Watercolor Paintings, Illustration, Inspiration and Creativity

what I've got they used to call the blues

Ditto on the talking to myself and feeling old. Good news, anyone?

Labels: music

french toast girl

new music request/listening party

Hello, toasty ones!

It's Friday... let's have a listening party! Please leave me a note in the comments either about music that you really like, or music you think I would really like, and why. Do you have a theme song? A favorite artist nobody knows about? Your own band? What's the best song you know?

I'm always interested in hearing music of all kinds, and I'm pretty much open to anything. If there's a link available to hear a song (youtube clips are great!), you can include that too for easy listening.

Stuff I like:
* Beatles, natch
* Vocal/a cappella/choral music
* Anyone who can really sing
* Anyone who can't sing well but makes up for it with soul
* Classical/acoustic guitar
* Humor is always good
* Ambient/electronica
* Rock/pop/anything catchy
* Classic country
* Folk
* American Popular Standards

Stuff I don't like:
* Songs with rude/demeaning lyrics
* People who can't sing and are slick/overproduced packages of a corporate machine (aka Disney teen fluff, unless you can convince me otherwise)
* Heavy metal for some reason just makes me laugh because they try so hard to be scary and take themselves too seriously

Okay, let's get this party started!

Labels: diversions, music

french toast girl

believe

This weekend our elementary school had their fundraiser - a play written by, directed by, starring, choreographed by (you get the picture) the parents. It is THE social event of the year, and everyone involved looked like they were having the time of their lives. And what did I contribute?

The logo design, of course!

These are the roughs I did initially to get a feel for what everyone wanted... it was clear that it was going to be a logotype, but with a little extra something. The one we went with was an homage to "Slumdog Millionaire" using the broken type, lowercase letters, and uneven baseline. (The plot echoes some of the movie, so there was a reason for it.)

Is that your final logo?

It brought back good memories from high school of seeing people wearing the shirts in the play - although I've been also seeing them around town, on kids at school, even at church. Trust me, it's not the design, it's the message.

The cast in their believe shirts while singing "Don't Stop Believing" (of course).

Paul lent his considerable talents to the pit band! Here he is warming up while Angela (fluffy head in front) looks on.

One of the coolest things was that at the finale - again, in homage to Slumdog Millionaire, the entire cast, including the teachers and principal, and all the students in the audience - got up and did the "Jai Ho" dance from the end of the movie. It was just fabulous. The kids practiced it at the end of classes, and even at a Girl Scout meeting!

Labels: design, family, kids, music

french toast girl

kids helping kids (and you can too)

I've been busy this week making art to help the children of Haiti. No, not the new painting... my very talented brother-in-law Marc asked if I'd help design a CD for a benefit fundraiser for the Children of Haiti this Sunday in New York. Of course I said heck yes!

The benefit is called Kids Helping Kids. It's a family show, and looks like it's going to be loads of fun! The CDs will be available at the show at The Bowery Poetry Club on Sunday afternoon, January 31. If you are in the area and want to go, it certainly looks as though A Splendid Time Is Guaranteed For All. Check out all the acts and more details here.

Of course, me being me, I couldn't make just one version of the cover.... here's the one they chose, followed by the other two covers. I'm curious to know: which cover would make you most likely to buy it and donate money to kids in need?

Labels: art, design, inspirations, kids, music

french toast girl

music therapy

I haven't had much of a chance to write about the group I've been singing with for almost a year now. Yes, I hear you say - what? You've been in a group for a year and never thought to mention it? That's just how my life's been going lately. Not too many chances to write about lots of things, even if they are important.

Music's always played a very important part of my life. For a while, I was out of circulation (ahem - three kids in two years), and then was invited to come to sing harmony at whatever Mass I could make it to. And I did - with one baby on my hip and two hanging onto my pants legs - and then that sometimes got to be too much, too.

This past year, a friend of mine started up a small group at her house, of women from our church who were all (a) good singers/musicians (b) learned music quickly (c) happened to be moms with young kids, and as such (d) couldn't make any of the regular rehearsals for choir practices. There are five of us, with kids ranging from 18 months to preteen. Over the past year, we've gotten to be great friends and have gone from tentative arrangements from the hymnal to serious "wish list" music. One of the moms calls our weekly rehearsals "music therapy" and she's so right - it's such an amazing thing to sing again with fast learners who are always on pitch and up for a challenge! I've established my position as "the one who likes to sing the strange parts nobody else wants." :)

And that's why I'm so excited as we are approaching Lent again, to start lining up music we love. Godspell songs. This song from my folk group days - and it hasn't properly felt like Easter without it. And we've just started this one, which is so incredibly exciting to me because we can actually do it justice:

Here's hoping that if you are in a place of being on hold in your art right now - especially if it's because of family obligations - that grace is coming your way and you will be able to get back to it soon.

Labels: faith, inspirations, motherhood, music

french toast girl

daylight come and me wanna go home

My brother sent this to me today and made my whole week! We used to watch this on channel 13 back in the day and I've been searching for it in vain online since. At last I was able to show this to my kids! Previously, I've acted it out for them, including running back and forth to different rooms, locking myself out, and pretending to dive through the window.

This is a classic. Enjoy!

Labels: diversions, family, music

french toast girl

jingle jingle yeah!

Getting into the holiday spirit... I seriously love this. Enjoy!

Labels: diversions, music

french toast girl

Illustration Friday: Music

Four years ago, (and I can't believe it's been that long) I posted the companion piece to this CD cover as my Illustration Friday entry for "Cold". I like how they work together:

My husband is an amazing piano teacher, and I sing, so as you can imagine there are loads of opportunities for music and art to meet at our house. These are the covers of the music books we've done together... inside they're coloring books as well as having sheet music to play.

It's also occurred to me that for a girl who regularly posts about all different kinds of music and sometimes provides links to said music, I can't believe I've never had a label called "music" before! So this is the first. It's about time!

Labels: illustration, illustration friday, music, NaBloPoMo

french toast girl

ART, iNSPiRATiON, AND WHY LiFE iS LiKE FRENCH TOAST.