Hello Spring! What should I wear today?

This is one of my newest pendants and I am really in love. The medium is a lot of fun to work with for a couple of reasons. First, I have always been drawn to strong graphic art. Although my paintings are not generally like this, I really like it, especially for something like jewelry. The glass paint actually makes it difficult to paint any other way than in a strong graphic voice. Second, I love the discovery that comes from each new piece of plate. The shapes that are made randomly from the plate breaking add a sense of mystery and predestined fate for each piece, giving each piece a real personality all it's own. As these pieces get sold, I anticipate selling new ones in the same design, but with the understanding that the shape may vary. I hope that will make the pendants a discovery for my clients as well! To view this pendant and others, go here for my Etsy shop, or here for my Andie Freeman studio shop. To learn more about me and my process, visit here.

One more for you to check out... to see the Octopus Arms Pendant, go to This Little Pigment or to Andie Freeman Fine Art.

Don't you want a fresh cup of website?

I hope you had a beautiful Easter! Easter Sunday was the last day of our spring break and was a fantastic way to end our vacation. We started with a trip to Washington D.C. and ended with a trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina, so a lot was stuffed into a week. Even with all of that traveling, we generally took it easy. Lots of time was spent wandering the beach and observing nature. 

Before going on vacation I started a new project that I am passionate about. I redesigned my site. I know, you are thinking, that doesn't sound like fun. Well, it is tedious, and it still has many holes that need to be filled, but I am passionate about it because it will make my artwork more accessible for different people and it allows me a new way to tell my story to more people. 

I would really appreciate it if you would visit my site and let me know in my comments section on my blog what you think. I would really, really appreciate it if you would share my site with someone you know that you think would enjoy it. My new site will be a place where you can get all of my information at one address...very easy to understand address.... it's www.andiefreeman.com. I will keep you in the loop as it develops!

Hope you are having a beautiful April so far! We are busy here in North Carolina having fun on spring break. This pendant is one of my favorites because it is of one of my favorite places, Harbour Town and Hilton Head, SC. It is also on sale for only 2 MORE DAYS! This is in honor of the Heritage Golf Tournament that is coming up in a couple of weeks. To see this pendant in my shop, go to This Little Pigment. I hope you take some time to enjoy this beautiful spring weather wherever you are and as always, I would love to hear from you!

 

 

Colorful Map of Hilton Head on the other side.

It makes the package even more special!

 

I love love love packaging! I have for as long as I can remember and that is why I specialized in it when I was at Portfolio Center. My packaging idol was always Louise Fili. Complete genius! I even got to meet her when she came to the school for a seminar and that drove my admiration even deeper. After leaving school, I worked for the packaging department of a promotional advertising agency and that led me to promotions, which I kept with until I opened my own small shop. Any graphic designer with a little one man operation in a small city can tell you, specialization is a challenge (especially if you want to eat!) So, packaging didn't become my bread and butter as I hoped it would but I have used my knowledge for the other small businesses I have created. 

I was blessed to have a large amount of beautiful boxes land in my studio as a gift and that got my creative juices flowing for a new label. It coincides with a redesign that was already planned for the new shop name and here is the result! I hope you like the mix of whimsy and rustic elegance that I think is part of all of my pieces. I would love to hear what you think of the new packaging and my new banner!!! Check it here: This Little Pigment with a new avatar to correspond. Please leave me a comment!!

Good Day Sunshine!

 Welcome spring! I am so excited to see you! I have been pretty busy these last few weeks with all sorts of projects. I ran a 10k with my son which was great, and have been busily working on new pendants for the spring season like this little favorite, a spunky bunny on one side and yummy carrots on the other.

 

I am starting to paint more watercolors which has been challenging but fun. I would like to create a series of portraits of women. Well, specifically women of history and classic novels that are interesting. The first subject was Marie Antoinette (based partially on portraits of the real Marie, and partially on the movie Marie.) Next up will probably be Frida Kahlo or maybe Georgia O'Keeffe. 

 How about these new favorites! I think I am in love with this particular departure from my watercolors. Hand painted reclaimed plate pendants are my new spring line. I love the graphic nature of these - that really speaks to my graphic design side. They are painted using glass paint and I just love how they look on... especially with the white leather cord. I need to shoot some on a model because the pictures just don't do them justice! I have a fresh batch waiting for me to solder tonight, so check my shop for new ones this week. 

Last thing to chat about is my website. A friend and I had coffee a couple of weeks ago (yes, I occasionally can leave my studio to get out) and she suggested something to me that made me go... "Aaaahaaa! Why didn't I think of that!" I will be redesigning my AndieFreeman.com site to be more user friendly and more of a portal to my other locations on the web so that you will just need to know that one site! Genius! So, a more prominent link to my shop and blog so that you will not need to know how to navigate Etsy to get to my shop. Now, the caveat is that I am fitting in that job among a bunch of others and having to learn a lot on the way, so I will be pleased if I get it completed in time for the fall! I'll keep you in the loop.

Winter Fun from A to Z!

 I am so happy to introduce you to another blog today. Rachel is a fellow Etsian and she was kind enough to feature other crafters on her blog, wordlove yesterday with this adorable idea "Etsy A-Z." My little pendant was featured, and I hope you check it out along with the other letters! 

Here's the link: wordlove.

Welcome 2012!

 Hey Andie, whatcha been up to? Uh....logos, and watercolors and mommy stuff. Oh my! Here is a visual tour through the last couple of months. 

 These are the three sizes of pendants that I have been working on. I am truly in love with the tiny pebble ones. I like that the pebbles are imperfect and weirdly shaped. They are the most challenging to solder though. To make the solder look somewhat smooth in the back is quite a process and if I do it too long, the heat of the iron will burn the painting, and I have to trash it. Yikes!

I have also been working on some graphic design projects for our church. One was a graphic that was used at Christmas and Advent, there is also an identity project for the family ministries department of our church which will be unveiled to you in a future post. They are finished, but I want to make sure they can unveil them first.

Here is a project that I created for my family for Christmas presents. That kept me pretty busy for a while, but now I also offer it on my shop!


We had a great Christmas and New Years too, and now I feel re-energized to create new pieces for the spring! I am trying to figure out how to Twitter better, and updating my website all the time. Also, a new identity for my Etsy shop has been started! My shop name is This Little Pigment. Check out how it has grown!