July 2008

Dilly Dallas: A new blog from Dallas Shaw. Also: New drawings + Werner Herzog’s new film: Encounters at the End of the World

Hello Maquette friends,

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend planned. I’m going to a new Werner Herzog film: Encounters at the End of the World, Fri. night with my husband and then off to R.I for a girl’s weekend with my dearest friends.

I got the new Lucky Magazine so I decided to draw some girls standing around in outfits. I also made this new abstract line drawing and then gave it x’mas colors. I’m working on some holiday stuff now, thought I’d share something.

Artist Dallas Shaw who I’ve posted about here, just wrote to inform me that she has started a new blog called Dilly Dallas. So you must check it out to see what art and design she’s got up her sleeves. She’s always working on new and exciting projects so tune in. Also, take the time to peruse her site, she has everything from drawings on vintage wallpaper to notecards. Congrats Dallas!
Have a great weekend.

You are Beautiful + my overwhelmed gripe + Jaime Gertz’s post apocalyptic wasteland skating adventure in 1986

I love this “you are beautiful” project. I fist saw it on one of my favorite blogs happy cavalier.

For something ugly…but really cool. Look at these super close-ups on bug’s faces. Yes, I realize this post is going on all sorts of tangents but that’s how my mind is feeling today.

I’m feeling un-beautiful lately, tired, and over worked. There is so much I want to do and I feel a time pressure for everything. I want to have a thriving career in illustration, print and surface pattern design. Plus I want to maintain this blog, jog 5 days a week, and stay a good and enthusiastic teacher, wife, and friend. Lately all I want to do are abstract drawings. I just went to the Louise Bourgeois show at the Guggenheim and the form and lines of her sculptures are so inspiring.

I also want to enjoy the summer and go for picnics with my husband but I keep thinking of all the things I should be doing, all the mailings, all the new patterns, cards, the new illustrations, the wedding invitations I have to start designing, following up with companies from Surtex….I’m in a bit of head spinning overload mode and I have ideas for little art books I want to make and big oil paintings and pastel drawings. I just want to stop time for a while and lay under a tree and then go work in a huge sunny studio and then resume regular time when I’ve accomplished everything I want to do. Has anyone else had this overwhelmed feeling? Sorry for the purge, I just need to regroup.

On a funny note, I got a kick out of the new movie my husband ordered from Netflicks. Half the time when a dvd arrives we’ve forgotten who had it on their queue but this time I knew it was his. Here’s the title and description:
Solarbabies:
“This post apocalyptic adventure follows a group of imprisoned, skateball-playing youths (including Jason Patric, Lukas Haas, and Jami Gertz) who find an orb with prophetic powers. When the orb is stolen, the kids make a daring escape to find it and win their freedom from a fascist regime. Tracked by the ruthless general Grock (Richard Jordan), the kids skate their way through wastelands in search of the orb and a way to overthrow the regime.” (1986)

No this is not a joke, it’s a real movie and we’re probably going to watch it.

Virginia Johnson

Oh I love these Virginia Johnson prints. I found out about her from the brilliantly talented Meg Mateo Ilasco of Designer’s Library. Summer is still here and those tunics and dresses look so comfortable and breezy. The colors are so fresh and the prints whimsical + graphic.

I’d love to go to the beach with that bag and the crocodile tunic in the center. I’m going away with my beloved girlfriends this weekend…so it’s too late for me to look cool at the beach. Maybe, I’ll have to order something from Virginia later this summer.

Ivana Helsinki + Galliano for Dior, Fall: Stunning clothing + stunning photography

It seems difficult to think about cold weather and dark mornings but this amazing designer, Ivana Helsinki will brighten any day. I love the back lite photography and the cool silhouettes. I really want to draw from these photos.

Speaking of incredible fashion photography, did you see these photos of the Galliano-Dior show over at Fashion is Spinach? Talk about a drawing hay-day! I want to whip out my Rembrandt pastels for these. Look at that bow and that 50’s cloche and those colors!!! I’m drooling.

Split-second photography: Barbara Probst

I love these split second photographs that show multiple perspectives of the same moment. Clever idea, beautifully executed. It’s nice to see someone with great art and photo chops. It seems that everyone these days has a top notch camera and the desire to be considered a photographer by taking pictures of pretty girls in the park (to try to get with them). I love when someone has a clever idea and the ability to carry it out.

Here’s a little tid-bit on the photo project above:

“When experienced from many different perspectives, is the instant when a photograph is taken still just a single moment? Barbara Probst’s diptych and triptych photos, taken at the same time from different cameras and points of view, offer multiple versions of a split second. Probst subverts the authority of the lone photograph, but rather than presenting a more comprehensive picture of an event, location, or moment, her work reminds us that even photos are interpretations.”
-Via The Morning News

read more and see more photos by following the link above.