Category: Art & Design


Art & Design

January 6 2017

Fun Links of the Week

We have some close friends in town so we’ll be hanging out with them this weekend. Also, it’s my sister Carol’s birthday in two days and we’ll celebrating it at Benihana. Should be some good times.

Now, let’s get to the fun links of the week.

I want to get my children into coloring books, especially these ones by famous artists (like the brilliant Yayaoi Kusama).

For anyone who has dealt with anxiety or depression, it’s nice and reassuring to know that you’re not alone.

Bought this fox welcome mat and this rainbow doormat this week but I’d really love this fox rug.

I love looking ahead. Here are 10 tech trends that will rule CES. (I’m all about Alexa!)

Looking to take a vacation? NY Times gives you 52 places to go in 2017.

Celebrities are just people, too. Like this photo series. It was refreshing, if not a bit eye-opening.

Since this was the week to make New Year resolutions, I enjoyed reading these from a photographer.

Could dyeing your hair pink change your life?

If I could be disciplined about taking a photo a day, this would help.

Photo: Alexandra Sophia


Art & Design

January 4 2017

Beautifully Ethereal Oil Paintings by Stanka Kordic

While watching my first CreativeLive video, Finding, Defining, and Marketing Your Photographic Style, I learned that we can find our own photographic style by emulating our favorite artists. We don’t copy them outright, rather, we analyze their work and think about what elements of theirs we can add to our photography. Teacher and fellow photographer Julia Kelleher challenged her class to find three sources of inspiration. These people can be painters, designers, digital artists or even other photographers. I racked my brain to come up with my top three. They would be Max Wanger (love his use of negative space), the late and great Rodney Smith (his compositions were impeccable) and Audrey Kawasaki (her oil paintings on wood panel take my breath away).

One of the artists that Kelleher is inspired by is Stanka Kordic. During all my time at My Modern Met, I had never heard of this painter before. As I looked through her body of work, I fell in love with her style. In particular, I love how she paints flower petals, they look like they’re swirling in the air. It’s almost as if you can see the wind. Her mother/daughter paintings are especially evocative. They remind me of the pure love a mother has for her child.

Here’s what Artist A Day On-line Magazine wrote about her work:
“Stanka Kordic’s collectors would say her work affects them on many levels. To see her entire body of work, the art critic may have trouble putting her into a specific category. Both would agree she is one our best modern painters. Neither traditional impressionism nor expressionism, nor figurative realism can be used to label Stanka Kordic. Her paintings speak for themselves, never nostalgic replications of by-gone days, but truly contemporary and magnificent examples of Modern Art rendered with the skill and passion of the Master’s traditions. Her paintings provide lasting pleasure as one is always delighted to find a previously undiscovered passage with each new glance.”

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How do you feel about Stanka Kordic’s work?


Art & Design

December 29 2016

Fun Links of the Week

I’ll be taking tomorrow and Monday off to hang out with my boys and enjoy a little R&R. I thought what better way to end the year than with another edition of Fun Links of the Week. (I should be putting up Fun Links of the Year but that would be too crazy!) I have included some year end, wrap-up posts, however, for those in need of some closure.

That being said, I hope you are enjoying some time off. You deserve it! Let’s meet back in 2017. I know this is a little early, but, “Happy New Year!” Here’s to an amazing 2017.

Sam and I bought each other this for Christmas. It’s the best thing ever. (Thank you, Amazon.)

What a beautifully modern house. (Those pivoting glass doors!)

This pink silk ruffle top is the epitome of elegance.

What America Ate, Drank and Saw in 2016. (I like their prediction for 2017….udon and soba.)

I like how you can do these simple yet dazzling make-up tricks with just glitter.

Drawings don’t have to be complicated to be heartfelt or cute.

8 books that will change your life in 2017. (Already read Year of Yes, interested in Emotional Agility.)

This porcelain white tea mug with handmade lavender paintings is so pretty.

I’m debating on whether or not to buy this Star Stuff print.

I wish I could buy this as a print.

Can’t wait to see how Disney pulls this off.

In 2016, what were the big stories in Urban Innovation?

I admire the fact that Carrie Fisher talked about being bipolar. #InHonorOfCarrie

Love this neon ice cream artwork. (Too bad it’s sold out.)

Admit it. Are you a Yuccie?

One of my favorite design blogs picks their favorite posts of the year. (I don’t need it but I want a massive table.)


Art & Design

December 28 2016

Mesmerizing Gifs of Flowers and Insects by Anna Taberko

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I am completely mesmerized by these gifs by Anna Taberko. Inspired by fellow artist, Nicolas Fong, she created these gifs that feature flowers and insects. My favorite one (above) shows pollination, where carpenter bees swirl swiftly around white daisies, picking up pollen on their way.

In case you wanted to brush up on your knowledge of the pollination process, where’s what SF Gate says, “When a bee lands on a daisy flower, it immediately seeks out nectar; in the process, it picks up thousands of microscopic pollen grains on its body. As it moves around on the daisy, it redeposits the pollen from the male anthers to the female stigmas. It also moves from flower to flower repeating this procedure hundreds of times each day. Bees transport some of the pollen back to the hive, where it rubs off on the bodies of other bees, which keeps the pollination process going.”

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Anna Taberko on Tumblr


Art & Design

December 28 2016

Beautiful Illustrations Highlight the Natural Beauty of Japan

If you have ever wanted to take a trip to Japan, let Tatsuro Kiuchi be your guide. He’s the artist behind these beautiful illustrations that highlight the country’s natural beauty. These were cover illustrations of Please, a free brochure issued monthly by Japan Railway Kyushu. You can find one of these brochures at one of many of the trains stations located in Kyushu.

Often, Kiuchi is asked to illustrate a historic landmark or famous spot featured in the booklet. For the waterfall work, seen immediately below, he needed to illustrate one of the popular waterfalls located in Kyushu’s Kagoshima Prefecture. As he explained, “I thought it could make an interesting and unusual composition by depicting a waterfall from very far away in [the] distance to show how it existed as a part in nature.

The piece was awarded a silver medal in the institutional category by Society of Illustrators Illustrators 56.

My favorites works are the ones showing cherry blossom trees and fields of flowers.

I also love this whimsical series featuring children and books.

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Tatsuro Kiuchi on Behance


Art & Design

December 20 2016

Happy and Humorous Holiday GIFs

A team of creatives got together to create some fun gifs for the holidays. Disney XD invited them to make a series of holiday loops for their LOL app. As they wrote, “So we spent the summer listening to endless loops of Holiday music and loved every minute of it. Deck the halls with boughs of gifs, Right?!! Rudolph the Rednosed ReinGIF?!”

You can watch the full montage, in video, at the end of this post. Here are some of my favorite GIFs. (Love the Snapchat one.)

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Disney // Holiday Loops from Giant Ant on Vimeo.


Art & Design

December 20 2016

Fun Bears Illustration by Doublenaut

I’m loving this fun bears illustration by brothers Matt and Andrew McCracken of Doublenaut. It has this cool, retro vibe to it yet it’s still modern. Recently, the two were interviewed by Adobe’s Create about their creative process.

Here’s are a few quotes, about their style, that I liked:

“Matt: We’re inspired by mid-century modern graphic design—simple illustrations that are geometric, with bold color schemes and simple type.”

“Ross: That era of design is timeless. It’s not about trends. It’s simple, clean, well-thought-out. You could use a poster from the mid-1960s now and it would be still be relevant.”

Read more about them over at Adobe Create.


Art & Design

December 16 2016

Fun Links of the Week

What are you up to this weekend? Tonight, Parker and Logan have a recital at their school. I can’t wait to hear them belt out Christmas music. (Parker’s been practicing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer with hand signals and it’s been adorable). This weekend, the kids are also going to see Santa at my in-law’s clubhouse. It’s a fun family tradition.

Can you believe that it’s only 9 days till Christmas?

In any case, here are the Fun Links of the Week:

Whether ombre is “in” or not, I still love this scarf and coat.

I still kiss my 4-year-old on the lips. Is something wrong with that?

I’m always looking to find refreshing Instagram feeds.

Love inspiring business stories like this. (Thinking of scooping up one of their candles.)

When Maria Popova of Brain Pickings selects her favorite books, you have to check them out.

This colorful house in Sweden has lots of DIY decor ideas.

Are you excited to see this movie? Reviews have been (mostly) good. (I have yet to see this.)

I know this is kind of kitschy but I can’t help but love the clever packaging.

Do you lie down with your kids until they fall asleep? (Guilty!)

Walt Disney’s Palm Springs home was way more colorful than I imagined.

At family functions, my sister, Grace usually makes the cheese boards. They usually look something like this.

I know it’s a bit sappy but this Christmas story had me tearing up at the end.

How do we feel about using light projectors instead of traditional Christmas lights?

Calling all aspiring artists! You may want to check out this book by Lisa Congdon.

This colorful print gives me all the feels.

I want to try this! It’s almost too pretty to drink.

“All I Want for Christmas’ carpool karaoke gave me the chills. Love that song!

Photo by Andy Seliverstoff via Bored Panda.


Art & Design

December 14 2016

Beautiful New Print of Where the Wild Things Are

SPOKE SF has joined forces with MiDNiTES FOR MANiACS to present three classic Spike Jonze films: Where the Wild Things Are, Being John Malkovich, and Adaptation.

To commemorate this special event, they commissioned three talented artists: Matt Taylor, Guillaume Morellec, and Patrick Concepcion to make new limited edition screenprints inspired by Jones’ films. This one, by Matt Taylor, is my favorite. Posters will first be for sale this Friday night at the New Parkway Theater in Oakland or this Saturday night at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco where they’ll be showing a triple feature of Spike Jonze’s classics.

All leftover prints will be available online Monday, December 19th at 11AM PST. Judging by how beautiful this one is, I doubt they’ll be any left!

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