Magic Eyes

RT INSPIRATION / MORGAN BLAIR

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Back in the day Magic Eye painting were all the rage. Remember? You would stare at them forever until some wack attack 3D image of a pharaoh or cat would jump out. Awesome! I was obessed which is maybe why I like Morgan Blair's pattern on pattern candy yum yum paintings. They somehow either remind me of the Magic Eye era or the paintings themselves. Nontheless, Morgan's methodical and repetitive paintings are pretty darn cool. Inspired by those delicious malted Easter eggs, the colour palette is good enough to eat. Basically, what's not to love? 

WHO Morgan Blair  WHERE Brooklyn, NY  WORK morganblair.com

JPop! Fun Times!

INSPIRATION TIME  / TREATS FROM JAPAN 

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When I was a kid I used to go to a crazy Japanese summer camp with kids from Tokyo who would send me box loads of gummy candies and Pocky. Nothing is more awesome than getting treats from abroad. Check out these radical gifts from Japan my dear friend from Caesar Pony picked up for me. They're so cooool. Thank you Emily! 

01 Loving my Torafu paper airvase in fluo pink. It's so beautiful when you pop it into a magical weblike creation. 02 Kamoi paper masking tape is my favorite. If I could, I would cover everything in this. Seriously. 03 This vintage Olive magazine from 1985 is editorial gold. Don't be surprised if suddenly my next project is inspired by this piece of 80's heaven. Jpop fun times!

Broad Strokes

ILLUSTRATION OF THE DAY / SANTTU MUSTONEN

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It's true. I have a sweet tooth. I guess that why I see ribbons of delicious taffy candy in Santtu Mustonen's  3D illustrations. Either that or this must be what it's like to live in a lava lamp. I'm totally loving these abstract illustrations. For more insight into Santtu's work, here's an interview on ligature. Enjoy.  

WHO Santtu Mustonen WHERE  The Netherlands  WORK samttumustonen.com  VIA  Pekka

Pop Tarts

INSPIRATION TIME / EMILIE DE GRIOTTES

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Yes it's true. Whenever I eat deserts, I make sure they're the right shade of Pantone. I mean, don't all designers do the same? I was checking out Creative Review this morning and I came across Emilie de Griottes' Pantone Tarts. Love this! If you're so inspired, you can make these colourful treats at home. Check out the culinary magazine Fricote for more nom noms. 

 WHO  Emile de Griottes   WHERE  France  WORK  griottes.fr

Colour Blocked

RT INVENTORY / GEOMETRIC 

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Let's call today's Inventory, Composition in Rainbow – a technicolor homage to the master of colour blocking, Mondrian. Since my good ol' art history days I've always been a sucker for the abstract.  I say bring on Damien Hirst's polka dots and Barnett Newman's colour fields. High fives for minimal simplicity and graphic prints. Here's just a snippet of my favorite artists and illustrators spreading geometric love. 

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THE MODERN MONDRIAN 1 KATHARINA TRUDZINZKI'S SCULPTURE INSTALLATIONS ARE A-A-AMAZING  2 MAD PROPS TO CARL KLEINER'S GOLDEN RATIO AND FRIENDS  3 THE MASTER OF ALL THINGS GEOMETRIC ANDY GILMORE  4 FRANK HULSBOMER'S PHOTOGRAPHY BLOWS MY MIND – SO SIMPLE YET SO COOL  5 TOTALLY LOVE MATT W. MOORE'S MODERN TAKE ON GRAFFITI  6 CHECK OUT AARON S MORAN'S FOUND WOOD CREATIONS  7 SIMPLY GORGEOUS INSTALLATIONS BY GABRIEL DAWE   8 LOVING JENS LAUSEN'S ABSTRACT LANDSCAPES

Cut and Paste

CUTTING EDGES

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Remember the TV show, Reading Rainbow? Sure you do! Consider this blog post my homage to LeVar Burton and public television. We got a bunch of incredible books in our studio the other day. JACKPOT! So I spent the weekend checking out Cutting Edges, the contemporary collage. So. Much. Good. Stuff.  Like Valerie Roybal's  found paper art and Alejandra Villasmil's insanely crazy/cool portraits. Suddenly I have the urge to cut, paste and decoupage. Did someone say craft project? PS how much do we love the cover of this book? Diamonds and triangles! YES! 

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PICTURED ABOVE 1 MALIN GABRIELLA NORDIN  2 JEFFREY MEYER  3 CORINNE VON LEBUSA   4 JULIEN PACAUD

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ART HISTORY So yeah about collage. Back in the day, art movements like Dada, Constructivism and Surrealism really embraced the technique. But get this, word on the street is collage has been around since the invention of paper in China around 200 BC. Yup, it's that old. But the term collage, which is rooted in the french word for glue (aka colle), was first coined by Picasso and Braque in the 20th century. So there you go. Coles Notes. 

Two for One

INSPIRATION TIME  / 2 VIDEOS. ONE DIRECTOR. 

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Recently I've been spending some time checking out directors. While discovering new talented peeps like London based director Danny Sangra, I found 2 cool videos and 2 cool artists. Double whammy. I love the pastel colour palette of Lianne La Havas's new video for Forget. I'm a big fan of how they layered images within diamonds... ahem! And it's not just because I only eat Diamond shaped Shreddies. I swear. 

Beautifully dark and undeniably British, Baxter Dury's video for Claire reminds me of my past obsession with the group Blur. At the tender age of 19 I was convinced Damon Albarn would indeed marry me. Obviously. Damon, if you're reading this I am still available. Just kidding (wink). In the meantime, enjoy these two music videos. 

1 Lianne La Havas / Forget

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2 Baxter Dury / Claire

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The Deers

OH DEER ME

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I love it when you're on Etsy and you find something a-a-amazing like these hand painted deer antlers by Cassandra Smith. After spending a few weeks in the boonies, I suppose all this wilderness business is rubbing off on me. Soon I'll be building a log cabin in my living room and wearing pelts. But before I spiral into the dark forest, I take a few of these beautiful painted antlers thank you. 

 WHO  Cassandra Smith   WHERE  Milwaukee   WORK  cassandra-smith.com / etsy

It's a-ok

DESIGN TIME

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OK-RM is a London based design studio. I love love love their work. It's so fresh and so clean. Check out It's Nice That for a little article about OK-RM's Footnote to a Project. Enjoy.  

 WHO  OK-RM   WHERE  London   WORK  ok-rm.co.uk

Party Party!

NYLON KOREA HEARTS MONTREAL

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I couldn't be more excited about being featured in NYLON Korea's December issue. Clearly they know what's up. And I'm in good company with the talented Jorge Camarotti, Kandle and Julien Vallée gracing the 6 page story about Montreal's creative community. And the best part is my amazing and handsome dog Mick is even featured. Yes Mick is the sh*t in Korea for obvious cute overload reasons. Now, let's bust out the bibimbap and kimchi and party, party!

Crystals + Lasers

INSPIRATION TIME

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Seeing Matt W. Moore's work encourages me to embrace vibrant colour combinations. It's like a zesty "YEOW!" of brightness. Love it.

WHO Matt W. Moore / WHERE Portland Maine / WORK mwmgraphics.com

Colour Block

INSPIRATION TIME

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Loving these colour studies and shapes by Courtney Price.

Current show @ Remote (Oct 2011 to Jan 2012).

WHO Courtney Price / WHERE Portland Oregon / WORK rectanglarobjects.com / VIA SeeSaw

Drama Class

INSPIRATION TIME

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The making of Karen O's insane rock opera, Stop The Virgens shot by ioulex.

WHO ioulex aka Julia Koteliansky & Alexander Kerr / WHERE NYC / WORK ioulex.com

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

INSPIRATION TIME

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WHO Filippo Minelli / WHERE Italy / WORK filippominelli.com / flickr

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First spotted on The Byrd Haus

Hey Girl, Hey Boy

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INSPIRATION TIME

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Get out your popcorn and dancing shoes. Love the colour of these videos not to mention the WTF factor. So creepy and yet so cool.

WHO Kristoffer Borgli / WHERE Oslo Norway / WORK kristofferborgli.com

Animal Collective

INSPIRATION TIME

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WHO Beata Wilczek / WHERE Poland / WORK beatawilczwk.com / flickr

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Abstract

INSPIRATION TIME

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WHO Robi Joeleht / WHERE Estonia / WORK robjoe.com

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