I'm making a deck of cards!!

The first edition of my deck of playing cards is ready for preorders!

I started my suitmarks project in April of 2020 and I'm beyond excited to bring it to life in a beautiful physical deck that can be used to play card games. It is the culmination of many, many hours of experimenting with art supplies and learning about the history of suitmarks and playing cards.Each card has a unique piece of art!

Designed in Buffalo, NY and printed in the USA, these cards are absolutely lovely and expected to ship in late October or early November. This is a full 52 card deck with 2 jokers, packaged in a gorgeous custom box.

It’s so exciting!!

Spades Animation

I glossed over February's exploration of Spades here in the news feed. I did have some fun in procreate and made this little animation! This feels like a tip of the iceberg experiment and I'm hoping to make more little playful videos like this in the coming year.

revisiting a 2016 Carve Out Time for Art interview

I’m doing an instagram takeover over on Carve Out Time for Art’s handle @carveouttimeforart today. In the intro, Marissa Huber mentioned that she had interviewed me in 2016, which prompted me to revisit that, which was fun and encouraging. It made me even more aware of how little steps towards those big goals can really add up to something. I was just setting up a shop at the time and had aspirations of making patterns, designing wallpaper and creating public art. It is amazing how putting things out there does manifest those dreams and help them come true! I’ve since partnered with an amazing local company to create two beautiful wallpaper designs, and I’ve painted 6 murals!

We are often making progress towards our dreams even when it doesn’t feel like it. The mistakes and missteps count too, even if we are just learning what not to do. If you keep working away, eventually you will look back at those mountainous goals and realize that you might just have accomplished them.

Read the interview from 2016 here.

This collection of images shows some current work in progress… I want to make a deck of cards, and that was one of the 2021 goals that got lost in the pandemic shuffle. So, baby steps, I'm kicking off the year tackling one suit at a time. (Again with the boundaries!) January is all about creating hearts. Hearts represent feelings and affection. They carry senses of understanding and compassion. The heart is synonymous with love and they are the suit of spring – who doesn't want to fill themself up with lovely feelings and dream about spring in the middle of winter in Buffalo?

In the spirit of manifesting big dreams, I will share three of mine for this year – I want to create and produce a deck of playing cards, paint another mural, and license more of my artwork/patterns. Tell me, what are your goals for this next year? Let's cheer each other on!