Crazy for Patterns: Ikat, Batik, Tie-dye, and African Prints PLUS Damian Hirst's Spin Paintings...

(...images from here...)

I am really into all sorts of crazy patterns these days. I think it might be the myspace thing I mentioned earlier and maybe my growing love for M.I.A.. Here is a beautiful example of an ikat textile and here is an great picture of one being woven...

In the same vein are the ever wonderous tie-dye prints and amazing African textile prints. The African ones in particular I can never get over. I think it is so great that A Ervilha Cor de Rosa has been using so many of these colourful prints when making her dolls and baby slings. I have bought a few meters of different African patterns myself the last month or two but I still haven't made anything with it. I keep waiting for that right weekend to buckle down and get to it...

All these colours and prints (especially the Ikat prints) also remind me of these spin paintings by Damian Hirst - I saw one in real life the other day - they are huge! (and spectactular...)

(...images from here...)

Wow. I think I was a bit over ambitous with this post (again)! Hope you had a good Monday...

Bye!

Three Photos AND a Tag Session

(...if you want to see the shoes walking go here...)

Hi! Okay - I have been tagged by grijs (who - just for the record - has my favorite blog design ever. I can't believe it is a blogger blog! I'm jealous...). I think I might do a combo of random things about myself along with grijs's suggestion of listing the best decisions you've made in life so far. Are you ready? Here goes:

Random things:

1. It is strange to think that I came from places like here and here and then ended up here (well for now at least...).

2. I am kind of dreamy sometimes and I am always getting in trouble for being too slow, always late and being a bad planner. I really don't think I can help it. I always think I can fit in "one more thing"...

3. I am not really much of a cooking, kitchen type of person. I can only make about 5 things (that includes boiling an egg) and that is on my good days. I always thought I would get better but I just never take the time to figure it out. I am really jealous of people who can do those type of things because I think it makes life so much more homey and nice. Same with hair and make-up. I just never inherited those genes I guess. I just don't intuitively know how to do those things. I wish I did. I know I am going to be stuck with the same haircut the rest of my life because I just can't deal with a "hair-do"...Oh well.

4. I STILL haven't bought a cell phone, not for any political reasons but just because I haven't got around to it yet. But I really want one. I don't have an i-pod either but I kind of want one of those too a little - sometimes I even dream of this! P and I also didn't have a real computer with the internet until 2006, and I haven't watched T.V. regularly since I moved out of my parent's house ten years ago. Now I have zero tolerance for commercials. I would maybe watch some of the shows but I just can't hack the commercials. Everytime I go home for a visit I am excited to watch some junk but then an hour later I am feeling frustrated and antsy. Instead of T.V. we watch alot of movies - just rent them or go to the theatre.

5. I am kind of a nerd for real. I really nerd out on things. Like this blog for example - I totally dig it. I am always talking about how great blogging is and how I can't get over how awesome and amazing the internet is. My non-understanding-about-the-computer friends think I am a lunatic and wish I would stop bringing it up. But I can't help myself. Right now I am also nerding out big-time on old copies of National Geographic. I love them! I love reading them and looking at all the pictures. I think they might be the best magazine of all time. Except I don't think I would be into their current version. I guess I should check them out. But I think I only love the old ones.

Alright - and 5 of grijs's tag (I guess I will do ten things instead of 7 - see??? NERD.):

Best Decisions:

1. Falling in love with the P-man and staying with him for seven whole years - almost the whole of my twenties...

2. Studying art and design which really blew open the doors in my mind and gave me a way to understand the world and exist more or less happily in it and realizing that I am a "creative-type" for real even though I fought against it for awhile...

3. Doing the 7-day bike trip I did when I was sixteen that made me feel like I could do other scary things like move by myself to another city to go to art school, which in turn made me feel like I could then move to Montreal to go to school for a second time, which made me feel like I could handle moving to Scotland with P for four months to check it out and so on and so on...

4. Keeping in touch with my old friends either by cards, email or phone because it is easy to forget where you come from and they know a really old version of you and understand all your wierd quirks and still just like you for real.

5. Moving to New York because even though it is so hard and crazy sometimes it is also like injecting the creative part of your brain with fertilizer and I feel like I am running on a constant stream of inspiration and that I am vibrating on a completely different level of conciousness (in a good way of course!). And I am still crossing my fingers that our time here will pay off in the end somehow, even if it is just our memories of this experience and all our great friends here.

Golly. That was tougher to do than I thought - but fun! Sorry my answers are so long - I didn't meant to make them that wordy...jeez. I think I might be too shy to tag anyone else. I hope that is okay!

Talk soon...

Wolfgang Tillmans

(...images from here and here ...)

I rented a movie the other day that was a documentary about photographers. One of the artists featured was Wolfgang Tillmans who I have really admired for a long time. I actually went to see his work in this gallery a few months back and kept meaning to mention it. Below are some installation shots and here are some photos that I took when I saw the show. Also here is an interview and here is another article with lots of his images...

There are some things I really like about Tillmans's work such as his wide scope of the subject - from abstract experiments with light and colour, to unconventional portraits and straight-up still lives. I also love the banal beauty of his work which seems really appropriate at this moment what with digital photography making it so easy to take a million candid snaps.

Another thing that is so great is how he hangs his shows - with contrasting images together on the same wall, or many grouped together, sometimes with hanging devices and framed and sometimes just taped to the wall. I think that these decisions and details really make the work extra powerful.

(...all images from here...)

I Love Terrariums I Almost Forgot

When I used to work at the flowershop I loved to make terrariums! I didn't get the chance to do it that much, but it was really fun when I could. I love the pseudo-science fair look to them. Here are a few I found via Camp Creek Press...

I Made A Book

(...a few more pages here...)

Here is a little book I made right before Christmas. I have wanted to make a book for such a long long time so I am glad to finally have one in my hands! This was just a little trial run, a very small 4.25" x 7" tiny pocket-sized book printed in black and white and perfect bound. In any case, it's my first, it is called "A Book", it shall hopefully soon be followed by a "B Book" and "C Book" and so on, and I am very proud of it. You can buy it here if you so wish - be warned that Lulu seems to be a bit random with its trimming, so sometimes the borders are a little uneven and the bleeds don't go straight to the edge...hello desktop publishing! I don't mind - but you might - so now you know.

I have actually been fine-tuning "B Book" this afternoon and I am really excited about that one too - I am thinking that in the next couple of weeks it should be ready to go - cross your fingers...!

Have a great weekend!

Alvin Lustig

Someone reminded me recently of Alvin Lustig - a name I had put down way way at the top of my "Things to Post About" list - so here he is at last. I love the balance of shapes, colours and textures in these book covers. There are many more great designs logged in this online archive - you should check them out if you're interested...

First Post of the Year!

(...plus some others over here...)

Hello friends. Well here we are on the other side of the holiday. It is nice to be back! I had a good, but really speedy seeming break. I didn't realize how much I missed the family!

So I have a nagging cold and it is FREEZING here in the big city, but I am trying to be brave and collect myself together for some things that must get done. I have about three or four big projects on my list for the next two months and I will really have to get cracking if I want to finish everything. Hopefully I will be able to keep you posted as I tick through my list...lucky you right??

Anyway - I hope everyone is moving well and good into this New Year. It is hard to believe we are almost at the end of the decade. Sheesh. How did that happen?

Two good-seeming polaroid books here and here. This is the website for the person who made the first book and here is the wiki for the author of the second book. Does that make sense? Probably not, sorry.

Alright - on to accomplish some real-life things for a couple of hours before bed - promise to be back soon with some goods.

Bye!