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Thursday, September 25, 2008

birthday memories



Why I’m thinking about birthdays when it’s not my birthday?: This year I started a company to license my artwork (one2moo). I had a booth at SURTEX (a trade show for surface and textile design), and I also shared a booth at The Licensing Show. People talked to me about my art and made comments about what they liked and what worked (or didn’t). One thing I learned is that I need to have more birthday art, so I've been working on ideas.

When you think of celebrating birthdays, what images come to mind? I’m trying to think of everything so I have lots of fun things to draw. For instance, everyone thinks of birthday cake, but there are lots of variations that I could draw: whole cake, piece of cake, cupcake, 3 tier cake, etc. (BTW, the picture is my actual birthday cake from last year, the top tier was about the size of a cupcake.)

Writing Exercise: What is your favorite birthday memory when you were little? How about when you were a teen?

When I was little, we used to make caramel apples almost every year close to my birthday. This was before the caramel wraps and the caramel dips, back when you used to have to unwrap all of the caramels individually and put them in a pot to melt them before you dipped in your apples. After the apples were dipped and cooled, Yum!

When I turned nineteen, I went to a U2 concert, which was awesome. I loved seeing them live, but the best part was at the end of the concert. The crowd kept singing the last song (“40”) long after the band left the stage, and continued to sing it, out of the stadium and into the parking ramp. When we opened the car windows, we could still hear people singing on the way home. Can you imagine something you created inspiring people like that? Coolest thing ever.

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Book Pick: Devilish by Maureen Johnson
Jane tries to save her friend Allison from a deal she made with the devil, that transformed her from awkward to amazing overnight. There are lots of twists and turns as good battled evil for the souls of Jane’s best friend and the girls at her prep school. This book is as delicious as the cupcake on the front cover!

8 comments:

  1. One of my favorite birthday memories is the fuss my mom always made over wrapping presents. There was nothing really exceptional about it, except maybe all the different types of paper she used, but I just loved the way they looked all piled up.
    I looked at some of your art - your characters are really sweet!

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  2. People that make a fuss over wrapping and celebrating are great. It makes the birthday person feel special. The presents your mom wrapped sound like they would be fu to look at (and open). My mom fussed over birthdays too :0)

    Thanks for the compliment and for looking at my art!

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  3. Per my blog...I hate my birthday...

    But if I had to pick, I would say...this years birthday...because I got to see Jim Brickman in concert thanks to my MIL and FIL...

    Love the cake pic...

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  4. Sorry you hate your birthday Brenda! It's cool that you got to go to a great concert though.

    The cake last year was seriously cool (how many people have a 3 tier bday cake?). It was a really tiny cake with lots of frosting. I'm thinking of asking for the same cake this year (a local grocery store makes them).

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  5. My family never did anything big on birthdays, for some reason. I remember turning 5 though and getting my first cat, Missy. She was cool. However, my mom wasn't too with it when it came to spaying, so Missy became a legend of her own time and created quite a generation.

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  6. Missy sounds like a great birthday gift. I would have loved having kittens around when I was a kid ;)

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  7. Oh, I got a dog when I was 8. (Not a god, tho, which is what I accidentally typed the first time. Let's hear it for proofreading!) Loved that dog.

    For some reason, when I think birthdays, I don't think cake. I go straight for silly birthday hats and lots of balloons. This may be why my mother made me a birthday meatloaf one year. :)

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  8. Silly hats and balloons are great! I usually just draw the pointy birthday hats. I think I'll have to add some fun, silly hats too, thanks!

    A dog would be a really fun bday gift, especially if you were 8.

    Proofreading, sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't (at least for me).

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