She's My Inspiration ...

I honestly was set to post about a lovely artist friend of mine and a great idea she has with weddings. I went to her website to grab some links and more info and I'd like to now change the topic of my post completely!

Heather from Illustration Castle is an artist I had the fortune of meeting about three and a half years ago. She specializes in illustrating for children's books but has recently very much changed her way of living and is quite the role-model. In taking a brief look at her blog I was seriously proud ... she's gone green! That's a very easy statement to make but Heather is very much practicing what she preaches. Check out some of the things she's doing ...

In my home studio

• PDF Addict : I confess I’m a PDF addict since going paperless. From PDF proofs to sending signed contracts and invoices, PDFs are my new best friend with sending documents to & from clients.
• Digital Backups : I use an external hard drive and USB for my temporary backups
• Hard Copy Backups : I use DVDs instead of CDs to reduce waste (for backups and to send hard copies of files to clients)
• Unplug printer & scanner & other equipment when not in use… and my Mac is set to go to sleep mode after not being in use for a minute (rather than a screen saver)
• Compost pencil shavings
• Reuse scraps of illustration paper for smaller illustrations
• Use recycled materials to send artwork to clients
• Design reusable promotional items (such as calendars)
• Only print stationery as it is needed
• When printing use both sides of the page
• Donate any unwanted books & art supplies to art students (a.k.a. my brother!)
• Trade in old computer equipment (and will be e-cycling next time an electronic product dies on me!)
• Avoid using spray glue fixatives and aerosols
• Dispose & recycle diluents safely
• Purchase art paper and supplies in bulk to reduce visits to the shop and on packaging
• Blog regularly with ideas & solutions for how to be a green designer & illustrator
• Recycle ink cartridges
• Use canvas bags when shopping
• Switched to Renewable Energy through AGL for only $0.99 more a week (Oct 2006)
• Consolodated my work environment into one unit : my Mac is my creative hub, my tv, my stereo, my dvd player, and my telephone!



Most know that this is a direction I'm going in, too ... right now it's trying to switch bad habits into good ones. Heather's actions are some we should all be trying to emulate! To find out more of her GREEN steps, visit her blog by clicking on the picture below.

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