Category: Art & Design

July 29 2016

Fun Links of the Week

I just learned that Bill Clinton loves balloons. (This made me happy, for some reason.)

Tea and ink painter Carne Griffiths opens a new show. (Love the hummingbird paintings.)

Have you ever heard of a plotagraph? Photographer Trey Ratcliff explains how you can make cool moving photos like his mesmerizing Burning Man picture.

Is the world really getting worse, as many people perceive, or is our information about what’s wrong simply getting better?

I hope to do this with my kids’ drawings.

Small Cloud Rising is not a how to book for church. It is an imaginative and poetic literary portal into the past and the future of church.

Nikon users, isn’t this a beauty?

Looking for the ultimate LBD? (It’s sold out, already!)

Virtual reality stock photos are unintentionally comic genius.

Wow, this is an intensely beautiful version of Beauty and the Beast.

Did you see the eye-roll of the century? Made me laugh.

Obama and Clinton’s hug gets photoshopped.

I want this fireflies print by Ray LaMontagne.

45 designers were invited to create a pin or set of three pins in support of Hillary Clinton. (I like Jenna Blazevich’s and Arem Duplessis’ button sets.)

Love installations like this! French creative duo Mickael Martins Afonso and Caroline Escaffre Faure have installed a series of floating clouds inside a hidden courtyard in Montpellier.

I like this set of pictures. Bill and Hillary Clinton in their hippie days.

Photo via boy-so-pale

Art & Design

July 28 2016

I love this! It’s an inkjet print of mixed media artwork that includes watercolor, acrylic, and Photoshop. It was created by Bend, Oregon-based Katie Daisy of The Wheatfield. The piece was handmade. I wonder if Katie arranged all those flowers herself?

Etsy featured The Wheatfield back in 2013. In that post, Katie stated, “Being able to create a business based upon doing what I love means I get to pour my heart and soul into the work, because the work is me. It’s this constant means of self discovery. I feel more connected with the world now, and it’s made me realize the effect we can have on each other as individuals. There’s this potential to the human spirit I think the majority of us ignore — the ability we have to encourage, and to bring hope and change into other people’s lives.”

Art & Design

July 28 2016

Surreal New Painting of a Fox and a Girl by Tran Nguygen

A brand new surreal painting by Tran Nguyen was recently unveiled. Created for a group show opening at Jonathan Levine Gallery on August 3rd, the piece shows a giant girl in a blue and white skirt walking with a fox through a small, flooded town. She calls the work “The Flooded Hour.”

The show, called Cluster, will feature new works by the following artists: Amandine Urruty, Anton Vill, Ben Tolman, Charlie Immer, Drew Leshko, Dylan Egon, Gary Mellon, Gary Taxali, Luke O’Sullivan, Marco Mazzoni, Nicomi Nix Turner, Ron English, Sam Gibbons, Smithe One, Tran Nguyen and Troy Coulterman.

Tran Nguyen was born in Vietnam and raised in Los Angeles, California, where she is currently based. Her paintings are created with a soft, delicate quality using colored pencil and acrylic on paper. Nguyen has worked for clients such as Playboy and McDonald’s and her work has been exhibited at galleries in California, New York, Italy and Spain.

This new piece reminds me of some of her older work, where women are seen as much larger than life. I love the mysterious and surreal nature of these.

Tran Nguyen’s website

Art & Design

July 28 2016

Voting for Hillary Clinton

One of my favorite illustrators, Emily McDowell, created this illustration out of words written by author Amy Ferris. Though I usually don’t write about politics, I thought this was a strong and effective statement that just had to be shared.

“The brilliant Amy Ferris wrote this, and I illustrated it. As a woman, I don’t support Hillary just because she’s female (as many people like to argue). I support her because she and her platform treat women like human beings, unlike the alternative.

“I’m having iron-ons (and possibly stickers) of this design made & will be selling them on emilymcdowell.com in the coming weeks. All proceeds will be donated to the effort to elect Hillary Clinton.

“I understand that the system is flawed. I understand that people are angry and I understand why many people want change. But please, not this platform of hate and fear. Trump is not the answer. #imwithher”

Over on Ferris’s Facebook page it’s written:

” we will rise
we will stand up
we will show up
we will show them
we will make a ruckus
we will be seen
we will be heard
we will win

we got this one.”

Art & Design

July 27 2016

Whimsical Illustrations About Love and Life by Laura Stoddart

I’ve been holding onto these illustrations by Laura Stoddart for quite some time, not sure of when to post about them. I’ve been struggling with what I should call them. I finally settled on whimsical though that doesn’t seem quite right. The blog Simple Pretty calls her work “elegant yet quirky.”

Stoddart creates beautiful pieces that often deal with love. A man hugging a magnolia tree, a woman and man feeling “fireworks” go off. They’re simply sweet illustrations with a touch of whimsy.

Bernard and Ethel

Fireworks

Storm in a Cup

Tea Under the Tree

In Bloom Notecards

Laura Stoddart’s website

Art & Design

July 27 2016

Funny Gif for All Cat Lovers

Here’s a funny gif for all you cat lovers out there. Though I’m more of a dog person, I have a soft spot for cats.

I’ve heard about how cats have the tendency to lie all over your computer (or keyboard). This gif perfectly illustrates that habit.

Jocie Juritz’s website
via [Lustik]

Art & Design

July 25 2016

Gigantic Mural of a Beautiful Owl in Ukraine

Marketing agency Kalias-V recently shared a mural they finished of a beautiful owl. Taking up the whole side of a building, the wide-eyed owl sits on a green branch and is surrounded by red leaves. This piece can be seen in Kharkiv, Ukraine. I can’t get enough of owls, especially in street art.

Image above: Kailas-V

Photo by andreypalval

Art & Design

July 21 2016

Cute and Clever Cards by Sisters at Ilootpaperie

I love coming across greeting cards that make me smile. Even better, I love it when they’re created by a family run store. These were made by Pasadena-based sisters Alice & Doris of Ilootpaperie. Oh So Beautiful Paper just put up a blog post about what they saw at the 2016 National Stationery Show and the cards at Ilootpaperie immediately caught my eye. This was the first time the duo has exhibited at the show.

Here’s how they began their company, “Our cards are very much an representation of our 30+ years of inside jokes and things/people that are our sources of inspiration – and luckily, it turns out that the inside jokes are appreciated by more than just ourselves. We originally started working in paper goods when we created custom wedding invitations for our close friends; greeting cards seemed like a natural extension – a way for us to show our personalities and put to paper a collection of cheeky thoughts and visuals that make us laugh.”

The company also sells enamel pins. Aren’t they all the rage these days? I just had to scoop one up for my sister-in-law. She loves french fries.

Ilootpaperie’s website

Art & Design

July 21 2016

Simple Yet Sweet Camping Illustrations by David Rollyn

Illustrator and graphic designer David Rollyn doesn’t have to drive too far to find inspiration. Living in Oregon, he constantly explores the wilderness and then channels his passion for the outdoors into drawings. Time and time again, he focuses his attention to camping. As he states, “I love doodling little camping scenes. Ones that are really simple and make you think, ‘dang, I really want to go camping now…'” He even goes so far as saying, “There’s no better life than camp life.”

So what does he hope others take away from his mini masterpieces? “I love drawing something so simple, that you can’t stop looking at it. Even though there isn’t much there, you just want to keep looking at everything, every little bit. That’s what I always try to accomplish with my drawings.”

His moto, both in his illustrations and his life? Keep it simple. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

David Rollyn’s Tumblr and Instagram

Art & Design

July 21 2016

Floating, Flying and Gravity-Defying Paintings by Cinta Vidal

This Saturday, visit my favorite art gallery, Thinkspace in Culver City, to see the surreal works of Cinta Vidal. The figures in her paintings are so consumed, mostly reading books, that they don’t realize that they’re microcosmic worlds have been turned upside down. I like how each piece shows a sense of community yet gives the feeling of isolation.

The opening reception for Vidal’s show, called Gravities, will be held this Saturday, July 23rd from 6 to 9pm. You have till August 13 to check out her works in person. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite but, if I had to, I’d choose Reading Club, seen immediately below. Every single person is reading a book, getting lost in their own worlds. (The poor cats aren’t getting much attention.) How I’d love to collect her works.

Reading Alone