This month marks 5 years of Studio Hromi officially being in business... but my career timeline isn't as straightforward as that. If internships and student jobs count, I've been working as a creative person in one form or another for over a decade! And it's hard to believe, but August is also the ten-year anniversary of me living in Grand Rapids. I often reflect back on my previous career at the Grand Rapids Public Museum (because in many ways it's hard to separate myself from it completely... something that has gotten easier to accept the further we are from 2019) and how, even though it was not exactly the job title I aspired to have, at its core it was a position that required me to be a science communicator, an artist, and a workhorse, all skills that I eventually shuffled around into everything that I get to do today (on mostly my own terms). Sorry for the run-on sentence, but hopefully you get my point.

I originally made a version of the timeline below for #MarchMeetTheMaker in 2022, and repurposed it today for this new milestone. It is not comprehensive, but it includes what I consider to be my most important career-related events.

Anniversaries aside, for various personal, professional, and existential reasons that I don't need to describe in detail, August was kind of a difficult month. But on a very light note, four weeks ago Nate and I adopted two new tiny coworkers (just kidding, they're not allowed in my office yet), Willow and Juniper. Look at how perfect they are!

With some high-profile markets coming up in September, I'll be spending the next week cranking out new Places We Have Loved illustrations, focused specifically on places in Eastown in preparation for Eastown Streetfair. So far I've just illustrated Billy's Lounge (below) but I have a couple more currently planned; while Billy's isn't one of my personal favorites, I've gotten several requests for it, and I really enjoyed illustrating all the intricate tile details on the building's façade that I hadn't noticed before.

As I mentioned above, I take requests for this series! You can recommend your own favorite places at this survey link. If I receive enough of the same request, you just might see it as a future print. All new prints will be available at studiohromi.com/shop before September 7, or in person at any of my upcoming markets.

Below is some interesting and illuminating content I've collected in the last month related to art, science, and visual communication.

I originally created this illustration in 2023 for Honeycomb Speech Therapy, to show the position of the sternocleidomastoid muscle and basic surrounding anatomy. The illustration was recently repurposed with additional labelling for the POP-AART project (coming soon), which I will be contributing some existing artwork and new illustrations to for the rest of this year.

I've got a busy month of markets coming up, and already one holiday market on my schedule in November. Visit studiohromi.com/events for more details and to learn about additional markets as they get added. You can also shop anytime online at studiohromi.com/shop and Redbubble, and while supplies last at Scorpion Hearts Club and the GRPM Curiosity Shop in Grand Rapids, and Half Mile Handmade in Bay City. I'm currently looking for one or two additional local or regional spots to sell my wares, so if you have ideas for shops that would be a good fit please pass them along!

You can follow me on any of the social media platforms below, plus Tumblr, Threads, and Cara. I'm not very active on social media lately, but I pop in occasionally to say hello. Check out my Ko-fi and Amazon book wish list for even more ways to support an independent artist and small business.

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