The Spirits of Autumn

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Don't you just love that crisp scent in the air? The apple cider on the store shelves? The disappearance of mosquitos? I created this piece in celebration of all the things that make Autumn so wonderful.

Prints, laptop cases, mugs (ooOooh!) and more are available in the shop!

New Self-Portrait

I made this little self-portrait to use as a new avatar on the various social networks I feel societal pressure to belong to. 

Bow Girl

I made this bow-decked girl as a part of a little personal project I'm working on. I'll give you more information on that when I'm done! Prints of this piece (as well as iPhone cases, T-shirts, and tote bags!) are available for sale in my shop.

Bookforum

My gelato illustration is in the current issue of Bookforum magazine! 

CVP

Here's a little painting I did on St. Paul Street in Baltimore's Charles Village, the other day. I want to make a habit of going out and painting outside more often. 

American Illustration 32

I am super-duper excited to inform you all that one of my pieces will be included in the upcoming American Illustration 32 annual! The piece that was selected is the Lizard Queen illustration I created for Ten Paces and Draw's 2012 fashion swap. I owe much gratitude to this year's AI judges and to Alyssa and Rachel of Ten Paces for asking me to participate!

Don't Call Me Honney

Hello all! You may recall the hand-crafted brooches I made to sell at the MICA Art Market in December. Well, I was asked by the lovely Sara Barnes of Eyra Illustration Gallery to make a new batch. They are included in the current Eyra show, "Don't Call Me Honney," which has a Baltimore theme. We all know how much I love my hometown, so I had a lot of fun making these.

Each brooch is 100% one-of-a-kind and only $18 a piece! You can see the entire show online here, and you can purchase my brooches here!

Big thanks to Sara Barnes for inviting me to participate!

Go Ravens!!!

Baltimore is a very exciting place to be right now! Everyone is psyched and ready for the Superbowl (even weirdo artists who don't normally care about sports). Go Ravens!

Brown Paper Bag's Collage Scrap Exchange

I'm really glad I had the chance to do some collages for Brown Paper Bag Blog's third Collage Scrap Exchange. I swapped scraps with Paul Bernard, who sent me some lovely stuff to work with. Below are two of the five pieces I made for the swap. You can see all five on the Collage Scrap Exchange site!

Big thanks to Sara Barnes for organizing the swap!

Collagical Girl

Just playing around with some scraps! 

New World Order: An Illuminati Image Search!

Or (alternate blog entry title): "In Which Janna Spends Way Too Much Time Jabbering About the Illuminati"

I have a piece in Light Grey Art Lab Gallery's upcoming Message in a Bottle show! The theme of the show is illustrations that are cryptic, secretive, and/or have hidden images or illusions. I've always been interested in secret societies, so I decided to make a piece about one of the most famous ones, the Illuminati. 

Detail: horns galore!

The Illuminati was started by Adam Weishaupt in Bavaria in 1776 as a group for Enlightenment-minded men to - supposedly - just talk shop and chillax. Ten years later the Bavarian government shut the group down and most scholars say that was that. Many other people, however, believe that the Illuminati persisted in secret, its members infiltrating various existing societies (such as the Freemasons) and world governments (such as our own U.S. of A). Some even believe that the Illuminati goes back even further than 1776, relating them back to the infamous Knights Templar of the Middle Ages and even further back, to ancient Egypt. 

Detail: Jammin'

For hundreds of years the Illuminati have been blamed for everything from causing world wars, to poisoning the populous with fast food and toxic "chemtrails" in the sky, to covering up alien abductions and reptilian humanoids living under the earth. However their ultimate goal, most believers say, is to create one world government led by the Antichrist. Pretty much every politician and celebrity you can think of has been accused of Illuminati ties, including (bizarrely) many popular rappers, in recent years. Illuminati conspiracy theorists can be anyone from gun-toting, apocalypse shelter-owners to teenage kids in hip-hop clubs. Poll your friends and relations and you may find a few Illuminati conspiracy theorists among them (I've found a couple)!

Detail: hip-hop royalty

I've been wanting to do an image search piece for a while, and I figured the mysterious world of the Illuminati was a great theme to work with. I spent three days alone in my room doing nothing but reading Illuminati conspiracy theory blogs and message boards in order to find out what people are currently saying about the Illuminati. It was fascinating and fun and incredibly creepy. Every celebrity, character, and symbol in the image search references real Illuminati conspiracy theories I found in my search. 

Detail: Perhaps the best thing I have ever painted, ever.

Okay, I know that trip to the department of back story was totally superfluous, but thanks for sticking with me anyway. Click on the image below to find all of  the Illuminati figures and symbols, BEFORE THEY FIND YOU!

PS: Extra points if you can find me, the artist! 

PPS: The Message in a Bottle show opens January 25th at Light Grey Art Lab and runs through February 15th. If you're in the area of Minneapolis, Minnesota please check it out and snap some photos for me!

PPPS: If you're fond of "New World Order: An Illuminati Image Search" and want to look at it all the time (or hate it and want to throw darts at it), PLEASE PURCHASE PRINTS HERE.