I recently completed this fun, colorful set of four art blocks that are inspirational and uplifting. But the best part is the sides, they are fully decorated with little flowers, swirls and hearts!  

These would be perfect little blocks to have recreated as canvas block prints for people to place on walls, mantels, side tables, etc.  But, the front design can also be used on numerous other products from greeting cards and journals and even coasters and other home decor products to inspire on a daily basis.

In addition to the work that I create for licensing with layered icons in Photoshop, I also paint fine art originals that are bold, colorful and have a pop art style.  These aren't traditional style licensed paintings, but they have met with quite a bit of success in the licensing industry over the years and I hope to continue to add more of these paintings to my portfolio.  

These new paintings are definitely applicable for wall art in any shape or form, but I can also see them translating onto other products such as home decor, ie pillows, shower curtains, coasters, and more, and also stationery products such as journals, greeting cards (add in some text), and even gift/fashion products such as purses and bags.

One of the newest collections in this style that I am working on is "Celebration of a City" that will feature fun and funky skyline paintings of famous cities and their landmarks.  In the studio right now is the Eiffel Tower, below are some photos of the painting in progress; I'm hoping to have it completed within the next couple of days and will post it under the NEW ART! navigation tab for October. 

Stay tuned for more pop art style paintings to be posted to my portfolio and for mockups showing how they can translate into everyday products.

It's been a busy week here at MADART Studios after returning from my annual summer vacation in Alaska!  Lot's to catch up on and lot's of new work to be created.

I've started adding to my inspirational line of designs/paintings with some hand drawn typography art, a new concept for me, but one I'm thoroughly enjoying!  These designs can be used on just about any product imaginable, and will be shown on some product mockups soon. Here are two of the recent word art designs created this past week.

I'm also working on a submission for Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search!  The opportunities for this challenge are amazing, especially for the winner, but also just the process of being involved with such an amazing art licensing agent and the opportunity to stretch my abilities even more. The brief is something I've never drawn before and I'm delighted to say it's extremely fun and inspiring!  I may have to do more along these lines; here's a sneak peek at my submission in progress, lot's more work to be done :)

And finally...I have A LOT of new images for coastal, rooster and Paris art to be designed.  I sketched literally HUNDREDS of icon elements while in Alaska, on some dreary rainy days, and can't wait to get some paint put on them and full completed designs and mockups presented! 


Here is a sneak peek at the drawings patiently waiting for me to get to them :)  So I will be busy, busy, busy for some time with all of these goings on, oh, and painting an octopus on my daughter's surfboard too!!

I've been working away on rounding out a collection of 12 whimsically elegant designs that are both fun and sophisticated at the same time ~ "Ethereal Whimsy"!  I love the juxtaposition of the more whimsical, almost funky design of the bird and butterfly/dragonfly elements in these designs, against the very soft, elegant feel of the backgrounds and borders.  It creates a mood of happiness and fun that I think will appeal to women across the board, particularly with colors that always do well.  

These designs can be applied to so many different products, from calendars (hence the 12 images), journals, mugs, hat boxes, pillows, notepads, greeting cards, wedding invitations, you name it, they will work!  I've mocked up some designs on products just to show how well they translate and love the way they turned out :)  

Each design also has an inspirational message or word to inspire and motivate women to live a life full of promise and passion.

Not only have I been working on new Christmas and Inspirational art, but I have a new elegant, whimsical design collection for at licensing that I'm very excited about!  I can just imagine so many different products these designs would be perfect for, everything from stationery to home decor.  I started out with a butterfly design, then a peacock and now adding hummingbirds and there will be dragonflies and more to come!

Here are some sketches of more peacocks and hummingbirds, always fun to show the beginning stages of new art.  I think it would be perfect to complete a collection of 12 different whimsical designs to create a calendar, hmmmmm....got me thinking of what other icons/elements of animals, etc. I can use...Stay Tuned!!

It always seems odd to be painting holiday specific or seasonal art that really isn't in season, but so goes the life of an artist in the licensing world!  But, I don't mind in the least, I enjoy breaking out of the ordinary and mixing it up, and I did just that last week and this weekend with 5 new collections for Christmas and winter :)

One of the top requests for new art I received at the Surtex Licensing Show last month was to create more, more and more Christmas art!  I don't think I will ever have enough, but I will certainly try. Coastal and inspirational were the next two top requests, I've created a couple of inspirational and will be working on more coastal as well over the next few weeks and months, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, here are the new collections just created, all of which are available for licensing across all product categories.  And...I also have poinsettias painted and ready to create new designs with, so this will be available shortly.  To see all of my Christmas images click here.  Have a Wonderful "Christmas in June"!

FINALLY feeling like I'm getting things accomplished for the Surtex Art Licensing Show in New York in less than two weeks!  Banners completed, ordered and on the way, ads placed in various publications, miscellaneous things I will need to set up my booth purchased and sitting in piles ready to be packed and many more check marks on my to do list, it feels good!

I am now just working on creating more tear sheets of collections with some mockups, borders, patterns, etc. to show how different designs and collections can look on future products.  And of course organizing all the files on two tablets to show over a thousand different paintings, designs, patterns, borders and icon elements.  Whew, I should actually go through and count exactly how many images I've created over the past 6 years when I first decided to make art my career, there are A LOT!  

Here is a collection I just put together utilizing my mom Romi's "Hot Cuppa"© cup icon elements and my backgrounds and borders, it's called "Tea Party"©.  Now back to the computer to create and organize some more art licensing collections for the big show!

Busy, Busy Busy creating sell/tear sheets for art collections to show at Surtex next month in New York. As I was creating the sheets I actually ended up designing some new images as well, which is a nice little bonus, it gives me that many more options to show for possible art licensing on different products.  

Here is one of my coastal collections with two new sea shell designs created today.  I love the soft, elegant feel of the new designs (shown below), perfect for a bathroom or any coastal themed home decor in addition to being a great fit for stationary, or coasters or any number of products.

Still a lot of work to do before the Surtex show, but I'm knocking off a little each day and so far feel like I should be able to accomplish all the "artwork" and "grunt work" I would like to get done before I fly to New York.  At least that's what I'm hoping, wish me luck, haha!

A little over five weeks to go!  I've accomplished a lot, but still have ton's to do in preparation for the Surtex Art Licensing Show May 18-20 in New York.  I have one banner completed, 8 to go; hmmm...I better get going on those, but I'm doing a test run with a new banner company to see how it comes out, crossing my fingers the quality is good.  I've sent out two rounds of postcards to prospective manufacturers and will start making phone calls to set up appointments in the next couple of weeks.

One of the more time consuming things, that I have yet to do, is setting up folders and files of collections on my tablets as well as creating tear sheets to showcase my designs on different products and shapes. So much to do and it seems as though I'm almost out of time, but I refuse to panic, I'm just going to knock off items on my "To Do" list every day and hopefully have a couple of days to spare before I leave for the show...wishful thinking right?

In addition to the collections I already have, I also started a new venture of creating uplifting, inspirational greeting cards and colorful holiday/occasion cards last month.  Here is a sample of this new line that I'm really excited about and literally have hundreds of ideas for more cards!!  It's always so exhilirating to be inspired and creative, I LOVE my job :) :)

I've been busy creating new art for the Surtex show as well as for my agent "Art Licensing".  I also decided I wanted to create a new collection/line of inspirational art in conjunction with a blog to inspire people to live life full of happiness and joy.  The new blog is called "Art for the Soul"™ and hope that these new designs will inspire people to live life to the fullest.

I'm creating each design in a 5"x7" ratio so that it can easily translate onto greeting cards, and I also offer in 8"x10" and square ratios as well to apply to different products and offer as fine art prints.  Each design is created with hand painted elements and than collaged into a single design in Photoshop, perfect for applying to any size/shape product imaginable. 

Please visit my new BLOG and I hope you are inspired by the art and message ~ "BE Inspired".