This weekend, I attempted to make my first batch of homemade fudge… and it was a success! It was inspired by a midnight run to the pantry, only to be met with disappointingly empty shelves. (Well, empty by ‘midnight snack’ standards!) So I grabbed a handful of salted cashews, and a handful of marshmallows… and whoa. What a combination. I decided that there had to be a way to combine the two into something yummy. So for the love of chocolate… I created homemade Cashew Marshmallow fudge!

For this little guy, he has escaped the vortex of the complimentary colors of a mauve and green…

“Escaped”
4×5″ oil on masonite
February 2011 (sold)

This past weekend, I felt so inspired… that somehow, I was able to work on seven new paintings! Several were finally realized from sketches I did many years ago, and it feels so complete to have them in oil on canvas.

“Birds on a Wire #001″
11×14″ oil on canvas
January 2011
(Available here)

See more from my online portfolio for paintings, paperworks, memoirgraphs and sketches.

© 2005 – 2012  www.jbishopstudios.com

Last summer, I sketched a possible idea for a painting I would call “Under the Sea”, and tonight… I decided to realize this painting in oil on canvas! :)

“Under the Sea”
24×30″ oil on canvas
January 2011 (sold)

See more from my online portfolio for paintings, paperworks, memoirgraphs and sketches.

© 2005 – 2012  www.jbishopstudios.com

The shop is open again for the 2011 season! Come take a peek at all the new items!

Architette Studios on Etsy

New items include:
- Baltimore, Maryland City Skyline
- Boise, Idaho City Skyline
- Nashville, Tennessee City Skyline
- Omaha, Nebraska City Skyline
- Pisa, Italy City Skyline
- Portland, Oregon City Skyline
- Notecard set of 8 of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World
- The skyline of generic farmland
- The skyline of a generic country hillside
- Set of 12 Zodiac Horoscope Construction Cards. Check the shop for each sign listed individually as well!
- Project Mouthwash Construction Card
- Project Horse Conch Seashell Construction Card
- and two alternative version to the original Project Wedding Cake Construction Card. This is version 2, and this is version 3!

More to come! :)

Visit Architette Studios on Facebook, or keep up with the latest on Twitter.

Design by J.Bishop of Architette Studios.
© 2005 – 2013 www.architettestudios.com

The new office renovation is complete! The inspiration was “Springtime”. :)

Visit Architette Studios on Facebook, or keep up with the latest on Twitter.

Design by J.Bishop of Architette Studios.

© 2005 – 2013 www.architettestudios.com

This is my last week as an architect.

As a child, I knew I wanted to be an architect. Instead of Barbies, I played with blocks. Instead of playing tea party, I designed the houses the tea party attendees would live in. My mom loves to say (even to this day!) that I was the only child she knew who could name a city just by it’s skyline.

In highschool, I took the drafting classes. I learned how to draw imaginary blocks in 3D on the computer. I drew floorplans to houses I pulled out of my head on a whim. I applied to colleges for architecture.

In college, I enjoyed it. Finally, learning architecture on the big… real world scale in New York City! I dreamed of going to work in the pencil skirts, my hair pulled up in a french twist, coffee in one hand… rolled up drawings in the other. I dreamed of taking all that I had learned… architecture history, theory, city skylines… all of it, and create the perfect architecture.

By about my third year of college, I discovered… architecture wasn’t what I thought it was afterall. Unless you have the perfect architecture (doesn’t exist), or the perfect client (doesn’t exist) or the perfect unlimited budget (definitely doesn’t exist)… you would be constricted and restricted. I realized that hand and pencil drawings were in a slow death. I felt the first trappings of creativity.

In my fourth year of college… I was in Rome, Italy… I decided to ignore that gut feeling. I was studying architecture… in ROME! I discovered the root of all architecture. I was living in it’s birthplace, and every crack and crevasse whispered to me… if you fall in love with me, you will love architecture again…

After college, there was the real world. Pencil skirt, yes. Coffee in one hand… YES… sometimes in both. Rolled up drawings? No. It’s all in the computer. It could be glamorous at times. I worked on large projects, had very well known clients, worked with esteemed colleagues… the best of the best!

… but that nagging feeling was always there. I missed the hand drawings, I missed the pure opportunities for creation… where I would conceive something… anything… and on my own accord, I could expel that thought out into the world in any outlet or media possible. Over time, it became more and more evident in my everyday life… that I was not going to be happy until I could have that environment again. The environment, to create! To BE.

That moment to BE is here, well almost… thus ends my career as an architect. Time to witness the re-birth! … and I am all smiles. :)

Visit Architette Studios on Facebook, or keep up with the latest on Twitter.

Design by J.Bishop of Architette Studios.

© 2005 – 2013 www.architettestudios.com

Today is the day that I will finish the office renovation! Last coat of paint is drying, boxes are ready to be unpacked… and the shop will re-open on Friday, January 28th!