em-pressdesign.com http://www.em-pressdesign.com Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:41:11 +0000 en hourly 1 Noni’s Birthday http://www.em-pressdesign.com/2012/03/18/nonis-birthday/ http://www.em-pressdesign.com/2012/03/18/nonis-birthday/#comments Sun, 18 Mar 2012 22:12:41 +0000 Shari http://www.em-pressdesign.com/?p=1636 NoniBrad’s mom recently celebrated her 60th birthday with a trip to Dallas to gather with us, Brad’s sister and her family from OKC and Brad’s grandmother, who flew in from Arkansas. We had a fantastic lunch at a Lebanese restaurant followed by homemade birthday cake. After lunch, we had a nice visit and I had a chance to snap some photos of Valerie’s cute kiddos. I designed a wine label to commemorate her milestone birthday using her senior photo from high school.]]> Brad’s mom recently celebrated her 60th birthday with a trip to Dallas to gather with us, Brad’s sister and her family from OKC and Brad’s grandmother, who flew in from Arkansas. We had a fantastic lunch at a Lebanese restaurant followed by homemade birthday cake. After lunch, we had a nice visit and I had a chance to snap some photos of Valerie’s cute kiddos. I designed a wine label to commemorate her milestone birthday using her senior photo from high school.

]]> http://www.em-pressdesign.com/2012/03/18/nonis-birthday/feed/ 0 Pet Portraits http://www.em-pressdesign.com/2012/03/18/pet-portraits/ http://www.em-pressdesign.com/2012/03/18/pet-portraits/#comments Sun, 18 Mar 2012 21:10:41 +0000 Shari http://www.em-pressdesign.com/?p=1619 stokeyI’ve been meaning to add my collection of pet portraits to the site for quite some time. I earned my BFA in painting and drawing and painting portraits (be they pets or people) in oil is my true passion. I wish I could do it every single day! Over the past few years, I’ve had amazing opportunities to capture clients’ beloved pets on canvas — some living, some deceased. When I was 12, I did a pastel portrait of a collie that my art teacher entered in the State Fair and I received a blue ribbon for it. I was ecstatic to see it displayed at the Fair that year, even though it was hung about 25 feet high above the display cases and definitely not easy to spot. Since I graduated from college in 1991, I had not painted a dog (or anything, really) until I painted Stokey’s portrait for a dear friend in 2004. I was immediately hooked and began to seek other commissions and below are the portraits I have painted since. My favorite and the one most near and dear to my heart is Beau. He was a regal, majestic doberman — so wise and ever so sweet and intuitive. He belonged to my dear friend, Alan and is sorely missed. I knew I had to paint him for my friend to honor him as soon as he passed away, although it took me over a year to finish his portrait. It simply broke my heart every single time I sat down at the easel to work on it. My favorite memory of Beau is driving to Santa Fe with his snout resting on the console of my truck between me and Alan, always near and watching over us with the rest of his body plopped square on top of Jim in the back seat . I’m glad I can keep his (and the others’) memories alive with these paintings.   Stokey Beau Leah Sassy Max Shelby Bosley and Grace Bailey Willie]]> I’ve been meaning to add my collection of pet portraits to the site for quite some time. I earned my BFA in painting and drawing and painting portraits (be they pets or people) in oil is my true passion. I wish I could do it every single day! Over the past few years, I’ve had amazing opportunities to capture clients’ beloved pets on canvas — some living, some deceased. When I was 12, I did a pastel portrait of a collie that my art teacher entered in the State Fair and I received a blue ribbon for it. I was ecstatic to see it displayed at the Fair that year, even though it was hung about 25 feet high above the display cases and definitely not easy to spot. Since I graduated from college in 1991, I had not painted a dog (or anything, really) until I painted Stokey’s portrait for a dear friend in 2004. I was immediately hooked and began to seek other commissions and below are the portraits I have painted since.

My favorite and the one most near and dear to my heart is Beau. He was a regal, majestic doberman — so wise and ever so sweet and intuitive. He belonged to my dear friend, Alan and is sorely missed. I knew I had to paint him for my friend to honor him as soon as he passed away, although it took me over a year to finish his portrait. It simply broke my heart every single time I sat down at the easel to work on it. My favorite memory of Beau is driving to Santa Fe with his snout resting on the console of my truck between me and Alan, always near and watching over us with the rest of his body plopped square on top of Jim in the back seat :) . I’m glad I can keep his (and the others’) memories alive with these paintings.

 

Stokey

Beau

Leah

Sassy

Max

Shelby

Bosley and Grace

Bailey

Willie

]]> http://www.em-pressdesign.com/2012/03/18/pet-portraits/feed/ 0 Happy Valentine’s Day! http://www.em-pressdesign.com/2012/02/10/happy-valentines-day/ http://www.em-pressdesign.com/2012/02/10/happy-valentines-day/#comments Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:11:44 +0000 Shari http://www.em-pressdesign.com/?p=1595 SLV_8362I have been swamped since the beginning of the year and am just now finding time to update the blog. I’ve been working on so many projects! First up is an invitation to the Swiss Avenue Women’s Guild’s Valentine Casino Night, designed in the shape/format of a playing card. I illustrated the queen and the back side’s heart pattern. What you can’t see is the beautiful pearlescent paper stock that adds so much depth and elegance. Beneath that are two shots of the Valentine cards I sent to Luke’s grandparents and great grandmother. I saw the coolest idea for a pixelated heart pop-up card on minieco.co.uk’s blog and had to try it from her downloadable template. I used my Silhouette die cutter to do the cuts and glued a tiny photo of Luke on the pop-out heart inside (I ran out of adhesive right before I shot the photo, so the photo of Luke was a last minute addition). Happy Valentine’s Day to all!]]> I have been swamped since the beginning of the year and am just now finding time to update the blog. I’ve been working on so many projects! First up is an invitation to the Swiss Avenue Women’s Guild’s Valentine Casino Night, designed in the shape/format of a playing card. I illustrated the queen and the back side’s heart pattern. What you can’t see is the beautiful pearlescent paper stock that adds so much depth and elegance. Beneath that are two shots of the Valentine cards I sent to Luke’s grandparents and great grandmother. I saw the coolest idea for a pixelated heart pop-up card on minieco.co.uk’s blog and had to try it from her downloadable template. I used my Silhouette die cutter to do the cuts and glued a tiny photo of Luke on the pop-out heart inside (I ran out of adhesive right before I shot the photo, so the photo of Luke was a last minute addition). Happy Valentine’s Day to all!

]]> http://www.em-pressdesign.com/2012/02/10/happy-valentines-day/feed/ 0 2011 Favorite Projects http://www.em-pressdesign.com/2011/12/29/2011-favorite-projects/ http://www.em-pressdesign.com/2011/12/29/2011-favorite-projects/#comments Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:53:29 +0000 Shari http://www.em-pressdesign.com/?p=1563 360holidays2011Since this is my first year to blog, I thought it would be fun to post some of my favorite projects from 2011. I do so many jobs large and small, I had a tough time choosing my favorites, but here’s a sampling. I’m so grateful for all of my clients, family and friends and I’m so lucky to be able to be creative every single day of the year. Happy New Year! First up are promotional materials for my friend Pam’s custom jewelry business. Last year I designed her logo, business cards, and website. This year we added small cards to accompany her gift packaging that tell her story, small price tags, and a display card that will appear alongside her jewelry in the Texas Quilt Museum gift shop in La Grange, Texas. I had these printed on pearlescent paper and they are stunning. To see Pam’s beautiful jewelry, click here. Next is a business card for writer/editor Kristy Hurst. I love doing cards for other creatives and Kristy is a very gifted writer. Below are several projects for Akorn Pharmaceuticals. First is the biggest project of 2010-11, the redesign of their corporate website and launch of their e-commerce division, AkornDirect. I put together several concepts for consumer packaging for Akorn’s line of generic lubricant eye drops. Below are the logo and PowerPoint templates for Akorn’s national sales meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona. The resort where the meeting takes place is inspired by Moroccan/Spanish design, so we chose to develop the concept based on artwork and elements found throughout the hotel and spa. I hand-lettered the type with my upgraded Wacom tablet, so much fun! Every year I do an email holiday greeting for 360Limo, an international transportation company. This year I had fun with type: Next up are proposed concepts for Crafts 101, a line of paper/yarn crafts for young girls, and Music 101, a line of musical instruments for young boys. While these ideas were not used for the project, I had a blast working on them. Last but not least is the logo for the Sacred Music program at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church. The logo is an illustration of the organ and rose window in the church’s choir loft.]]> Since this is my first year to blog, I thought it would be fun to post some of my favorite projects from 2011. I do so many jobs large and small, I had a tough time choosing my favorites, but here’s a sampling. I’m so grateful for all of my clients, family and friends and I’m so lucky to be able to be creative every single day of the year. Happy New Year!

First up are promotional materials for my friend Pam’s custom jewelry business. Last year I designed her logo, business cards, and website. This year we added small cards to accompany her gift packaging that tell her story, small price tags, and a display card that will appear alongside her jewelry in the Texas Quilt Museum gift shop in La Grange, Texas. I had these printed on pearlescent paper and they are stunning. To see Pam’s beautiful jewelry, click here.

Next is a business card for writer/editor Kristy Hurst. I love doing cards for other creatives and Kristy is a very gifted writer.

Below are several projects for Akorn Pharmaceuticals. First is the biggest project of 2010-11, the redesign of their corporate website and launch of their e-commerce division, AkornDirect.

I put together several concepts for consumer packaging for Akorn’s line of generic lubricant eye drops.

Below are the logo and PowerPoint templates for Akorn’s national sales meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona. The resort where the meeting takes place is inspired by Moroccan/Spanish design, so we chose to develop the concept based on artwork and elements found throughout the hotel and spa. I hand-lettered the type with my upgraded Wacom tablet, so much fun!

Every year I do an email holiday greeting for 360Limo, an international transportation company. This year I had fun with type:

Next up are proposed concepts for Crafts 101, a line of paper/yarn crafts for young girls, and Music 101, a line of musical instruments for young boys. While these ideas were not used for the project, I had a blast working on them.

Last but not least is the logo for the Sacred Music program at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church. The logo is an illustration of the organ and rose window in the church’s choir loft.

]]> http://www.em-pressdesign.com/2011/12/29/2011-favorite-projects/feed/ 0 Madeleine & Jack http://www.em-pressdesign.com/2011/12/28/madeleine-jack/ http://www.em-pressdesign.com/2011/12/28/madeleine-jack/#comments Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:24:38 +0000 Shari http://www.em-pressdesign.com/?p=1536 DSC_5018bwThese cute kiddos are near and dear to me. Meet Madeleine and Jack, my cousin Melissa’s children. We shot these photos for their annual Christmas card, one of my very favorite projects each year. This is the eighth year I’ve done their card and every year Melissa and I have a great time together developing the image, concept and wording. This year I hand-lettered the card and illustrated the ornaments. The final card is the very last image. To see cards from prior years, click here. Merry Christmas, everyone! Accidental homage to Andrew Wyeth…]]> These cute kiddos are near and dear to me. Meet Madeleine and Jack, my cousin Melissa’s children. We shot these photos for their annual Christmas card, one of my very favorite projects each year. This is the eighth year I’ve done their card and every year Melissa and I have a great time together developing the image, concept and wording. This year I hand-lettered the card and illustrated the ornaments. The final card is the very last image. To see cards from prior years, click here. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Accidental homage to Andrew Wyeth…

]]> http://www.em-pressdesign.com/2011/12/28/madeleine-jack/feed/ 0