Let's Share: The Berkley Blog

New animal day!

We have three new animals to release! They are all birds so you can take them as seriously or ironically as your particular inner bird dial dictates. We won't judge. 

Presenting...

The Horned Owl

Ever since his was an owlet, this Horned Owl has dreamed of flying to the moon. Until NASA finally approves his application, however, he will continue training in the anti-gravitational chamber he has made out of twigs, found string, and pellets.

The Peacock

As much as he loves playing a banged-up banjo on a dusty porch, this salty troubadour can't deny his peacock heritage. No matter how ramshackle his musical venue, he'll always sport his bowtie/bowler combo and check the mirror before he performs.

and

The Swallow

This swallow wears a sailboat pin as a personal salute to all the sailors who have tattooed his likeness on their arms. He wanted to return the favor properly, but the tattoo artist couldn't find his bicep.

Please enjoy them with our compliments. More things coming very very soon!

The Mustelidae Family

We didn't realize it at the time of their creations, but our two new animals kicking off 2010 are actually weasel cousins.  

Weasel might be a bit of a misnomer for these gents, however.  They both seem pretty upstanding.

You've got the Badger:

 

And the Sea Otter:

 

(He was the winner of your vote! Remember that?)

Fun fact you didn't want to know: sea otters are the only  mustelids who don't have anal scent glands!  

Two new animals!

We're back from DC and we'll have our report compiled in the next couple days.  We didn't want to make you wait for the two new animals we had up our sleeves, however.  Please welcome the following stubborn gents to our Etsy menagerie:

Mr. Donkey:

 

and Mr. Llama:

Available here.

Let's talk soon, okay?

Renegade Ho!

We're about to embark on our big California Renegade Craft Fair tour and I still have about 2.3 million things to do before we leave.  Doing two shows back to back (I'm talking to you Los Angeles and San Francisco) certainly makes everything a bit more of a challenge.  Double the challenge, you might even say if you are into math.  How is it that no matter how hard we work, we just never quite finish getting ready?  

Perhaps it's because I keep thinking of new things to add to our sales repertoire.  This time around, in response to public demand at Renegade Brooklyn, we created some animal pennant strands like the ones we use to decorate our booth.  

I'm really happy with these because they are made entirely from images with slight printing errors that otherwise would have gone straight to the recycle bin.

One of my favorite things about the frenzy of production is the looks of the scraps and discards.

If you stop by our booth, make sure to grab a business card because we'll be filling these thought bubbles with all kinds of nonsense whilst sitting at the table.

I loved doing this little project at Renegade Brooklyn.  It is extremely possible this is the type of project that only amuses myself but, you know, I'm cool with that.

Back then we only had cardinal cards so I can't even imagine what kinds of insight will be coming from the mouth of the T-Rex.

For a bit of progress report from the last post, here is my most up-to-date floor animal spread  featuring bonus feet:

Now we just have to pack all those up and we'll all be on our merry way.  The Lion has never been to California before and he's really excited to go rollerblading.

July Etsy Release

We're pretty pleased with ourselves right now because we've managed to release our new July animals within the first week of the month. Because the United States just turned 233, we decided to do a couple American-y animals for our country's birthday present.

Please welcome the Bald Eagle:

and the Wolf:

I thought this might be the month I'd finally get my bison, but I'm cool with suspense too.  Actually, Ryan did want to do one but with all the Renegade prep we still need to do, it just wasn't in the cards. 

Speaking of Renegade prep, here is a taste of what my day is going to look like:

And here is a taste of what our Fourth of July looked like last night:

Ryan took a bad tumble over a log stump at a french fry stand.  Don't worry, that isn't blood - it's just mysterious unidentified danger sauce. Ouch.  Not only is his leg all scraped up, but he lost all but two of his french fries after waiting in line for 15 minutes.  It was a bittersweet day for America.

Urban Jungle, Farm, and Arctic

We've been getting reports of animal sitings in urban outposts around the country for the last week or so but we've been reluctant to make a formal announcement until we had a stone hard link for you.

Now we do!

Exciting news!  You can now buy three Berkley Illustration animals from Urban Outfitters right here:

You've got the Cheetah:

the Goat:

 

and the Polar Bear:

As you can see, they all come neatly, ovally framed.   We love that look.  There is also picture hanging wire on the back so they can go from shop to wall in the time it takes to hammer a nail.  They are the ancestors you never had!  Or maybe you were lucky enough to have a polar bear for a great-grandfather?  If this is the case, would you mind if I ask you a few follow-up questions?  I'd really like to hug a polar bear one day and if there is any chance this can be achieved without mauling or slashing, I'd be much obliged.

Magnetic Personalities

Ugh.  Sorry about that lame subject line.  But guess what?  We finally have magnets for sale!  

If this was the 19th century I might grab a bell and ring it around town shouting "Magnets For Sale" in a half British/half southernly drawl but luckily for all of us, this is the 21st century and typing will suffice.

Sorry again, I'm a little punchy after a day spent digitizing and posting all these guys.

Anyway, here they are!

We've debated for the better part of the last year how best to offer magnets and we're both really happy with how they turned out.  Obviously this line is suited for additions in the future too.  (Honestly, no pun intended on that one.)

Here are a couple close ups:

See the whole line at our shop here.

*Bonus* If you are featured on any of these yearbook pages, you get a free magnet!

April Etsy release!

Phew, now that tax day has come and gone we can unleash the beasts!

For some reason we've declared April "marine life" month.  Behold the newest Etsy releases (available, of course, in the shop):

The Great White Shark!

and

The Orca!

I find that reds seem to translate really oddly from screen to screen and also look different on the monitor from the actual print version.  I'm feeling a little too tired to do an official photo of the real print what with all that labor intensive camera clicking and importing and sizing, so here is the lazy-woman's version:

Man, I didn't even flip it so it's going the right way.  La-zy.  Actually, we're supposed to be going out to dinner in a few minutes so I'm being a bit of a speed-blogger.

We've also released another limited edition from the Oddwood Garden series, "Wengleman and Sons":

Only 20 of this babies will be printed so get 'm while the little guys are still tadpoles.

Perhaps inspired by the marine life month, I've been hard at work trying to secure a location for Ryan and I's ten year dating anniversary this weekend.  Before we heard about our tax bill, we were planning to go here:

But after the tax man had his way with us, we decided we would have to settle for here:

I don't think it looks like too bad of a consolation prize, do you?. Allegedly there is a family of otters that live on the riverbank next to the cabin so perhaps Ryan will be inspired for next month.  If I'm lucky, maybe I'll score a family portrait photo to share for the next time we meet too...

March Etsy release!

Shop update alert!

Two new animals have joined the menagerie today.  In honor of ye olde proverb "March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb", we present:

(in)

(out)

Ryan had never heard this phrase before when I suggested it.  This puzzles me because it's a really common expression, isn't it?  I realize it is probably the perpetual underdog to "April showers bring may flowers" but still, I think it's a solid monthly slogan.  

In researching this, however, I did learn of  another adage honoring our third month: "On the first of March, the crows begin to search."  It might only sound right if you have a Marge Gunderson accent so you can get "March" and "search" to rhyme?  However you say it though, we happen to have that animal covered too.

If you are like me and enjoy incredibly random facts such as these, you can find a few more here, including a pretty great drawing of two March hares boxing.

Shop update, part two

Today is a gloriously gloomy day in Portland.  It's been so sunny and then snowy this winter in our fair city that I almost forgot about the rain.  I really missed it with it's coziness and hibernation-inducing feel.  I don't feel so guilty cooped up inside doing the crossword puzzle and working on the computer when I look out the window and see this.

Anyhoo, as much as I'm sure you'd like to talk about the weather for another three hours, I don't think you really came here for the forecast, did you?

Without further trivial banter, I would like to show you the two new animals for the (almost expired) month:

Mr. Elephant!

and Mr. Anteater!

We also have another special release.  We are going to be offering some very limited edition prints of Ryan's Oddwood Garden series.  They will all be 11x14" and are printed on a really beautiful archival bamboo paper. We're starting the series with "A Romp In The Courtyard":

Enjoy the new goodies!  Sorry they took so long this month.