The Pairabirds

Tabitha Brown, Artist

Yearbook Nancy

PCC: Tell us a little about yourself. 
TB: My name is Tabitha Brown. I am an illustrator and designer from Illinois, USA. I live 45 minutes north of Chicago. 

PCC: What do you create?
TB: I create illustrations using digital hand-drawing and scanned papers. My favorite subjects are nature, women, and girls.

PCC: What made you want to become an artist?
TB: I have always enjoyed drawing and crafting. After graduating high school, I knew I wanted a career that allowed me to constantly create art. I decided to go to the American Academy of Art in Chicago to study illustration.

PCC: Tell us about your process. What materials do you use?

Amethyst

TB: First, I sketch out a general idea on paper. Next, I flesh out the design in Adobe Illustrator using my Wacom drawing tablet. Drawing tablets allow me to replicate the flow of my pencil/ink sketches (and, it makes deleting mistakes easier!). 
If I need to add textures or scanned papers, I take the illustration created in Illustrator into Photoshop. 

PCC: What Advice would you give to someone who wanted to make a living as an artist? 
TB: It takes a lot of tributaries to fill the lake. Meaning look for as many different sources of revenue to make your income. For me, this means selling on Etsy, doing commissions, using print-on demand services, and several other ways to sell my work. Another bonus of having plenty of tributaries is that when one becomes a trickle or completely dries up, you have sources to cover you. Similarly, be on the look out for new streams and keep a lookout on any blockage and pollution in your old streams. 


PCC:  What are you passionate about outside of your art?

Balancing Act

TB: I love reading books with women as the main characters. Graphic novels, historical fiction, memoirs, mysteries, science fiction, and on and on! My love of reading, I think, translated into my enjoyment of foreign films (I love reading subtitles!). 


PCC: Anything else we should know?
TB: If you visit Chicago/Chicagoland area: get pizza, a Chicago-style hotdog, and hot wings. Don't trust the weather. It may be a balmy 70F on Monday, but a blizzard on Tuesday.

PCC: How do we find you? 
www.thepairabirds.com
www.etsy.com/shop/thepairabirds
twitter.com/thepairabirds
www.pinterest.com/thepairabirds/


Other work from Tabitha Brown that we love:

Night, Mountain

Je T'aime

Yearbook Grace

Bird Woman

Feminist

Free

Lookout Birds

Prism 4

The New Girl

All artworks are the property of Tabitha Brown and may not be copied, reproduced or altered without her permission.

The Pinqueen

Olga, Designer at The Pinqueen

Cozy Oversized Neckwarmer

PCC: Tell us about yourself.
TPQ: My name is Olga. I am 31 years old and i come from Athens, Greece. I have a day job, as a preschool teacher for kids with special needs. At the same time, I run my brand 
"The Pinqueen".


PCC: What do you Create?
TPQ: The Pinqueen is the brand name for the ready to wear accessories / clothing line I create. My ideas pinned on fabrics! Whether you like purses or scarfs, geometric lines or curves, simple stripes or explosions of color... You can find it all here. 

PCC: What made you want to become a designer?
TPQ: I always watched as a game people's styling, from lines to textiles. I believe that what we wear (clothing or accessories) brings along a small piece from ourselves. 
At some point, i just realized how much I wanted to create something special with my own hands, to begin with an idea and realize it through every step I take. 

Floral Headscarf

PCC: What is your process?
TPQ: Texture is where my inspiration begins. So fabrics play the main role during the creation process. At the same time, the whole project shapes in my mind. I prefer to create ready to wear lines through specific concepts. I believe that a small product line gives people a clear image of my creations and at the same time gives me room for free thinking and organizing the whole process.

PCC: What Advice would you give to someone who wanted to make a living as an artist? 
TPQ: I believe that selling online is a very tricky area and I am learning many interesting things I didn't imagine existed, from photographing a product to promoting it. If I could give any advice, it would be to always listen to more than one opinion, because another person's view may give you another perspective of your work.

PCC: Where do you show your work?

Black Plaid and White Infinity Scarf

TPQ: I really enjoy showing my work in markets that take place from time to time in art showrooms in Athens. When somebody touches and finally wears a piece from my collections, it feels like I give a piece of imagination in somebody else's hands! 

PCC: What are you passionate about outside your designs?

TPQ: My day job is the other half of myself, and i love working with children! 
Three words come to my mind when someone asks me what makes me happy. Music, good taste and moments! Music is all around me and I think it defines every moment of my life. Good taste is what I am looking for everywhere from a small Greek tavern with simple clear tastes to a fine, delicate perfume/parfum. Of course, moments with your beloved ones or just people who at some point of your life gave you something simple and beautiful! 

PCC: Anything else we should know?
TPQ: If you want to learn more for The Pinqueen, feel free to send me an email here: thepinqueen@gmail.com or stay tuned to my previous social media for more The Pinqueen news and creations. 

Find ThePinqueen online:
www.facebook.com/thepinqueen
www.etsy.com/shop/thepinqueenshop
thepinqueen.tumblr.com/
www.pinterest.com/pinqueenfinds/
instagram.com/thepinqueen

Other cool designs from The Pinqueen

The Butterscotch Colored Purse

Black and Butterscotch Infinity Scarf

Leather Envelope Bag in Pink

Light Green Backpack

Triangle Neckwarner

Leather Envelope Bags

Filc Alki / Felt by Alice

Alicja Piotrowska, Artist/Designer

PCC: Tell us a little about yourself please.

Black & Red Top Hat

FA: My name is Alicja Piotrowska and I live with my family and four cats in beautiful old town Toruń in Poland. For many years my job was make photography for the local daily newspaper and I liked it very much. But I lost my job like many people in Poland.
Then by coincidence I discovered a new passion - felting! By mistake I felted my lovely wool sweater and it was like a revelation. Felted wool is a wonderful material from which you can do everything - flowers, hats, scarves, clothes, boots, toys, carpets and even houses (see Mongolian yurts)! 

PCC: What is your process?

Nuno Leaf Scarf

FA: Felting is the oldest method to obtain strong, warm material.
I learned felting art myself by using the Internet and looking over the work of the masters. Through years of experiments with wool I worked out my own technique and unique style. Especially I love to create original fancy sculptural hats and colorful scarves inspired by nature. The basic material is the Australian merino wool and silk, but I like to experiment with unusual additions like Polish linen, bamboo fiber, and even the hair of other animals like dogs and cats. Often I reach for recycled materials with beautiful structures and colors. All my designs are one of a kind, I do not like to repeat patterns. In felting process I use only hot water and Polish natural gray soap.
It gives me great joy when my customers are enthusiastic about my products! I want my designs to bring people the same joy I have when I create it.

FCC: What inspires you? 
FA: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It was my first book reading myself. And I'm Alice and Mad Hatter at once :)
Another passion are my four cats. I'm crazy cat lady too. I have three black cats and one black and white. They love wool too. Sometimes I make cats toys for them.
I enjoy spending free time with my family. I have two children, 32 years old son Mikołaj who works on the renovation of monuments in our beautiful medieval town, and 17 years daughter Ida who is student of artistic school. I also love spending time with good literature, and I like to listen to very different music - I like both folk rhythms, blues, classical music or hard rock and metal sound. I love to work with music.

Sometimes I do with my friends photographic walks with camera around our beautiful and unique city. We have many interesting exhibitions with our photography.
I love a trip to the village and to the forest too, close encounters with nature.
Everything could be inspiration for my work!



PCC: How do we find you? 
Links:etsy : www.etsy.com/shop/filcAlki
blog: www.filcalki.wordpress.com
facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/FilcAlki/148687825236064
pinterest : www.pinterest.com/filcalki/filcalki/

More designs from Filc Alki that we love:

Carnival Hat

Pastel Top Hat

Pastel Top Hat

Pastel Top Hat (Back and Top)

Purple Flower Hat

Black and Red Fancy Hat

Clever Jay Puppet

Orange Vest

Orange Muff and Hat

Pink and Blue Mittens

Elvish Hat

Orange and Yellow Mittens

Cloche Hat

And more photography from Alicja Piotrowska that we just have to share!!!

All images and designs are the sole property of Alicja Piotrowska and may not be copied.