NICE: DESIGN*SPONGE FEATURE!

I had a fantastic surprise yesterday when I saw my pencil chimes featured on Design*Sponge! I am a huge fan of D*S so I could not be more thrilled. It was a perfect snowy day for making more chimes and getting more fun stuff into my Etsy shop. Hooray!

NEW WORK: Illustration for Balans Magazine

Hello! 

I recently finished my newest illustration for the Dutch publication Balans Magazine! 

NEW WORK: Craft Styling for Real Simple Magazine

Happy New Year!

A recent Real Simple Magazine story I worked on is out, featuring some fun custom wedding favors I made! These are all sweet and simple to do yourself! Check out the full story online for more ideas.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: Mail

This week's theme is mail and I had just the thing in my archives! Hoping this gets me back into contributing more regularly to Illustration Friday!

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NEW WORK: Illustration for Balans Magazine

I have been doing a series of illustrations for the Dutch 'Balans Magazine' focusing on sibling relationships. Here are the past few which were published over the past few months. It's been fun to work in a new drawing style and featuring a new member of my animal cast, the raccoon!

THINGS I LIKE: Maxence Cyrin

I recently saw the kind of funny movie It's Kind of a Funny Story and was struck by the beautiful instrumental cover of The Pixies' song "Where is My Mind?". I did some light detective work (aka google) today and found the pianist behind it, Maxence Cyrin. This Frenchman makes his covers even more beautiful by pairing them with utterly perfect film footage. Here are the two I was most taken with. For more of his work, you can go here. Enjoy!

THINGS I LIKE: Life in Slow Motion

I am a sucker for time-lapse and slow motion film. There is just something magical about seeing the world move at a different pace. Here are a few of my favorites, some old, some new. Alas, often it's ads that tend to get the budgets to make these things.

Schweppe's ad shot at 10,000 frames per second!



Pedigree ad



Canon Pixma ad



Sony Bravia ad



Bathtub IV by Keith Loutit: time lapse and tilt shift photography



Kuroshio Sea: This one isn't actually slow motion, but it feels like it.

THINGS I LIKE: Night at the Guggenheim

This past week my beau and I attended the Youtube Play awards at the Guggenheim as our good friend James Braithwaite was one of 25 honored winners (out of over 25,000 submissions!). The show featured creative shorts on Youtube and the event didn't disappoint! Each screening was paired with a live musical performance and the interior of the Guggenheim was covered in projections. It was pretty stunning!

Here are some of my favorite shorts from the 25 winners!

I Met the Walrus: Director Josh Raskin and illustrators James Braithwaite & Alex Kurina

Bathtub IV: Keith Loutit

Western Spaghetti: PES Film

This Too Shall Pass: OK GO

Autumn Story: Yanni Kronenberg &  Lucinda Schreiber

Birds on the Wires: Jarbas Agnelli

The Huber Experiments Volume 1: Erik Huber

NEW WORK: pet portraits

Here is Major Taylor Von Gutenberg the Great Dane, racing through the Alps. His owner is a competitive biker and I'm sure Major would be quite the contender if he only had thumbs to help him hold on to the handlebars! Go, Dog! Go!

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THINGS I LIKE: Bounty of the Bowerbird

Bowerbirds are incredible creatures. My mom always said you should never marry a man with design ideas - in hopes of getting to make all the decisions yourself.*  Yet these guys would seem the exception to the rule! The males have a sharp eye for design, composition and a penchant for blue, all in hopes of winning the ladybird after their own heart.

Then again, once they court their lady Bowerbird, she has to build the nest and raise the babies herself. Lesson to the ladies: don't go after the flashy guys! They'll just start showing off for someone else. Find the bird with a good book collection.

* This was before I met my filmmaker / illustrator beau who is filled with design ideas. He even proposed next to a Bowerbird nest he had built for me in the middle of Prospect Park, Brooklyn!  Luckily, he also has a great library so I'm not too worried.

Photo source here

Photo source here

Photo source here

Photo source here

Photo source here

Photo source here