This is a recent portrait commission that I finished. Look familiar? He is. You guessed it, this is a childhood picture of my husband.
Category: creativity
Larz Randa Illustration by Bree Reetz
New Zealand rap artist, Larz Randa (Mainard Larken) is totally “hot like tiger balm.” I’ve got mad respect for Randa’s androgynous style, endless smile, funk, quirk, and sense of humor. Check out the song Rangers and prepare to be hooked.
The last pair of underwear the universe has given me.
One day I asked my friend, “How are you?” to which he replied: “Oh you know, it’s been one of those days, darling. When I woke up this morning I discovered that I really needed to do my laundry. I wasn’t sure if I would have anything to wear! But just when I was beginning to despair, that’s when I found them, the last pair of underwear the universe had given me, hidden away for a special occasion. And so, you see, I was saved.”
True story.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Girl Scout
Story-time!
It’s been a while since I’ve been in school, but today I got to join in on class with my charming nephew Will for story-time! These kids got a sneak peak of the picture book I’ve been working on and the whole class was a great test audience! They had some good questions and I really enjoyed being able to show them my process video so that they could get a better understanding of how I used both my hands and my mouse when I made the illustrations for this book.
Adventure Partners
My first crush was on a boy who took me on an adventure in the woods. We roamed over his parent’s seemingly endless plot of rural land in awe. We hunted for and found treasures in the leaves, we built a fantastic fort out of sticks, and we spent the golden-hour together with flushed cheeks and fresh air blowing through our hair. When my Mom came to pick me up I told her I would marry him. I was really young and didn’t know what I was talking about. My Mom just raised her eye-brows and smiled.
But I knew there was something special there. I really liked the idea of having a life-long adventure partner. That idea stuck with me as I got older. And I consider myself extremely lucky to actually have found that adventure partner. My husband is the best adventure partner I could imagine. We enjoy walks through the woods, reading next to the river, exploring abandoned ghost towns, and traveling together. We’re always talking about big ideas, making each other laugh, and we know how to have fun like two overgrown kids. In fact we’ve talked about our childhoods and determined that we would have made great adventure partners back then if only we had known each other. And that my friends, is the spirit of this illustration.
Happy New Year!
Reindeer Winter
This illustration was heavily inspired by this *photo* of tame Reindeer taken in Alaska in the early 1900’s.
Chickadee’s First Winter – Textile Design by Bree Reetz
Makayla
A few months ago I stumbled onto this video blog called Makayla’s Vanity. Makayla candidly opens herself up to the world by sharing her thoughts and ideas on youtube. She covers everything from her pixie-cut to bigger topics like being yourself and being confident in your own skin. From watching her videos I feel sure that she is adorable, thoughtful, and sweet. When I was 16 I had my own pixie-cut and my thoughts about life were all crammed in the pages of a journal that I did my best to hide. And that’s part of why I think Makayla’s vlog is so great. She’s not hiding, she’s sharing her herself and her insights with us as she grows. For many I think she’s probably a friend from afar. For me she’s an inspiring example of transparency. So this illustration is for you Makayla! Stay beautiful!
Pilates for Winter Wellness
Pilates is an exercise routine that uses deceptively minimal movements with natural resistance to tone your muscles and build your body’s core strength. I took a semester of Pilates in college and when I began I was disgusted by how hard repetitions of simple movements initially were. Most people giggled through the class but a shy and adorable older woman who had retained her workout clothing from the 80’s (including leg warmers) and myself were determined to get better. And behold, by the end of that semester we were no longer struggling. We were confidently winging our way through the routines by the time the class was over. The strength I gained while taking this class stayed with me for years. This simple effective exercise taught me how to activate my core and fortified my muscles. But on my own I lacked the motivation to push myself further. As you might imagine, in my daily routine most of my heavy lifting happens in my head with pencil in hand. And so until recently my fitness had been on the back burner while my creative endeavors were (and still are) set to boil. However it’s always in bad taste to neglect yourself and so lately I’ve been making consistent efforts to jump back in. During the fall a friend and I took up jogging just in time for it to get cold. And now that the snow has started to fly and temperatures are dipping into single digits – exercise now happens in front of the fire place. My husband and I are doing Pilates together. It burns but it’s a good burn. I’m looking forward to toning my muscles. Each session I feel stronger than the session before. This winter I’m investing in my wellness.
Leaves & Berries – new color combination
Bree Reetz 