Plum Gorgeous: Recipes and Memories from the Orchard
Andrews-McMeel Publishing, 2011
Cover and interior design/layout, photo selection/cropping, blad, promo materials. Also, web design for Author (includes Plum Gorgeous) - romneysteele.com.

A delectable cookbook and memoir (+ food styling) by Romney Steele, with gorgeous photos by Sara Remington.

This was such a joy to work on! Andrews-McMeel asked for our "My Nepenthe" team again (Nani, Sara, and myself). A colorful feast for the eyes and mouth (and even Tori Spelling carries it around).

romneysteele.com
sararemington.net
crookedjades.com (my band played the launch event)
Launch event photos by Gia and my Aunt Debbie

AmerEquine Festival of the Horse
Horse & Music Festival, Ft. Worth, Texas 2012
Design and Illustration for posters, programs, rack cards, ads, note cards, tees, banners and buttons for web, signs, tattoos, and gobos.

This project was a real treat to work on. My friend, Heidi Clare, and her partner, Ron Thomason (both incredible musicians + equestrians) put on a truly amazing event with out-of-this-world musicians and performers! It included an expo, concerts/performances, workshops, contests and much more. Warren Hellman helped fund the music (I included the banjo in his honor).

Click for a sweet taste of the event (with beautiful music by Ron Thomason and Suzanne Thomas of Dry Branch Fire Squad). AmerEquine Video

(I couldn't resist including the dog in chaps that was there).

"The Cook and Her Farmer" (TCAHF)
Oakland's upcoming, and highly anticipated restaurant.
Logos, posters, postcards, stickers, menus, and more. 

Romney "Nani" Steele and Steven Day are gearing up to open their restaurant in Swan's Marketplace, Oakland, in late Spring 2013. Look for their pop-ups in the meantime!

Note: Nani wrote 2 amazing cookbook-memoirs, "My Nepenthe" and "Plum Gorgeous" - both of which I designed and laid out. Check them out - they're here in my portfolio, as well.

thecookandherfarmer.com
romneysteele.com

Birds of Chicago
CD, poster, T-shirt, flyer Design, 2012

I loved working with these two songbirds! Jeremy is a dear friend, and I love getting to know Allison. My family is also from Chicago, so it made it even more special.

1. Digipak + 12-pg Booklet

2. T-shirts

3. Art Poster

Yes, I love using "Hipstamatic" on my phone. Here are some of my favorites.

Heather Christo's Generous Table 
Kyle Books, 2013
Cover and interior design + layout, art direction for (2 of 3) photo shoots, prop styling, blad

Heather is a fabulous chef, entertainer, blogger, and TV personality (she shot this video between book photo shoots! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbbyUBOCztQ). It was a joy to work with her in her beautiful Seattle home overlooking the bay, and getting to know her sweet, fun family.

In addition to designing and laying out the book, I art directed two of the photo shoots (Anja, Kyle's wonderful editor directed the other shoot). This included working with two photographers - doing my best to help make sure their styles came together. I also helped acquire (and style) many of the props (shout out to "The House Studios" in Seattle).

Editor Anja Schmidt, food photography by Heather Christo, lifestyle photography by Jim Henkens, food styling by Jean Galton and Anne Miska. 

www.heatherchristo.com
www.jimhenkens.com
www.kylebooks.com

Warren Hellman Plaque for Freight & Salvage Green Room
2013

This poster/plaque honors Warren Hellman, and will soon go in the green room at The Freight & Salvage - aka the "Big Twang Lounge" (based on a song that Warren and Colleen Browne wrote).

I feel so lucky to have known and worked with Warren. Both of my bands (The Crooked Jades & The Stairwell Sisters) were honored to play his "Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival" many times, and I enjoyed being Warren's banjo tech for a few tours with his band, The Wronglers. I miss him dearly.

Willie Nelson Poster
Fillmore/Bill Graham Presents, 2006
Design + Photo montage (from 3 photos I took). 

My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family, and Big Sur
Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2009
Cover and Interior Design/Layout, photo selection and cropping, blad, promotional materials. Also, web design for Author (includes My Nepenthe) - 
romneysteele.com.

A cookbook, memoir, and historical book. I loved this project! My dear, long-time pal, Romney "Nani" Steele (who I met during my publishing days at Brooks/Cole, as well as my waitressing days at her family's restaurant, "Nepenthe" in Big Sur) requested that I design her book.

Andrews-McMeel usually works with in-house designers, so I designed on spec, and landed the job. They said it was the first time they approved a design on the first pass! It was an honor to work on this book as Big Sur and Nepenthe will always have a special place in my heart. Nani and I always connect when it comes to art and color - and lots of it!  

Working with the new images by whiz photographer Sara Remington, along with the amazing historical photos made my job super fun and easy. Of course, I did have to sort through 1000s of images! When Nani's second book "Plum Gorgeous" was ready, Andrews-McMeel requested our team once again! (see separate entry)

Cover photo by Kodiak Greenwood. Fabric on cover by Kaffe Fassett (Nani's uncle). There is also a lovely spot varnish on the cover (not visible here), I hope to get a good photo of it soon.

romneysteele.com
sararemington.net

Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse
Posters, Fundraising Mailers/Envelopes, Web Banners, Calendars, Plaques

I love the Freight & Salvage. They have some of the best acoustic and traditional music in the world. It's an honor to design for them. My bands have enjoyed playing their stage, as well. It's a treat to get to work with so many great musicians, the wonderful staff, and the photos, mostly taken by the wonderful Mike Melnyk.

1. Woody Guthrie's "American Song" - an amazing musical (and they even made a cake based on my design). 

2. Fundraising mailers, envelopes and lobby signs

3. Warren Hellman poster/plaque for the green room, aka "Big Twang Lounge" (based on a song that Warren and Colleen Browne wrote). This project is still in the works, but here's the start. I feel so lucky to have known and worked with Warren. My bands were also honored to play his "Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival" many times, and I really enjoyed being Warren's banjo tech for a few tours with his band, The Wronglers. I miss him dearly. (separate entry also)

www.thefreight.org
www.mikemelnyk.com

San Francisco Bluegrass & Old-Time Festival (aka SFBOT)
Design + scratchboard illustration for posters, programs, postcards, t-shirts, stickers, banners, etc.
2000-2004, 2008-2009

The festival has been going strong for 13 years. I was part of the founding group in 2000, volunteering as artist/designer and more, and loved working with scratchboard+letterpress.  

Letterpress printers: Stumptown Printers (Portland), 2002; Peter Koch Printers (Berkeley), 2004; Horwinski Printing Co. (Oakland), 2009, 2010.

www.sfbluegrass.org

Robert Earl Keen (REK) Poster
Fillmore/Bill Graham Present, 2006

Another fun Fillmore poster opp. I included a topo map of REK's hometown, Texas for this one.

The Crooked Jades + The Stairwell Sisters
These are my bands.
Design for CDs, posters, flyers, ads, stickers, business cards and more.

This page highlights my years playing old-time string band music  (including a whole lot of graphic design)!

I feel very fortunate to have been part of these two amazing bands. I sing and play dobro, slides, banjo, guitar, and more. Both bands push the traditional boundaries.

Check us out at:
www.crookedjades.com
www.stairwellsisters.com
Both bands also on Facebook
Also: kateweare.com (check out this "Bright Land" video link)

Chris Isaac Poster
Delta Classic Chastain Park Ampitheater, Atlanta, Georgia, 2010

Final poster + two sketches that were shown to my client. The bottom entry shows the sketch chosen before I polished it up.

I finally got to see Chris perform at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival - he puts on a great show!!

Jewish Music Festival, 25th Annual
JCC, Berkeley, 2010
Poster/Mailer design

This was a joy and honor to work on, especially being their 25th Annual Festival. I enjoyed working with Ellie Shapiro of the JCC, as well as Autumn Press (wonderful printers in Berkeley).

This doubled as a mailer and a poster.

www.jewishmusicfestival.org

Banana Republic + The Gap
In-house Design + Production, San Francisco

I worked in a few different departments doing design and production over a number of years. I worked on everything from ads, to window displays, image crops, in-store signs, in-house logos, brochures, magazines, promo pieces, billboards, and even in-house invites that requested my personal style.

(I wish I had saved more digital examples of my work from this period! It was often hard to get our hands on printed materials. I'll aim to scan some other pieces to add, and take photos of 3D ones soon.)

I've really enjoyed doing the artwork for the Trinity Chamber Concerts Series for a bunch of years now. Diane Grubbe and my partner, Ryk run this series at Trinity Church in Berkeley. 

Tri-fold Mailers, Bi-fold Mailers, and postcards

trinitychamberconcerts.com

This page features miscellaneous items:
programs, posters, postcards, books.

Berkeley Old-Time Music Convention (BOTMC) I designed their programs for a bunch of years - based on the extraordinary poster designs of David Murray. This one from 2011.
berkeleyoldtimemusic.org
spectacularopticals.com (David Murray)

Other entries:
Big Sur Old-Time Music Camp, wedding poster, more Fillmore posters + sketches, various (mostly older)  book designs. "Finite Mathematics" (featuring a wall-size textile) won a Bookbuilders Award for book design.

I love Cascada de Flores! 

I art directed a couple of photo shoots, with art photographer extraordinaire, Rosey Lakos, in preparation for much more music that will be recorded and designed. In the meantime, here is a taste of what's to come.

Photos: on radio, plus dancing on porch by Rosey. Hipstamatic shots taken by your truly.

cascadadeflores.com
roseylakos.com

Miscellaneous CDs
Some recent and most, ancient. Many from my "Olde West CD Manufacturing" days, my first in-house design job in San Francisco.

A few notes: 
Mushroom's "Hydrogen Jukebox" (Pat Thomas) - my first letterpress job, printed by Independent Project Press in a few color combos (this one red+silver)  //  Kathy Kallick Band "Count Your Blessings" - embossed/letterpressed by Stumptown Printers  //  Rilke String Quartet - one of my first, and still favorite, simple, clean designs  //  Scratchboard art for Red Hot Chachkas by mwa  //  an "analog" cassette (remember those?) for Amy Tan who was part of the "Don't Quit Your Day Job Records" family  //  and oh so many more...

Credit: Photo of Isaac Cantor by Mike Melnyk, Art directed by yours truly. Photo of Kathy Kallick's "Count Your Blessings" taken in my "Photograph Your Artwork" class at CCA with Douglas Sandberg. (Embossing/Letterpress printed by Stumptown Printers in Portland, OR)

I really enjoyed designing for Copper Creek Records for a number of years. It's great to work on projects where the subject matter is near and dear to one's heart!

Owner Gary Reid was a pleasure to work with, and my band, The Crooked Jades, was on their label for awhile.

(the Del McCoury "Revonah Sessions" didn't end up being produced in the end, but I still liked the sketches)

The Boneyard + Las Vegas

These shots are from my cousin's bachelorette party weekend in Vegas. We spent an afternoon at the Boneyard (neon museum) - what a place! This was my first opportunity trying out my "new" camera.

My family went to Las Vegas a bunch in the '70s. My dad's band even opened for B.B. King at the Stardust, so it's especially neat to see these old signs, which I remember well.

I enjoyed working on a few CDs, posters, and ads for Wide Hive Records in Berkeley.

1. Larry Coryell with the Wide Hive Players

2. Phil Ranelin's "Perseverance" with Henry Franklin and Big Black

3. Wide Hive Players II

widehiverecords.com