Weekend Wrap-Up

This past weekend really felt like the beginning of spring. And what better way to celebrate spring than to be outside, doing things?

So on Saturday, we hopped into the car, and made out way out to the Long Island vineyards. Of course, no grape plants were growing yet, but it was still lovely and relaxing - and as always, it's nice to just get out of the city for a bit.



These photos were all taken on a camera phone - not bad, right?

The vineyard we went to had a resident cat. It was so calm, just lying about - but what do you expect when it's around all those wine fumes all the time?



And then we just meandered our way back along the north shore, stopping by a few cute little towns.



And Sunday was spent at home, hanging out on the balcony for a lot of the day. Quite a pleasant weekend, all around.

Along with the spring theme, I've decided to make a bunch of handmade rose bobby pins for my Etsy shop. I do have a few listed, but I think I will expand my inventory to encompass a larger assortment of colors.

{NewNew} Tutorial & Pillow Giveaway!

The{NewNew} street team is hosting an awesome eco-friendly tutorial and pillow giveaway at their blog!

The tutorial shows how to use repurposed felt scraps to help grow young seedlings, and you can win this gorgeous 100% recycled pillow by Alexandra Ferguson, one of the many talented artisans on the team:


The giveaway runs until April 6th - I'm going to enter it right now, in fact.

New Shop Banner!

Yesterday, I decided to switch out my Etsy avatar and shop banner. The blue knotting in my avatar has been sold for awhile, so I thought with the warm weather and spring coming on, why not put a new face on my shop?

This is the new banner that I created. I decided to use close-ups and to go for a light feel to match the types of items I make.



And just for fun, here is the progression of banners that I have used, from beginning to end.

The name "C Line Creations" comes from the fact that my "studio" (read: apartment) is right off of the (C) subway line in Brooklyn. I wanted to incorporate the subway into my banner in some way, so this was the first version, using the subway symbol C.



Then I decided that the black background was too heavy for my types of products, so I decided to create a white banner. I still used the photo of my tiger painting, and incorporated a picture of a subway entrance to the left.



After realizing that the subway entrance was being commonly mistaken for a chair, I decided to revamp the banner to include more item photos. I also added faint railroad tracks behind the wording to stay with the subway/train theme.



And then finally, yesterday I decided that I didn't really need to continue depicting the subway theme in my shop appearance, since the C symbol just doesn't really go with my Chinese arts in any way. It's enough that I explain the connection in my profile. So I decided on the close-ups, and went for a light, airy feel that I will post one more time to make the progression complete...

Orchid Sketch II

This time I used pencil, but a very soft one - 6B lead. So much easier to control than charcoal. I think I need to work on depicting shadows; I don't really know how to put them in realistically. At least I'm not really happy with them at this point. Maybe I'll try some crumpled paper exercises next time, hmmmmm...



And of course this is what I was looking at:

Orchid Sketch

I've been painting for a good number of years now, and I like to consider myself somewhat of an artist. One thing that I wish I was better at though is drawing. Realistic sketches. With charcoal or pencil.

See, Chinese brush painting is of course a beautiful art form, and one that I greatly enjoy (obviously). But one of the characteristics of this traditional type of painting is that subjects are usually stylized, so that while the subjects can be easily identified, they are not what you would call perfectly "realistic" depictions. They are not what you exactly see with your naked eye.

I took a basic drawing class back in college that I really liked (and had to work my ass off for -- I worked harder in that class than in any other I took in my entire 4 years as a science major), but my projects were specifically focused on drawings of the uneven parallel bars used in women's gymnastics. Kind of a narrow focus, I would say.

So anyway, I have this awesome coptic-bound notebook that I purchased from the crafthope shop awhile back (made by seller moon23, who has customer service like you would not believe - in a very good way), and I've decided that I will be practicing some sketching. We'll see how long I keep up with this.

Here is the first - of the orchids that are now blooming in my kitchen window.



I used a medium vine charcoal for this. One thing I found with the charcoal (besides the fact that it smudges so easily), is that it's difficult to sketch with precision. Maybe because I used a thicker stick for a relatively small drawing. So I had a hard time with any sort of detail. The next one I try will be in pencil I think. Hopefully if I do more of these you'll be able to see a clear progression and improvement as I post them... at least I hope so.

Here is a photo I took after I did the sketch, so you can see what I was looking at.

Giveaways from the{NewNew}

This month, the{NewNew} street team is doing a series of giveaways, featuring gorgeous products created by some of the team's members.

The first 2 are awesome -- so check them out and be sure to enter if you'd like to win.

May Luk - Ceramics Set

Adornments NYC - Necklace

Avenue Q

I was lucky enough to see Avenue Q last Wednesday night -- some former coworkers found an awesome deal for 2-for-1 orchestra seats. We were in the 3rd row!

For those not familiar with New York, Avenue Q and the Q train do not actually exist. In the show, it is a street probably in one of the outer boroughs of the city.

It was hilarious. The characters in the show are half puppets/muppets (controlled by people), and half human. The dialogue and songs were so clever, and more than a little risque. Not a show for children (even with the puppets) - with witty commentary on sex, racism, homeosexuality, poverty, life, and the purpose of said life. And even while entertaining, and seriously I laughed throughout almost the entire show, it is highly relatable for people trying to make it in the "real world".

Anyway, I had a great time, and here's a little promo video for anyone who is interested: