obsessing

listening

Patrick Martinez. more of his work, here.

if you haven't listened to This American Life's two-part program about Harper High School on the south side of Chicago, do it or queue it for when you can. it brings up a lot of valid points about gun violence in america today. if 29 people are shot in one day, it's a tragedy and can never happen again. if they are shot over the course of a year, it barely makes news. neither should be happening, and there needs to be frank conversations about all gun violence, and the reporting of said violence, in america.

part one, here.

part two, here.

if you feel moved after you listen to it, and wish to donate to Harper High School, you can do so, here. they're about 6% into their goal of $2 million USD.

reading

Richard E. Robbins: You've Been Lied to, and Other Truths About Educating Girls

from huffpo

additional bonus, beyonce bender.

my friends are all adults / i'm still a teenage girl

in my previous post, i wrote about my mood books. here are some excerpts.

from book one, started 01.2003

ewan

jeff buckley

blindfolded, from AnOther Magazine

spikes + lisa frank

stella + prada

viktor + rolf

black-haired boy + bright eyes

valentine made from a gum arabic transfer from a rubbing off a headstone, typography + the letterform

bright eyes

bright eyes

jewels

late to the party, as usual

pinterest. i used to despise it. in fact, when i first started using it, nearly a year ago i thought it was completely pointless. mostly because i'm a bit old school with my mood boards - i like them to be tangible objects. i love nothing more than a giant piece of foam core and a heap of magazine swipes. hell, i'll even tape things up to a blank wall.

when i was a teenager, my parents let me literally wallpaper the walls of my room. in 1994 (gasp!) it was all gavin rossdale. wall-to-wall gavin: stuff i had printed out off the internet (!!! do you know how LONG that took in 1994 with a dial-up AOL connection?! oh, to be that dedicated again), magazines i had cut up - all meticulously gridded on the wall. nothing meant more to me than a well-organized wall of gavin. i wish i still had pictures of it - it was truly epic (see the very last of it, on this blog, right here) it went quite nicely with the sunflower duvet set + matching drapes. i painted the ceiling of my room half light blue, and half midnight blue. on the midnight blue side i decorated with glow-in-the-dark stars (above my bed, duh) and on the light blue sky i sponged fluffy white clouds. needless to say, my sanctuaries reflect my inner mind, and i'm big into nesting.

in design school, i had decorated my workspace with everything i could find: bits of string, scraps of paper, fabric swatches, until the head of our program demanded that we put all of it into books, so as to not be distracted. that worked for awhile, and i still have those precious books in my burgeoning library, but i missed staring at the wall of things. now we talk about the "internet of things" but i miss the "walls of things." when i moved to LA, i continued my love of putting things up on walls by joining no less than three record label street teams. i loved going into coffee shops and vintage stores, chatting up the fellow comrades-in-retail-arms, and sticking up posters of my favorite bands.

my handiwork, in LA. yes that's a poster for hitch in the background.

now that i live in a studio, it's a lot harder to create mood boards, but it hasn't stopped me. and every few months, if you come by my apartment there will be pages and pages of drawings taped wherever they might fit. now, i have one piece of foam core that informed the first embroidery projects - i often wish instead of having to write and artist statement, i could have a visual statement. the board accurately reflects and references back to the work so much that i think it communicates far better where the work is coming from than i could write. because of this lack of space, and lack of funds to purchase more foam core, i've turned to my old nemesis: pinterest.

brought up in a recent skype with my bff in NYC, i expressed my disdain for pinterest. she countered that she can't see my boards if they exist only in my apartment. so, i downloaded the app, and promptly fell down the pin-hole. pinned about 225 things in two days. now i love it. now it makes sense. i still kind of hate it because it sucks my time, and it lacks the tangibility of a proper board, but it'll do for those things that exist only on the internet, or i don't want to bother printing. so i'm sold on pinterest. for now.

pin my boards (? i don't know the pin-lingo) here: black hearts

all grey everything

kitty-sitting for the always dapper HNB, the prime minister of underthebedistan. his secretary said he had lots of meetings, and that's why he refused cuddles, and spent time under the bed. he is a busy little dictator.

i told you not to bother me whilst i am in meetings. you will pay for this.

anatole, not now! forces from the ottoman are invading! have to be on the bed, even though the humanoid is on it.

we lost some comrades today. i am resigned to letting you pet me, in order to assuage some of my pain.

get my good side, for the official palace portrait.

all cats are grey in the dark.

reading

since starting a new job, my favorite lunch activity is to walk down to walgreens, pick up the trashiest/awesomest magazine i can find, and go to panera and eat lunch. today, i found a new magazine, Nail It!. it's obviously responding to the manic manicure trend that has sprung up in western female/girl culture (it's been alive and thriving in Japan forever.) just check out any instagram and you'll probably see a lot of nails. nails on nails on nails. all nails everything. so, onto Nail It!

i think the Nail It! logo is fresh:

starting out well, free samples of nail stickers. i effing love nail stickers:

Nail It! taught me that men care about your manicure, too. thanks a lot, Nail It!. i thought that my nails were the one thing i didn't have to worry about a man noticing. but, let's be honest, "Scott" isn't straight. so, that being said, gay guys are welcome to judge my nails all they want.

mmm now i want some ice cream...

ew, netflix for nails? would you use this? answer yes or no, with reasons, in the comments. i vote no out of hygiene and over-all ick factor, but prove me wrong.

yes, please, want very much. Dose Color Pills nail polish! j'adore the packaging. perfect chill pill is giving yourself an at-home mani.

over all, Nail It! was a fun romp through girly-thing-times. not entirely sold, and at 5.99USD an issue, it's kind of pricey for a lot of ads. anyhow, if you're into this kinda thing, visit Nail It! online, here.

palette play

paper is an excellent app for playing with color. i'm not a painter, and don't have the patience for watercolor, so it helps me play with color whenever i'm bored.

color tests for future embroideries.

what will i do / what i will do

current project list as of 02.26.13:

+ tattoo drawing (past due)

+ studio / apartment clean up for visit (03.01.13)

+ completion of current mid-size embroidery work for said studio visit (03.01.13)

+ table card design / place setting design for wedding (03.09.13)

+ two-headed great white shark with human heads in mouth crochet taxidermy (05.31.13)

+ website design for independent contractor (open-ended)

+ concept sketches for two large canvas works (open-ended)

current time sucks to be avoided, 02.26.13:

pinterest

buzzfeed

instagram

oscar redux

i will confess, i did not watch one minute of the oscars. but i did pick my favorite dresses, obvi.

with the win, Jennifer Lawrence. mostly because of her answer to what she was wearing, and the subsequent press room photo. PS just so you know, in the movie of my life, JLaw will play me.

Dior Haute Couture

in a close second, Naomi Watts. what is HAPPENING with that neckline? j'adore.

custom Armani

in third place, Halle Berry, who never ages. like, what. love this.

Marchesa

in fourth, mostly because she was just arm candy, Stacey Kiebler. but i love this. she was almost second. hell, she was almost first, but i adore Jennifer Lawrence too much to do that to her.

Naeem Khan

here is to someday having a reason to buy a fabulous gown and wearing it with ridiculous heels. le sigh.

things i do now that i am 30

go to bed at a reasonable hour

go to bed at a reasonable hour during the work week

wear moisturizer with SPF

walk

clean my apartment regularly

plan for the future

think about the future

drink the daily recommended allotment of water

care about my health

remember birthdays

remember to check FB for people's birthdays

keep in better contact with friends/family

remain balanced through various outlets

create/collaborate

enjoy life

life doesn't suck most of the time

things i do not do now that i am 30

sleep in eyeliner

bite my nails

bite my nails all the time

drunk text ex-lovers

go to work hungover

go to work still drunk

avoid going to the dentist

smoke cigarettes

don't care about my health

overdraft my bank account

do illegal drugs

get in petty fights and/or physical altercations

get kicked out of bars

cry

cry all the time

pattern play

one of my childhood friends, artist Doni Funkhouser, has a truly unique visual style which she uses to create psychedelic wonder-worlds of color. she also parlays this artistic eye to her very own vintage clothing store, located in our hometown, called Mod Closet. not only does she seek out amazing vintage pieces, but the prices cannot be beat.

recently, she posted work she did as Doctor Funlaw (a combination of her name, and her art partner's name), titled Sailor's Warning, for Spaceships' new album cover I am a Storm at Sea and i fell in LOVE.

in progress

completed work

i just want to ride that wave (even if i've only been surfing once) to a magical universe where there might be dragons. i am inspired by the use of color, and the pain-staking process of drawing something intricate and complex that ends up looking like stained glass that members of Pink Floyd might have in their house.

visit Doctor Funlaw on the world-wide-web, here.

visit Mod Closet in person, if you're in the michiana region, at 201 s. main st., elkhart, in. check them out on the web, here. PS, check out their dope commercial, here.

design elegance

this amazing device is light enough that the wind blows it around the desert, but heavy enough that it detonates land mines. i bet it's beautiful to watch.

visit Massoud Hassani's website.

read more about the project, and watch a video here.

illustration / inspiration

kirsten ulve is one of my all-time favorite illustrators; she was a huge inspiration to me during design school. love the wit + whimsy she infuses in her work.

visit kirsten ulve's website, here.

watching

This American Life, The Invisible Made Visible

stuck in the middle with you

my block. stuck in between people who make over 70K USD and under 20K USD. nob hill v. chinatown.

fittingly accurate.

where will we go

continue tour of world based on tadao ando museums:

next on list = punta della dogana museum, venice, ITALY

next on list = modern art museum of fort worth, fort worth TX, USA

next on list = chikatsu-asuka historical museum, osaka prefecture, JAPAN

next on list = museum of wood, mikata-gun forest, hyogo prefucture, JAPAN

future dated = maritime museum for cultural district, abu dhabi city, UAE

color studies

pink / light pink / hot pink / white-pink / peach / orange / light orange / sand

blue / green / turquoise / aqua / blue-green / green-blue / grey / black

black / grey / white / silver / dark grey / pearl grey / earl grey

all photos © me, at the sf zoo

progression

reading

Neil Freeman, fake is the new real.

A Crazy But Rational Solution To Our Electoral College Problem, via NPR.

reading

William Powhida

interesting investigation into inner intestines of art

How Uptown Money Kills Downtown Art