn't that it LOOKED different to me, it WAS different. I sat there for ten minutes, knowing that I was enjoying something very strange and special.

Eventually the curtain fell, and I was staring at my neighbor's lawn again. I keep sitting on my sofa now, drinking endless cups of that French Roast coffee, waiting for this spontaneous vacation to happen again, but so far no luck. But it is nice to know that our minds have the ability to make such a drastic positive difference in how we view our situation/environment.

Trotting the Dog

I was feeling a bit blue this morning, just tired from the previous week, and not getting a good night sleep for weeks on end takes its toll. So I decided to take Suzi-Q for a walk. But that is not correct terminology. She never walks around the house (she trots) so why would she walk in the Great Outdoors? So we don't go for walks, we go for trots. Totally out of control trots. She's had 6 months of obedience training, will do anything you ask her, was awarded best doggie and used as a model for the class, etc. But take her outside, and all that training just evaporates.

Actually, I'm fine with that. When we go for our trots, it's great exercise, and she enjoys her explorations, which is what being outside is all about for us. We both come back tired and restored at the same time.

The AWE-SUM Award!

This lovely honor was awarded to me by my friend Donna of The Good, Bad, and Ugly, a blog that has inspired me and given me comfort as I travel down the rocky road of caretaking.

The award comes with the very tall order to list 7 things about myself that make me AWE-SUM. Hmmmmmm. I had to think about that for a few days, so here goes:

1. I'm the world's best keeper of secrets. I never ever tell, so I have a huge library of amazing personal stories! I think this is because I am a good listener.

2. I've been able to make a living (eeeeek out a living) as an artist for the last 20 years.

3. I'm resourceful. I'll figure it out.

4. I'm persistent. I don't stop until I figure it out.

5. I'm great with animals. I love them, they love me. I also have a slightly uncanny ability to re-connected stray dogs with their owners.

6. I can't sing, but I do it anyway. This probably belongs on an Annoying List, not an Awesome List.

7. Best for last, I once saved someone from choking to death.

I was working as a waitress in a noisy rowdy restaurant during my college days. It was a very dramatic scene - the customer stood up with a blue face, clawing at his neck. He was a very big man. Ok , he was a really, really fat man. I had seen a poster of the Heimlich maneuver posted on the back of the kitchen door, and even though I had not taken the time to study it, it must have seeped into my subconscious, because I immediately stepped behind him and proceeded to try and do it. But the man was so wide my fingers wouldn't link together, and nothing happened! Meanwhile, the entire restaurant became hushed. I could feel all eyes on me. I thought, "Why doesn't someone bigger than me step up to help?" No one did. So I tried pounding him on the back, which I now hear is NOT the thing to do. That didn't work either. So I went back to attempting the H. maneuver. Somewhere in the back of the restaurant, I heard someone say, "I think she's getting it!" and sure enough, out popped a piece of steak! I don't know who was more shook up, me or the customer!

The irony of this story is that I got fired the very next week for being too slow. I was never a good waitress. But I think it's better to save someone from choking on the food than to serve up it up quickly.


The Awe-Sum Award comes with the instructions to pass it along to 7 other bloggers, so here's my list:

Claudine Hellmuth

Anahata Katkin

jillustration

Gennine's Art Blog

Penelope Dullaghan

Julia Rothman

That's it for now. I'm not adding a seventh blog yet, because I just KNOW I've forgotten someone very important, and it will come to me soon.

July Cover

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Here's how it all turned out. I added that distracting label area just to extract some sympathy from you the viewer - it's so annoying to have to plan an illustration around a label, but an illustrator's gotta do what an illustrator's gotta do!

The big challenge with this illustration was combining the copyright-free vintage images and maintaining consistency. Unfortunately, some of the images I found were cropped, which really made it difficult to arrange the composition, unless I chose to finish the images with my own drawing. This proved to be impossible to match since the original images were woodcuts and would require more skill and time than I possessed. So I tried to solve this dilemma with backgrounds on some of the figures. I left some of the figures "out of the box" because it made for a more interesting composition, but I'm afraid I sacrificed consistency in doing so.

Nevertheless, I think using vintage images was a good way to illustrate the difficult subject matter the physicians wrote about in their essays featured within the magazine, as well as evoking the essence of memories and the past.

July Cover - Thumbnails

Another cover for the Minnesota Medicine magazine, July issue - YAHOO! These are the 4 thumbnails that I submitted. The theme of the cover was to announce the winners and other entries of the annual writing contest. Once a year the magazine invites physicians to submit their essays reflecting their experiences in the field of medicine. This year's essays had such bleak (it seemed to me) subject matter: illness, death, abuse, violence, impact of war, difficult patients, aging, etc. But when you think about it, that's exactly what a physician deals with daily! Initially, I submitted thumbnails that were somewhat generic in outlook - just addressing the issue of a writing contest, or keeping the visuals to symbols or medical icons. That's the Pollyanna in me, I guess, the eternal optimist not wanting to face the dark side. But that was not what the editors wanted - they wanted specifics! And the thumbnail they chose was the most difficult for me to realize, the collage. (But I must say, my favorite of them). So I'll show you how I changed it around when I post the final tomorrow.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY- Idle

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This is an older post, but I thought it worked well with this week's Illustration Friday theme. This little girl looks like she has lots of time on her hands as well as a flamingo in her arms!

Sometimes when I'm working on a collage, it just seems to make itself without any help from me. It's like driving a car with a destination vaguely in mind, when all of a sudden some mysterious force takes control of the steering wheel, and I just sit there with my hands folded in my lap and say, Wow, how did that happen? I was planning on putting a crown on the flamingo (I just adore crowns, I desperately want one for myself) when all of a sudden the scrap of paper that I cut out turned into a basket, and the next thing I remembered was a tiny dragonfly that was waiting on the sidelines. And there you go!

Have you hugged your flamingo today?

I'm feeling all Victorian lately. I must be longing for simpler times (which of course were far from simple and in fact were simply dreadful, it's just the concept that's so soothing). I'm also working on several collages at one time, which keeps me preoccupied. A very special thank you to Suzi-Q for her guest appearance the other day. It's still raining here and she's still refusing to go outside until she is bursting at the seams.

Guest Blogger

Hi, my name is Suzi-Q and my mom asked me to step in and say a few words because she is too busy to blog right now. So hi there. I wish she hadn't asked me because I'm really not in the mood, being annoyed with this rain. I hate to get my little feet wet. In fact, if I step outside to go for a walk, which I LOVE LOVE LOVE, and I discover that the ground is wet, I will turn around and want to go home. Fortunately my mom has proven to be very trainable, and I've taught her to put towels down for me so I can enjoy squirrel watching on days when the grass is wet. Is that not cool? Do you think this collar makes me look fat? I have a crush on a dog named Bob, but that's another story for another time.

Hotel Rapid Deterioration

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Time has a way of just drifting away. This is a chapter by Bonny Belgum in Somewhere in These Days of Morning, a forthcoming book of her inspired observations of life paired with my collages, inspired by her observations! Here's the chapter in its entirety:

She used to own a hotel called Rapid Deterioration,

and before that she lived in it. The whole place was done up in tasteful pumpkin. She had to move out to bring the total available rooms to 117, the correct number for any hotel on a large secondary street.

©2008 Excerpt from Somewhere in these Days of Morning by Bonny Belgum (author) and Andrée Tracey (illustrator)

Bonny always has an interesting adventure on her horizons - for more information about her writings and doings, check out her blog.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Subtract

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In the world of fashion, less is more. And in the case of an alligator bag, this is certainly true. The alligator is less his hide, and the fashionable owner of the bag is less an arm and and a leg, financially speaking.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Instinct

"The Road To Love"

Have you ever been here before? Of course you have! There sits that castle on the hill with the promise of everlasting bliss, but you hear a warning rumble in the back of your head. Do you go forward or do you tuck your tail between your legs and run like a bunny out of the gate? You just have to trust your instincts at this point.

Listen to the Animals

Do you ever wonder where your mental imagery comes from? Lately I've been featuring animals who seem to be humans in my collages. I never bothered to think much about it (I find it disconcerting to analyze while creating) until I came across a wonderful Etsy website the other day, PaperStreet where I found a great selection of Royalty Free digital files for sale. This image is from a sheet of children's book illustrations. It took me back to my childhood love of reading fairy tales. It dawned on me that kids always know the truth - animals have a language and a world of their own which we would like to think parallels our own. But it doesn't - it's so much more fun and so much scarier than our own. But all those animals in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass (the Walrus, the Mad Hatter, the Mock Turtle, etc.) totally fascinated me with their peculiar state of certainty in a topsy turvy world.

woof

Some of the best conversations I've ever had were with my dog. And we don't even speak the same language.

Top of the World

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When you're a kid, you're on top of the world. Unless of course you have to make your bed, do your homework and take out the garbage. Then you just want to ride off into the sunset on your well-trained Red-breasted Nuthatch as it calls out in a high nasal chirp that recalls the tooting of a tin horn (according to my dog-eared Field Guild to North American Birds), "YANK - YANK - YANK".

Exactly my sentiments when I was reading the morning newspaper about the sad plight of the economy... I got so mad I just wanted to scream "YANK YANK YANK!"

Which reminds me, this lovely study of Nature in all its glory is available for purchase ($25.00) in my online store GRAPHITEGIRL. Please purchase it so I can stop disturbing the neighbors with my bird calls.

YANK, YANK, YANK!

Dog Waiting for the Bus in Roswell, New Mexico

Let's face it, if you smoke, you're flawed. At least in today's society. But it could be worse. You could believe in flying saucers and then you'd be crazy.

I thought this would be a good entry for Illustration Friday's theme of the week: "Flawed".

It is available for purchase in my online shop: GRAPHITEGIRL, along with my other collages.

Carry Your Heart-small version

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Oh my gosh only twenty-five days until Cupid arrives....are you ready? My thoughts are turning to tales of Love, so here's a little reminder. If you are looking for something to charm your sweetheart, this tiny collage will do the trick. It was inspired by an e e cummings poem that is so moving that I included it in the 11/10/08 posting of this blog. If you recite this lovely poem while handing your love this work of art, I'm quite sure the skies will open and hearts will rain down all around you and who knows what else will happen. To purchase this little gem for a mere $25, visit my shop: GRAPHITEGIRL.

Sketch

Here are some things you may not know about me, and probably don't care but I'm going to tell you anyway: I used to smoke, but gave it up many years ago. I've never dated a man who owned a white suit. I own a dog, but she doesn't look like this. And I once saw a flying saucer, but I wasn't in Roswell, I was in Iowa. Same thing.

So I'm putting all this terribly fascinating information into a collage. Check back for an update!

Inauguration Day

A beautiful ending to a beautiful day. Happy Inauguration Day everyone!

Cheerleader with Rhinos

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I know, I know, you're saying, WHAT is going on here? Can't you see? It's a beefy cheerleader and her motley crew of rhinoseruses. Rhinos. Rhini?

I have NOT lost my mind, I just feel a need to post something, and nothing else is ready to be posted, so here's something from the archives of eBay. Long ago, when I finished my diorama business, I had a lot of left over miniature figures. So I sold them on eBay. And to make them interesting, I would use calendars for backdrops, and then photograph the figures up in front of them. I had so much fun!!

This family of rhinos, complete with lipstick (?) needed a little something else to give the picture some pazazz. I know,...a cheerleader!

This set sold within 2 hours of posting on eBay. It's all in the marketing, eh?

Now back to the drawing board.

Capitol Chihuahua

I've been having the most fascinating dreams lately. Good thing I write them down when I awake, or I would never remember them later. I love my dream journal, just re-reading it now and then is like reading my own personal best seller. It provides me with shocks, laughs, and an occasional inspirational image for a future creation. No wonder I love collage work, it is so similar to the dream state!

If you would like to visit a really good site to interpret your dreams, check out www.mooddreams.com. There you will find a bar to type in the symbol or action of your dream, and up pops a fabulous interpretation that will shed light on your current situation. It's tons of fun and great if you are interested in discovering more about your subconscious life.

On the other hand, sometimes it's better to let sleeping dogs lie. Or fly.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Clandestine

Excerpted from Somewhere in These Days of Morning
©2008 Bonny Belgum

I hope you all are in the middle of happy holidays. It's been a while since I've posted, that's because I've been busy holiday-ing. But here's another chapter for the collaborative book Somewhere in These Days of Morning, written the fabulous Bonny Belgum and illustrated by me. If you would like to read the entire chapter (it's short and sweet, two whole paragraphs), you can check it out here.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Similar

Blurry? Fuzzy? It's similar, but not quite the same. Blurry is more......slippery and smooth sounding. And fuzzy has a more textural connotation, don't you think? This collage is another illustration in the upcoming book collaboration, Somewhere in These Days of Morning, written by Bonny Belgum
and illustrated by myself. You may have seen it previously in this blog as That's the kind of person she is, but that was merely a working title. Eventually Bonny felt this title WASN'T working, and this beautiful title came to mind. I love the dual interpretations of morning/mourning and days and morning. Bonny makes words sing.
If you'd like to read the chapter in it's entirety (it's very short, only two paragraphs), go here.

Treadmill

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Here's the latest cover for Minnesota Medicine. The theme of the featured article was the increasing burnout in physicians, and the renewal of energy and insight that the Bush Foundation medical grants provide them. Since I couldn't find a giant hamster wheel, nor convince any models to dress up as doctors and run around in it, I had to invent the whole darn thing in Photoshop. Phew, that was a job, but really fun!