Saturday, August 22, 2009

I suppose now is as good of a time as any to start this new blog up. This page is going to be a feed of new projects, ideas, promotions for Sink or Swim, and rants from the art world. Don't worry, you'll be viewing more pictures then reading.

So, let's get started shall we?

Lauren and Chris recently moved into this beautiful loft apartment and asked me to do a painting for them. Granted, when someone gives me total creative control over something I usually like to go out of my comfort zone to try something new but considering this would be on the walls of their new home I wanted to keep it according to the guidelines of what they like. Therefore I did a portrait of Matthew Fox from LOST because both Lauren and I are in love with him and Chris likes the show too haha. I love doing portraits, I prefer it over anything else and it had been so long since I've seen one so it was a lot of fun for me as well. So here's that:

I've also been discussing with Kelli a uniform design for her all girls bike polo team down in Florida. I was particularly stoked on this because a) I love Kelli and b)she started this team and is one of only 2 or 3 other all female teams in the country. Not to mention her team name is "Boner Jamz 03" which is all kinds of awesome hahah. So we decided on a girl power theme and so far one is done but I told her I have a bunch of other ideas I want to sketch up for her as well but for now we have bad ass Rosie the Riveter the bike polo player haha. She's coming up here in a few weeks and I haven't seen her in almost 2 years so I'm more then excited. Here's Rosie:
enjoy :)

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Hello and Welcome!

Hey everyone! Hello and welcome to the Sink or Swim Custom Kicks blogspot account! First off, I would like to introduce myself and tell you a little about me considering all of the work done is discussed personally with you. My name is Jill Forie, I am 20 years old and I live in Garden City on Long Island in New York. I go to school full time at Nassau Community College and will be attending Adelphi University this fall to go on to complete a bachelor's degree in Art Education in 2011. I can't wait to get into the "real world" and share my love of art with the world. Until then I decided to start up this little business to allow myself to do what I love and honestly make some money so I can put gas in my car and food in my stomach. Since childhood I would always take my clothes and draw on them. My mom wasn't too happy about it but she never discouraged me from my art. In high school I started making t-shirts with song lyrics and designing my own logos for some of my favorite bands and wore them to school. I started getting complimented for the work which made me more driven to make something out of this random talent. I didn't start painting canvas shoes until college when I noticed I had about 10 pairs of Vans slip on's and they got pretty boring, thus kick starting my interest in putting my artwork on my shoes. Since then it's been uphill. I've done tons of free pairs for friends and in the last year started selling shoes, or trading them. My shoes recently got the seal of approval from the Bat Commander,Christian Jacobs, the lead singer of the famous Aquabats, an incredbileband, and founders of the Nick Jr. show "Yo Gabba Gabba! Now you can also see Sink or Swim kicks on the feet of numerous touring bands, upscale photographers, tattoo artists, solo musicians, and hopefully your own feet someday!
Thanks guys! Enjoy!

<3Jill