Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Playing around with 60's style design.

How to get a beach body in just two steps!

Step two will shock you!

 All bodies are good bodies and everyone deserves to have fun in summertime!
I loved making this little character- I feel like she needs her own little cartoon or something.  I'm sketching up a little character sheet with different poses and facial expressions; expect to see more of her!

Hope you're having a great day!

Artisan Fest Event Details!

Artisan Fest!

Join Mimi Mart at The Artisan Fest Saturday, May 5th, at the Neighborhood School 121 East 3rd. I will be selling dolls, handknits, artwork and vintage. Please come for a great show benefiting NY Public Schools!

you got this.

If I'm feeling overwhelmed, I tend to draw girls walking purposely through the rain holding an umbrella.  One foot up, marching straight ahead, always wearing red boots...I've done this for years, and it still brings me a lot of joy.  I bought those boots from a thrift shop recently but they are not suited for rain, luckily art is not real life.  Red shoes are the best shoes, they go with everything!- even lime green scrunchie socks, which sadly I do NOT own.

I used a halftone fill to create a vintage-y stamped look after admiring these new seamless ads on the subway.  Mine look a bit more obvious, a bit digital texture-y; I'm still playing around with getting it right.  I think each element needs to be a separate halftone.  However, for a quick 30 minute sketch I'm happy with this one.  The blog (Spoongraphics) where I got these has a lot of great tips, tricks and tutorials, perfect for going down a sketching rabbit hole on a rainy day.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!

Give your old man a call today!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers!

Don't forget to call your mother today!

Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher 1956-2016

*sad R2D2 noise*

:(

My Motto

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

My parents have been married for 40 years!

I had so much fun making this graphic for their anniversary.  I haven't decided which background I like the best yet.  

Congratulations, I love you guys!

PK's Adventures in Houston

So, this is a long post, so TL, DR:  The neighborhood cat had a serious infection over her eye, Montrose Veterinary Clinic took her in right away, performed surgery and saved her life- and didn’t charge a cent.  

Backstory: The cat in question, PK (‘Porch Kitty’) wandered into our neighborhood about 5 years ago.  Both my parents and our neighbors feed, care, and look after her, but she refuses to come inside for any length of time, preferring to roam the neighboorhood.

Last week, as I’m home visiting family, PK shows up acting more lethargic and needy than usual. I try to comfort her, and go to scratch the top of her head.  She leaps up and shies away.  I look closer at her head, seeing what I thought was maybe a big mosquito bite.  Two days later, the ‘mosquito bite’ is a huge, oozing wound, half the size of her head with the swelling forcing her right eye shut.  

She is in a lot of distress, and the wound progressed so rapidly, we needed a vet right away.  With no car, no cat carrier, and no local vet of our own, I stay with PK while my mother takes off on foot for the only vet in walking distance. She arrives around 8:15 am, explains the situation, including how PK is a neighborhood cat, we know little of her age, what caused the wound, etc, and we don’t have a way to get her here.  They immediately said they’d see her, gave us a carrier to borrow, and let us bring her in right away.

 Felicia, at the front desk, was so cheerful, positive, and kind, when we all were exhausted, upset, and scared.  As promised, we were seen right away.   The first vet we saw, a young woman whose name I sadly didn’t get, set the tone by treating our angry little half-face with the utmost kindness and professionalism.  Next, we saw Dr. Valerie McDaniels, who was absolutely wonderful.  She was professional, kind, and so gentle to our scared and hurt kitty.  I was immediately put at ease by the way she treated this street fighting alley cat with all the love of a human who truly cares about animals and wants to help.

She explained that PK’s abscess was most likely caused by another street cat, but not to worry, she will drain it, cut away the infection, give antibiotics and fix her up.  Felicia assured us she’d call as soon as we could pick up PK, and we collected a half shaven, annoyed little gremlin with blessedly no remaining abscess on her face. 

Here is the most amazing part of this story.  We ask, with some trepidation, how much we owe.  Dr. McDaniels shakes her head: no charge. She actually thanked us for keeping her healthy and looked after, and all she asks is that PK comes back in a few weeks to make sure her shots are all up to date, and be kept indoors for a while so she can heal.  We couldn’t believe it.  Felicia again expresses how glad she is that PK is well, and gives us some hard cat food to take home.   

The vets did a wonderful job with her surgery, and PK got better in no time.  Now, one week after the surgery, PK is back to her old self.  Both her eyes are fully opened, her wounds healed nicely, with only a small shaved patch to show for her recent adventures.   Her days at the Kitty Fight Club are hopefully behind her, too.  

Happy Independence Day!

Have a great fourth!

Happy Easter.

Love, Mimi

New artwork

Hi all!  I've had a very busy couple of weeks, but things are starting to get back to normal.  Thought I'd share a few sketches and works in progress:

A sketch of my little 3 year old pal, Beatrix. Bea likes to write me the most amazing letters, as dictated by her mother, my sweet & talented friend Erica.  She made me some wonderful valentines and a beautiful piece of embroidery, a proper thank you note was required. 

My parents teach 1st grade Religious Ed and I wanted to make some prayer cards for them, using my new laminator.  I am not quite happy with this one yet.  I think I have a mental block when drawing the faces of Mary or Jesus- nothing feels quite correct.  So this is a work in progress.

And finally, a very silly birthday card for one of my dearest friends, Sophia, my first ever friend and roommate at Parsons.   I wanted an early 90's Lisa Frank vibe, but it had to incorporate bananas in some way.  I drew an embarrassing amount of bananas before settlings on this one.

Happy Lunar New Year! 恭禧發財!

Happy Year of the Monkey!

恭禧發財!
Happy Lunar New Year!  I hope this year brings you much health, prosperity, and good luck.  I am enjoying some delicious pineapple tarts homemade in Malaysia, speciality shipped just for the occasion- I feel very lucky already!

Thank you for visiting!

Love,

Mimi

Happy New Year! Free Card Download!

Happy New Year!  I can't believe it's already 2016!  I've been cooking up a lot of new ideas, and have tons of new inventory to shoot, but first, a free download!

These cards are 5" x 7" and the envelopes are A7 size, 5 1/4" x 7 1/4".  This is the most common size of printable card I could find.  Download the file and print your card front to back either on a precut paper in the correct size, or centered on a 8 1/2" x 11" piece of cardstock, as I did here.  The envelopes print on A7 setting, which is available on most home printers.

Here's the card face:

And the inside:

 The lavender inside makes it easier to collate & cut out, and the dotted line in the center makes for easy folding.

Click Here to download!

Would you like to recieve one of these in the mail?  Just comment and I'll contact you for more info, or send me your details at mimimartnyc@gmail.com

Happy New Year!  I hope 2016 is the best year ever!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you the very best this holiday season!

Best Wishes,

Mimi

Bookshelf dollies

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my parent's place!  I took advantage of their beautiful built in bookshelves lining the living room to take some photos.

Betsy Ross joins in with dolls from Eastern Europe and Mexico. 

Cute!

Hope you had a great holiday too!

How to help (Syria)

It's nothing, really, in the grand scheme of things.

But the news about Syria, the horror and violence screaming on front pages, can desensitize to the real, human suffering behind the politics.

Do you know how hard it was to find photo references of Syrian children smiling?

I wanted to show them smiling and safe, loved and clothed, hand in hand and happy.

As we give thanks this week, for food on the table, a safe place to live, the love of our friends and family, let's also remember those who have no address, no safe place to stay, no guarantee of food or refuge.  

Each image takes you to a charity that will help Syrian refugees.  (More on that below.)

American Refugee Committee

Charity watch grading: 90 cents of each dollar goes to direct care.

Catholic Relief Service

 Charity Watch Grading: 90 cents of each dollar goes to direct care.

International Rescue Committee

Charity Watch Grading: 92 cents of each dollar goes to direct care.

I always check to make sure a charity is real, trustworthy, and the majority of my money is going to actual aid.  This site is a charity watchdog association, rating charities on the amount of money actual spent on aid, and is a good place to start while looking for places to donate.  

Feel free to use and post any of these graphics, as long as you keep my watermark and give proper credit.

Note: I am not affiliated or sponsored by any of these charities. 

Thank you for reading this.  

Much love,

Mimi