My Story is Art – New Collection Mini-shoot with Jillian McGrath Photography

Yesterday Katie and I were all tangled up in a painterly inspiration shoot of four new designs coming your way soon.  I set out to challenge myself a bit with super clean styling, un-fussy painting and modern detailing.

Bravo to Jillian and hubby for some of my favorite shots to date.  They dove in and relished in every little detail…

Have a look at a few iPhone shots:

A Peek into the Studio – Art Deco, Positano Italy and Red Dahlias

This week’s favorites from the painting table are a varied bunch.  Each project holds so much sentimentality for its couple and family and we are honored to have brought these stories to life!  First up is Leigh’s Art Deco inspired wedding invitation.  A few photos of family heirlooms from Leigh are all we needed to begin.  I sketched a favorite brooch for it’s detailed design and round shape which translated effortlessly into this classic tiled pattern.  Hand painted dots and splashes of gold and gunmetal inks added over the top texture against the shimmer papers she chose.

Art Deco Brooch

Coleen is a lucky gal, headed to Positano, Italy as we speak for her wedding celebration.   Initially inspired by our White and Champagne Wedding Collection designed for The Knot, she wanted her very own contrast painted flower garden.  Lilies, roses, hydrangeas and gardenias adorned her seating plan, table names and escort cards all painted in milky white tones against champagne shimmer stocks.

My sketch of the iconic Amalfi coastline watercolored in vibrant tones…

Katie’s fall infused celebration highlighted her eclectic love of blooms and favorite travel spots.  Each table name featured a custom watercolor illustration.  Our favorites -  a slice of Old Forge Pizza and a tropical Bahamas landscape!  Free hand painted dahlias seem to explode (in a good way) across Katie’s seating plan.  Layer after layer of wine, red, gold and copper inks were applied to achieve depth in each petal.

So what am I up to?

Heading to NYC on Friday for my first Bridal Market!  Keep an eye out next week for our trend sketching series on the blog, reporting all the juicy details straight from the runway.  Can’t wait, follow me on twitter this weekend for live coverage.

Wrapping up details for my latest Inspired Ink shoot this Thursday with the help of talented photographer Jillian McGrath.  Not sure what Inspired Ink is all about? Take a look here.

Planning a little Birthday soiree for our dear Kelley.  Happy Birthday girl!!! XOXO

Inspired Ink – Invitation for Kate Spade’s Candy Darling Bag

Earlier this week I shared the 2010 Momental Gift Guide and today after swooning the entire week decided to create an invitation inspired by this lovely bag by one of my favs, Kate Spade.  Iconic shapes, delicate patterns, unexpected materials and saturated color use are hallmarks of this fashion icon’s designs.  Who wouldn’t be inspired?

My interpretation of the Candy Darling bag includes Envelopments Ecru Swiss dot pattern stock, wax paper and a gold beading.

My highly stylized Dahlia boom was completely hand painted onto a wax paper element wrapped around the top one third of the invitation layout.  Shimmery red  and gold inks first bubbled on the slick surface and then settled a bit to create a textured and dimensional finish.

A huge thanks to all at Kate Spade for being my artistic muse this week!  Be sure to check out their Holiday campaign launched recently…one word. yum.

Inspired Ink: A Tim Burton Wedding

Every once and a while I meet with clients face to face.  It is a special joy for me since so many of our clients live here, there and everywhere!  I had the privilege to meet Jessica and her fiance recently and needless to say their wedding palette was heavily inspired by Tim Burton imagery.
We sat for over an hour, discussing paper options, color palettes and artwork details.  We decided on our Vintage Swirls pattern, which features a cool, spike-like swirl.

We plan to alter the main flower to resemble my Sculpted Bloom and add more spikey swirls throughout.  The border may also be the new checkered look from Envelopments.

Being entirely excited about my project with Jessica, I decided to gather a bit of my own inspiration.  Swirls and curly organic shapes seem to be the most evident element in Tim Burton imagery.  Strong, dramatic, moody color also plays a huge role.  Perhaps my favorite element below is the flowering succulent.  Part elegant, yet somehow slightly creepy this plant could make for some unexpected favors!

Tim Burton Couple, Fiddlehead Ferns, Fiddlehead Fern Bloom, Gown, Movie Scene, Tree, The Gate, Pods, Cake,  Succulent

Since planning with By Bloomers for the #RenewalinZion, I have become slightly obsessed with pods.  I love the crisp, woody shapes and texture.

A big thank you to Jessica.  I am thrilled you came to me to bring your vision to life!

Inspired Ink – Mexican Otomi Fabric

This week’s Inspired Ink post evolved out of a simple Twitter conversation that transpired a while back.  Annemarie from Perfect Bound “tweeted” this colorful headboard project courtesy of Design Sponge.

Here is what she said:

and then me….

and so the challenge was born…

Headboard

The simple pattern instantly reminded me of Matisse’s later cutout pieces with its dynamic shapes and bold contrast of color and space.  I love how the  pattern instantly enlivens the space and am fascinated by how a simplistic silhouette can communicate such elegance.  Surprisingly this is what I am most drawn to and the color specifically is secondary.

I used a very rudimentary technique for this design, perhaps one that would remind you of a grade school art project – I’ll let you guess.  A basic bloom sketch was paired down to a simple silhouette.  Reproduced in a creamy ivory acrylic ink, each flower was hand-painted  with tiny dots in a persimmon red.

Thanks Anne-Marie for inspiring the idea!

Inspired Ink – Edward Hopper

Inspired Ink posts were originally begun on my blog in 2007.  This past summer I began blogging for Weddingbee PRO and decided to share  my Inspired Ink posts with the PRO audience.  As I am sure many of you know Bee Kim, founder of Weddingbee.com recently gave birth and thus decided to put Weddingbee PRO on ice for a few months.  We all wish Bee some much deservedrest and time with family!

So Inspired Ink has returned here  but for the next few weeks I would like to share my creations until now only seen on Weddingbee PRO!  Enjoy!

As originally posted on Weddingbee PRO:

“Inspired Ink” began as a weekly post on my personal blog last year.  The idea is to take an image that inspired me the previous week and create a custom invitation based on that same image.  One of my favorites from earlier this year was a little number I created after finding what I call “Suspended Orchids” on Karen Tran’s enchanting blog.  I just loved the sparkle and shine she captured as the sunlight trickled through the glass spheres and felt compelled to capture the look on paper!

So each week I plan to continue my “Inspired Ink” tradition as an exclusive-to-Weddingbee PRO post! This week I chose an Edward Hopper painting titled “Le Bistro / The Wine Shop”,  1909.  The mood captured here is what I find most striking; calm and serene.  The Silvery blues, grays and a touch of sienna and scarlet (more visible in person) come together beautifully in this canvas I had the pleasure of viewing in person last week at The Whitney.

Photo Credit

I combined our newest Swoosh and Swirl pattern with hand-painted strokes of white plus tiny red dots in scarlet ink.

Find an image that catches your eye and would like to inspire one of my posts?  Send me an email, your image and a short description to kristyrice@momentaldesigns.com

Inspired Ink – New look, new photos part II

Layers of watercolor paper proved to be the perfect backdrop.

Black, yellow and white – yum! Pretty papers fresh from our travels to the National Stationery Show.

Shane sent these to me late last night – I am just thrilled. I really love how he captured the hand-painted details on Shea’s unique wedding announcement.