Hello friends!

We have some exciting news on the fine art front that we’ve been dying to share for over a year. And now the time has come!

The fantastic Rotofugi Gallery in Chicago, IL is home to our new Gallery show of 16 hand silkscreened Test Prints / Monoprints as well as a brand new black & white silkscreen, monochromatic, oversized, 2-art-print-set. Our show, “Elephants In The Trees”, opens on Friday January 13,  2012. But don’t be scared, Friday the 13th is always a lucky day for Allison, she was born on one.

What’s a Test Print, aka a Monoprint? Glad you asked! It’s a form of absolutely one-of-a-kind printmaking. A great definition from Wikipedia:

“Monoprints are known as the most painterly method among the printmaking techniques; it is essentially a printed painting. The characteristic of this method is that no two prints are alike. The beauty of this medium is also in its spontaneity and its combination of printmaking, painting and drawing media.  Monoprints may also involve elements that change, where the artist reworks the image in between impressions or after printing so that no two prints are absolutely identical.”

We’re absolutely thrilled, nervous, and excited all at once. Allison is almost always working on a tall stack of silkscreen Test Prints in the studio with each new print run. However, they rarely see the light of day publicly. Especially over the past year while she has been working on a suite of individual prints for this Gallery show in particular. And this is a first, with the debut not only of most of these absolutely one-of-a-kind monoprints but also of a new oversized 2-print set, (expertly printed by our friends at Delicious Design League). All prints on display will be for sale exclusively through the Rotofugi Gallery, both in person and online.

And here’s the thing, we can’t show you much before the Opening on Friday January 13th, 2012 BUT! You can totally sign up for the Rotofugi Gallery’s preview email list RIGHT HERE and get a beautiful eyeful of this (and any upcoming shows) special private preview and see the artwork for yourself before the general public. Trust us, this makes trying to buy original art and one-of-a-kind pieces far easier. ‘Cause once they are sold ‘cuz, they’re gone forevers.

Until then, here’s a little sneak-peek teaser of just a few of our 16 silkscreen printed, individual, one-of-a-kind Test Prints in the our upcoming show.

We hope to see you there on Friday, January the 13th at the opening reception!

Sneak-peek at just a few of our Monoprints to be shown at Rotofugi.

The Gallery Show Details

Elephants in the Trees: Silk Screen Monoprints & Art Prints by strawberryluna

• Opening Reception at Rotofugi: Friday, January 13, 2011, 7-10PM
• Rotofugi Exhibition Dates: January 13 – February 5, 2012
• Rotofugi Location: 2780 Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60614
• Rotofugi Phone: 773-868-3308
• Google Map

Hello 2012! We’re so glad to meet ya.

And to make you feel right at home, here’s a beloved classic that influenced us as kids, even to this day. Rudolph’s Shiny New Year, in it’s entirety. Baby New Year! Rudolph! Father Time!

We hope that your New Year 2012 is bright and the best yet.

Enjoy!

Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a Happy New Year to you.

Wishing you the Best & Brightest to you & yours this holiday season.

2012 Three Owls Wall Calendar, now available to keep you company all year long! Click for more info or to purchase.

Happy Holidays & Happy New  Year!

We’re super excited to release our 2012 Wall Calendar, Three Owls. All set for the leap year of 2012!

Whooooo’s ready to keep you company all year long? Our 3 little owls! On the lookout & got your back, 366 days of the year. That’s right! 2012 is a Leap Year.

All hand illustrated by us and wonderfully printed on an Indigo press here in Pittsburgh. Bright, smart, & ready to hang on any wall.

Limited edition of just 100. Size: 11 x1 7 inches (27.9 cm x 43.2 cm.) Paper: no acid, archival Cougar, White 100lb cover weight. $14

Now available for purchase either HERE from our webstore or also in our Etsy shop here.

Best & Brightest Holidays to you & yours!

The Holidays should be fun, easy, bright, and definitely not stressful. OK, we know that they often do end up being a bit stressy. To that end, we hope to help.

All December long we’re offering our HOHOHOLIDAYS Coupon Code for 15% off of any and all orders through our Etsy Shop. No matter what your total damage? We’re here to lessen it.

We’ll be shipping just about every single day in December to wherever you are, or to whomever you wish. We’re happy to ship directly to your gift recipients. And you know what? We even include customize gift notes for you.

Need expedited shipping? No problem! We’re experts at that too. We can ship via USPS, FedEx and Overnight Express. You name it, we can do it most any time. Feel free to inquire about expedited shipping costs!

Click the above or below images to visit our Etsy Shop and during checkout use the Coupon Code: HOHOHOLIDAYS for 15% off of everything!

HOHOHOLIDAYS Now through December 31st.

Happy & brightest Holidays to you!

The Father of Dazzle Camouflage, Norman Wilkinson

When you are interested in design, technology, perception AND history? (As I am.)  Sometimes a story comes along that feeds all 4 things.

This post, borrowed from Twisted Sifter does just this. And rather than blab on about why this is so damn cool, I’ll just let you check out an abridged version here and hopefully, marvel like we have at this ingeniuous and extremely cool graphic solve to a fatal problem of war.

For the full blog post with many more photographic examples, please visit Twisted Sifter or click on any image.

__________________________________________________________

You are the Fleet Admiral of the Navy in WWI what do you do?

THE SITUATION

You’re the Fleet Admiral of the Navy in World War I. Your ships are being sunk at an alarming rate by the devastatingly effective German U-Boat. The traditional camouflage isn’t working because your environment (sea and sky) changes with the weather. What do you do?

THE INSIGHT

World War I occurred from 1914–1918; back then sinking an enemy battleship was a three-step process:

Step 1: Locate your target’s position and plot its course.
Step 2: Determine the ship’s speed and confirm the direction it is heading
Step 3: Launch torpedo not directly at the ship, but where you think it’s going to be by the time the torpedo reaches the ship.

*Remember this is early 20th century warfare, weapons don’t travel at the speed they do today

So what’s your solution Fleet Admiral?

HIT THEM WITH THE RAZZLE DAZZLE

Forget about not being seen, that only solves their first problem. Focus on confusing them so they don’t know where you’re going. Then their torpedoes will be shot in vain because they thought you zigged when you really zagged.

British Artist and naval officer Norman Wilkinson had this very insight and pioneered the Dazzle Camouflage movement (known as Razzle Dazzle in the United States). Norman used bright, loud colours and contrasting diagonal stripes to make it incredibly difficult to gauge a ship’s size and direction.

It was cheap, effective, and widely-adopted during the War. Check out the incredible photographs below.

*NOTE: Unfortunately the images are in black and white, being from the early 1900s and all, so the loud, bold colours will require a little imagination. Can you picture a fleet of electric yellow, orange and purple ships coming to get ya!

Click to purchase the Belle & Sebastian 2012 Wall Calendar from the Banchory web store!

Season’s Greetings!

Just in time for everything: A brand new Belle & Sebastian 2012 Wall Calendar Poster to keep you company all year long.

The Calendar is a limited edition, A2 poster-style format. (That’s just about 18×24 for us Yanks.) Easy to frame with Belle & Sebastian keeping you company for 366 days in a row. That’s right, 2012 is a leap year. Doink!

Belle & Sebastian 2012 Wall Calendar - Designed by us, strawberryluna, and beautifully litho printed in good ol’ Glasgow, UK and shipping internationally in time for the holidays.

This 2012 litho Wall Calendar is available exclusively via Belle & Sebastian’s web store. Clickety-click here to purchase!

Click for more info about I Made It! Holiday Market!

Just a zippy reminder about the I Made It! For The Holidays show this weekend at Bakery Square in Shadyside.

It’s our last show of  2011 and we’re looking forward to going out with a bang. We’ll be vending with over 80 other artisans and crafty makers of awesome all offering our handmade works for sale for the holidays Handmade makes for special and fun holiday gifting!

The shopping & holiday festivities will include over 80 artisans, demonstrations, music and merriment as shoppers warm up from the cold, see friends and make new ones, and best of all, cross all of the names off of their holiday shopping lists.

The Import Details:

FREE to attend & FREE Garage & Lot Parking too!

What: I Made It! For The Holidays, arts & crafts show featuring handmade works of awesome.

Where: Bakery Square,  Ground Floor, 6725 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206 View Map · Get Directions

When:

• Friday December 2nd from 5pm – 10pm
• Saturday December 3rd from 11am – 6pm

Why: Because Handmade Is Best.

Bakery Square by night. I Made It Market is on the ground floor. Easy to find!

ABOUT I Made It! Market :

I Made It! Market is a nomadic indie crafts marketplace. We provide opportunities for local artisans to bring their wares to market and we partner with non-profit, arts and community groups to raise awareness and funds for their causes.

Click to visit my Etsy Shop!

Hey gang! For those of you in the US, we hope that you had a super Thanksgiving and a relaxing and fun day yesterday. For those friends outside of the US, we hope that you had a good Thursday. (And if you’ve never experienced an American Thanksgiving, put it on your bucket list.)

We’re offering a few types of Holiday Cheer here at strawberryluna HQ and we wanted to tell you about ‘em.

1. The Value Added Deal: Through either our website here or our Etsy shop here, we’re offering a FREE BONUS print with any purchase of  $15 or more. Yep! Freebie! We’re releasing a new set of giclee prints, sized for smaller spaces and smaller walls in the form of our popular Cardinal Seasons print series, now also at a wee 8″x10″ size super high quality giclee print. So easy to frame!

• The Deal: During Checkout in both our webstore or in our Etsy shop just mention “Holiday Bonus Cardinal” in the notes to seller section. (Don’t forget to tell us which print you would like for you bonus!) And we’ll hook you up with a free 8″x10″ giclee print of your choice with *any purchase of $15 or more*.  Easy-peasy! This Holiday Bonus print deal is good through 12/15.

2. The Classic Black Friday Deal: Through our Etsy shop (only!) get a solid 15% off of your entire purchase by using coupon code BLACKFRIDAY15 now through midnight 11/27 and then! (That’s right, it’s not over yet!) On Monday, 11/28 use the web-happy coupon code CYBERMONDAY15 for 15% off of your entire purchase. Boom! Good through 11/29. Yep! You get one extra day from us, ’cause that’s how we roll.

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving in all of it’s meanings for you.

We hope that your holiday is as magical as this perfect Charles Schulz scene from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Happy holidays!