Hi loves, I thought it was about time to give you a little recap/overview of some of the commissions and requests that I've worked on over the last few years (nearly 4!?). Some favourite-thing-ever's and never-again-thank-you's... but I'll leave that up to you to guess which is which.
I am incredibly grateful to each and every customer (buyer & recipient) who's reached out and trusted me with their special project, and for the wonderful feedback you've each given.
January 2021, an anniversary cyanotype for Jess:
Chris requested this for his (then) fiancé to celebrate their 10 year anniversary - the brief was wonderfully vague, and fortunately, I knew them well enough to know what sneaky details to add in. I had a two-week turnaround to have it in his hands for their anniversary, and honestly, I was so thrilled with it, as was he... and luckily, Jess was too!
I've written a lot more about this here: https://www.libertyfeist.com/post/especially-for-you and I'll leave it there, because I tend to start rambling on and gushing about these two and this project - so much love.
+ when they ELOPED to Devon in 2022, they surprised me at the studio (flashing their shiny new wedding bands in my face and making me totally fan-girl out) with some of their wedding flowers to 'donate' to my art supplies, and it seemed only fitting to give them a mini cyanotype workshop and show them how to make their own cyanotypes using their fresh wedding flowers.
2021/2, "southwest feng shui" painting:
This was my first commission for someone I didn't already know, and also a real challenge as it was yellows, browns and squares - where my style is more blues, whites and rounds. I felt a lot of pressure on this piece, as it wasn't just a thing to look at, it was meant to represent an energy, and ultimately, it had a job to do - to provide the energy to attract love luck.
As well as working with the rules and guides of Feng Shui, I used Rose Quartz & Amethyst crystals (crushed up in the paint, and whole glued behind the canvas), and specifically chosen essential oils in the base layers of paint; all with the set intentions of clearing the existing energies of its destined home, and owner - forgiveness, healing and self-love in the owner, before attracting another.... at the time, yes this was bold of me, I wasn't 100% on what I was doing but I was trusting my gut; now I'm really glad that I did this, and I hope to continue this extra attention - I've since discovered you can reiki artwork (!!), so that's for sure on the list of additional services from here on out.
February 2022, a gift commission for my sister:
Olivia requested an illustration of her with her bridesmaids - there weren't any photos of all four of them making their bouquets on the morning of her wedding. And wishing to have a reminder of this special moment, shared with her closest friends, she asked me to create this. She asked for it in a similar style to my "From Her to Here" piece (this request became a bit of a theme...and led to a change in my artistic era in 2023)
The piece now hangs in her lounge, which is really special, and lovely for me to see when I visit for "oh, I drew that!" moments.
June 2022, a Mother's Day gift for Wendy:
Newlywed Vicki requested this piece for her mum (Wendy) as a huge thank you, and love note, for Wendy on Mother's Day, following her wedding. In the gorgeous Nkuku frame is a delicate cyanotype of Wendy doing up the buttons on Vicki's wedding dress, also included are some of the wedding flowers, and a copy of Wendy's reading from the ceremony.
I think I'd really enjoy doing some more keepsake style pieces, incorporating little treasured items.
2022, full branding pack for Me & Frank: logo, colours, full website design etc.
My Mumma was having a rebrand for her existing biz venture, and she asked me to make a website.... which led to a logo, a new brand direction and ultimately me squeezing my way in from freelance designer to part of the permanent team. Pictured is her finalised logo (though as I say, the business is continuously evolving, so we may be about to rebrand again!), and two handouts for journalling workshops and full moon gathering events.
This 'commission' is now ongoing as a part-time job, completing a wide range of design work, social media management, content, handouts and running workshops.
With more big fat juicy plans developing as we go on!
check out what's new: www.meandfrank.info
August 2023, illustrated birthday invites for Jodie:
I actually met Jodie through the first Me & Frank events, which were loosely based on my From Her to Here illustration's story... she then adored, and quickly bought a print of my illustration. So, as she approached her big 40th birthday, she wanted something in a similar style to give out as her birthday party invites.... it was genuinely such an honour to work on this, and I'm looking forward to doing more designs for Jodie in the future - we've got biiig plans!
Knowing Jodie so well, and knowing this was destined for other people who know and love her, made it fun to sneak in little details to see if anyone else picked up on them. For example, her iconic chonky glasses, the Libra (her starsign) constellation, the little moons on the Es mimic her business logo. I also didn't want to draw a 'posed' perfect portrait for jodie - so I asked her to send me a film of her dancing (which was adorable to watch), and took screenshots of her in motion, laughing and being carefree, and drew from those.
Jodie has a BEAUTIFUL jewellery business: Jerne by Jodie
September 2023, a congrats print/card for Chris:
Inspired by the invites for Jodie's party, Lauren commissioned me to do a card for her friend and colleague Chris Appleton, as he'd just signed a new brand ambassador deal with Shark Beauty. She was flying out to New York go to an event with him, and wanted to give him something that stood out as "not just something from a shop".
Having not really drawn a bloke since college, this was a nice challenge, I set aside two days - which it absolutely shouldn't have taken... but I tend to take FOREVER on new projects that I really care about*; second guessing and criticising every mark, and overthinking, researching heavily, especially when I know nothing about them, luckily Chris is a celeb so it was easy to find out things like his star sign, and have a wide catalogue of photos/poses to pick from... but the man's hair changes SO OFTEN, it was really tricky to pick a style to commit to paper.
Lauren told me that Chris was really pleased with the card (thank fuck), it's moments like this that make me take a second to value my skills, because it's not just making something for someone - it's providing someone a special gift for them to give to someone they love.
*one of my overthinking moments was that Chris also works on the Drew Barrymore Show... so like, you know, there's every plausible chance that he might have shown her it the next time he was on set (obviously a very small chance) but the thought that DREW FUCKING BARRYMORE may be alerted to my existence, or that my artwork may be in her magnificent presence, then that was enough to dedicate my whole fucking soul to the project for two days. Trust me when I tell you that the far-off fantasies, manifestations and adrenaline levels were BOLD and high af.
I care about all my projects, but I get overly invested in a select few.
January 2024 onwards, GIFs for businesses:
Somewhere in 2020 at the pre-crawling phase of my baby business, I got very excited about creating my own branded stickers for Instagram stories... and a very close friend at the time told me it wasn't really a smart move and a huge waste of my time, I needed to build a business and client base first (valid, but at the same time, how dare you!?) ... well, fast forward to 2024 and I'm now focusing on illustration and wellbeing based art - what could be more apt a time to reignite that desire to make stickers.
I've also made a lot of stickers for both Me & Frank and Liberty Feist Studio using my illustrations, which I'm thrilled to see being used by my growing network of beautiful friends who also work in the creative & wellbeing world.
To use these yourself - just search the business/person's name in the gif stickers, i.e. me and frank / liberty feist / jerne by jodie etc. (Not all of them made their way to Instagram, no prizes for guessing which one got flagged as R rated... shame on you GIPHY!)
There are several commissions still in the works/on the back burner for one reason or another, and some which I've chosen not to list. But I hope this has given you a little taste for my work, evolving and multi-hatted. If you want to know more about any of the projects listed above, you're likely to find this on my Instagram - reach out and I'll point you in the right direction.
If you are interested in talking to me about a commission for yourself or someone you love, please please do get in touch! https://www.libertyfeist.com/commissions
Liberty x