Custom Castle Invitation

I created this custom save-the-date and wedding invitation for a couple who will be marrying at a beautiful castle in the Italian countryside. In the year I spent studying in Rome, there were many travels into the small hilltop towns of Italy.

It was a delight to make this painting and recall those days exploring the beauty of Italy's landscape and architecture. Congratulations to Kelly and Jesse!

Wedding Invitation

Lake

This invitation was inspired by a recent trip I took to a small town in Wisconsin with a beautiful lake.  I made this painting sitting on the end of a dock, adjacent to a tiny beach.  The scene reminded me of many idyllic lakes I've had the pleasure of visiting.  

It can be wonderfully peaceful to sit by a small lake, with water gently lapping ashore.  Perhaps, a canoe outing, a walk to town for ice cream, or bonfire planned for later in the day.  What lovely memories and lovely daydreams of future adventures!  These lake towns make a delightful location for wedding ceremonies.  I designed this invitation with those lakeside nuptials in mind. 

What are some of your favorite lakes? 

Wedding Invitation

Hearts around the Globe

This recent wedding invitation features a digital design.  The image of hearts strung together ringing the globe strikes me as rather charming, in the way that we festoon Christmas trees with strings of popcorn and drape streamers across our living rooms.  

As a lover of travel, the image of the globe calls to mind adventures past and yet to come.  As a believer in peace, the image seems a hopeful reminder of peaceful resolutions yet to come.  And, as a persons with friends and co-workers who have landed in Chicago from many corners of globe, it is delightful reminder of the love that exists across borders.

Hearts and globes, what do you think? 

Wedding Invitation

Star Constellation Chart

I've always been rather taken by star constellations.  I, like many city dwellers, find myself rather shocked each time I wonder into sparsely inhabited regions of the country...The stars are amazing!  That interest paired with a fondness for the Au Revoir Simone song "Stars" inspired this invitation design. 

"You make me wanna measure stars in the backyard with a calculator and a ruler baby
I found a letter that describes how the moonlight will lead me to the distant place that you will be..."

This invitation illustrates the northern constellations in a mid-winter night sky.  In this digital design, I've laid out all of the constellations and labeled them. 

Do you like star gazing?

Wedding Invitation

Wildflowers & Wheat in a Mason Jar

I have recently completed another variation of the flowers in a mason jar invitation for a couple who will wed in Kansas City.  Through the completion of a number of iterations of flower in a mason jar, I have researching a bit and discovered that there is a John Denver song called Flowers in a Mason Jar.  Here are the lyrics:

January back in '55 we rode a Greyhound bus through the Georgia midnight
Grandpa was sleeping and the winter sky was clear
We hit a bump and his head jerked back a little and he mumbled something
He woke up smiling but his eyes were bright with tears he said...

I dreamed I was back on the farm
Twenty years have passed boy
But the memory still warms me
Wild flowers in a mason jar

He told me those old stories 'bout that one room cabin in Kentucky
The smell of rain and the feel of the warm earth in his hands
He slowly turned and stared outside
His face was mirrored in the window
And his reflection flew across the moonlit land
And he dreamed he was back on the farm
He tilts his head and listens to the early sounds of morning
Wild flowers in a mason jar

An old man and an eight year old boy
Rolling down that midnight highway
Warm Kentucky memories from a winter Georgia night
I started drifting off and Grandpa tucked his coat around me
I think I tried to smile as I slowly closed my eyes
And I dreamed I was with him on the farm
Grandpa, I can hear the evening wind out in the corn
Wild flowers in a mason jar and the bus rolling through the night

Wedding Invitation

Flowers & Wheat in a Mason Jar

As I painted this most recent flowers in a mason jar invitation, I was thinking about the beauty that wheat brings to the Midwest.  The image of gently rolling golden fields is fantastically familiar.  It also called to mind the first line of Carl Sandburg's Chicago poem, " HOG Butcher for the World,
 Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
 Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
 Stormy, husky, brawling,
 City of the Big Shoulders..."  That poem so delights me, I thought I would share it here. 

CHICAGO

Carl Sandburg
     HOG Butcher for the World,
     

Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
     

Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
     

Stormy, husky, brawling,
     

City of the Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I
     

have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
     

luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it
     

is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to
     

kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the
     

faces of women and children I have seen the marks
     

of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who
     

sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer
     

and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
     

so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on
 job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
     

little soft cities;

Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning
     

as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
          

Bareheaded,
          

Shoveling,
          

Wrecking,
          

Planning,
          

Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with
     

white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young
     

man laughs,
 Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has
     

never lost a battle,
 Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.
     

and under his ribs the heart of the people,
               

Laughing! 
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of
     

Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog
     

Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with
     

Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

What does the image of wheat call to mind for you?

Wedding Invitation

Wild Flowers in a Mason Jar
This new invitation design features another variation on the flowers and mason jar theme I have explored in recent invitations.  This design was created for a couple who will marry in a Sadorus, a village in rural Illinois, with a population of 416 people. 

Wild flowers in a mason jar seem the ideal decor for an elegant wedding in a small town, on a summer evening.  

Christina of Intimate Weddings.com describes mason jars as "the unsung heroes of weddingland."  On that website there is an article describing how to make DIY flower bouquets in hanging mason jars.  So, many fantastic combination of flowers and perhaps many more possibilities for invitation designs. 

What do you use mason jars for?

Wedding Invitation

Going to the Chapel 

There is something incredibly charming about a small white clapboard wedding chapel.  The term wedding chapel may conjure an image of the chapels bathed in neon lights lining the strip of Las Vegas, but you know the kind I mean.  I'm thinking of tiny chapels tucked away on country lanes or nestled between the post office and general store in a small town.  Those buildings inspired this "going to the chapel" wedding invitation.  

I spend one evening last week last week searching through photographs of chapels and in the end painted this imagined version.   

In the words for the 1964 song by the Dixie Cups, “Gee, I really love you, and we’re gonna get married. Goin’ to the chapel of love.”

What chapels do you find to be most charming?

Wedding Invitation

Antique Car Just Married

This invitation features the elegant curves of an Morris Minor "1000."  The Morris Minor is an British made car manufactured from 1948 to 1971.  This invitation is a continuation of a series of "Just Married" invitations, featuring bride and groom "getaway cars."  

What do you think to be the best antique cars for the bride and groom?  

Wedding Invitation

Flowers in a Mason Jar

This new invitation design is a revision to my recently completed "Wildflowers in Mason Jar" design.  The invitation was revisited for a couple who will wed this fall in Missouri.  They asked me to customize this design with the flowers the have selected for their wedding, including peonies, dahlia, and yellow billy balls.

I'm totally delighted by the aesthetic of flowers in a Mason Jar.  Flowers inevitably portray a certain elegance, which combined with the relaxed, practical nature of a mason jars strikes just the right tone.  It was an interesting exercise to paint flowers.  I don't paint a lot of still lifes and it is certainly a different sort of challenge to paint something at close to full scale.

What flowers do you like to arrange in a mason jar?

Wedding Invitation

Chicago Skyline
There is something so wonderful about the familiarity of the skyline in the city where you live.  When you drive into the Chicago from the south, you often find yourself winding through the industrial territory of Northwest Indiana.  There is a certain magic in that first glimpse of the Chicago skyline.  

Last fall, I rode my bike to Hyde Park (which is a neighborhood about 50 blocks south of downtown) for a meeting.  It's a nice ride because I can ride virtually all the way to Hyde Park on the lake path, which runs along Lake Michigan.  On my return trip, riding north, I was reminded of the beauty of the view of the skyline from the south side (the shoreline is on the whole a bit less developed than on the north side).  

On that day, I was particularly struck by the beauty of the Chicago skyline, which inspired me to design this invitation.  I thought this would be a lovely image for couple who plan to wed in Chicago, particularly those who will wed in the loop among the extraordinary buildings, which form our skyline.

What city do you think has the most beautiful skyline?

Wedding Insert

Custom Design

This past week I designed a insert to be included with the wedding invitation for a couple who will marry in Newark, Delaware.  The hotel had provided them with a generic invitation insert providing details about the hotel accommodations.  They wanted a custom designed insert to coordinate with their invitations. 

I developed two schemes from which they were able to select.  The designs incorporated the colors and theme of the invitation.  The bride wanted to create a coordinating insert, without matching the design of the invitation too closely. 

The couple selected the design with a green border and a flowering branch.  These 3.75"x4.75" inserts will be a charming insert with their wedding invitation and accessories.

Wedding Invitation

Lake Sunset

It is at this time of the year that I get really anxious for spring to come.  March tends to remain quite cold in Chicago, though it is warm enough to begin riding a bike in moderation.  I am looking forward to warm days when bike riding along the lake path and running at the steps adjacent to Belmont Harbor are a regular part of my life.  Designing this invitation based on a painting I made several weeks was a delightful reminder of the warm days to come.    

The design for this wedding invitation was inspired by the warm yellows and pinks of the sunsets over Lake Michigan. I love the drama of this scene: the most easterly trees bathed in the waning evening light, the other trees casting strong silhouettes against the vibrant sky, and one whimsical cloud floating out of the frame. This would make a charming invitation a weddings being held near the water. This invitation is small format: 4.25"x5.5, with rounded corners.

What are you favorite places to watch the sunset?

Wedding Invitation

Notre Dame

The campus of the University of Notre Dame is rather a beautiful place with a number of lovely vistas.  The drama of the tree alley looking down Notre Dame Avenue, the beautiful big trees of North Quad, and the views across the two lakes make the campus quite a picturesque place.  

The design for this invitation was based upon what I think is one of the most beautiful locations on the Notre Dame campus. From the far side of St. Mary's Lake, looking back toward campus one can glimpse the Administration Building and the Basilica of Sacred Heart over the trees. This invitation is ideal for couples celebrating their weddings at Notre Dame.

Have you visited Notre Dame?  What are your favorite places on campus?

Wedding Invitation

Love Hands Silhouette
I have recently revisited the invitation which I design this fall featuring silhouettes of hands spelling out love.  The theatrical nature of shadow puppet inspired me to format the text with the boldness of a playbill or a marquee.  

I was checking out the variety of shadow puppet silhouettes featured in the flickr group dedicated to that topic.  I am particularly fond of the ocelot and the bird submitted by DanieleDG.

Do you have shadow puppet skills?

Wedding Invitation

Wild Flowers in a Mason Jar

The design for this new wedding invitation was inspired by a month spent at age eleven with my Aunt Anne and Uncle Will, in their cabin, on the St. John River, in New Brunswick, Canada. The memories of this trip have been dulled by time, but there is a definitely a certain fondness associated with that summer.  It was a visit marked by canoe trips, swimming, travel to Prince Edward Island, walks through the cemetery, going to movies, and picking wild fruits and flowers.

I have glimpses of memories of arranging collected flowers in jars on a picnic table overlooking the river.  The beautiful simplicity of flowers in a classic blue mason jar seemed a lovely image for this new invitation design.  I've paired the original watercolor painting with with elegant "mason jar blue" text.  

What are some of your best summer memories from childhood?

Wedding Invitation

Sea Shell

I have made numerous posts of paintings of various bodies of water: Lake Michigan, the Chicago River, beached at Puerto Vallerta and the Aran Islands, and the bay in Rossaveal, Ireland.  I am frequently drawn to paint water.  

In addition to the beauty of the water and the great feeling of bathing in salt water, the humid air and the distinctly wonderful smell of the beach are hard to beat.  I love the image of a shell because as a child I loved combing the beach for treasures: shells, ocean-polished glass, and shiny rocks.  It's not surprising that so many couples choose to wed near the water.  I've revisited this shell design, experimenting with a dark background to offset the shell and champagne colored text.

Together with my starfish invitation design, I'm developing a small collection of nautically themed invitations and accessories.

What do you think of beach weddings?  

Wedding Invitation

Tulips

This invitation and coordinating accessories are a redesign of a "tulip design" originally created last spring.  It was one of the first invitations I designed.  As, I have experimented with various layouts and font styles over the course of the last year, I became excited about the idea of revisiting the tulip watercolor I created last spring.  

The gentle curve of the tulip petal seems ideally suited to being paired with organically curving text and script with grand flourishes.  

It is a subject matter of great appeal at this time of year.  Tulips require a period of cold while they are dormant and resting between shows.  This means that they must be planted before freezing weather, in order to get a great display of colors in the spring weeks.  As a Chicagoan, it is this time of year that I began to yearn for those spring weeks.  This week brought milder temperatures to the Windy City and although I know we have several months before spring really settles over our city, it is nice to daydream of the days when tulips will bloom on my street.

What are your favorite spring blooms?

Custom Wedding Map

The design for this custom wedding map is in progress.  It is a design for a couple who will wed in Washington, D.C.  this spring.  The bride liked the playfulness of maps with a hand drawn feel.  I had great fun creating this map with little sketches of the church where the ceremony will the held, the white house, and the reception venue.

I've spent a bit of time in Washington, DC and am alway fascinated to see the pattern of streets, which reflect Pierre-Charles L'Enfant's 1791 plan for the city of Washington.  This scheme of broad radiating avenues connecting significant focal points and gridded streets oriented north, south, east, and west is fascinating to see in two dimensions.  A great city to map!


What cities to you find most interesting in map-form?

Wedding Invitation

Just Married
I love the playfulness of this image of a VW Bug as a getaway jalopy for a bride and groom, featured in this new invitation design.  A few tips from The Knot about decorating a getaway mobile.
What can you use? Write on windows with bar soap or shaving cream. Attach plastic soda bottles (no sparks) or streamers to the rear bumper. You can also tie streamers to the antenna and front bumper, and attach rosettes made of streamers to the car's roof -- but don't use any tape that will pull off paint! Stick with Scotch tape, and don't be surprised if some décor flies off as the couple makes their move. To make a grand statement, you can even attach a placard to the car's rear -- just don't hide the license plate! A visit from the fuzz could mar an otherwise excellent getaway.  

One automotive decorator used white shoe polish to write messages on the getaway car's windows. He says he stuck with the traditional, "Just Married," but you can get a little more creative with, "Just Hitched," "Finally Hitched," "Tied the Knot," "Lovebirds," "Old Married Couple," or whatever strikes your fancy. You can also use bar soap or shaving cream instead of shoe polish. For a darker car, write on the body of the car itself with soap or shaving cream.  

Why Decorate?
If you've ever seen a convoy of cars drive by decorated for a wedding day, you know the commotion it causes: People honk their horns, scream congratulations out their car windows, or wave from the sidewalk. What a way to exit the wedding reception -- or even to arrive there from the ceremony! Many Latino weddings in Los Angeles feature a fleet of cars decorated with crepe paper rosettes and streamers. Take a cue from this tradition if the ceremony and reception take place at different locales -- decorate the cars before the group moves between locations. It will make the journey as fun as the reception itself.


What are your best tips for decorating the bride and groom's getaway mobile on their wedding day?