Christmas Inspirations

Hi all!
A quick note: I have significantly updated my website! There is one little glitch I have just noticed-- on the portfolio page, the Christmas dove piece continues to haunt you when the cursor is off the thumbnails! I will be fixing this problem shortly. But check it out anyway!
Speaking of Christmas cards...
Well, this year I am neglecting to paint my annual Christmas cards, unfortunately. I was on a roll, three years in a row, but I just couldn't find the time for 2011's rendition. So, instead, I decided to show you some really wonderful retro cards and advertisements, all of which I find pretty inspiring.

I can't resist starting off with my favorite: Mary Blair!

Here's a Disney illustration from 1952. The use of green is a little odd here, but I love the line work on the buildings. I think it's also pretty funny to see the traditional Disney characters drawn in their usual style, with Mary's trademark technique surrounding them.


©Mary Blair, 1952.

I'm not sure when this Christmas card was made, but I really enjoy the simplicity of it. The texture is really nice, also. Although, the rocking horse's eyes make me slightly uncomfortable after some time.


© Mary Blair

Not a card, but still for the holidays! This character is my personal favorite of the bunch. Her way of handling children still has the largest influence on my personal work. I also enjoy that this piece required such a limited color palette.


© Mary Blair for Meadow Gold

While on the hunt, I also found some really fun card illustrations from the 1950s. The first is from "Better Homes and Gardens," illustrating a happy family in the most traditional sense possible. I love that about old illustrations. Even if life wasn't really this perfect, the world sure pretended it was! Wonderful limited color palette here, also.


© Better Homes and Gardens

This is an old children's card from Carrington. Again, the simplicity here is just wonderful. Apparently, there are some Carrington card collectors out there. I can't imagine what kind of lovely goldmines those folks have.


© Carrington

Now, this I just found really funny! Talk about simplicity-- Santa in his most basic form, selling electrical appliances. I'm not sure what woman today would really want a slow-roaster or waffle iron for Christmas, but I won't judge either. This was printed sometime in the late '50s or early '60s.


I don't have anyone to copyright it to. :(

And last, but not least, a really fun card illustration from 1960 by Hallmark. The card was made for First Lady Mamie Doud Eisenhower. Apparently, Mamie was responsible for the pink bathroom trend that graces millions of homes today (or once graced, as I'm sure many have sadly been torn out by now). Click here to read the really interesting article on Mamie's love of pink influencing America, which I discovered was attached to the illustration.

© Hallmark via The Eisenhower National Historic Site

I hope this makes up for my lack of personal work for Christmas!

adios,
caitlin

A quick update!

Hello all! Here's a few images of stuff I've been working on.

In Survey, we had to create a magazine spread ala the 1950s (stories for women in Good Housekeeping, etc.) Here's mine- it's for an actual published story in 1959 titled, "Take One Rainy Night..." I'm pretty pleased with it. The text for the story would be in the bottom left-hand corner.



"Take One Rainy Night..." 2010 Gouache and Collage.

I've been working furiously on children's book as well! Here's a few images from the spreads I've finished.



"Simon and Brother" 2010 Gouache and Collage.



"Frances Reads" 2010 Gouache and Collage.

No images yet from my relief class- but some good stuff coming up soon, I promise!

I've been pretty inspired by the art of Mary Blair and Jan Pfloog lately. Blair was a character designer for Disney, and more or less created all the old characters we know and love. I don't want to be a character designer, but her painting technique is so wonderful. The flat colors and movement are outstanding!



A children's book spread, © Mary Blair.

Jan Pfloog is not especially well known, although she had a pretty good run with Golden Books. I've had several of her stories since I was a kid- "The Farm Book," "The Zoo Book," and "The Kitten Book." I love her dry-brushing and use of color. Sorry I don't have a better image of her work. The interior illustrations are much more inspiring.



Cover for "The Farm Book," © Jan Pfloog.

adios
caitlin