God's Chillun Got Rhythm

Since Matt, his mom and I have been working on this Tshirt line for kids and (later on) junior adults, I've been researching what styles of art really sell. So far, I've created two pieces of art for baby & toddler tees/onesies. Matt's Mom, Deanna, used to make her own tote bags, sell them on Etsy and at local fairs, and would give the proceeds to the non-profit organization, Rover Rescue. Last week, she had the idea to start a small line of tees and decided that for every shirt sold, a large part of our profit (1/2 or almost 1/2) would go to local charities. Because of the generous foreground of the line, we came up with the name Devoted & also came up with catchy altruistic phrases to shadow the trademark name.

We've made plans with the new owner of Cradle Will Rock in Seal Beach to get our line in their store before the summer ends. It's a real cool feeling to see my artwork on a shirt and know that we're all in this project to help people. I'm feeling great about this. It also gives Matt, Deanna and I a way to relate more, which is good for our relationships.

Anyway, while doing some research I found a really cute blog for children's art (etc). Junior Society is an online "clubhouse" of children's culture and design. You may find categories such as: horticulture, musicology, wardrobe, arts & crafts, education and the great outdoors- all pertaining to kids design. The blog is illustrated by the talented artist, S. Britt and was constructed by the web design team, Aeolidia. Since I was young, I've always had a thing for Mary Blair illustrations. Well, my taste for this has never diminished and I find myself to sometimes be more partial to cartoon and illustration than extraordinary fine art.

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One more thing I stumbled upon was, an online mag called, Small Magazine (the creator of Junior Society, Robert Mahar is actually one of many contributors for the online mag). The direction of the magazine is actually very mature and is surprising when you realize that its for kids and kids only. The photography and fashion is adorable and while flipping through old issues, I found myself wishing I could fit in a 4t and that every book that I've read as an adult had illustrations on every other page just as a picture book does.

and here is the art I've done for Devoted: