Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Looking back, looking forward: a lesbian recollection

Wow. Looking back over my old posts this chilly winter morn I feel some effusive wistful nostalgia. So much optimism, so much excitement, and perhaps naivety. To share your life in public, that is brave. And maybe if I hadn't been so brave I wouldn't have come out at all that summer. I wouldn't have met my wife on Tinder. And I wouldn't have started my LGBTQ greeting card company. I always find winter a reflective time. Maybe it's the cookie coma(vegan shortbread cookies are just soooo damn good).
I look back at my old blog entries and see how much I have learned since my first posts. Sometimes I am tempted to edit them so they fit who I am now, but no. The past, however flawed, is how we become who we are today. We learn. We change. And like the bulbs in the spring, we grow into something new. Blossom each summer like a perennial. Changing seasons, changing reasons(damn, I'm like a natural Dr. Seuss haha).
Anyways, this is really just me touching base with my blog which has mostly been taken over by my Etsy greeting card shop. I hope you all have a great holiday( I know I'm not supposed to say Christmas lol). But I'm old school like that. So, Merry Christmas!
Talking with my Dad the other day I said to him I kind of like being older. Life is less confusing now. Sure, my body is aging. Some parts hurt. Whatever. I'm so much more comfortable in my skin than I have ever been. And it's nice to know who you are (even if that's ever changing, which of course, it is). The corollary is "Women age and it's all bad news". It's not.
So cheers to the autonomy of being older, wiser, wrinklier, and pretty damn happy with life!
All the big squishy bear hugs and a happy new year,
Brandy

My LGBTQ Christmas Card Collection!

Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas amore's!

Oh man! What a year ammiright?!
My Etsy shop has been on fiyyyyyaaa this winter! My lil' shop had it's one year anniversary(yay!) and we reached our 200th sale(wooooyeahbaby!) and got over 16,000 views (OMGawsshhhh)
It's been super fun mailing cards all over the world- Spain, Scotland, London, New York, and a ton of small rural towns in the US which makes me REALLY happy because I feel like these people have connected to my work when maybe they didn't have a ton of LGBTQ options in their hometowns. Art is all about connecting to people. Just like life is. Deep, I know. But for realz.

Here are a few of my most popular cards for you guys to take a gander:)
Thanks for all your love and support this year
xo





Sunday, November 12, 2017

....

It's taking all my self control to not draw nipples on our Neighbour's balloons.....never mind, I did it. 

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Remembrance Day

Went to the Remembrance Day Ceremony. Hadn’t been to one since high school. Afterwards I did a very normal thing- went to the grocery store. In line to pay, a magazine headline in bold white font read “NEXT PLACES ____ WILL ATTACK” written over a clearly marked red map. Is this sensationalism? Or not? Lately it feels like the world has gone mad.
Despite the brevity of Remembrance Day(and life) I hope we more often remember why we take a minute of silence and what it meant to go to war. My Great Grandpa was shot and that bullet landed in the perfect spot as to not kill him and snap off the main branch of our family tree. 
I didn’t take any photos today at the ceremony. It felt wrong. They say a photo is worth a thousand words. Sometimes a moment of sincere presence and gratitude is worth even more.

Thursday, November 9, 2017

My artwork on tote bags!

So excited!!! 
Got my artwork onto tote bags!
Available huuurrrrrr: 

Also also also!!
Got my greeting cards into a suuuuuper nice store in Yaletown called Suquet Interiors!
The prints turned out so nice!!!
Check it out:
Here is a little video of me showing them off!

Saturday, November 4, 2017

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Pantaloons

People ask which one of us in the relationship wears the pants....to which I reply, "I wear all the pants!" Literally. I don't even know who's pants I'm wearing right now. Probably not mine.

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Brandy Mars Designs at Vancouver Pride Parade!

Pride was sooooo much fun! I had a booth there and was selling my cards! Seeing people walk up to the table and burst into hysterical laughter was def a highlight of my year (as I've told you guys I cried as a child because people called me pretty and I didn't want to be pretty! I wanted to be funny! Haha yeeaaahh I was a weird kid lol, what's changed?!). My fiance said she heard some people snort from laughing so hard. Cards were flying off the metaphorical shelves! It was a blast! Also I got to meet lots of cool people and chat with them!

Here are some of my favourite new creations!
(blogger won't let me make a heart emoticon lol....so just use your imagination haha;))



Lots lots lots lots more on my Etsy shop!!!!
Check it out yo

Sunday, July 30, 2017

ze closet

Since I work in the fashion/clothing industry, I sometimes wonder to myself, "Will saying 'I'm in the closet' while standing in a literal closet ever stop being funny?" I think not.

Monday, May 22, 2017

First

If I die first my fiancé says she will sprinkle some of my ashes in the shoe section of Holt Renfrew

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Rainy day art (My hedonistic day off!) lol

Had the day off and did some painting!
Recently discovered the philosopher Alan Watts. Good painting music (not really music, but more like lectures on Eastern philosophy for Western civilization)
For some reason listening to something academic helps me concentrate when I do art. Left brain/right brain connection? Who knows. Anyways, here are some pretty things I made to look at haha! :)

Monday, May 1, 2017

Cuuuuute new card for Mother's Day!

Link here:

"Turning 30 crisis"

I thought I had defeated the big 3-0. As it crept up I told people I was already 30. It didn't bother me because I had accomplished so much for someone my age, I told this to my close friends(too modest to make such a statement to strangers). My career was kick ass. I had been a fashion designer in 3 countries and designed for huge fashion brands. I switched into costumes in the film industry and I was doing awesome. I was engaged and really happy. I tipped my head back, closed my eyes, felt the sun on my eyelids, and smiled.
But then my birthday approached in the same way you realized the first time that "water resistant" is NOT the same thing as "water repellant"....I started to feel the REAL 30 creep in and the soggy feeling start.
Up the cuffs at first, and then pouring in through all the seams like a dark cold night on set when you have nothing else to change into because you didn't know your jacket wasn't built for this. You thought you were ready, but now you realize you weren't at all.
First, there was the eye cream. Do my eyes look dark? You guys... I think I have circles under them? What is this microscopic line....WTF is that an eye wrinkle? Then there was the concealer. The clothes that made me feel matronly because the neck was too high. I put on my push-up bra and winked at myself in the elevator. Next my hair started to feel like a heavy mop. "Goodbye my love!" I sang dramatically and laughed as the hairdresser with blue hair chopped me some new bangs: taking me back if felt like at least five years. I laughed but a silent darkness fell off my lap like the long locks of hair she cut off. If nothing else, at least the bangs covered the one big happy/surprise wrinkle on my forehead. The first of many laugh wrinkles to come in the decades ahead.
Post haircut, running down Granville Street using my antique pink crepe silk jacket as an umbrella to keep my new bangs dry I smiled up at the rain. I'm not too old to forget an umbrella. An optimist. And if there is one thing I've learned at the ripe old age of 30, don't kick the shit out of yourself, life will do that for you! The things that are most beautiful about a person increase with age(usually, or eventually with the help of prescription meds once you become elderly and the people who take care of you drug you).
I'm not repellent to the real ness of aging. I'll let the rain of life pour down on me. Bring on the wrinkles. And the eye cream. But also the wisdom to be playful, silly, and sometimes forget my raincoat so I can put my head back, feel the raindrops on my eyelids, and smile.

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

My LGBTQ greeting card company!

Hey guys!
I have a new item on my Etsy shop!
People are really loving this one so I thought I would mention it here.

Also also also!
A few new designs:
I want to whisper sexy things in your ear. Like, "grilled cheese" card

Congrats on the en(gay)gement card


I'm glad you swiped right card


F*ck you glitter bomb card
Ship your enemy glitter! The herpes of crafting!

Why just burn a bridge when you can set the whole town on fire card

Let's cuddle card

And this one has original artwork by yours truly!:)
Lesbian "love you" card

There are tons more designs you can check out here:
https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/brandymarsdesigns

Monday, January 23, 2017

First Etsy Review!

Got my first ever Etsy review and pretty freaking jazzed!
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/469310802/i-want-to-whisper-sexy-things-in-your

Sunday, January 8, 2017

the film maker

Done for today. Need to tone more orange and less pink. 
But overall happy with it. 
I think with another 8-16 hours it should be kicka**

Here's an earlier photo of the painting of my brother.
As you can tell I'm painting over an old painting from when I lived in Montreal lol

aaaaaaaand 
haha
 this is where it started
Was playing around with skin colour and liked the warm tones in this photo of him.
Obviously didn't intend to paint the entire face but then I liked the eye so much I kept going.
Anyways, that's kind of how art goes
(and if I'm being poetic, life)

Friday, January 6, 2017

shading

I've been trying lately to only paint things that challenge me.

First was fur. 
Then my white/golden dog. 
Next, something with a ton of intricate shading.
And then, a dude. 

It's easy to stay in your comfort zone. 
But it's really rewarding to conquer something you aren't familiar with.
And then to high five yourself.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Valentine's Day Sale

Give your boo something this Valentine's Day they can't get anywhere else! 
A personal commissioned painting! 
Offer ends Valentine's Day