Megan McDonald Art & Design

The Art & Soul of America

megan — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 22:04:15 +0000

I recently discovered these fantastic WPA-inspired posters designed by the Anderson Design Group‘s Joel Anderson and Andy Gregg for their Art & Soul of America collection.

Coincidentally, I also finally got around to watching Stephen Fry in America a couple weeks ago, which I highly recommend if you haven’t seen it already. Perhaps that’s why these posters resonate so much with me. Either way, I think the printmaking-influenced illustrations, vintage typography, and subtle aging effects perfectly capture the American aesthetic of the early 20th Century.

We created these posters for our new collection of classic American travel posters. Created to look like vintage prints from the early to mid-1900s, the series celebrates our cities and national parks. In addition to colors and well-crafted lettering, choosing dramatic perspectives adds to the grand travel era vibe of these prints.

Cinnamon Walnut Banana Bread

megan — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 02:37:34 +0000

Banana bread is the dish I bake most often, since I hate seeing overripe bananas go to waste and the rest of the ingredients are usually on hand. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with adding cinnamon and walnuts to give it an extra kick of flavor and texture. I have finally found just the right amount of both ingredients and would like to share my altered recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 or 4 ripe or overripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup vegetable shortening or melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts*
1 1/2 cups white or whole wheat all-purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix shortening or butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Sprinkle the baking soda, salt, and walnuts over the mixture and mix in. Mix in the flour last. Pour mixture into a 4 x 8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Remove from pan to cool on a rack. Slice to serve. Yields one loaf. Store at room temperature for up to one week.

* The amount of walnuts can easily be altered to your preference or can be left out entirely.

Please also note that using vegetable shortening instead of butter and whole wheat flour instead of white flour does not affect the taste. I prefer using the former ingredients to make the bread a bit healthier.

Dawn Gardner

megan — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 03:50:50 +0000

Dawn Gardner is a print based graphic designer, digital illustrator, and book artist from the UK. Her work incorporates collage from found images, typography, and geometric elements to create dynamic compositions.

Creating collages both by hand and digitally is a huge passion of mine and I love collecting vintage magazines, books and other ephemera, finding beauty in recycling forgotten images into new narratives.

Check out Gardner’s website to see more of her extensive portfolio.

Advanced Style for Karen Walker

megan — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 00:06:48 +0000

While I was browsing my favorite blogs this week, I was delighted to see that the ladies from Ari Seth Cohen’s Advanced Style were chosen for Karen Walker‘s Spring 2013 Forever Campaign.

Advanced Style showcases fashion-forward seniors who prove that personal style truly gets better with age. Ilona Royce Smithkin, Joyce Carpati, Linda Rodin, and Lynn Dell, who are regularly featured in the blog, were photographed in their New York homes by Cohen for this campaign. Their fearless, eccentric, and sophisticated style truly enhances Walker’s creative eyewear designs.

Visit Advanced Style to see more photos for the Forever Campaign.

Hannah Christenson

megan — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 02:24:18 +0000

Hannah Christenson is an American illustrator currently living in China. Much of her work is inspired by fantasy, history, and mythology, and contains a strong narrative quality. Each illustration has such exquisite mark-making and a dramatic sense of movement. The splashes of vibrant color and diagonal compositions add striking contrast within her body of work.

To see more of Christenson’s work, stop by her website, tumblr, and blog.

Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur

megan — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 03:36:03 +0000

Freunden von Freunden is starting a new series with Be Berlin / Berlin Partner that features creatives and entrepreneurs’ workplaces. Their first post introduces Jörg Woltmann, the owner of the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur (Royal Porcelain Factory) in Berlin.

“I didn’t know how tedious porcelain production would be until I bought KPM.” To this day, about eighty percent of the products are crafted by hand. “Of course we would profit with the digitization of things like 3D scanners. However, the final production is only possible by hand. No machine could ever produce the same quality. I have always been fascinated by the fact that even to this day some things are just better done by human hands than by a machine…”

Photography by Anna Rose

View the full post at Freunden von Freunden.

Matt Wisniewski

megan — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:12:20 +0000

Matt Wisniewski is an artist who makes surreal collages by combining appropriated fashion photography and portraits with nature and architectural photos. I love how the landscapes and cityscapes interact with the figures’ different surfaces. It’s fun to explore each photo and try to find where one image ends and another begins.

Prints with collage by Matt Wisniewski and photography by Derrick Leung can be purchased here.

Thank You and Happy New Year!

megan — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 04:40:09 +0000

As 2012 comes to a close, I want to thank everyone for their support this year as I launched my sole proprietorship and started my first blog outside of Blogger and LiveJournal. I greatly appreciate every one of you who visited my website and blog, became a fan on Facebook, followed me on COLOURlovers, or connected with me on LinkedIn. I am also incredibly grateful for my friends and coworkers at Generac who continuously give me so much advice on life and business, which allows me to be an even better small business owner.

There will be some new changes and accomplishments in 2013 I’m excited to share, including:

A new responsive website design for Megan McDonald Art & Design coming soon
Two of my pattern designs, Mango Lemonade and Starlight, getting published in Sendpoints Books’ Classical Patterns and Modern Patterns
Joining and participating in a local art-affiliated group
Posting new designs and photos I made this year
Creating new work in a variety of mediums
(You can check out my latest pattern design, Black Celebration, available in several different products on Society6.)
Design tutorials and freebies

I hope you have a happy and healthy start to the New Year!

Winter in the Floating World

megan — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 03:54:33 +0000

Winter scenes are by far my favorite when it comes to Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints. The tactile weight of the snow on the trees, ground, and buildings contrasts so beautifully with the delicate falling snowflakes. The prints with people bracing themselves against the wind give the composition a sense of movement, despite the lack of wind lines. Most of all, I love how the landscapes’ cool tones complement the warm colors of the architecture and clothing.

On the eve of the solstice, we had our first heavy snowfall of the season in Wisconsin just in time for the holidays. Even if the weather near you doesn’t feel much like winter, I hope these gorgeous woodblock prints will give you some inspiration for the season. Happy Holidays!

Find out more about each ukiyo-e print below:

1. Koitsu, Snow at Miyajima, 1937
2. Kasamatsu, Snow at Matsushima, 1954
3. Hasui, Saishoin Temple in Snow, 1936
4. Hiroshige, Meguro Drum Bridge and Sunset Hill, 1857
5. Hiroshige, Gion Shrine in Snow, circa 1833 – 1834
6. Koitsu, Spring Snow at Maruyama, Kyoto, 1936
7. Hasui, Snow at Kamibashi Bridge, Nikko, 1930

Frank Frazetta’s Tolkien Illustrations

megan — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 16:55:06 +0000

In celebration of this weekend’s premier of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, I want to share some of my favorite J.R.R. Tolkien-inspired illustrations by the late fantasy and sci-fi artist Frank Frazetta. Each illustration has such a great sense of movement, tension, and composition. Enjoy!

For a better view of Frazetta’s line detail, click on each image to enlarge.