Memorial Day Tribute and Patriotic Deck Art

Taking the time to remember, honor and smell the roses this Memorial Day.

 #memorialday

#patriotic, 

#remember, 

See more on this design here: http://www.cafepress.com/dd/67146760

#gratefulheart, 

#honor, 

Purchased this design on many "functional art" items here:

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/patriotic-flag-abstract-gg-burns.html?newartwork=true
or here: http://www.cafepress.com/dd/67146760

#gardenart, 

#deckart, 

#flowerlover

#porchart

These are a few of my deck and front porch flower arrangements ... 

love my garden art, love my Kassie ... best #rescuedog ever!

Inspirations from Mid-Century Modern Ads

I spent over 25 years illustrating and designing graphic media. On the computer, I can sketch a logo or design for an advertisement by using a few swirls or swatches in minutes. Modern designs like this painting,

have influenced marketing designs for decades. Many images created to promote everyday household items like Coke©, Pepsi©, even Crest©, all have a mid-century modern flair.

In Adobe Illustrator, (a drawing software program) one can fill these objects with any color your mind can imagine. However, it is not as easy and certainly not so fast to hand-paint a poster-size piece of art. 

I started sketching various elements with the thought of a tulip, a bit more abstract than I usually paint.

I browsed the web looking at posters and advertisements from the 60's. After a few hand doodles, I was ready to transfer my altered design to a large 3 foot canvas.

Again, I could have sketched this on the computer and painted it dozens of different colors in an hour or less. Painting on a large canvas took 2 evenings, around 7-8 hours.

I was also inspired by the stained glass from our kitchen light fixture. Gray and white are my primary kitchen colors with a touch of bright red and a dash of lime green flowing in the adjoining rooms and outside on the deck.

Like many of my designs, true to my art business's name – I want my art to have function. I usually load my edited art to online art stores that offers reprints on items you can use. "Hence the name, GG's Functional Art ~ Art You Can Use". I especially like this design on the handbags and coffee cups. Not all designs fit the merchandise printing spaces, so each item I load has to be hand edited. 

Buy this design here on my CAFEPress store: http://www.cafepress.com/mf/104795516/inspired-by-mid-century-vintage-poster-design_mugs?productId=1796429346

Buy this design here on my Fine Art of America Website: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/inspired-by-mid-century-modern-gg-burns.html

Marketing is time consuming but necessary for any business. Promotion, website maintenance, etc., takes up more of my time than the actual design and producing of art does. I deal with several spine and medical issues, so at times creating is a painful process – but if I take my time, it finally all works together. Some days are full of challenges, but you must find humor – and kick it up a notch whenever possible.