I have not updated my free Valentine’s Day cards set on flickr in a while but this year I decided to add some new pieces. The whole set is free for you to download and email/print. All of the pieces were fun and quick for me to make. I often work for paper companies creating cards and journals etc. So these were like fun experiments, less polished than my professional work. Hope you like them and find one to send to your sweetheart or friend. I’ll try to upload more before V-day.

While I consider myself a lover of color, sometimes black and white is refreshing.

These are all images I recently added to my “pretty” pinboard on Pinterest:

1. Grady McFerrin illustration “The mountains are at our fingertips”
2. Spectral
3. Lovers on a car via Fantomatik

My 2 year old Henry and I were doing some artwork and playing around with stickers.

A postcard from the NY Academy of Art was on the table and Henry put this yellow sticker on it. I absolutely love the way it looks.

I think I may have Henry add stickers to all my artwork from here on in.

By replacing ink cartridges with paint on an antique typewriter, artist Tyree Callahan has created a new instrument in which paint and words converge. -via Hi Fructose

I love when snail mail arrives. Yesterday a package arrived from Hong Kong with a beautiful magazine. I’ve worked with Milk X a bunch of times but have never seen it actually in print. It was fun for me to see my work inside.

I’m very excited to announce that Chronicle Books will be publishing my very own book in fall 2013. The working title is:

A THOUSAND SHIPS: THE LEADING LADIES OF LITERATURE

The book will contain my watercolor portraits of the most beloved female characters from Scout Finch to Scarlett O’Hara, accompanied by hand-lettered quotes. I’ve done about 20 characters (for my show A Thousand Ships). I have quite a few more that I’ll be working on in time for publication. I don’t want to post too many images. Won’t it be more fun to see them in the book? The one above was previously posted. She’s Holly Golightly from the novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote.

Images via:

1. OMG A Muppet take on Annie Hall and Woody Allen from a 1982 calendar Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy in Great Lovers of the Silver Screen
2. Nerd Boyfriend photo of Jim Henson

2011 has come and gone. The beginning of a new year is such an interesting time to look both at yourself and beyond to imagine a better you and a better year.

Happy 2012 to all of you my lovely lovely Maquette readers.

images via Fantomatik

Do you know the site Svpply? It’s kind of addictive. Here are some of the items I’m coveting.

Holy guacamole, my Fab.com sale is rocking. Everything is mostly sold out except some editions of parade + eat, work, cuddle, sleep + on the go.

Quick hello. Happy Sunday. Here’s the link to my live Fab.com sale:

Samantha Hahn Fab.com sale

Girl with toy cars is one of the originals for sale

It’s on Sunday. Here’s one of the originals that will be available.

Also, I just have to share this lovely project done by Ashley Cressey, a New Zealand based art student who did a wonderfully designed school project on my work.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Fab.com is a members only site. Sign up in time for my original art and limited edition print sale: This Sunday, December 18th.

1. The New Artisans: Handmade Designs for Contemporary Living by Olivier Dupon
2. A Collection a Day by Lisa Congdon
3. Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World) by Maira Kalman
4. Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life by Julia Rothman
5. Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

Here are a few more from my illustrative holiday series. I think I’ll submit them to my favorite card companies for next winter.

I used some vintage magazines for reference. Every blog I know is in the midst of posting holiday gift guides so this seemed like a good time to share these.

I hope you have a simply splendid weekend.

FYI: I’m having a Fab.com sale of original artwork and exclusive limited edition prints on December 18th. I’ll remind you again and share a link as the sale approaches.

Here’s a little watercolor card I made around this time last year.

Good morning, I’ll have something else to post later but I thought I’d just share a quick pattern and tell you that I updated my shop a bit last night. It was time to refresh some links.  I’m not selling anything personally but the shop contains links to where you can get my stuff. ; )

I’m so happy to share pictures of my home today on Design *Sponge one of my favorite blogs. I’ll share more peeks of my place soon, here on Maquette. For today I thought I’d tell you my favorite things to do at home with this watercolor piece above.

I’ve been working on a veritable ton of new watercolor patterns for a client. It’s been really fun. I love to play around with abstraction as well as illustrative conversational prints in my signature style. These two are at opposite ends of the spectrum but were equally fun to create.

The On Time Show with Petunia van de Twirp from Catie Lazarus on Vimeo.

Last night we attended our first holiday party of the season. I was so excited to meet an incredibly cool writer and comedian, Catie Lazarus. We hit it off right away and spent the night chatting it up. I’m going to her show at the UCB next week.

Being rather obsessed with Jim Henson’s genius I was beyond fascinated to find out that Catie is also a puppeteer. Check out her incredible character, Petunia van de Twirp:

Petunia van de Twirp wants to host her own TV show, but it’s tough to break into the biz. She is barely 8 and a puppet, and therefore an inanimate object. So she decides to host a variety show for all the toys stuck at home. After all, toys are there to entertain humans. When left to their own devices, who entertains them? Petunia Van De Twirp!

I am a little bogged down with projects this week. It’s great but I’m just trying to stay on top of everything. So here’s a recent piece I did to add to my watercolor pattern collection. Hope it makes you feel happy and bright : )