Illustration Friday Tornado

I_Need_A_New_SpinSo I finally did it! I completed an Illustration Friday challenge. Since I’m on “vacation”, I thought I’d give this week’s challenge a go. The topic was tornado, and boy, didn’t it have my head spinning!

My initial thought was “What would Lucienne Day do?” I love her abstract, organic patterns (Calyx and Dandelion Clocks are two of my favorites). I sketched a few (atrocious) ideas with vines that formed the shape of a tornado and had some fun retro-y styled shapes on them. Nope. Not the right plan. I needed my own spin.

So, I sketched a few more options and finally created this fun little illustration.

 

Happy Owladays!

TwitterOwlaDays

Five?!! Can you believe it?! Five years ago, I accepted a friend’s challenge to “do something” with my owl doodles. That “something” ended up being a 365-day challenge that resulted in 385 illustrations and over 400 owls (several posts had an extra or two as part of the story). I used that challenge to help me beat burnout and escape what had become a soul-crushing day job and to move on to my next big career adventure—what I thought was my dream job: working full-time for the nonprofit I had helped to found. That dream ended rather abruptly.

Short Story: I left graphic design for 3.5 years to run a nonprofit out of my home, only to be fired at a Panera without warning or cause, replaced by a friend of a board member within 2 days, and left with no chance of a full-time job (thank you “confidential conversations” among friends) and no unemployment (small nonprofits are not liable in Ohio). While I’m hurt by how this was handled, I’m not angry or looking to place blame. It’s simply time for me to learn and to move on.

It’s up to me to label this a “fail” or the start of a “bounce”. I choose bounce. I will always choose bounce. What I have to work with: loads of creative ideas, hundreds of owls, inspiring friends and family that I will always make time for FIRST, life lessons that I’ll never forget, and a few plans.

And so to celebrate the 5th anniversary of my escape from burnout and the start of my next experiment in creative freedom—a “bird-day”, if you will—I will be releasing my owls to you in the form of…

  • Art prints, pins, and magnets at my Etsy store (Coupon Code 5YEAROLDOWLS will save you 13% now through June 30th.)
  • More art prints, home decor, & cell phone cases through Society 6
  • T-shirts in my Threadless Artist Shop
  • Cell phone cases, posters, and paper products through Zazzle
  • Graphics available on the HungryJPEG (Everything is 20% off through the end of the month!)

I’ll be posting new items to each store throughout this month to celebrate this bird-day. I’ll share the new items here, along with any discount codes.

If there’s a specific owl you can’t wait to have released, leave a comment below, and I’ll add her (or him) to the next round of releases.

See the entire challenge at owladay.wordpress.com.