BreeAnn Veenstra

I just discovered A is for Artist and I cannot stop exploring. It is a sweet and, sadly, short A-Z list of some of the more influential artists, both of the past and present. Though there are some major contributors missing, there are so many new artists and sources of great inspiration that I have discovered already. And I'm not even halfway through the list.

This Friday I'm falling in love with this witty card, this lovely photograph, this wooden tray, and this charming necklace.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Happy Monday, everyone. I started my week by fawning over these crafted porcelain pieces by Goldenink.

Went up north this past weekend to visit family and try our hands at pheasant hunting. This was my second time pheasant hunting and my husband's first.

I am always so fascinated by the colors and beauty in pheasant feathers. Such a rainbow of colors!




The weekend was a welcome break from work and reality. I've been busy with custom wedding invitations and other illustration projects, and I expect to stay busy for the remainder of November. I can't wait to show these projects in detail in a few months, but in the meantime here's a snippet of an invitation suite for an Australian couple I had the pleasure of working with.


Have a happy Wednesday!

After falling head over heels with my purchase of the freshly re-designed clothbound book, The Secret Garden, I decided to see what other re-designed covers were out there.

I stepped into a whole world of drool-inducing eyecandy.

Check out these gorgeous hand-embroidered covers by Jillian Tamaki.

The embroidery wraps the full cover, and you can check out the rest of the wrap-arounds at Jillian's blog. The books have been officially released for sale and you can grab your own to swoon over at Amazon.


As if there there aren't enough pretty new The Secret Garden covers vying to be my favorite, here's another lovely one design by Ola Pecko. I'm loving the flowers in the shape of the keyhole.


 Then there's the collection by White’s Fine Edition Books that covers classics like Jane Eyre, Sherlock Holmes, and even Wuthering Heights.


I'll admit that cover for Wuthering Heights makes me almost want to pick up that book and try finishing it again.

Coralie Bickford-Smith also has a collection of clothbound classics.


I feel like a new collection will be in the making for me.

I took a trip to the east side of the state a few weeks ago to visit my brother and his soon-to-be-wife with my mother and her mother. While visiting was definitely on the menu, one of the main objectives of the trip was just as exciting: shopping.

That weekend was a first for many things. It was the first time I set foot in an Ikea, the first time I browsed Crate and Barrel, the first time I shopped at Urban Outfitters (in person), and the first time I experienced an Anthropologie. I have been to all of the websites of these stores, and even ordered off several of them, but setting foot in the physical store is much, much different. And so much better. Ikea was exhilarating and overwhelming (and I'm sure you'll see some of the things I got down the road) but Anthropologie was like a living a distant dream. I think I circled the entire store at least three times before settling on what treasure to bring home with me. I didn't have enough time, or money for that matter, to really browse the clothing, but that was alright because there were plenty other things to feast my eyes upon.

I may have gabbed on a bit in my delight to the clerk who wrapped my purchases, but I'm glad I did because she gave me the one of the best things I came away with: the announcement that an Anthropologie was coming to the city of Grand Rapids this fall. Not next year, but this fall. Hello, November, where are you?

But I digress and will show you what else I walked away with (purchased, not stolen of course!).

I'm a sucker for packaging, so of course I had to take some photos documenting the packaging of my first Anthropologie purchase. I just love the little pieces of tape to secure the tissue paper, which, by the way, happens to feel thick and wonderful in itself. I never knew I could be so excited about brown tissue paper.

I let them sit, all wrapped up and safe, until I returned home several days later. Opening the three bundles made it feel like my birthday.


Here's what I got: mini latte bowl in seafoam, pink striped bowl, and a copy of The Secret Garden as re-designed by Londan-based artist Daniela Jalengka Terrazzini.I had fallen in love with the newly designed classics since I first saw them last year, and now I finally have one of my own to display. I'm looking forward to collecting the rest!

source: the artwork

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

I've been a fan of Ashley Anna Brown's little Fern Animals for quite some time now but have held off on a purchase until just the perfect one came along. I admit I have been checking her shop regularly for the past six months, and these little guys are such a rare treat when they show up. Boy, do they go fast though! I missed an opportunity for one I particularly liked awhile back, so when I visited Ashley's shop yesterday and saw Maisy, I wasted no time. I bought her as soon as I got home.

photo courtesy fern animals

photo courtesy fern animals

Isn't she the sweetest? I'll be sitting anxiously by the mailbox for the next week or so if you need me.

I'm super excited right now because I just placed an order at one of my favorite stores, Urban Outfitters. Unfortunately I don't have a store nearby to visit, so I must ogle everything online. Which is still fine, because I LOVE finding online coupons. And I'm loving this current owl trend. I plan on taking advantage of it as much as I can!

Owlets, UrbanOutfitters.com, $2.99

Nesting Owls, UrbanOutfitters.com, $20

I learned about a very cool website today: YourFonts.com. You can create your very own fonts based on your unique handwriting, or even a font you designed, by downloading a template, writing out each character, and then uploading it. The program will transform your written characters in a complete font set for you to download and use, all for free!

I'm definitely going to have to try this out when I have some spare time.

Crit-O-Rama was this past week, and I have to say I enjoyed it immensely. Here's an excerpt from Grand Valley State University briefing just exactly what the event is:

"Crit-O-Rama is a big critical open house hosted by the Department of Art and Design each spring. Faculty and students invite artists from around the country to come to town and meet for a day of art feedback with art students from GVSU and area colleges and universities. Students display their artwork for a week at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, where the events are held. On the day of Crit O Rama, they solicit feedback from any of the visiting artists or faculty they want to meet with. In addition to that day of critiques, the visiting artists also spend an additional day or two with us, and give public lectures on their artwork. Some teach workshops, give demonstrations, or team teach studio courses with faculty at GVSU and the other participating schools."

Visiting artists here for the events include speakers, Loren Schwerd, a sculptor from the Louisiana State University, and artist lecturers Christine Carr, a photo and video artist who teaches at Hollins University in Roanoke, VA.; Endi Poskovic, a printmaker of large-scale woodcuts who teaches at The University of Michigan; Tim Berg, a ceramic artist who teaches at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif.; Lora Fosberg, a Chicago printmaker, and Gabriel Akagawa, an environmental sculptor who teaches part time at The Art Institute of Chicago.

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to listen to Endi Poskovic speak about his work and philosophies when he visited my printmaking class. His woodcuts are absolutely amazing. Such bright and vivid colors! Really, you have to see these in person to appreciate just how sharp and impressive his work is.

Yesterday was the big event, the free for all critique. I arrived rather early and was able to stay the entire duration, so I was able to talk to a lot of people. It was so much fun to see other people's works, and then have the chance to chat to students from various universities about my work as well as their work. I thought I might be a bit shy, but it was really easy to trot over whenever I saw someone looking at my work and ask them what their thoughts were.

My only complaint is that we needed more visiting artists! They were always in high-demand and had lines of people following them. We were literally stalking them around the UICA, ready to pounce as soon as they finished their current critique. I managed to nab Lora Fosberg fairly early and had a great discussion with her about my illustrations. She's so spunky and fun to talk to!

After asking a few visiting professors to critique my work, Endi was able to come and talk to me. We had a lengthy and provoking discussion about where I was with my art and where I should go next. He adored my technique and style, so we mainly discussed subject matter and narratives. He gave me some invaluable ideas and challenges that I'm definitely going to have to ponder over.

I completely forgot to take photos of my work displayed on the wall. Go me. I know my professor, Ed, was wandering around with a camera so I'll have to see if he managed to take any with my work in it.

dinosauria by endi poscovic

lora fosberg's new book

'new living' by lora fosberg