Child at Art

tis the season

2009-12-01T16:55:00.005-05:00

... to design a series of wrapping papers. I like the mod quality of it. I think I'll try at least two more color ways in this pattern. Hopefully a whole family of designs will follow this one.

still playing with pattern design

2009-12-09T22:45:00.004-05:00

one seahorse done... one to go

2009-10-05T17:08:00.009-04:00

a girl can dream...

2009-11-20T14:27:00.008-05:00

How nice it would be to do some custom wrapping paper and a lovely little sticker... I think I favor this concept. I guess it's time to cross my fingers and hope the client feels the same.

red trees

2009-10-05T16:35:00.008-04:00

I think I'm ready to print this one. To me it feels like a very loose interpretation of Japanese fabric design. I wonder if my forest of red trees needs a little white outline of a stream running through it to pull it altogether... or maybe I should just stop tweaking and print already.

cool collection found

2009-09-23T09:10:00.009-04:00

When you've worked in the same office for 8+ years every so often one has to do a little purging. It's amazing the things you unearth. I kept some favorite concepts for future reference but my favorite discovery of the day was this little gem: a collection of found letterforms I started way back when and forgot. I think I am going to resume the exercise, get a good collection going and digitize them all. Sorry for the pesky scrawly stuff on top. It's my new personal mark. However if you squint at it, it kind of works with the black background and the supersaturated colors. This may be a pattern idea in the making. (Hence the pesky watermark) Only two days until the most excellent vacation ever. San Francisco here we come.

la vida logo

2009-11-19T10:55:00.008-05:00

I've been living in the land of logos lately. Blog post ideas have been pushed aside in favor of getting through this glut of work. But I guess that a good problem. Hopefully this post will restart the blogging, in spite of the fact I'm crazy busy.

my aquarium boys

2009-10-15T14:24:00.002-04:00

Our hero the sting ray flying overhead. Another great facet to the San Fran trip. Watching sting rays is still my son's all time favorite thing to do for 2 years running.

the exploratorium

2009-10-10T09:43:00.003-04:00

It takes a pretty great museum to revive a nap deprived three year old late in the afternoon after a day full of enough sites and sounds to fill a week in normal life mode. The Exploratorium is that kind of museum. Hands-on doesn't begin to describe the extent to which children and adults alike can immerse themselves in science. Some of the exhibits were so simple yet so absorbing. Like this beach ball/safety cone/air blower contraption. The museum was absolutely a highpoint on our San Francisco trip chock full of high points.

walking in san francisco

2009-10-10T09:34:00.005-04:00

I have only just begun to mine the riches from our recent trip. These are from just one morning walk. So much color, texture and wonderful sunlight. With sweet little front porches and potted gardens seemingly around every corner.

views of yosemite

2009-10-02T21:07:00.009-04:00

Three days in Yosemite provides enough natural beauty to just about make your eyes glaze over from over-stimulation. With a three almost four year old, it's not about the strenuous hikes or roughing it on the Muir Trail, but maybe it's the beginning of all that... maybe we're a future family of committed outdoor enthusiasts. It feels like we're forging that path.

Highpoint: watching the debut of Ken Burns, The National Parks outdoors on the floor of Yosemite Valley with the projector's light illuminating the high granite wall behind the screen... faint as mist. Sitting with a hushed crowd of park visitors of all stripes, it felt monumental.

evidence that I do in fact have a day job

2009-03-06T09:34:00.002-05:00

I've not been very post active on the blog lately cause I've been trying to tackle a task I avoid like the plague: putting together a portfolio. But since I discovered design: related it's taken a great deal of the pain out of the process. There's not much on it yet, but you gotta start somewhere right? Plus there's the added benefit of people finding me there and sharing cool things they're doing. Here's to networking.

at my desk

2009-06-18T16:18:00.001-04:00

For a blogger I seem to have a serious aversion to breaking the seal and sharing more of my private life. I guess there's a part of me that worries that it will seem too navel-gazing-ish, or worse boring. But how can you possibly find this painting boring. There's been a heated custody dispute in my household over the painting. I snatched it right off the wall at preschool and took it into work to brighten up my meager cubby. Aparently my husband had the same idea and felt like I'd scooped him. The right thing to do would be to take it home and frame it for all posterity. Eventually I'll do the right thing.

tree in need of a cool swing

2009-09-16T09:21:00.007-04:00

I have a great giant tree in our back yard that just screams for a cool swing. These are going on the short list: from shiver me splinters. The top one is covered in vintage fabric. The bottom is covered in fabric from Joel Dewberry's Deer Valley collection. Very lovely stuff. Now if only the back yard were not so soggy and mosquito infested.

Found via aesthetic outburst

a sketch of an etch a sketch...

2009-09-14T12:48:00.006-04:00

why?
this is a mental note post to myself and to those who may like the following sentiment I recently heard on the radio on the way to work.

what?
to paraphrase:"Our minds are like etch-A-sketches, sometimes we get shook"

who?
said by Regina Spektor in an interview on NPR about that pesky phenomenon of having a great idea that you loose before you set pen to paper.

Frankly it happens to me all the time, mostly when I drive or right before I fall asleep. It's a big part of the reason I started this blog: Idea Loss Prevention.

But then it got me thinking about etch-a-sketches and long drives and childhood and the intersection of all three. Our minds need to wander. Our hands need to doodle. I can still remember some of those monumental drives across country. Treading that delicate balance between car sickness and boredom armed only with your imagination... it builds character.

Our little family is about to embark on a big trip. It entails a long flight and lots of hours in a rental car seeing as much of the Pacific northwest we can cram into a week. I bought an etch-a-sketch. My son is currently mastering stair stepping lines and lop-sided squares. Even so, I can't deny the ease of popping a DVD into the laptop on a cross country flight. Frankly leaving the DVD player at home is not a risk I'm willing to take. But I do hope we can bring the etch-a-sketch along and minimize the hours spent in total catatonic tune-out. What can I say I'm nostalgic.

who needs sock puppets...

2009-08-22T10:37:00.005-04:00

How cute are these cool monster hand tattoos.
Also available in non-monster animal flavors here.

fun posters from Able Design

2009-08-24T13:09:00.008-04:00

A fun menagerie from Able Design available here. I love it when I find talented designers with fun kid-oriented side projects. These posters have such lovely textures and patterns within them.

terrible yellow eyes

2009-08-12T15:05:00.012-04:00

Terrible Yellow Eyes is a collection of works inspired by the classic, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. But it's so much more than that. It's a testament to the enduring power, beauty and fierceness of Mr Sendak's most beloved book.

Spend some time on Cory Godbey's blog and discover an army of monster lovers with vivid imaginations and great illustration skills that count Mr Sendak among their heroes. It's one of my all time favorite blogs... and one of my all time favorite books. You can read more about Cory's project here.

Top: by Cory Godbey
Bottom: by Dan Matutina

terribleyelloweyes.com

wall paper love

2009-06-26T16:15:00.001-04:00

I'd love to have this frames wall paper in my study, or my boy's bedroom. (top image) Artists Taylor and Wood created it for Graham and Brown, who make all kinds of beautiful wall papers. It showed up in my email in box via, Design Public. This super graphic swirly black and white print, also from Graham and Brown, is pretty amazing too. For the life of me, I can't find a link to the work of artists Taylor and Wood. I sure would like to see more of what they do when they put on their thinking caps. I need to wallpaper a room pronto. This makes me want to pull out some of my favorite surface design books; Simply Pattern, Over and Over and Patterns by Drusilla Cole, just so I can pore over the great work that is being produced these days.

photos from the festival

2009-07-23T10:41:00.006-04:00

Art cars at Artscape, not exactly the height of coolness in my book. But my son was pretty stoked. Anything with wheels is cool, but stuff with wheels AND lots of stuff stuck to it... it totally made his day.

enjoying my new cool pen

2009-08-17T19:44:00.008-04:00

I'm drawing my way through the sea horses. Before this it was artichokes. I can't imagine what I'll get fixated on next... I'm just glad to be drawing. I'm ashamed to admit it's been over a decade since I've drawn with any sort of regularity. I'm determined to change that. This blog is supposed to be the place where I fight to get my mojo back. But more often than not, I just post about the beautiful things I see others doing. What does that mean when you can't bring yourself to express yourself on your own blog. I think it means you're afraid. Afraid of sucking... afraid of someone else thinking you suck. Like there's some sort official suck police just waiting for me to post and then they'll pounce and a wall of derision and judgement will shower down on me from all four corners of the internet. Well that's enough of that. I've set a goal to do fifty drawings. I probably won't put them all here. I just need to put pen to paper and do it.

maurice sendak retrospective in Philly

2008-10-28T17:54:00.001-04:00

I think we may need to make a weekend of it and go see where the wild things are.

“You have to find something unique in [each] book…. And that’s what you hold onto, and that’s what you add to the pictures: a whole Other Story that you believe in, that you think is there.”

—Maurice Sendak

one step closer to spoonflower

2009-03-10T17:22:00.003-04:00

I spent the better part of a day drawing this pattern.
God I hope I like it when it's done.

another favorite from the festival

2009-07-18T15:33:00.008-04:00

Two of my favorite things: inventive alphabets and botanical-inspired art. I'm so glad I stumbled upon illegible ink at Artscape today. And I'm also very grateful to the artist for allowing me to add these to the blog's breadcrumb trail of beautiful things that should not be forgotten.

hello llama!

2009-08-11T15:51:00.003-04:00

And hello to Meg Hunt, the talented illustrator responsible for these lovelies and tons of other inspiring illustrative works which you can peruse at your leisure here. I guess it's no surprise to know I love the hello llama pattern shown above.

And her personal work entitled waving not drowning is such eye candy. I love the intricate textures and patterns. I'm so glad I stumbled across her creative universe. I intend to keep close tabs on meg. She's super talented and she has a great blog too. I totally love the pen and sketchpad she recommended in a recent pos t (totally worth it). Visit Meg and get inspired. That's what I like to do.

meghunt.com