It's time for some Mid-Century cocktail fun ...

... this Friday, at Renew Arts and Industry, Natick. 

Come join the festivities as Renew debuts their back-room boutique, 'The Daily Dress" :), and help support Wonder Woman, Carol Chaoui and her continual fund raising efforts for the Dana-Farber Metastatic Breast Cancer Research Fund. 

Come see all the wonderful vintage garments that the Renew staff have collected, and that I had the pleasure of highlighting in Renew's newest window displays.

In the first set of windows I celebrated the clean lines of Mid-Century Modern style, by creating these painted panels of MCM fashion models and pairing them the beautifully designed furniture and housewares.

For the second set of windows, playing off the rocket ship that is in those windows, I went with the 'Lost in Space' look, painting Penny Robinson.  Also in these windows is a lovely stunning sculpture by the lovely and talented Karin Stanley, which works so well with the outer space feel.

product photo: virginiafitzgerald

product photo: virginiafitzgerald

So stop by tomorrow evening for an evening of fun, fashion, style, art, design and cocktails. 

Come imagine yourself walking into the world of Madmen. It will be an evening not to be missed!

pattern camp weekly challenge: forest

© virginiafitzgerald 2016

Some of you may remember that this summer I won a scholarship to Jessica Swift's Patterncamp, which was a weekend long 'bootcamp' for pattern design using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.  It was an amazing weekend!!! though the expression, 'drinking from a firehose' really captures the experience.

© virginiafitzgerald 2016

There was A LOT of information shared within the 48 hours, but luckily you have many opportunities to continue to learn and practice.

© virginiafitzgerald 2016

One of these opportunities is every week Jessica offers all campers, past and current, a pattern challenge theme with which to create new patterns which you can then share with the PC community.  I have been able to participate every few weeks, but I love it when my schedule allows, as the weekly challenges helps me to hone my new skills and I can get feedback from fellow campers.  It is one of the many benefits of patterncamp.

original postit pattern

For last week's theme: forest, I created two patterns, in a variety of different color ways .  The pattern of 'just trees' I did in Adobe Illustrator, a program that is very new to me.  The bird pattern was done with Adobe Photoshop, the program with which I am very comfortable.  For this pattern I started with a painting from my #30daysofpatternstudies that I did last February with Francisca Nunes. (click here to read more about my adventures in patterns on post-its.)

© virginiafitzgerald 2016

© virginiafitzgerald 2016

The next bootcamp weekend is in October, some info and links to the class are below.  I highly recommend taking this online course if you are interested in pattern design.

Jessica is a great and patient teacher.  She is a working pattern designer and illustrator so she has real life experiences to share.  The bootcamp is a great survey of many aspects of putting a design into repeat, AND you become part of a wonderful community of like mind pattern obsessed folks!!!

Though beware ... it can be HIGHLY addictive!!!

peace,

The next session of Pattern Camp is October 15-16, 2016.

Registration will open September 15, 2016.

Pattern Camp is a 2-day, intensive, weekend-long virtual, online pattern design workshop created + taught by Jessica Swift. It’s pattern design boot camp! (Except fun, and no one will yell at you, promise.)

Today 10% off and free shipping at Society6

'for the love of reading ...' tote bag 

This weekend I have added a few more images to my Society6 shop, one of them being the long awaited books illustration, which I have called, 'for the love of reading ...'

click here to go to my Society6 shop

Also this weekend they are having a 10% off everything sale so I thought I'd share some of the links!!

For those who haven't heard of Society6 it is a site where artists can upload their artwork and then the customers can order the artwork on a variety of products, such as mugs, towels, iPhone cases, etc.... then the artist gets a percentage of all sales with their artwork.(I have posted their official description of the site below.)

One of the aspects I love about this site is that the products are only produced when ordered!! (to me it feels like there is less waste?!?)

Also since 'opening' my shop I have ordered a number of the products to check the quality of the product as well as the caliber of the reproduction of the art, and I must say that I have been very happy with both! One of my personal favorites is their beach towels!!! I ordered the 'pink flower power' design and I was blown away by the size and boldness of the colors!! and it is a great weight and it is so soft!!! I have been using it more as a throw blanket than a towel :)

So check out Society6 and take advantage of today's sale. I would LOVE to hear what you think of the site, if you are as happy with the quality as I am and/or if you had a bad experience!!  I am still learning and would love all feedback!! 

Also besides the 10% off and free shipping sale, supposely if you use this link you will get $10. off your order as well.

https://share.society6.com/x/Occ9fk

some of the designs available on tote bags 

thank you and peace

EVERY PURCHASE PAYS AN ARTIST

Society6 is home to hundreds of thousands of artists from around the globe, uploading and selling their original works as 30+ premium consumer goods from Art Prints to Throw Blankets. They create, we produce and fulfill, and every purchase pays an artist. Simple, but huge. 

Further, we’ve been humbled by the opportunity to foster an international community of incredibly talented creatives. Whether you’re an artist or not, we hope you’ll rally around the same flag we do. Join us in empowering independent artists worldwide.

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