We’ve been a bit remiss about posting new projects in the past year or so. In an effort to make up for lost time, we’re sharing several projects, in no particular order, for  your viewing pleasure.

poster for film festival’s winter program

Aspen Community Theater play poster

front and back of Biochar Solutions business cards

store signage for ice cream shop

front and back of jewelry company business cards

in-store signage for bicycle store

our 2011 monthly promotional calendar

three of six City of Aspen winter 2011 event panels

December’s calendar was difficult for me. Not only is it my last one (I’m passing the torch to Margaret for 2012), but I struggled to come up with a concept that felt right to me. I didn’t want to focus on the holidays, because, to me, December is about so much more than that. I tried a sled, but it wasn’t visually interesting. I hit on snow people and designed some lovely, perfectly rounded snow folk. They were fun, but they were too perfect. Finally I realized that if I was going to do snow people, they needed to look more like the ones we make. And we make a lot of snow people at my house. Every winter, there’s at least one that’s really special. The two shown here are a snow cyclist from a couple of years ago and a snow princess we made last year. In the photo, the snow princess is wearing a real dress and scarf, sunglasses, and a tiara. She was a piece of work! Now that I look at them together, the cyclist could easily represent my husband (the bike shop owner/bike racer) and the princess . . . let’s just say that I can display some fairly royal tendencies from time to time. Regardless, they represent one of my favorite things about winter in the Roaring Fork Valley – getting outside and playing in the snow!

Happy Holidays and Happy Snowpeople Making!

The ideas, images and ink for the month are:

ideas wonderland, snowy silence

images mini skiers, untouched snow

ink winter white + stormy blue

Download our page for your desktop or to print.

I love winter [which is a good thing, since I live in the Roaring Fork Valley, close to Aspen], so I’m pretty happy when November rolls around each year. It’s partly because I love to ski, but I’m a home body at heart, so I like the balance of time spent outside with nesting time inside that winter brings. November means winter, and ski season, is not far off; it means time spent with family and friends, the rich colors of late fall, and cozy evenings at home. This month’s calendar design was inspired by gourds, which are plentiful at this time of year, and their amazing and varied shapes.

The ideas, images and ink for the month are:

ideas winter’s calling card + quiet evenings

images naked trees + swirling leaves

ink autumn gold + burgundy wine

Download our page for your desktop or to print.

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of Halloween, but I wanted to give this month’s calendar a bit of a spooky feel – not too spooky, of course – just a hint of Halloween is enough for me. October, to me, is about fall really settling in: the leaves are falling in earnest, the mornings are crisp cool, and it gets dark at an earlier hour (making bedtime much easier, I might add). I chose an owl, because, well, owls are kind of cool. They’re just a little bit spooky and a lot interesting, which made designing this month’s calendar a real hoot (no pun intended)!

The ideas, images and ink for the month are:

ideas fall settles in

images moon shadows across the yard

ink iridescent silver screen, dark night indigo

Download our page for your desktop or to print.

I don’t know why I associate August so strongly with the beach. Truthfully, I’m not sure I’ve been to the beach in August before, and there was a time in my life when going to the beach at any time of year was just about the last thing I wanted to do.

How times have changed. While mountain biking, climbing or skiing still sound great, my ideal vacation now includes a townhouse just steps away from the sand, browned little girls building castles and playing chase with the waves, dripping ice pops on swimsuits, outside showers, and the sound of waves lulling us all to sleep. If I can throw some surfing attempts into the mix for adventure, it will be perfect.

So, off we go to North Carolina for our beach fix, and cheers to getting a bit of sand in the crevices, splashing in the surf, and soaking up some of the hot sun before summer comes to a close!

The ideas, images and ink for the month are:

ideas the dog days of summer, white hot heat, burning sand under foot

images blinding sun, steaming pavement

ink white yellow, cool blue

Download our calendar page for your desktop or to print.

Now that my kids are a bit older, I appreciate fireworks again. Back when Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley were living high on the hog, it seemed like there were fireworks every other month. Truthfully, it (or I?) got a bit boring.

After our twins were born, my husband and I were so desperate for sleep that fireworks were simply a nuisance that might wake up the babies. When the neighbors started setting them off shortly after dark one July 4th, it took everything for me not to go out and yell at them to cut the racket.

We finally let Isabel and Mia stay up when they were 3, but it still wasn’t worth having over-tired children the next day.  Isabel, if I recall correctly, hid under a blanket, crying the whole time.

Last year, with 5 little girls in tow, we watched from the lawn behind our old townhouse, and even though it rained, it was still the most successful fireworks viewing experience so far. I have high hopes for this year!

The ideas, images and ink for the month are:

ideas summer celebrations, dips in the pool

images afternoon thunderheads

ink watermelon pink, fluorescent fireworks

Download our calendar page for your desktop or to print.

Gardening is not in my blood. When I was growing up, my mother would put avocado pits in little jars and grow plants from them, but that was about the extent of my family’s horticultural pursuits. I used to claim that I had a black thumb and killed every plant I came across. Surprisingly, though, there are more than a few living and blooming plants around my house right now. I’ve got a perennial garden (albeit it looks like a 5-year-old planted it) in front of my house. I’ve got a raised bed in the back that will hopefully serve up a bounty of edibles in the near future. I’ve got two raspberry shrubs elsewhere in the back. And I’m even trying my hand at composting.

The only problem is that I don’t have enough time to be a gardener. Consequently, I do everything very hurriedly and frenetically, using a myriad of makeshift, inexpensive, sometimes broken, and often children’s gardening tools. I’ve moved countless perennials countless times because I didn’t put them in the right place the first (second or third) time. I’ve chopped into the sprinkler hose at least twice now due to over-zealous shoveling. My lettuce bolted before we could eat it all last summer, and my first batch of compost didn’t look at all right and had to be tossed.

With that said, my alium bulbs are blooming, the raspberry shrubs seem to be spreading, most of my perennials are coming back (despite being trimmed into oblivion last fall), and my peas and spinach are already poking their heads up out of the dirt! Now I need to plant my squash, clear the rocks along the back wall and plant herbs, fill in some empty spaces in the front, and turn the compost bin – again. Gardening might not be in my blood, but it certainly is catching!

The ideas, images and ink for the month are:

ideas summer’s start, bare feet on grass

images gardens in bloom

ink delphinium blue, foxglove pink, daylily orange

Download our calendar page for your desktop or to print.

Well, apparently April did not mean spring for the Roaring Fork Valley, so our hopes for sunshine and warmer temperatures are now on May. This  month usually brings real spring weather to the Aspen area, and this means more time outside on the bike, the onset of racing season, and the Giro d’Italia – my favorite European grand tour. (It also signals the onslaught of some very serious nose-to-the-grindstone graphic design, by the way.)

In  honor of spring cycling, I chose a bicycle for this month’s calendar. Just after I sent the files to print, I also discovered that May is National Bike Month! Once again, this news has caught me completely off guard, but it’s a lovely coincidence, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

The ideas, images and ink for the month are:

ideas freedom, speed, joy

images smooth, lycra-clad legs, faint farmers’ tans, the open road

ink asphalt grey, flashes of color

Download our calendar page for your desktop or to print.

The last few weeks in the Aspen area have been the snowiest of the year, so it’s probably too soon to announce spring’s arrival with any certainty, but usually, April brings warmer weather, the first blooms of the year, greener grass, and lots and lots of birds. April’s calendar image was inspired by a tree in our backyard that holds a lovely little bird’s nest. Last year, we found the tiniest blue egg underneath, and although I’ve never actually seen any birds around it, I have visions of the little bird family that might be living there. This is what I hope they look like!

The ideas, images and ink for the month are:

ideas waking to a cacophony of bird songs outside my window

images one small bird high up in a tree singing spring’s arrival

ink new growth green

Download our calendar page for your desktop or to print.