New Beginnings

So it's been a little over two weeks since the our own personal recession began, and although nothing permanent has come along yet, we have a few good leads. In the meantime, I was able to get my new portfolio site up and running. (Thank you Michael) He was good enough to put together the technical bits for mine first, so his is still in progress. Other than some additional pieces I'll be adding to it and a few minor tweaks, I believe it's ready to be shown to potential employers. Feel free to take a look.

Closing a Chapter

Dearest reader, I know we've always kept our more personal and professional experiences to ourselves, but in light of recent events, we felt the need to share. On Tuesday, our office was closed forever without warning and Michael and I now find ourselves jobless along with all of our beloved former coworkers. Luckily, we're both fairly level headed and decent with saving money (Thanks Dad. I get it from you.), so we'll be alright for a while. We hope that you will keep us in your prayers while we feverishly update our resumes and build the portfolio sites that honestly should have been done years ago. We may be absent from the blog for a while, but if anyone has an opening for a Graphic Designer or an Interactive Flash App Developer, both with experience working with one of the largest social networking platforms - let us know.

Lani Mathis
Graphic Designer

Michael Ayers
Senior Application Developer

contact@greenspacegoods.com

We'll be sure to link to the new portfolio sites when they're finished. Until then- peace out.

Two Painted Pups and a Partridge in a Pear Tree…

Just a quick post to reveal a project I've been working on. Meet Nemo and Bailey, two sweet pups that belong to Michael's grandmother and mother. I've been in a bit of a painting mood lately, and so this darling pair were made for their Christmas presents. (and they were a big hit!)

I'll admit that I was heavily influenced by Berkley, who is an amazing artist who specializes in clothed animals. I highly recommend you check out his shop here. Keep a lookout for more paintings in the new year. I hope to move more in that direction, incorporating found objects as makeshift canvases (not clothed animals I'm afraid. I'll leave that to Berkley). Let me know what paintings you'd like to see by leaving a comment below. As you can see from the great void on the left, we're taking a break from the shop until Jan. 5th for some much needed r&r.
We hope everyone is having a happy and restful holiday.
Peace out :)

Let It Begin!

Yes, the title is stolen from the movie Bolt. If you haven't been yet, go see it. Seriously.

Gosh! We've been so swamped with the holiday whirlwind that I haven't written in almost a month! Today I'm sharing some of our seasonal finds that have helped supply us with warmth in our drafty little place, even if it be the proverbial warmth not found spatting from our space heater. Above you'll see our little tree. This adorable addition is actually smartly sculpted rosemary, an apartment (and eco) friendly alternative to both cut and artificial trees. The fresh scent is guaranteed to lift your winter worn spirit perhaps even better than the more traditional spruce and a few snipped sprigs can be added to season or garish your holiday meal.
Of course, if you have ornaments that are too large for a table top tree, we recommend displaying them elsewhere. Ours are hung on a pot rack (which was rescued from a yard sale).

My favorite ornaments this year are our little alphabet block house by ArtByHeather and our bunny rabbit tags (used as ornaments) by BelleAndBoo. If you're looking for something unique and nostalgic, you should definitely check out their shops.

Hopefully we'll be back to blogging soon with some more neat things we've been up to. There are a few crafty gifts that will have to wait until after Christmas for us to show, but stay tuned for our ginger bread house post. We promise that we've assembled something special this year :) Last, but not least, please give a big round of applause to Michael who finally sewed the bells on his stocking (on the left, below). It's been waiting a whole year for them! If we don't squeeze in another post before Christmas, we wish you all warmth, safety, and mental stability as you go forth into this consumerist wonderland and we suggest you repeat three questions in your mind while gift hunting: Do they actually want it? Do they actually need it? Should it actually cost this?
Peace out.

A Trial Run with BioBags

If you are not familiar with the BioBags, they produce biodegradable bags in various sizes made from corn. It's a great idea in theory. Inside a plastic bag, garbage doesn't have access to the microorganisms needed to break down quickly, not to mention how much plastic those bags are piling into our landfills. Here come BioBags, 100% biodegradable so you can feel good about putting less plastic in the landfill and you know that anything biodegradable in your trash will be turning back into soil much faster. Great right? Well, yes. Unfortunately there are some shortcomings that I think BioBag is going to have to work through before most consumers would consider the switch.

1. They are expensive- VERY expensive. We decided to try them under the condition that we wouldn't put anything large that could be carried separately in them so the box would last longer.

2. Once full, bundling them up to go to take them out is a bit more difficult than we expected. There are no fancy handles to tie together, and no twisty ties in the box. Hmmm.... So we tie and wrestle the bag as best we can down to the trash bin. It isn't exactly an easy or enjoyable experience.

3. Their biggest flaw is also their biggest selling point- being biodegradable. Since we could be considered eco-junkies and we recycle so much of what comes into our apartment, we only take out about one bag of trash every 2-3 weeks. That means that if anything damp gets in that bag (as it did this week) there is a good chance of the entire bottom disintegrating before we're quite ready for it to. The result is a really nasty mess and an expensive wasted bag.

These things considered, we still really like the idea of BioBags. It especially makes sense for those with a yard for a compost pile and a house where trash only has to be put out to the street. In an apartment, it's just very difficult. Without making some changes to meet the competition, I can't see BioBags becoming a real player in the consumer market and I wish they were. A diverse competitive market means better products for everyone and hopefully better products for the planet as companies try to jump on the eco-trend that is currently captivating consumers. Our dream trash bag: Hefty with drawstring+ BioBags.

The Wise Eyed Quail Boat

Our entry for Illustration Friday "wise".

This is a pretty Ink Blot we started during our Florida trip and recently finished. One of our friends recently noted that she could gauge our stress levels by our ink blots. This one is probably a pretty good example! I think that's a great testament to why artists must create. It's an outlet for all of those trapped thoughts and feelings. We decided for some reason that "Quail Boat" seemed to fit this one. All of a sudden I remembered a children's book I love called The Story of Ping. In the story, Ping the duck lives in the wise eyed boat on the Yangtze river. Therefore, we now have The Wise Eyed Quail Boat. You'll probably see this one in the shop some time over the weekend. We just need to frame it. Oh, and if you have children or just enjoy a good story like I do, check out Ping. It's wonderful.

Ink Blot Illustration: Woolly Dragon

We have to admit that coming up for a name for this one was really difficult. Is it a dragon? A creepy guy? Some mutant sperm? Finally, it was decided that a woolly mammoth and a Chinese dragon had a complicated love affair and this was the result. (Please don't notify the asylum. We're fine. Really…) I'd like to incorporate more of the 'fur' technique used on his chin in other pieces. I'm liking it. So feel free to come up with your own name for this cheerful specimen and leave it in the comments for us :) And if you fancy him enough, he will be listed for sale in the shop tomorrow.

Oh, and thank you to everyone who voted on our Halloween pumpkins!!!! I am happy to say that my (Lani) Day of the Dead Sugar Skull pumpkin won 46 to 29 (not that I'm gloating or anything :D ) Michael's Franken-Tiki was truly awesome and he's only sulking a little.
Have a good week everyone!

Pumpkin Carving Throw Down!!!

NEW!- I wrote this in a new post, but I forgot that a lot of you are probably linking directly to this post, soooooo I'll put the message here too- The Day of the Dead pumpkin is mine (Lani) and the Franken-Tiki pumpkin is Michael's. And I am happy to announce that I won! We hope everyone had a happy Halloween. Thanks for voting!!! :)

Hello people!!! To get into the Halloween spirit, Michael and I spent the greater portion of this week working on some special pumpkins and practicing our smack talk. Each of us came up with our secret pumpkin design plans and now we're ready to hear what you think! We won't tell who carved which pumpkin until the votes are in! Please vote between:

Thanks and Happy Halloween!!!!

Remembering What Was ~ Florida Trip

We just wanted to share some pics from the Florida trip. Gosh they make me want to go back!! Michael and I had a friendly competition going to see who could take the best pictures, so I was being extra artsy with mine this trip. I combined them into one large image, so click on it to open the full sized version in a new window if you'd like. They look too cramped to me inside the blog :)

Party Squids Reinvented!!!!

We are back! Florida was lovely. The week after vacation is always the hardest. I dearly miss the cool waves washing over my feet, but with all of this warm weather longing, there is still a ray of sunshine in this little head of mine, 'cause we can now reveal the super secret project!!!!!
A long time ago, Michael's little sister saw a drawing of mine called "Party Squids". It was just a silly ink blot I'd made for Michael before we started drawing together. Well, she fell in love with it, so this year when she also fell in love with skateboarding, we decided she should have some party squids of her own. We gave it to her this week, so now the rest of the world can see it too. Get ready to be bombarded with Squids…

The last one is some fancy grip tape cutting that Michael did on the other side. Yeah, I know I may have gotten carried away with the pics, but hey, why not? This is our first skateboard deck and we're pretty happy with the results. Don't worry, this one will be hanging on her wall rather than riding down the road. We have 4 more decks to illustrate, so we'll see what happens :)