Holiday Llama with Luminarias

Hello and Happy December! I've just finished four brand new holiday cards and can't wait to share them with you~ 

Inspired by the peaceful hush of first snowfall is Winter Dreams, a dreamcatcher in a snowy landscape with holly, mistletoe, pine boughs, and little gold bells~

Winter Dreams

One of my favorite holiday decorations when I was growing up was a German wooden Santa Smoker. A cone of lit incense went inside Santa's torso, then fragrant smoke would gently waft out his mouth. Here's a photo of my childhood decoration...

And the card it inspired~

German Wooden Santa Smoker

And for the pure whimsy of it, a winter picnic of smitten snowmen ready to eat snowball cake~

Winter Picnic Snow Globe

Growing up in northern Virginia, my neighborhood had an enchanting tradition. On Christmas Eve, each house lined their part of the street with luminarias~ Paper bag lanterns filled with sand at the bottom and a candle inside. They lit the wintery streets with hundreds of flickering flames~ 

Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ALuminarias.jpg

Here's a holiday Llama carrying a Christmas tree up a luminaria-lit hillside~

Holiday Llama with Luminarias

This year I also created a Hanukkah card based on an image of an ancient menorah that reminded me of a Tree of Life~

Cards are available at Good Earth Natural Foods in Fairfax and also at Riley Street Art Supply in San Rafael. All holiday cards from years past are also available (Sacred Reindeer, St. Lucia's Light, etc.) View them here.

Wishing you a bright and beautiful holiday season!

~Tenaya

Snail Slime Graffiti

Happy Halloween in Snail Slime

Greetings and happy Autumn! Here's a brand-new Halloween card design, inspired by a vision I had of a sweet little snail making slime-art on a fence. :-)

This is my favorite time of year~ The colors, the change of season, and delicious seasonal produce. I just ate my first persimmon of the season (with many more to come!)

The Glory of Autumn @ Good Earth

Lily the Kitty Witch Serves Pumpkin Cake and Absinthe

And here's Lily the Kitty Witch hosting a Halloween party. To create the background I used japanese Sumi ink on a wet background to create the smokey, spooky effect. 

Both of these cards are available at Good Earth Natural Foods in Fairfax or from me directly.

The zodiac cards series continues with Virgo and Libra~

Virgo Zodiac Card

Libra Zodiac Card

This Libra Zodiac card was inspired by the Egyptian myth,  "Anubis' Scale of Truth", where one's heart is weighed against a feather to see if you will be granted entry to the afterlife. I'll be working on Scorpio next.

Part 2 of Lilla Rogers' Make Art That Sells class started up again this week, and we're designing Christmas cards~ I've got some unusual holiday imagery I'm dreaming up! 

Wishing you all the best for this season of coziness, hot chai, and pumpkin cake!

~Tenaya

A Humbling Experience

I recently finished part one of Lilla Rogers' online course, Make Art That Sells, and it was quite a humbling experience. 

Flow Collage

With 400 students from 22 different countries, I was astounded by the level of talent in the group, and as the weeks passed, I struggled with feeling insignificant and unseen. After almost four years of designing and running Dream Speak Design, I was used to feeling like a happy little fish in my artistic life, swimming in familiar, comfortable waters. Occasionally I might swim to the far end of my pond, but never much farther. Taking the class was like being thrust into a deep wide ocean, a minuscule dot of plankton in an enormous sea. 

Dream Collage

As the weeks went by, and we worked through challenging, professional-level illustration briefs, I learned how to navigate the difficult waters of comparison, insecurity and overwhelm. The key for me was returning again and again to my own experience, my own inner light of creativity, my own visions and dreams.

Beauty Collage

I drew strength from the fact that I have continued to build my business year after year, and that my images, symbols, patterns and color palettes are born of me, and they couldn't come into being from any other person. 

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.” ― Martha Graham

Joy Collage

Creating the four collages (above) was one of the highlights of the course for me. The assignment was to create a square piece of Wall Art that incorporated collage techniques and one or more words. For inspiration I visited one of my favorite stores in Fairfax, CA, Beach House Style. With permission, I took photos of textured fabric, driftwood, windows, and lace. When I got home I printed out the photos on matte photo paper and had an absolute blast creating 10 different collages! 

To make the words, I painted each of them with Japanese Sumi ink on white paper, then transferred them to colored paper and cut them out using an x acto knife. I did this because I wanted the words to have a fluid feel. 

It was the most fun I've had creating art in a long time & it reminded me of the pure joy of creativity~ instinctive, intuitive, playful!

{I have produced a very limited edition of greeting cards based on these collage designs that are available at Good Earth Natural Foods in Fairfax or directly from me.}

The Snail and the Rose Tree

Another week we were asked to illustrate Hans Christian Anderson's story The Snail and the Rose Tree. I placed my snail in a Moroccan garden with the Atlas mountains in the distance.

After the last week of class we were invited to enter Lilla Rogers' Global Talent Search. {I was not chosen as a finalist, but I loved creating this piece.}The instructions were to create a journal cover inspired by vintage playground equipment (slides, merry-go-rounds, etc.). I had the idea to set my playground under the sea, inspired by a childhood dream where I was swept up in a tidal wave and taken to a magical land under the sea, where people rode seahorses, and neon lights glowed brightly in the rippling water. 

Under the Sea Playground

Part one of the class stretched me outside of my comfort zone, but it also strengthened my ability to support and believe in myself, to manage my time, and to produce a whole lot of new work! 

I'm currently working on new Autumn card designs, and part two of the class starts in October.

Wishing you a wonderful Autumn~

Tenaya

Immersed in Lilla Rogers' Course

I just finished week two of Lilla Rogers' online course Make Art That Sells. It's been a wild ride so far, filled with inspiration, excitement, overwhelm, doubt and little bursts of triumph!

Lilla has shared so many nuggets of wisdom to help us get in the creative groove, one of which is the importance of setting up your art-making space. I have done this to some degree naturally, but now I am doing it with more intention~ Clearing off my work table, lighting a candle, some fragrant japanese incense, and cut flowers. Music is also vitally important for getting me in the art-making mood, and I've been listening to Heather Masse and Sara Tavares all week. 

Our week one assignment was to create a fabric design based on 1950's & 1960's kitchens, vintage casserole dishes, and mushrooms. Lilla structures the class so that we have a mini assignment (given on Monday) to get us in the mood for the main assignment (given on Wednesday). Above is a photo of my mushroom studies. 

Mushroom project in progress

Here's my finished piece~ Mushroom Mothers Serving Casseroles

I struggled a bit getting into my groove for week two~ The art market we studied was Home Decor, and our mini assignment was to draw/paint sculptural flowers and seed pods. I went on a walk near Tomales Bay in Pt. Reyes Station to shoot some photos for source material. I loved the spiky and soft quality of these thistles~

But when I got home to paint them I wasn't very happy with what I was doing. I was getting frustrated and things just weren't flowing. Lilla has told us that "People buy your joy", and I was definitely not feeling the joy! It wasn't a good place to be heading into the main assignment, so I decided to shift my focus and attention to discover a subject matter and technique that felt joyful and flowing. I know I am happiest cutting paper, so I decided to go with that. The assignment was to design two plates with a floral/seed pod motif that could be sold at Anthropologie (my favorite store) or Crate & Barrel. I got a wonderful flash of inspiration and decided to create two floral zodiac plates, incorporating floral shapes, zodiac constellations, and gemstones. (BTW~ I am thinking about designing all twelve zodiac signs and perhaps producing a calendar & greeting cards~ What do you think?)

Floral Zodiac Plate~Leo~With Sunflower and Citrine

Floral Zodiac Plate~Pisces~With Blue Water Lily and Aquamarine

I had a blast creating these! The blue water lily was inspired by this Spagyric from Al-Kemi.

And last but not least, I'm happy to announce that I have a brand new website! It's the same address: www.dreamspeakdesign.com and it has galleries of all of my card collections organized by subject, information about my background, press mentions, contact info and a link to my blog. Please take a look!

Wishing you all the best! I'll be posting on the blog more regularly, including my assignments for the Lilla Rogers' course (under the "Projects" tab)

Thanks for reading!

If you are interested in Make Art That Sells, I can't recommend it highly enough! There is a second session starting in October and there are still spaces available. :-)

Logo by Suzy Ultman

The Gift My Mother Gave Me

This Mother's Day I spent some time reflecting on the gifts my mother has given me. Various memories from childhood came to mind~ I saw my family at the breakfast table set with candles, fresh flowers, tea, orange slices and homemade buttermilk biscuits. Over a leisurely breakfast my mom and I would share our dreams from the night before. This early sharing led me to a lifelong connection to my dreams, a frequent source of inspiration for my art. I also remember my mother showing me how to hold an orange slice up to the light so that it glistened like a miniature stained glass window.

So much of my artistic sensibility comes from my mom, who is also an artist. I grew up watching her create beautiful hand-cut paper murals for the Children's Room at the public library, and develop her own line of greeting cards. Art supplies were always available for me in a little station in our kitchen so I could draw while she cooked. 

When I was ten, my family moved to northern Virginia, and we often visited the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. I vividly remember seeing an exhibit of Georgia O'Keeffe's evocative watercolors~ Images of undulating southwestern landscapes, larger-than-life flowers, and impressionistic cloud sky-scapes. A Henri Matisse exhibit also stands out as an early influence~ His exuberant use of color; confident, playful brushstrokes, and cut paper collages are still fresh in my mind.

Through my mom's dedication to her art, the beautiful home she kept, and exposing me from an early age to art of all sorts, she nurtured my artistic path, but even more importantly, she showed me how to notice and appreciate the simple beauty in everyday life.

This new greeting card is dedicated to her~
I love you MG!

1978

1980

Sailing in the Direction of My Dreams

I've got some news to share~ I just signed up for an online e-course with the fabulous Lilla Rogers, a renowned illustration agent with clients like Chronicle Books, Anthropologie, and Real Simple Magazine. The course is called Make Art That Sells , and it's all about creating work you are passionate about, work that is filled with energy and spirit, because as Lilla says in her new book, I Just Like to Make Things, "People buy your joy." 

I jumped on this opportunity to learn from a top-notch agent. We'll study the different markets for art and illustration, with weekly assignments and online support. 

Lilla has invited students of the course to create an original illustration to celebrate enrolling in the course. Here's what I made using cut paper, metallic gold ink and gouache~

Sailing in the Direction of My Dreams

I titled the piece Sailing in the Direction of my Dreams because I enrolled in this course to propel myself forward in my art career. I love making greeting cards, and I'm excited to branch out and explore new venues for my art~ licensing,  illustration commissions, and using my designs for surface patterns and product designs (a dream of mine since I attended art school in 1998!) 

Make Art That Sells starts June 3rd. I'll post some of my weekly assignments here.

If you would like to see how I created the illustration, here are some process shots:

Initial sketch

Selecting colors/paper

Painting and cutting 

Assembling and working on layout

Final product!

This image had some unexpected changes~ I left off the text and added a mermaid weather vane~ Fun to feel the creative improvisational flow. :-) This music fueled my day: Suna

Happy Spring!

~Tenaya

Press Feature

Dream Speak Design is featured as a "Local Producer" in the March/April Good Earth Natural Foods newsletter~ 

Happy Spring & New Cards

It sure feels like spring here in northern California! Blossoms blooming, daffodils popping up and the smell of fresh cut grass in my backyard. Exciting things are happening at Dream Speak Design~ Three new card designs have just been released:

Love With a Light Touch~ Dragonflies at Phoenix Lake

I love walking around Phoenix Lake in Ross, CA~ The undulating gold and green hills, gently lapping water, ducks, etc. And what seem like *hundreds* of dragonflies~ Electric blue, brilliant red, all lilting on the breeze. On one spring walk, a card image came to mind, and I decided to try to photograph them, but let me tell you, they are fast little fliers! I must have been quite a sight darting this way and that on the trail trying to capture a picture of them mid-flight with my iPhone! (They all came out kinda blurry) 

Silent Fox at Pam's Blue Ridge

This image was inspired by a fox I encountered while hiking at dusk in the hills above Fairfax, CA in June of 2012. I came home and sketched out the scene, and wrote this:

Dancing dusk and the wind on my face

Golden grasses fanning the hillside

Sage, Tarweed, Mugwort 

The scent of summer 

As a silent fox crosses my path.

Artemisia Dream Witch with Mugwort

A dream witch sharing a sprig of Mugwort, an herb renowned for it's healing properties. (Anyone recognize her beautiful garment? Inspired by Dmitry from Project Runway Season 10) For a magical mugwort dreaming supplement, check out Al-Kemi's Spagyric~

Easter cards are available at Good Earth Natural Foods and from me directly. 

Eggs in Nest

Milk Chocolate Bun Bun

Dream Speak Design has been featured in Good Earth Natural Foods March/April newsletter. The newsletter focuses on local producers that sell to Good Earth. I'll upload some images as soon as I get my hands on a copy! :-) All the best and happy spring!