Good bye 2015!

My favorite series to come out of this year has been my adventure partner series.

My husband and I grew up in the same neck of the woods geographically but wouldn’t meet each other until high school. But we’re convinced that had we known each other back in those days, we would’ve been inseparable. The first illustration I did in the adventure series imagines us exploring together in a slightly Wes Anderson style. I’m still in love with that illustration, and from what I’ve heard, so are many of you. So I was inspired to keep imagining our adventures and illustrating them. If you follow my work closely you’ve already seen some of this work. But I’m proud to wrap up this series as we wrap up this year.

In 2016 I look forward to creating more whimsical bodies of work that echo themes, characters, colors, or style. Creating sets of illustrations that are harmonious together is a goal I’m already striving for as we enter into the new year. But you know me, illustration is my passion. I’m always striving to push myself and my work.

And so we’ll close out the year with a set of meaningful quotes from 2015 that I hand painted in bubble-gum (or what I like to call) power pink.

New Work by Bree Reetz

Exciting things are happening behind the scenes in my studio! What sort of exciting things
you ask? Well, I am busy creating a whole new series of work set to release on 1/1/16.
The illustration you see above is a continuation of the adventure partner series, and a sneak-
peak at the kind of content that will populate my site in the new year! So if it’s a little quiet
around here, know that it’s because I’ve got my headphones on and that I’m working away
behind the screen!

Imagination Exercise at Elim Children’s Center

 

I was invited to Elim Children’s Center to give a little talk about being an artist. We talked about how artists never stop using their imagination, that drawing requires practice, and that when you combine observational drawing with imagination – you get style. They learned how to draw a stylized sleepy cat, a dog, and a pigeon over watercolor. The results were fantastic! I wish you could see each up close, because each drawing has it’s own personality!

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.

blue eyed indians

This post is for my best friend. We’ve been friends for somewhere around 12 years, this makes us something closer to sisters. And sometimes instead of having conversations we read each other’s minds. Anyway, back when we were about ten we had a real passion for Native American culture. We romped around in the woods from early spring till late fall playing Indians. We checked out stacks of books from the library in order to learn how to sew ourselves moccasins so that we wouldn’t make a sound tromping through dry leaves in the woods. We used herbs to make tea. One year my grandma sewed us both Indian costumes. Though we knew they were far from authentic we still wore them out all the time, sticking feathers in our hair and spinning fantastic adventures between the two of us as
two blue eyed Indians.