Outside: pink blossoms

I admit, I'm not much of a vacation person. I'm not a world traveler, nor will I ever become one (unless, of course, that whole lotto thing pans out). So, instead, in the spring, summer, and fall (because it's just too cold in the winter) I like to go into town and meander around on the sidewalk with my camera.

Yes, I take pictures of other people's stuff; I'm a sidewalk tourist. Most of the time I have a vague agenda, whether there is a particular type of tree or plant blooming, or in the fall when I'm on the lookout for good looking leaves. I have, at times, done this just to take shots of tree bark. Yes, imagine looking out your front window to catch a glimpse of someone standing in front of a tree with a camera... Anyway, I have a lot of batteries and will snap a shot of virtually whatever catches my eye.

So, I think this is a cherry tree. Obviously, it's not my cherry tree, but they are my photos. It was just too awesome of a sight to pass up. I really wish there was a pink cherry in our yard (they're all white).

The last 2 pictures are from a later jaunt, when the blossoms had started to fall from the tree. There's something very pretty and enchanting about a sidewalk covered with petals. It's like fairytale snow....

Picture Story: hummingbird on bleeding heart

I draw, I illustrate, I make pictures, I take pictures... and perhaps that is why I am so stymied whenever I try to write about one of my illustrations: I'm better with pictures than with words. And because I want people to draw their own conclusions and have their own thoughts and emotions and reactions when they look at my pictures.

So, this piece is adroitly titled: "hummingbird on bleeding heart"

And it can be found at my sarahkdesigns shop on etsy.
Quite obviously, it's an illustration of a male ruby-throated hummingbird perched on a stem of bleeding heart in front of a cloudy blue sky. Now, the hummingbird was drawn with colored pencil. He was composed with a whole group of hummingbirds that I actually drew for a piece entitled "hummingbirds & hollyhocks." And his female doppelganger appears in "summer hummingbirds."

Anyway, the stem of bleeding heart is something I photographed. I plopped the photo into photoshop, played with the colors and levels and all that, printed it out, and then drew over it with colored pencil. The sky was quite literally made from a digital photo of the sky which was put through several color adjustments and maybe a filter or two before being treated with a layer of color to make it brighter & more saturated.

Amusingly, when I planned this illustration, this was not what I had envisioned as the end result. This was actually supposed to be a picture of a hummingbird sitting on a watering can in front of a stem (or possibly stems) of bleeding heart. However, I wasn't thrilled with the way my watering can was progressing, and there was some issue with proportions and whether or not the composition would be horizontal or vertical... so, yeah, goodbye watering can!

Maybe someday I'll work up that composition with the watering can... someday.
For the time being I'm happy with the way this turned out.
And I look forward to next month when the ruby-throated hummingbirds should start showing up in the backyard, squeaking and squawking at each other as they get territorial over the bird koolaid in the feeder. They're a delightfully cantankerous bunch.

Outside: dogwood

There's this song by Tom Petty called "Down South" (which can be found on the "Highway Companion" album). I doubt it was ever a single, but it's one of my favorite songs on that album, and I've listened to it more times than I could recall. Anyway, there's a stanza of the song:

Spanish moss down south
Find the heroes of my childhood
Who now can do me no good
Carve their names in dogwood

It's a catchy song, but anyway, for the longest time I was always kind of thrown by the premise of carving anything in dogwood... because the only kind of dogwood I knew where the spindly stick-like bushes in the backyard with the clusters of teeny tiny little white flowers.
As it turns out, there's a difference between a dogwood bush and a dogwood tree.

And now having seen the 'tree' version of the dogwood - I better understand that lyric. That and I have now read the wikipedia page on dogwoods...

I am one of those people who just likes pretty pictures. So, these are someone else's very beautiful dogwoods (the trees, that is, the photos are mine). I wish I owned them! (Although, admittedly, I have no desire to carve anything in them, sorry MacGuyver)

Ouside: Mrs. Menyhart's Wisteria

Mrs. Menyhart was my algebra teacher, and subsequently my algebra 2 teacher back in junior high. I have many many memories of her giving me that look that always accompanied something about "showing my work" as it pertained to my algebra homework. I'm right-brained, what can I say, I intuitively guessed the answer most of the time, and worked the problem backwards to prove myself right or wrong...

In the third grade when we had math tests I actually used to just do the problems that I liked the look of regardless of what order they happened to occur on the test. This was not to the delight of my teacher, of course, but hey, I was 8, and that was what came naturally. I've always had a curious relationship with math...

I seem to have gone off on a math tangent, which I'm sure is also a math pun. Anyway, Mrs. Menyhart was always the most delightful teacher, oh, and that she's British and has the accent certainly upped the charm factor. All these years later she's still delightful & she has a very lovely yard with lots of lovely flowers.

So, no, this is not my wisteria, it's hers, and she was kind enough to let me photograph it. What can I say — I like beautiful things and purple happens to be my favorite color. That and wisteria has the most wonderful scent, which obviously can't be expressed through the computer...

Spring is for the birds

There is an age old argument over who was the better front man of Van Halen. So much so that songs have been written about it ("Van Halen" by Nerf Herder). You either think David Lee Roth was the consummate front man or you're a Sammy Hagar devotee. As it turns out, I come down hard on the side of Van Hagar. Yes, that's right, I said it: I prefer Sammy Hagar.

Now, I realize I may lose some friends or endure some scornful Roth-lover sniping... it is what it is. Anyway, Dave left the band, recorded some solo work, had that radio show, did that weird thing at the MTV something-or-other awards, there was some reunion, eh, whatever. Sammy Hagar is awesome!

Anyway, on some abysmal solo record David Lee Roth sang "Just a Gigolo" which contains the lyric: "life goes on without me." I've heard the song repeatedly on the "hair guitar" station at work, that and "Yankee Rose" — surely Diamond Dave must have recorded more than 2 songs, although if you listen to that station you would never know it...

Anyhow, since they play "Just a Gigolo" like it's one of only 2 DLR songs on earth, even though I'm not a fan, I still get the damned thing stuck in my head. And the quote is apt: life goes on without me.

That it does.

So, while I'm busy doing whatever I'm doing - life goes on without me. I have been busy lately, and it's been raining, so my time with the camera is limited. But the birds have gone on with their business nonetheless.

The pair of eastern bluebirds have 4 eggs in the box in the backyard, which the female has been sitting on diligently.

And the goldfinches finally discovered the feeder that I put out solely for them. Amusingly, they both make exactly the same expression when being photographed. As if to say, "you there, what are you doing?"

Hopefully you've been busy or happy lately, or at the very least well rested & fed : )

Tecumseh Art Walk

I have been busy printing this week. Prints, cards, bookmarks, more cards, more prints... Because I am one of the artists who will be at the 3rd Annual Art Walk in downtown Tecumseh, Michigan. The event is from 6 - 9 pm on Friday, 30 April 2010. If you're in the area, I invite you to stop by!

I will be at "Timeless Stitches" (112 N. Evans Street, Tecumseh, MI).

(this is from last year)

For more information on the Art Walk...

The official City of Tecumseh website:
http://www.downtowntecumseh.com/downtown/art.htm

Or read about it on the Tecumseh Herald:
http://www.tecumsehherald.com/node/3629

send some flowers...

It's been dreary, foggy, and rainy lately. Perhaps these are those vaunted "April showers." I suppose I can only hope they will yield some "may flowers."

In the mean time, I have been working on card graphics. So I have spent much time on the computer scouring over my numerous photos of flowers.

Anyway, I am one of those people who just likes pretty pictures. And, admittedly, I have something of a black thumb when it comes to cut flowers. The ones that grow outside — those are fabulous, they get water & sunshine, and well, nature takes its course. Inside, I do far better with fake flowers...

When it's just me and the camera and then the computer and photoshop — that's when I can do something beautiful with cut flowers.

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GIVEAWAY

Send some flowers on Mother's Day give-away. The winner gets to pick one of these cards (or any 1 of the cards available for sale in my "sarahknight" shop on etsy) — which I will then send to them. You can choose to have the card blank on the inside or let me know what message you want printed there.
The cards measure 4.5 X 6.625 inches & are printed on 115lb paper w/ a slight texture.

To enter: send an email to sarkni@live.com with the word "give-away" in the title.
The winner will be drawn at random next Wednesday morning (28 April, 2010) — at which time I will email you (because to send you the card I need an address).

I don't have a mailing list, newsletter, or forward email addresses, or anything spammy like that. The email is exclusively for the giveaway.

Sunshine Sight at Big Cartel

"Sunshine Sight" is now open on Big Cartel.

I have been looking for a new, different, or alternate venue to sell online for some time now. I haven't stopped looking, but I've decided to throw down some roots at Big Cartel and see if it works out.

I found the place when I was looking for a former fellow 'Etsian' a while back. There used to be a seller on etsy called "artandghosts." I remember 'hearting' her shop when I first set up shop there... and at some point I went back through my etsy favorites and discovered that she had disappeared from the site. Fortunately, as she is quite talented, she's not dead or anything horrible like that. She simply moved on. I found her on her blog: http://artandghosts.typepad.com/ which was where I found her Big Cartel shop. I was intrigued. And so, I decided to learn more about the site....

I also decided — around last October — that I wanted to come up with a different name to brand my artwork and products. "sarahkdesigns" is literally something I scrawled onto a piece of scrap paper in the breakroom at work one night when I was trying to come up with a name for a seller account on ebay. Remember when ebay seemed like a good place to give it a try? Yeah.

While sarahkdesigns is obvious — I am Sarah K, well, it's so obvious that other people use it too. It annoys me to google myself and find other people. That and my name is Sarah Knight, which is apparently like the "John Green" of female names. It's not quite "John Smith" common, but my — there are a lot of us Sarah Knights!

Besides that, I have looked around etsy at the successful print sellers usernames. While there are the folks who simply use their first name, there are more that don't. Creative folks like theeye, BirdNerd, strangefascination, arabbitgirl, ThisYearsGirl, mincingmockingbird, atwhim, and papermoth (to name a few) have more branded identities... So, I needed something more original, more arty, and less generic. I also decided to make this decision around Halloween, I'm not quite sure why.

I was going to pick "A moment's sunlight." Why? Because it's my favorite line in the Youngblood's song "Get Together" — which I had stuck in my head for weeks after having seen the movie "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" — which is one of my favorite books. It's a long name though.

So, I was brainstorming alternatives and through the process of elimination (again, while at work in the middle of the night) came up with Sunshine Sight. It's got that lyrical quality to it — not unlike "plastic acid" but apparently doesn't quite seem like such a stoner drug reference. Plus "Sunshine Sight: illustrations by Sarah Knight" conveniently rhymes with my name.

Sunshine was also apparently the runner-up to "Sarah" when my mother was deciding my name. Sunshine Knight - get it? Oh, Mom.
And, as someone with an openly sarcastic streak, Sunshine has always been the de facto sarcastic nickname bestowed upon me by co-workers. As someone who enjoys their sarcasm, I find that amusing.

So, I invite you to check out my Big Cartel shop: Sunshine Sight

I apparently also decided to open on "Earth Day" : )
So, go outside and wish the earth a beautiful day today!
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I also invite you to participate in my giveaway
The winner will receive a free Mother's Day card
You can read about it here: send some flowers giveaway

Send some flowers!

Christmas seems to be the only holiday to which I am not oblivious. The rest of them seem to sneak up on me — no matter how hard I may attempt to be aware. Mother's Day is next month.

Conveniently, or perhaps by happenstance, since I have been doing a lot with photo manipulation recently, I have been working on designing cards. I have always been planning on making cards, it's just that it seems that something always comes up and I always put it off.

So, over the last few weeks I've been measuring my envelopes (I have a lot of envelopes!) and formatting sizes, and doing math, and trying to find suitable paper to print them on. And then there's the boring part with printer color profiles & printer margins...

Anyway, making the graphics is much more enjoyable, and since Mother's Day is approaching I decided to focus on the florals. You can send her flowers that require no watering : )

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

The cards measure 4.5 X 6.625 inches & are printed on 115lb paper w/ a slight texture.

GIVEAWAY

I have also apparently decided to do a giveaway, the winner gets to pick one of these cards — which I will then send to them.
To enter: send an email to sarkni@live.com with the word "give-away" in the title.
The winner will be drawn at random next Wednesday morning (28 April, 2010) — at which time I will email you (because to send you the card I need an address).

BTW, I don't have a mailing list, newsletter, or forward email addresses, or anything spammy like that.

Eventually, these cards will be available for sale at my "sarahknight" shop on etsy.
Remember your Mother this Mother's Day : )

Outside: the Magnolia

Having finally mastered various settings on my camera, I actually had high hopes for the magnolia this year. Unfortunately, this was not a stellar year for the magnolia.

Now, it is of no fault of the bush itself, as it produced a large number of buds as it does every year. No, this was all the Michigan weather.

Usually, the magnolia gets to have at least 1, if not 2, good days of blooms. It starts to get warm outside. The buds develop, they're nice and pink. The weather holds. The buds open. The bush looks all nice and pretty for 2 days, and then: bam, windstorm or cold spell! And the petals brown and fall to the ground making a spectacular mess.

Not so, this year. No, this year the tree formed buds, and literally, the day they should have open ed — it froze. Damn weather.

Nonetheless, I got some shots of the blossoms, trying to shoot around the brown ones. The first shot was taken out the kitchen window, since that bush is about 20 feet tall and there's no way I can stand that high...

The magnolia always ends in a spectacular mess. It's pretty in its own way, assuming you're one of those free thinkers that doesn't believe in raking leaves (points to self). Amusingly, those leaves among the petals are actually the ones the magnolia shed last fall. And now the violets are starting to sprout!

Hopefully, if you had a magnolia the weather was nicer to yours.

Outside: cherry blossoms

Cherry blossoms are so beautiful when they bloom. We have two cherry trees in the backyard. They are different varieties, so they don't bloom at the same time. One of them has the sweetest fragrance. Both of them are the delight of the bees. Anyhow, they both have white flowers. So, if I want images of pink cherry blossoms, which I happen to think are gorgeous, then I have to go wander into town...

Which is what I did.
It's nice to be able to stop working and go outside for a stroll (with the camera) every now and then.

I invite you to check out this lovely treasury by theeye: Ground Control to Major Tom
It features my "the house" print : )

Hopefully spring is in full bloom wherever you are, even if it is simply in your imagination.

Outside: Bluebirds, the Treasury, & the Voter

It's been a wee bit warmer recently, and the pair of Eastern Bluebirds have been establishing their territory in the backyard. Every once in a great while the male will let me stand really far away and take a photo... just every once in a while.

This is a shot of eastern bluebird eggs in a nest in the nest box (from last year). It's called "nest" and is available at my "sarahknight" shop on etsy

"nest" is also featured in this wonderful treasury of bluebirds & butterflies by Starzyia
I invite you to go check it out : )



My "say's phoebe" print is also featured in this lovely treasury "Cloud Watching" by Polestar



I invite you to go check it out : )

And, of course, I encourage you to go vote in this round of the etsy "voter." It's called "What's in Your Ideal Garden." And one of my pieces, "Happy Together" is in contention! So, yes, I'm asking, begging, pleading, & otherwise strongly encouraging you to go vote for my print!

When logged into your etsy account you can vote here:
http://www.etsy.com/voter_list.php?ref=voter&room_id=101