AND THE WINNER IS... (and Arian loses her mind)

#20 Mrs. Harmony said...

"I would go to the beach on Maui with a picnic basket full of delicious foods, a big beach blanket and a good book. :)"

So, Mrs. Harmony, please shoot me an email at arianarmstrong(AT)yahoo(DOT)com and let me know where to send your book!

In other news, Daniel is out of town this weekend. My first night alone was pretty awesome, actually. I drank wine, watched a girly movie, listened to music and just laid awake on the bed thinking and dreaming til late into the night. My introverted, internal-processing heart thrives on times like that.

Buuuuut, it's night #2 and I'm starting to go a little crazy. I found myself making faces at myself in the ichat video window. Yep. I'm that cool.

(realizing I have a very limited selection of crazy faces)
(Wondering what I look like cross-eyed....it's not very pretty...think I'll stick to looking straight on)
(missing Daniel)

(Yay! Daniel calls! But then he asks me what I'm doing. And I have to tell him the truth. Then he vows never to leave me at home alone ever again) ; )

Thankfully he'll be back tomorrow.

Arian : )

Book Give-Away!!

I'm heading off to my first ever book signing in Indianapolis, IN in the morning. I'm not sure what to expect. But at very least, it will be a fun day trip!

To celebrate, I'm giving away a signed copy of our book (inside pics here)!! Just leave a comment on this post and let me know where you'd like to go on a day trip! (Then pack a lunch and go there!) I'll randomly select a comment and let you know who the winner is on Saturday!

Behind the Scenes

Hello, hello! Just wanted to show you some of my artwork that went into our recent little Sky Sailing/Owl City video that the Universal Records people hired us to do. The illustrations are a combo of watercolor, ink pen, and Photoshop. All the moving pieces are on separate layers in the Photoshop file so that Daniel could import them into Adobe After Effects and bring them to life! And the music was edited by my talented brother-in-law.


I named the boat "The Seabird".... a little shout out to our friends ; )




And you can't really see it in the video, but I put our initials (Daniel's and mine) in the sand on the beach. Awwww : )



And there have been some questions in the comments on YouTube about the "subliminal messages" in this shot. It's actually the back of an old tobacco sale contract I found at my grandparents' house that's signed by a distant relative. I love incorporating old textures and such into my illustrations : )

Hope you liked this little behind-the-scenes art tour!

Arian : )

Crazy-Talented

I played around editing a few more of the pictures from last week's photo shoot with my crazy-talented musician cousin, Clint. I'm definitely an amateur photographer and don't really know what I am doing but it sure is fun!



Speaking of crazy-talented musicians, if you have two ears and a heart you should know and love and buy Josh Garrels music because it is awesome.





We here in the Armstrong household have been big fans for a while and are super-pumped to start working on merging our art and his music on a fun project in the near future. Can't wait!

- Arian : )

TA-DAH!!!

YAY!!! I can finally show you want we've been loosing sleep over for the past couple weeks!! It's a fun little viral video teaser the Owl City folks asked us to make. Just in case you're new to the blog, a few months ago we entered a fan video contest, the public voted, and we won!! The Universal Record people thought our style would be a good fit for this little Owl City/Sky Sailing video so we got the gig! Fun, fun!! Hope you like it! Hopefully you'll be seeing a lot more Armstrong-made music videos floating around the interweb over the next couple years : )


We just got back from our little 4-generation, 1000-mile, 4-day road trip. I've got TONS of pics I need to sort through and edit. I'm excited to share them! Lots to catch up on!!

Hope you're having a good week!

Arian : )

Much Needed Vacation

We here in the Armstrong household have been working veeeery hard lately and need a little vacation! We're unplugging and hitting the back roads of Kentucky and we're taking Papa with us (he'll be 90 next week)!! An 800-mile, 4-day, 4-generation roadtrip around his home state to see some of its most beautiful natural wonders-- Mammoth Cave, Cumberland Falls, Land Between the Lakes, and (if we're lucky) this place... where Papa and Granny honeymooned in 1946. Nothing says "romance" like a wigwam. : )

Arian : )

Second Shooters

I did a mini photo shoot this morning with my cousin, Clint, to try and get some good promo pics for a new business venture he's taking on. It was a ton of fun and he was a very patient model : )

And of course I took along my two trusty assistants who braved all the walking and waiting in the 90+ degree weather like pros!

( Jude: "Mommy! Wook! We hold hands! Awww." )


I'm pretty sure they enjoyed the adventure,


trying only occasionally to sneak into the shots : )



Overall, they are a pretty handy duo. I think I'll keep them around ; )

I'll show you the best photos from the shoot soon!

Arian