Happy Birthday Grandma!

It seems that the older my Grandma gets, the more progressive she becomes.  She is an active member of Amnesty International and has protested with them several times.  She enjoys watching 30 Rock and The Colbert Report and always remembers to have mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving just for me!  Her and my Grandpa were kind enough to save money for my siblings and me to go to college.  She has always been a supporter of me and so I want to wish her the happiest birthday!  Here's to many more!

Can you tell which one is me?

Snow day!

I've never lived somewhere that experiences snow before.  Sure it snows in Southern California, but only in the mountains, and it's currently 70 degrees in my hometown.  Thursday night everyone kept telling me that it was supposed to snow and the kids were all wishing for a snow day.  Well, their wish came true.  Overnight it snowed and I woke up to a wonderful glittery blanket of fresh powder.  So beautiful!  I made sure to document this event and came up with some fantastic pictures as I strolled around the neighborhood (bundled up of course!)  Unfortunately the sun came out and melted almost all of it, but even today you can find little patches of snow in the shadows.

I hoped the kitties enjoyed playing in the snow.

Featured Artist: Casey McG

Even though I don't know Casey formally (she studied abroad in Sweden with my sister a few years ago) I think she is a fantastic artist!  And when my sister told me that she had suggested we do an Etsy swap, I was so excited to get my hands on one of her prints.

How did you first get interested in printmaking? It's kind of funny how i got into art. I went into college as a communications major. I didn't like it very much but i was in it because that was the only way i could take the one and only photography class at my university. I was in a class with a professor who was kind of an ass. I didn't like it so all i did was draw and not pay attention. One day, the teacher got fed up and said "Casey, if you want to draw during class all day long why don't you become an art major!" I got up, said "ok" and walked out of the room and switched my major. I knew i didn't want to take a painting class, and i started with a printmaking class because it was open. I was already in a drawing class and really enjoyed it. When i started the printmaking class I immediately fell in love with the process of it all. My favorite type of printmaking is intaligo, and that's because of the process to get the final product.

What other mediums do you work with?  What is your favorite? I work with a lot of drawing. That is what i'm doing currently because that is the easiest and cheapest for me currently. To buy copper and acid and do intaligo would take a large workspace and a lot of money, neither of which i have. hah I use pen and paper and create that way currently. I'm also a photographer, so that is another medium i use as well. I take pictures where ever i go and try and create something with a camera. I can't really pick a favorite medium. I love all of them. When it comes down to it, photography is my passion and has been for awhile. Drawing and printmaking are a new passion compared to photography. I've been photographing since i was young and when my grandpa was still alive. 

What inspires your work? A lot of things inspire my work. Right now I draw a lot of women. Its mainly a "bust" of a women, sometimes i do their bodies but not really. I'm really inspired by the suicide girls, and other girls who are tattooed. I mainly look at a girl's hair. I think the hair is an important part of the photo. I like texture, and curls and waves, etc. If a woman has just straight boring hair, i usually don't pick that photo to draw. 

Do you ever find yourself in a creative funk?  If so, how do you get out of it? I was in a creative funk fall semester 2010. i barely created anything in my printmaking class and the things i did make, i wasn't proud of them. I got a C in that class for the semester because i was in a funk. My professor knew i was in one too, and that's why i think he didn't fail me. That september though, i got a tattoo on my arm of a girl i had drawn while i was in Sweden with your sister. That was what really kicked off my obsession with drawing girls. After i got another tattoo of another girl i drew on the inside of the same arm, my friend said "case, why don't you print your girls". I found victorian-esque wallpaper patterns online, and was playing around in photoshop one day and realized that my girls would look awesome on top of the patterns. I screen-printed the patterns onto a paper, and then created the girls with intaligo. i've attached a scan of some of the things i created my spring semester of 2010. 

Has your experience selling prints on Etsy been positive?  Would you recommend it to other artists?  I haven't sold anything on etsy yet. You're the first person that will get something from the website. haha I would recommend it to other artists. I think the reason why i haven't sold anything yet is because i haven't really promoted it really. I post it on facebook, and i post it on my tumblr, but i don't really have any followers on tumblr. haha

How do you incorporate your creativity into everyday life? I'm a creative person by nature, and i try and start and finish 2 drawings a day. I currently don't have a job, but will start one on the 8th, so since this summer, i've really been drawing. I'm a bold person to begin with so i'm creative in the way i dress and the way I act. I'm very loud. volume wise and personality wise. haha

For more information about Casey feel free to head over to her tumblr 

or purchase her prints at her Etsy store.

If you would like to be a featured artist, please feel free to email

me at daintylibrarian@gmail.com  I would love to showcase your work!

LaLaLa Loves it!

Apartment Therapy House Tour

Dancing in a Daydream Dress

Airmail Envelopes

 Intelligent Clashing

My absolute favorite thing right now is the seasonal Little Debbie "Be My Valentine" snack cakes.  I look forward to them every year!

World Wide Web Wednesday

• When I am much older, I want to be just like Iris Apfel.  She is fabulous!
• I like meat, but I think I might have to draw the line at meat flavored water, I'm only slightly curious about the bacon flavored one.
• Another great website for making your pictures look more interesting, this one has several filters to give for an antique look.
• Too Much Too Young is a wonderful visual diary worth checking out.
• "Come Up To My Room" is a fantastic installation at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto that I would very much like to see.
• Wikihow explains how to love.
• Visit some of the greatest museums in the world without even leaving your house.
• The SuperBowl is this Sunday!  Have your planned your menu yet?
• The Room is being screened here in Austin this weekend and I've been meaning to see it for so long.  If you haven't heard of it, then please enjoy this little clip from its infamous roof scene.

Fall in Love with February

It seems that each year February comes along and I want nothing more to hide under the covers in bed.  You can't avoid Valentine's Day, it's EVERYWHERE.  If I was single then I didn't want to see couples who were happy and in love and if I was in a relationship I would set him up with such high expectations (all in my mind of course) and was inevitably disappointed.  This year I've decided to make a change.  I'm taking Valentine's Day back, heck I'm taking the whole month of February, to allow myself to be totally and completely in love with me.  I will embrace the color pink and enjoy all the little heart shaped items at the stores.  There's no reason not too.  I think sometimes we get so caught up with the day to day stuff that we forget about ourselves, and why not take a month so filled with love to show some love to yourself?

If you want to take it even further, I highly recommend heading over to Gala Darling to learn about what she calls "Radical Self Love."  It's pretty fantastic!

Pink nail polish for February!

Shop Update: More Laser Cats in Love!

The Men's Collection...