Sketching the World One Drawing at a Time

Sketching the World One Drawing at a Time (illustrations by Betsy Beier/Wanderlust Designer)

I've been a busy bee this last month over on my other site, Wanderlust Designer. I'm so excited to have many of my travel sketches and designs I've been working on posted in one central location.

This past year, besides designs and drawings of various locations I've traveled, I've been working on two different sketch series; "Eat Drink Travel" sketch series and "Scenes from..." sketch series. Many of these illustrations have stories associated to them as well, like a story about drinking Turkish coffee in Istanbul and enjoying a churrasco BBQ feast in Rio de Janeiro.

Head on over to my travel sketches and take a peak, I'd love to hear your feedback.

Brainstorm Session: Following My Artsy Passion

Diagram of an Artist's Brain - Illustration by B.Nute productions

My brain has been on artsy overdrive lately. This summer, when I took a little time off,  I rediscovered my artsy self. Ever since I've been full of ideas and can't stop drawing. I've been focusing mainly on my travel sketches, but every now and again add some other whimsical drawings in the mix. I've joined up with several different sketch-a-day (#sketchaday) efforts on Instagram, including a 30 day sketch challenge in September and an #inktober drawing challenge this October. I've even been taking a fabulous online storytelling sketch class from Sketchbook Skool.

I must say, I've definitely been feeling a little scattered, though. My desires to continue to produce art has left my blogging in the dust. I did a little brainstorming this week and came up with a plan to help this nagging problem. I've decided to follow my passions, and do what I'm enjoying at the moment-- illustrations and design.

What does this mean-- Well, you'll be seeing a lot more of my illustrations and drawings here on this blog. As with any thing, I'd love to hear your feedback. Leave a comment below, or send an email anytime!

Context is EVERYTHING!

By far the best teacher I ever had is named Erica Doss. She turned on that light bulb in my head, and it all made sense after that! She taught Art History at the University of Colorado, Boulder where I did my undergrad. Specifically I took several American art history courses from her. Why was she so good? She taught me that context is everything. You can’t remove something from it’s surroundings and understand what it means. Specifically, a piece of art in a museum with white walls has no context, no meaning. How could you ever understand what the artist was trying to convey if you take the art out of the time, history, moment in which it was created? What were other artists painting at the time, what was the political environment, what was the fashion, where did the artist live, who were his/her friends, etc., etc..

So, where am I going with this... well, even to this day, I think about what Erica taught me... “context is everything”. There is so much great vintage imagery out there. It’s easy enough just to cut it out with fancy scissors, paste it onto a decorative background, and call it beautiful vintage art... but it really doesn’t do the image justice.

I love thinking about the images I work with in more detail. Why and when was this image created. Who looked at the image? What were they wearing? What was their day to day life like? Basically-- what was the context in which this image was created. From there, it’s fun to try to find imagery, textures, colors, ribbons and/or ephemera appropriate to collage together.

This is especially fun when I create a new party kit... Take for example the Pirate Party Kit. I had a great time reading about a pirate’s life-- how he was recruited, where he explored, what he ate, what his fellow pirates were like, how he talked, etc. With all this information, I had a great time coming up with a story and imagery to try to evoke the context of a pirate’s life...

OK, I know, it’s only party decorations, invites, holiday and home decor, but hey I’m having fun-- and maybe if you buy some things, you’ll learn a few things too!

BTW-- I just received my alumni newsletter from U of Colorado Art and Art History Department. I was saddened to find out that Erica has left Boulder. But to anyone who’s aching to take an art history class, or head off to college, you can now find her chairing the American Studies Department at the University of Notre Dame. Those lucky Fighting Irish!

To Blog or Not to Blog

When I left the high tech world several years ago, blogs were just beginning. Babies, diapers, bottles, etc. kept me quite busy for the next several years. I could barely keep up with email, let alone couldn’t fathom having the time to write in a blog. And, besides, who on earth ever reads a blog, and why on earth would anyone read mine?

I’ve thought often about keeping a journal. In fact, I’ve started many. I could go around the bookcases in my house and probably pull down at least 10 just started journals. Perhaps this blog will be the same. Perhaps not?

I’ve indulged myself with a little babysitter time this summer. It’s given me a chance to peek into the outside world... outside of my house, my kids lives, etc. There is so many talented, energetic and creative artists out there, sharing their work, and their stories. It’s a bit voyeristic, but also really fun to read their blogs. What are they up to? Are they doing similar work to what I’ve been doing? Do they have just as little time as I do to do anything for themselves, let alone be creative? It’s refreshing and many times inspiring to read their tales.

I hope my stories can be as uplifting or spark some creativity. Perhaps they’ll just give you a little laugh. Perhaps they’ll be read by no one? Either way, this will be another one of my attempts to try to capture time and memories since time surely does fly by!

Note: Picture is of the clock tower at the Peter Pan park in Kennsington London, taken by me earlier this summer in London, England.