No more self-imposed creative limitations.
am highly skilled when it comes to adapting to lengthy guilt trips. So skilled, in fact, that sometimes I actually forget how to get back home to Guilt-Free Land. Since I entered grad school (roughly X years ago), I haven’t really allowed myself much of a creative outlet. My thinking, especially as procrastination on my doctoral work grew stronger, was something along the lines of, “If I have the time to illuminate this initial, then I should be devoting that time to my dissertation.” Instead, I devoted that time to effectuating a stealth downward-spiral into self-doubt and severe depression. Go figure.
This blog, coupled with my second, more design-oriented blog, has been INVALUABLE with respect to me gradually allowing myself more and more creative liberties. Over the past year, I’ve produced more crafty and artistic projects than I had completed in the previous five years combined. No exaggeration. And it’s been such a boost, not only for my mood, but for my motivation, my pride in myself for being productive and producing work I’m happy with… and that confidence and productivity seep into the academic side of my life as well. So, now the key is to find the balance between the creative and the intellectual. Which seems slightly ridiculous, because the two are hardly mutually exclusive. Yet, for some reason, in my mind, I had categorized them as such. I went into my undergraduate career planning on majoring in Fine Arts. I dropped it before my freshman year came to a close, and I moved onto French and English literature. Once I made that switch, it was almost as though I tucked away all my art supplies, donned a beret and became “French girl.” Funny, huh? Considering France’s relationship to artistic revolutions.
Anyway.
So I’m now reacquainting myself with my artistic side. I’ve been doing a lot of paper repurposing, but I’ve also been drawing a lot in my sketchbook and re-honing my lettering and calligraphy skills. Fortunately, it’s been a lot like riding a bike. (Big sigh of relief there.) My fire lit instantly, and it glows brightly. And I plan to keep stoking it as much as I can. Note: as much as I “can” does not equal as much as I “want.” Have to remember the dissertation… May graduation… I think I can.
In the meantime, I’ve finally decided to get my butt on Etsy and attempt to make some money off of my fun little creations. Shameless plug, yes. Sorry sorry. But, please remember, I’m a poor grad student with overdue medical bills. Self-preservation, baby.
I’ve already featured some pics of my new Etsy shop over at Words & Eggs, but I know that I have some followers here that don’t follow W&E. So, here are a few images of my favorite items in my shop: paper packs, mixed paper Paper Clips Journals, custom lettering, and customized handmade family trees. Please take a look, and feel free to contact me or convo me with any questions! Thanks to all of you for your continued support, and for creating a lovely little inspirational community here for me…
The thing with creativity and inspiration is that you never know when it’s going to flood the gates… or when it’s going to completely dry up. For now, I’m taking full advantage and bathing in the flood waters. I’d love the financial opportunity to continue to do so. Please let me know if you’d like to work with me and/or brainstorm any projects. There are LOTS of options for family trees: Christmas advent calendar trees, anniversary trees, newborn baby trees featuring baby stats, friendship trees… the list goes on. They make great, unique birthday and holiday gifts!
OK, I’ll stop plugging myself now.
Thanks again,
LY
Jessica Hische’s Daily Drop Caps…
eautiful initials by typographer, designer, and illustrator Jessica Hische, who has a newly minted Daily Drop Caps project, whereby “each day (or at least each WORK day), a new hand-crafted decorative initial cap will be posted for your enjoyment and for the beautification of blog posts everywhere.” Jessica provides the HTML code to copy/paste directly into your blog posts to take advantage of her letterific creations!
Daily Drop Caps thus far, magnified:
I am in love with these, by the way. Which you could probably guess considering all of the illuminated initials I’ve used throughout my blog posts since my blog’s inception last year. I guess you could say that Jessica Hische is kind of my hero. Visit her blog HERE.
I am absolutely in love with this trailer.
Typophile Film Festival 5, Opening Titles
From the site:
Handcrafted with love by BYU design students and faculty, for the 5th Typophile Film Festival. A visual typographic feast about the five senses, and how they contribute to and enhance our creativity. Everything in the film is real—no CG effects!
(Thanks to @MilkAndEggsCo for clueing me in!)
To my quick ear the leaves conferred…
have been on quite a hiatus from both of my blogs, for a variety of reasons, for quite some time. Quality writing (or any writing, really, let’s be honest) is hard to come by for me lately, so, instead, I’ll let the following baffling creations speak for me.
Thanks to Aesthetic Outburst for clueing me into the following brilliantly delicate (and, yes, slightly expensive) silhouette creations by Jenny Lee Fowler. Did I mentioned they’re created from natural materials such as leaves, feathers, and bark? Yeah. I am in awe. Check out more of her work on her Etsy site HERE.
Pog title borrowed from Emily Dickinson’s poem:
To my quick ear the leaves conferred;
The bushes they were bells;
I could not find a privacy
From Nature’s sentinels.In cave if I presumed to hide,
The walls began to tell;
Creation seemed a mighty crack
To make me visible.
*Initial “I” found HERE
Channeling your inner mathlete.
his website has probably already made the rounds, but, well, I’m a little slow on the uptake. Maybe you are, too?
The following images have been graciously borrowed from the geekily creative NewMath.com:
And, my personal favorite:
hee hee
(*letter T found over at the lovely FromOldBooks.org)
More Than Words…
ome recent finds to share with you…
Books offer proof for the artistic quality of letters and word combinations. The following take that artistry to a whole other level…
First, we have a new take on “le fond et la forme” :
For, at closer inspection, you’ll find that “I love your credit card”:
Here’s another lovely trompe l’oeil:
Beautifully vintage, isn’t it? Gorgeous. Especially when you look more closely and discover that you’re a “f*cking naive f*cker”:
The above are all representative of the pattern painting by artist Tsang Kin-wah, which you may find on his website HERE. I was introduced to these beautiful-yet-unpleasant hybrids on the I LOVE TYPOGRAPHY blog.
I love the I Love Typography blog. I have always been obsessed with letters and letter styles and fonts, and what one may create with them. My favorite show as a child was “The Letter People” on PBS (“Sesame Street” didn’t hold a candle to it, as far as I was concerned). My fascination-borderline-obsession-with-letters never left me… the illuminated initials that start each of my pogs are a testament to that. Once I have the technology to post some of my calligraphy on here, you’ll see just how thoroughly letters have enveloped my existence. And I mean that in a good way.
So, as you can imagine, letterpress makes me giddy. Which is precisely how I felt when I came across TYPORETUM and their letterpress stationery and cards. Here are some samples (heavy on the actual letterpress because I want to run my fingers over them. umm, not in a creepy way, you sickos.):
Working the letterpress:
Photo Ops.
wasn’t going to pog anything today because, well, quite frankly, I just ain’t feelin’ it. Get this: I was up from 3:30-7:30am this morning. “Why?” you ask in your most sympathetic tone? Well, thank you for your concern, I’ll tell you: because apparently Insomnia’s one of those unfortunate (and annoying) visitors that just can’t take a hint and take a freakin’ hike. Talk about overstaying your welcome…! Come on, Insomnia, clue yourself in, for crying out loud! Sheesh. Anyway, so I’m a borderline somnambule right now.
WHOA. TIME-the-F-OUT. I’m watching the testament to journalistic brilliance that is Extra, and Dayna Devon just turned up on a red carpet with Paula Abdul, who seems to think that Sarah Palin is copying/exploiting her hairstyle. Umm, I seem to have missed the memo about “The Paula” sweeping the nation this campaign season. By now, you know I’m not exactly an SP fan, but I sincerely doubt that she’s been looking to the Abdulameister for stylistic inspiration. I mean, come on: SP’s too busy packin’ pistols, applyin’ lipstick, and awkwardly passin’ around her baby Trig for photo-ops.
Time-out over.
So sorry. Paula Abdul isn’t the reason why I decided to pog in my zombie-esque state. And SP certainly isn’t. This is:
See how those walls are covered with pages from old books (in French)??? Umm… WHY HAVEN’T I THOUGHT OF THAT?! My life is enough of a whirlwind between fiction and reality, I suppose… perhaps living within fictional walls wouldn’t be the healthiest for me? Anyway, I just came across this lovely website called Sweet Paul. In fact, Paul is so unbelievably sweet that he made me swoon over the above lovely photos. He also introduced me to my new favorite French design site, called Harmonie Intérieure. If my interiors were this harmonious, I bet I’d be able to sleep through the night.
The fact that I’m going to become an AUNT (!!!!!!) for the first time (TO TWINS!!!!!! Un garçon et une fille…) probably has something to do with my current adoration for all things childish and whimsical… But also, come on: French + adorable kids playing + letters + bright colors = perhaps my most favorite equation.
By the way, Harmonie Intérieure also offers brilliant things such as these:
Oh that I were independently wealthy. And done with my dissertation. And a guitar-strummin’ folk singer. And… ok, I better stop.
I hope you enjoy these photos/sites as much as I do. Or at least a little close to “as much as I do.”
And called it mac-a-ro-ni!
The fashionable difference between Robin Hood and Peter Pan:
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Isn’t Feather-In-Your-Cap Couture AWESOME?!?
I found this lovely sketch here: I Am Mint Condition FLICKR Album.
It made me happy.
Oh, go ‘chuck yourself
esterday I wanted to take full advantage of my final day off before the start of teaching duties, so I made a beeline for my sister’s pool. Cut to me, poolside, basking in the sunshiny glory while ingesting the vocal and lyrical stylings of the lovely Ms. Neko Case (ongoing obsession) on my iPod and also reading the latest issue of Time. My iPod volume remained quite low so as to focus on the Time stuff, and suddenly I realized that I had been hearing this curious, ongoing rustling nearby. I turned my head about 45 degrees, and it was then that I earned my very first groundhog sighting!!!!! This little guy, whom I named Walter, was standing on his hind legs, chomping some leaves on a dangling tree branch. Walt merrily continued on… until he noticed me reaching for my cellphone so as to snap his picture and send it via phone to my sister and other friends who would appreciate such groundhoggy awesomeness (which, let’s face it, is pretty much EVERYONE!). Uneasy about my reach, my dear little WaltWhitman returned to the leaves of grass at ground-level and wobbled his little butt away as fast as he could. I was very sad. I thought we had something, Walter and I. I thought we connected. Rejection sucks.
Don't worry: those birdies are his friends.
Once I got back to my apartment, I Googled my dear Walter just to verify that he was, indeed, a groundhog (he was). And you know what I found out? apparently “groundhog” and “woodchuck” are interchangeable?! I never knew this top-secret marmot intelligence. Am I dumb?! Did you all know this?! You know what groundhog/woodchucks are ALSO known as? WHISTLEPIGS!!!!! That’s my favorite name ever. Whistlepig. “Did you hear that whistlepig last night?! What a greedy b@stard!” I guess the name derives from the whistle that groundchucks emit when they become scared and want to alert the rest of their posse that danger may be upon them. For the record: Walter clearly knew that I posed no threat (even though I *did* want to nab him and stash him in my backpack). No whistle from Walter the whistlepig. What can I say: the boy’s got GREAT instincts.
The wind beneath my wings, my illustration hero Mr. Jon Carling, sent me a lovely little sea hamster to commemorate Walter’s serendipitous presence in my life. I wanted to share with you all. See above.
Happy over-the-Hump Day!
Oh Nicky, you’re so fine…
ick Bantock is one of my most favoritest people alive. Wanna know why? Because he created this stuff, that’s why:
Nick takes me by the heart when he takes me by the hand
If you have any interest in checking out more of Nick Bantock’s writing and artistic creations, you could get started by taking a gander over here.
(Yeah, like I almost needed another reason to go to British Columbia…)
