Today We Escape

 

 

I awoke with poems in my head, spiraling around like pea shoots. A song on the radio made me pine for country roads, barefoot summers and stillness.

Being a mom is a most curious thing. So close to childhood and yet so far from it yourself.

Tumbled through the web while my baby was sleeping and found these prints. I love the polaroid colors and imagery pulled from my child-of-the-late-seventies consciousness. I’m about to purchase one or two for The Boy’s room.

Check out the artist, Nazario Graziano, and the publication for which these illustrations were created – “ The New Twenties: A scintillating survey of the work of today’s 20-somethings, who were all brought up in the technological boom years of the late 20th Century – and whose concepts of self-promotion and networking are radically different from those of their predecessors. “ – here, at Society6.

buzzed

 

loving the insect / arts + crafts architecture / futurist black lace detail
from Alexander McQueen’s Resort 2010 Collection

25 of 500

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday was a glorious day ! Amid moving boxes half-unpacked and a dining table full of loop orders half-assembled, a little buzz at my [ new ! ] front door door shooed away the clutter for a moment.  A package had arrived from Kobe, Japan bearing the most delicious red pencils I have ever seen … !

Do you remember my gushing over the 500 pencils program last month ? Somehow, someway, my little blog post caught the eye of the PR + Events Coordinator of Felissimo, the maker of said pencils. I was invited to participate in their Creative Ambassador Program, whereby I’d be given a full subscription to the pencils program in exchange for participation in their competitions + their online community and just general social buzzing about the program.

From Social Designer : “Change doesn’t happen by chance, it happens by design.“

“Social Designer strives to spark new thinking about the issues that matter most by encouraging the design community to create fun, socially-relevant graphics for tees, totes and other goods. We do this both by holding design competitions to create products that support meaningful causes — all winning designs are available here — and by selling goods with a strong social or environmental value.”

I can’t tell you how excited I am to begin drawing with these glossy new wood-covered creatures ~ with colors dubbed Spiffy, Jessica, Toy Box, Scarlett O’Hara and Apple Pudding, who knows what will happen !?

a-washi in color

 

I love the translucent breath of color that this japanese washi tape adds to wrapped gifts !  Torn easily by hand and *repositionable*, I think I could have hours of fun with this stuff… [ Yukio Taniguchi’s tape show here on loop’s eon’ wrap at MoMA ]

With my favorite season approaching, these warm hues from happytape have me feeling the cooler breezes of September already !

25 colors x 20 months

I just discovered this on Twitter and have become completely distracted by the 500 pencils program from Social Designer : a simple subscription service delivers 25 curated colors each month for 20 months. The idea that this staggering collection can be mounted to the wall in sleek plexi holders made me marvel at the following : wall-mounted pencil holders would create a work of art that creates works of art, the display itself changing as different colors are taken down, used, sharpened to differing lengths and returned to the wall.  My imagination is slipping into blisssss …….

ps : my birthday is september 18th ; )

katagami inspires me

My nemesis Procrastination has exerted its influence this morning and I found myself picking through old bookmarks in search of inspiration. I found this link to a Japanese Arts and Culture Magazine called Kateigaho : International Edition whose 2005 feature on katagami re-captured my imagination.

Katagami are Japanese paper stencils from the Nara Period, 710 - 794 AD. [ let's review, that's nearly 1300 years ago ! ]. Created using a variety of tiny blades and tools in the dogu-bori method, these stencils were used to apply designs with dye to leather goods for itinerant traders. They developed into use for dying kimono fabrics like yukata, a single layer cotton fabric. The image of the carp above is one such example, "the carp has long been praised as an auspicious creature, often appearing in old axioms such as 'a carp climbing up the waterfall to become a dragon,' which signifies success or promotion in Japan." .

How incredible ! I am just astounded at the craftmanship and intricacy.
I wonder if I was Japanese in a previous life ?!