…. when this week’s Land of Nod catalog showed up in my mailbox! Allison Cole’s Knightly Night bedding, wall cards, alphabet rug and her most excellent, funny little cloud pillow! Enjoy! – Jennifer

“I’ve started a new sketchbook for 2014 and have committed myself to playing in it every day with watercolor paints, image transfers, ephemera and ink this new year. I love the look of black ink on watercolor! This is a spread I made last week with a wonderful quote by Rumi.” – Lisa!

From Lisa’s blog:

“Super excited to be interviewed about one of my greatest passions — collecting — for the July 2013 issue of O Magazine! It’s newstands now, a sneak peak below.”

Lisa’s cool tea towels from Poketo.

The Herringbone:

Buy them here.

From Lisa’s blog:

“Most illustrators or designers will tell you that every now and again a job comes along that makes your heart skip a beat. Late in 2011, I got one such call from Chronicle Books. They asked me to illustrate a collection of Gertrude Stein poetry called Tender Buttons, Objects. When I got the call, I was currently going through my second period of obsession with Stein, her life and work, after seeing the phenomenal exhibit Seeing Gertrude Stein: Five Stories at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. My first period of obsession occurred in the early 90′s when I was in my early 20′s. At that time, I read everything I could get my hands on about Stein and her partner Alice B. Toklas, and their life in Paris.

So when I got the call, I was more than excited. I was ecstatic! This was for me a dream job.

If you know anything about Stein’s poetry, you know she played with words, and many of her poems don’t really make much sense. Here’s an example of a poem from Tender Buttons, Objects:

‘Enthusiastically hurting a clouded yellow bud and saucer, enthusiastically so is the bite in the ribbon’

And so I also knew this would be a challenging assignment, illustrating abstract poems. But I reveled in the idea of putting pictures to Stein’s words, as difficult as it might be. Chronicle graciously allowed me to concept all of the illustrations myself. This was the most creative freedom I’d ever had in a job, and I loved it.

Of course, I did get stuck a few times, and my editor and designer were there to help me concept ideas. In the end, we came up with about 40 illustrations for the book. Here is a sneak peek at a few of my favorites (without accompanying poetry; you’ll have to buy the book to see that!):

All the illustrations are gouache and graphite on paper.

Tender Buttons, Objects will be released this Spring, around March, so stay tuned. You can pre-order the book here on Chronicle’s website or on Amazon.”

Lisa writes:

“I’m so incredibly happy to announce the launch of my fabric collection for Cloud9! The collection is called The Land that Never Was, and it’s based on my a fantastical world I created in gouache paint and Micron pens. Images of the collection were released today on the Cloud9 website. It’s going into production now, and it will be available for purchase in the Spring of 2013!
I loved collaborating on the entire collection with the amazing & exceptionally talented Michelle Engel Bencsko, who is the co-founder and lead designer at Cloud9. As you know, we’ve been working on the designs together for six months. And I am so happy with how each one evolved! I learned that designing a fabric line is a process — lots of back and forth, refining and finessing. I have such an appreciation for the craft now!

Folks can check out my collection here.”

Lisa writes:

“Friends, I am so excited to announce the launch of my first-ever wallpaper line! Those of you who follow me on Twitter have heard me hint at the line I’ve been developing for Hygge and West over the past several months. Well, it’s finally here, and I’m thrilled to share it with you! Grace from Design*Sponge also posted about this yesterday morning and you can see her post here (thank you, Grace!).”

The “Fern” pattern:

It comes in three colors:

The “Triangle” pattern:

It also comes in three colors:

The Bohemian pattern in gold:

And the Bohemian pattern in grey:

From the Cloud 9 blog:

“Meet Our Newest Designer | Lisa Congdon
It’s been really hard to keep the lid on this new artist! Where to begin when talking about Lisa Congdon?! An artist represented by Lilla Rogers and whose personal clients include Random House Publishing, Target, Harper Collins, Land of Nod, American Greetings, Urban Outfitters, Running Press, and Trader Joe’s, among others. Her famous blog, Collection A Day was turned into a book. Her current blog chronicles 365 Days of Hand Lettering. She has exhibited her paintings and drawings in numerous galleries and shows. Her work can be found all over the internet. She’s an avid athlete who recently trained for and completed the California AIDS Lifecycle – a 7 day bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Cloud9 Fabrics is so proud to be bringing you Lisa’s first fabric range due for release April ’13.”

Ashley, one of our lovely agents, writes:

“Check out this oh-so-cool Tattoo Hack at Tina Roth Eisenberg’s Tattly.com, using images each by our very own Mike Lowery, Lisa Congdon, and Helen Dardik.

Hardcore!”

Lollipops by Lisa Congdon
Let’s Ride by Mike Lowery
Funny Bunny by Helen Dardik

We are thrilled to have LRS artists represented in Land of Nod’s latest endeavor, “Institute of Art”. The curated collection offers-up limited edition prints, for only $19.95, from a variety of artists including Mike Lowery, Jon Cannell, Sarajo Freiden, Lisa Congdon and Suzy Ultman.

The prints are available for a limited engagement so grab one (or two) before they’re gone!