Category: Art & Design

February 23 2016

New Video of Simon Beck and His Magnificent Murals in the Snow

Remember artist Simon Beck? His name might sound familiar to you. Beck creates these magnificent murals in the snow solely by walking. (See 2012 article.) While I’ve seen many images of his amazing works, this is the first time I’ve actually watched a video of him in the process of creating.

Great Big Story, a company who’s dedicated to telling the stories of the untold, the overlooked and the flat-out amazing, just released this new video of Beck himself. As they explain:

“Two hours measuring; eight hours of work…For Simon Beck, the average snow mural consists of 40,000 steps (or the rough equivalent of a long day’s walk in the hills).

“It started as an alternative to hiking up a mountain, but gradually the activity began consuming Beck’s life.

“Great Big Story took to the skies over Powder Mountain Resort in Utah for a big-picture look at Beck’s recent work. The scale and grandeur of it was amazing…”

Below, check out some images of Beck’s recent work and then watch the video below to get to know the artist and his unbelievable work.

You can follow Great Big Story on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.

Art & Design

February 22 2016

Microquotes: Beautifully Tiny Hand Lettered Quotes

As you may know by now, I’m a fan of hand lettering and these small but impactful illustrations, I think, just take the art to the next level.

You may remember Dangerdust as the anonymous students at the Columbus College of Art and Design who snuck into a classroom each week and created beautiful chalk art. They would take famous quotes, found either through a Google search or a suggestion from a friend, draw up a rough sketch and then make a masterpiece using just chalk. (See here and here.)

The duo, who may now have graduated (no one knows for sure), recently started a new series called MicroQuotes. First, they draw by hand small-scale quotes almost always starting with pencil. Then, they color in their drawings either with colored pencils, watercolor, or regular paints.

I love their choice of quotes and all the thought behind choosing how to illustrate them; what medium they used or what colors they chose. My favorite quote out of the bunch? “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent van Gogh. Did you know that the famous artist suffered from mental illness? He had frequent episodes of depression, paralyzing anxiety and, according to some accounts, the symptoms of bipolar disorder (like me).

You can find Dangerdust on Behance, Instagram and Etsy.

Art & Design

February 19 2016

Fun Links of the Week #13

Alright, ready for another batch of fun links of the week? Let’s see, this weekend we were suppose to go to Disneyland to celebrate Parker and my niece’s birthdays but one of the main freeways going there is closed so we postponed the trip. I’m looking to doing something fun with the kiddos, maybe practice my family photography a bit too, but I haven’t decided on a place yet. Also, heading to my sister’s to catch up.

Enjoy these links!

Adele chomping on wheatgrass made me laugh. What a good sport.

I think I’ll get a nice pair of PJs. Blue or white?

Winners of the 2016 World Press Photo Contest. Always powerful.

Want to read this book, Don’t Get a Job… Make a Job. (On Amazon, comes out March 15.)

Funny alternative scouting merit badges. I like grave robbing and invisibility.

Do you dig the new logo for New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (THE MET)?

I think my dogs, Fozzy and Charlie, need their own birthday celebrations.

How I feel sometimes. #depressionsucks

When needle felting and Japanese Kawaii style meet. (Love the rainy cloud.)

What the most successful weight-losers ate. Fiber?!

As a coffee table book junkie, there’s a few here I’d like to buy.

Is remembering everything a blessing or a curse?

This place belongs in my Dream House – Inside Pinterest board.

Cute Albert Einstein T.

How i’d love to be in Hawaii to see this. (Especially the Audrey Kawasaki piece.)

This place is definitely on my bucket list.

Should we push our kids to to find a passion?

Be a Nice Human print here.

Art & Design

February 16 2016

Adorable Family of Owls Painting by Tiffany Bozic

San Francisco-based artist Tiffany Bozic created this adorable painting of three owls resting on a pyramid of golden four leaf clover. It is called Triangle of Love. Look closely and you’ll see a delicate glistening string threading them together. This is meant to symbolize the universal and unconditional familial bond between mother, father and child. I found the charming work by way of Juxtapoz magazine, this piece landed on the front page cover of their March 2016 issue.

Bozic is opening a solo show at New York’s Joshua Liner Gallery starting on March 17 and running until April 16, 2016. The Animal in Us will feature eight new works that focus on the connection between humans and animals. Bozic grew up in rural Arkansas where she witnessed, firsthand, animals’ cycle of life. Married to an ornithologist, she often accompanies her husband on expeditions to remote locations, which no less inspires her work.

I love collecting anything to do with owls so this piece speaks to my heart!

Art & Design

February 11 2016

Fun Links of the Week #12

I’m headed to Mammoth tomorrow for the long holiday weekend. We’re going up there with five other families so it should be a fun time, especially for the kids. It’ll be Parker and Logan’s first official road trip, the six hour drive should be an adventure in and of itself. Hopefully we’ll do some sledding and Parker may even try out skiing for the first time. This will be my last post till Tuesday. Have a great long weekend!

Now here are some fun links of the week, brought to you a day early.

OK Go’s new zero gravity video is pretty cool, especially when they release all the balls.

Harry Potter fans, rejoice!

The neon Oh Joy! light is everything.

Who wouldn’t want to kayak through here?

Love these new NASA posters by Seattle design firm Invisible Creature.

Vogue lovers should visit this new exhibition.

Now you can sleep in a Van Gogh bedroom! (Kinda.)

The case for diversity on TV. “That audience wants authenticity; advertisers want that audience.”

Krispy Kreme’s Japan collaboration! (I want to try the sakura.)

This is HUGE.

Recreation of Edgar Degas’ ballet dancers by Misty Copeland.

Art & Design

February 8 2016

Surrealist Topiary Cats by Richard Saunders

Artist Richard Saunders takes our love for cats and combines it with the art of topiary to create this fun series The Topiary Cat. Inspired by Tolly, his Russian Blue Cat, Saunders makes photo montages of of huge topiary kittens lying in fields, on beaches or in gardens. Some of his photos seem so real that they’ve been viewed millions of times and shared over fifty thousand times. The Topiary Cat is so popular, in fact, that it has its own website and Facebook page. How cool would it be if these were real?

via Lustik

Art & Design

February 5 2016

Fun Links of the Week #11

Whew! We got through another week. What are you up to this weekend? My sister is hosting a Superbowl/Chinese New Year’s party at her place this Sunday. I’m looking forward to seeing those Superbowl ads. This year, can you believe it costs a record $5 million for a :30 second spot? Ridiculous, isn’t it! Monday is the official beginning of the Chinese New Year. Time to celebrate the year of the monkey.

Now let’s take a moment to check out the fun links of the week.

This dessert looks decadent.

Would you try this clothing delivery service?

These leggings make me want to hit the gym.

To lose weight, what’s more important: Diet or Exercise?

Design lovers will want to pre-order this book.

How do we feel about their homes? (For the record, I prefer Kourtney’s style.)

Is this where millennials will buy their art?

I think I need this adorable animal in my life.

Cutest heart sneakers.

Now those are some strange-looking bagels.

Devastating to see a city of 800,000 reduced to this.

My whole family loves their movies. What would they be without John Lasseter?

Loving this dreamy papercut art.

This Saturday, experience an ethereal installation in downtown Los Angeles!

Kinda cool idea, Crayola. I may just pick up a pair for Parker.

Art & Design

February 4 2016

Ghostly Humanlike Figures in Europe’s First Underwater Sculpture Museum

British artist Jason deCaires Taylor just installed a new series of surreal installations underwater off the coast of Lanzarote, Spain. This is significant because it is the the first underwater contemporary art museum in Europe and the Atlantic Ocean. Called Museo Atlantico, it was constructed 14 meters beneath the water’s surface. The permanent installations are accessible to both snorkelers and divers. The museum will be open to visitors starting February 25, 2016.

The main installation is called The Rubicon and it consists of a ghostly group of 35 people walking toward something, be it a a gate, a point of no return, or a portal to another world. While some figures appear to be reading a book, others are solemnly walking with their eyes closed, content though unsure of where they are headed. I love how The Rubicon feels eerie, like you’ve come across a scary scene from a horror movie, a group of people who can’t be stopped.

You can read an in-depth article about these new works over on The Guardian.

Jason deCaires Taylor’s website

Art & Design

February 2 2016

Photorealistic Drawings of Women with Fun Pops of Color

I stumbled across the hip work of Kei Meguro today. The Tokyo-born, New York-based illustrator and graphic designer is known for her pretty, photorealistic drawings of women, which she creates using a combination of traditional tools, like pencils, graphite and charcoal in conjunction with software like Photoshop, to add those whimsical pops of color. Each piece takes from a day to three days to complete. For work like hers, Cara Delevingne is the perfect muse.

You can find Kei Meguro on her website, Tumblr, Behance, and Instagram.

Art & Design

February 1 2016

20 Beautifully Uplifting Hand Lettered Messages

Ready for some uplifting messages to start your week? I’ve always admired artists who have the skill and patience to hand letter. Recently, I found an Instagram account, called Lettering on Sunday, that’s dedicated to showcasing high quality hand lettering by passionate artists. If you want to broadcast your work, you can tag your post with #letteringonsunday and Lettering on Sunday may just feature it.

Here is a wonderful passage I found from Print Magazine about the beauty and art of hand lettering. It was taken from their February 2015 article, The Explosive Hand Lettering Rebellion.

A stealthy resurgence happening in the design world—a rebellion against the cold, sleek, digital environment in which we designers spend most of our time. Hand lettering is not-so-quietly making a colossal comeback, exploding into the forefront of design. It no longer has to hide on the B-side or apologize for looking hand lettered. Categories that used to be forbidden, such as logos and packaging, now embrace this historic form of typographic expression. It’s appearing everywhere—even on A-list products such as movie titles, magazines, book covers and advertisements. Hand lettering is out, proud and absolutely amazing.

The beauty of hand lettering is its flexibility and adaptability. It can be found in so many forms and so many different types of media that it appeals to almost every audience. From whimsical to elegant, and old school to new school—there is hand lettering inspiration out there for everyone.

Hand lettering involves taking a completely different approach to the use of text in design, moving away from the skills used for traditional typography. Whilst typography concentrates on the art and technique of arranging type, generally using preexisting typefaces, hand-lettering is the art of drawing letters. To put it a little more simply, typography is graphic design, whereas lettering is illustration.

Out of thousands of Instagram posts on hand lettering, I picked out 20 of my favorites. I love how these artists have taken simple messages and made them beautifully impactful.

Above by: Cymone Wilder

By Selena Ashley Designs.