birthday party!

Last month, we celebrated Tyler’s first birthday! In Korean culture, there’s a big celebration for getting through the first 100 days (baek il) and the first year (dohl). Bryan and I decided to keep it somewhat casual so we hosted it at a neighborhood brewery and diy-ed most of it.

When I initially sketched out ideas for the dohl concept, I started with this doodle:

 
 

I liked the idea of using bubble letters and having animals with party hats. The party was originally going to be at the park, so I also added nature items to the final backdrop. For the backdrop, I purchased two long sheets (?) of linen and asked our local dry cleaners if they could seam the two pieces together. Then I hand-cut the felt designs and simply glued them on. I realized I forgot to ask the dry cleaners to also sew something at the top so I could actually hang the thing (face palm) so I ended up hand-sewing the top part myself. You can see in the photos below some of the behind-the-scenes work along with some of the signage, stickers for the party favors, and future career portraits of Tyler I made for the dohl jabi.

Dohl jabi - the highlight of the event where a child chooses an object that predicts/represents their future. Tyler chose the watercolor set!

We are so thankful for our family and friends who made it out to celebrate with us, especially to my sister and friends who came early to help me set up. And also a big thank you to Esther Lo for taking photos, Maison Du Yeon for the rice cake favors, and NativeKorean for the hanbok and yarn!

Next up, a blog entry about paintings + Inktober/Peachtober… coming soon!

A month in objects

Hi friends,

It’s been a while hasn’t it? I’ll admit, it’s been hard to draw these days. I’ve been feeling intimidated staring at a blank piece of paper and I don’t know where to start. But I thought I should still pop in to say hello and post a mini-update with what I’ve been up to.

Inspired by this blog entry from Erin Boyle at Reading My Tea Leaves, I’ll share my past month-ish in objects:

1) Cross-stitching

I finally finished this cross stitch that I started before Tyler was born. (Can you believe that was 8 months ago?) This pattern is by Samantha Purdy and all of her designs are so charming and wonderful. Now, I just need to find a nice frame to put this in.

2) Library books

Weekly library visits = being the first to check out new books and start off a new return card. This book is Nina: A Story of Nina Simone by Traci N. Todd and illustrated by Christian Robinson. And yes, our local library still uses these paper return cards. Isn’t that amazing?

3) Ceramics

I recently got these two pieces, made by my friend. The first time I ever tried pottery was at his local studio and these are the pieces I made many years ago that he glazed for me. Hopefully one day I can learn more and take an actual class!

4) Signs of spring

Bryan spotted this hill across the street while we were walking along the beach with some of our friends. I love seeing all the flowers bloom during this time of year.


5) A Wedding Save-the-Date

This past month, I was fortunate enough to do another commission piece for a lovely couple out in New York. We were connected through a mutual friend, and she gave me a helpful mood board of what she was looking for: something involving paebaek (a Korean wedding custom), a scroll, the date in a seal/stamp style, soft color palette, and other design elements. After showing her a few different b&w sketches in the first round, she went with Option 3 which I then colored for the final piece.

Well, that’s it for this April (which is already coming to an end)! I’m hoping that in May, I’ll have more artwork to share. Which leads to me say that I am also open to doing some commission work if you or anyone you know might be interested. I’m not sure how many I will be able to take on, and they would only be for digital files and not actual prints, but please feel free to reach out if that is something you’d be interested in. You can email me at: sarahkangart@gmail.com. Hope you’re all doing well and safe. Until next time!

A first birthday commission

Hi everyone,

How are you doing? This morning, I got myself out of the house for a bit to pick up some prints and grab a coffee & croissant, and that alone made my day better (because the baby waking up at 5am (again) did not.) It’s funny because right when you think things are becoming a bit more manageable, everything catches up with you and suddenly you feel like you haven’t progressed much at all. Maybe parenting is just one step forward, two steps back?

Today, I just wanted to share some commission work that I did last month! Back in January, I had the pleasure of connecting with Nicole who found me on Instagram for her son’s dohl (first birthday). I had been closed to commission work for a while but this project came at a time where, as I just mentioned, I was feeling like life with a baby was maaaybe becoming a bit more stable and predictable. From the photos she sent me of her son, I could see that he had the sweetest smile and I knew I wanted to capture that unadulterated joy as much as possible. My favorite type of clients are the ones that share just enough of their vision and then let me run with it, so it was no surprise that I genuinely enjoyed working on all of the illustrations and hand-lettered sign for this special day.

Nicole also had the idea of illustrating different moments from her son’s life, so I put them together into a mini mural-like drawing. He was born in the year of the ox, loves to eat, and traveled to a few places already so I included those elements. Everything looked so beautifully put together by the end of it all, as you can see in the photos below. Thank you Nicole and Finley for letting me be a part of your celebration!

Photographer: Joe Kim Studio | Florist: Bloom Meets Girl | Event Planner: Sky Meadow Place