a new year

Wishing y'all a happy new year.

magical

I love it when artists do simple things well. Photographer Jan von Holleben creates beautiful stories in his "Dreams of Flying" series.

correction

Mel Kadel is a she. I should have known that. She does such a good job of drawing so many of my feelings.

My apologies, Mel.

{the above is called "rolling with the punches"}

mel kadel

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this artist. There are so many wonderful truths to his work. No more talking ... I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

homemade christmas

I made a lot of presents this year. I always wish that I had planned a little better so that I could have made for everyone. But time gets away from me.

I know that our nieces and nephews will not be checking the blog ... so I can share without giving anything away.

Homemade, personalized chalkboards. Pre-cut wood from Home Depot, sand paper and chalkboard paint. Voila!

trucks, part deux

As many of you know, "truck" was D's first word.

The obsession hasn't ended.

My good friend Janet told me that YouTube is an endless supply of tractor videos (her son's vehicle of choice). And wouldn't you know it ... there are "about 101,000" truck videos.

This one struck a cord. Every time a new truck came on the screen D gasped. He also danced to the song (he should thank his mama's genes for that!). You gotta love the diamond fade (over and over and over).

posters

I think every designer dreams of being a poster artist ... "Maybe I can make a living creating band posters ... and only for the bands I love." Unfortunately, few designers can make posters their only means of making money. But some do succeed at it.

The first place I ever realized that there were hundreds (if not thousands) of poster artists was gigposters.com. Somehow affiliated with FlatStock (the poster show series), it is a smorgasbord of band posters for any and every show in the US and otherwise. The majority of design shops listed below were discovered at gigposters.com.

These sites are an endless supply of inspiration for me. As one of my teachers used to say "anything can be an ad". And in my head that translates to "any of these layouts can become an ad, a logo, an invitation, etc" .

aesthetic apparatus

furturtle show prints

hammerpress

large mammal print

methane studios

patent pending

strawberry luna

the heads of state

the small stakes

growth

My paper whites started blooming this week. There is something so wonderful about having growth in the middle of the cold and snow. It's the hope that life is on the other side of winter.

etsy

I'm on a small personal boycott. After listening to the Democratic debates on NPR last week, I have become hypersensitive to everything made in China. It only helped that I went to Target right after listening and didn't pick up one thing in the whole store that wasn't made in China (except for the t-shirt reading "LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE" made in Pakistan). I fear every toy that D puts in his mouth is laced with lead or some other toxic substance. So until we get a handle on regulating the stuff that comes over our borders and our overall international relationships, I'm going to try to buy stuff made on a smaller scale. I know that China is not to blame for everything ... I just want to try to become less of a big box consumer

This "boycott" has lead to a small addiction to Etsy: "Your place to buy and sell all things handmade." I thought I would share some of my favorites.
These are prints by Elsita. I love the graphic nature and colors. They are like storybook pictures ...

Bird illustrations from Little Doodles. Even though I think birds are overdone (thanks to Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters), these little guys have so much personality. I love their girth.

Oh My Cavelier. All of the work by Julianna Swaney feels like you stepped into a story and you have to whisper while you're there.

Sea Spray Blue is an artist out of Dresden. I lover her colors, graphics and handwriting.

DKim is an artist out of Brooklyn. I feel like I am in a novel with these characters. I want to know more about them.

a family affair

The first TV spot that I ever did was for a local cell phone carrier. There was no budget, which always means (to ME, at least) that the majority of the creativity falls into the hands of the creatives (not the directors or editors). You have to rely on what is in your head and not on other's strengths. We were lucky enough to work with an amazing animator who took our boards quite literally and made them move. You can see one of the spots here. Another sign that there was no budget is that my mom did voice over. I love that she is so perfectly captured in a thirty second spot.

And speaking of family, I just recently got to work on another cell phone campaign with my cousin. He is the reason I got into the business of advertising/design in the first place ... so it is fitting that we finally got a chance to work together. Here is one of the print ads.