Been working on a series of new original pieces.  Got inspired to paint with acrylics again and painting on wood panel I have in my basement leftover from building shelves.  I love the softness of drawing with graphite on wood.  I just seems to glide on with such ease.  I'll be adding these to my local brick and mortar Atlanta shop Crafted Westside and some to my etsy shop as soon as I put backings on them.  If you'd like any to go specifically to my etsy shop, please let me know.  I'm still deciding on who's going to go where.  Close-up shots are posted in my drawings & paintings section.

I took these studio shots for an interview I did with my illustration licensing site illostock recently.  I thought I'd share the remaining shots here.

I share this studio space with my husband in our basement.  We redid it last year to change it into a family room/studio instead of just a studio that neither used very much.  Now we use it all the time.  When I was younger, I wanted my studio space to be completely separate from everything so I could escape.  Now I seem to work better while being around my family.  I used to not want to work in my studio because I wanted to spend time with my family.  Yesterday we spent the whole day taking turns working on art and taking care of our 3 month old son.  It was such a wonderful day and we both made more work than we have in awhile.  Will post pictures of some new originals I've been working on soon.  Loving the new series I've started.  You can see a preview on my instagram.

So lately, I've been trying out different printing companies for my personal prints.  I always use the same company for professional prints, but wanted something a little less expensive for my own personal prints.  There has been a huge rise in online/mobile companies to print out your photos via your phone or instagram.  I've found two that I really like for different reasons.

The first one is Artifact Uprising.  They are a little more expensive, but still less expensive than my usual printer.  They print on really high quality 120lb. superfine eggshell paper.  Black and white photos look especially good on this press printed paper.  They're also slightly larger at 6"x6".  I got a mix of fine art photographs with snapshots of my son.  I wish I had held off on the snapshots and just printed my nicer photographs.  These prints are more for framing to me and not for just printing your memories.  They look fantastic, but not the nostalgic feel of old photographs I was looking for.  Which is why I tried this next company.

Timeshel I really like Timeshel's app where you create "moments" each month and you can switch easily from 10 photos a month to 30 depending on how many awesome captures you had during that time.  These are smaller prints, which I actually like, at 3.5"x3.5".  They also print rectangle in iPhone format, 3.5"x4.67".  I like the option of getting both sizes because sometimes you just can't crop into a square and have it look right!  I love that matte finish they use and the white border as well.  They remind me of the photos my parents have from the 60's and 70's that I've always love.  They also come in a nice case for storing.  

So, I recommend using Timeshel for your everyday printing needs and Artifact Uprising for your really special prints.  I know there's even more out there and if anyone has tried those, I would love to hear your feedback on them.  If you want to try Timeshel, you can use my code to get 10 free prints: PVQCA  It's definitely worth trying and so nice to get those photos off your computer and into your hands!!