Trying to find the spark again through a bit of collage.
On Beautiful Thoughts
Scrolling through these little collections of drawings done by Quentin Blake today and thinking about how something so simple, done repeatedly, can turn into a beautiful life.
Image Credit: Quentin Blake – Beautiful Thoughts
Baby Bonnets + Narwhal Block Prints
My friends are having babies. Babies upon a babies.
So I’m making baby stuff.
I like making stuff for kids — not only do I think the fabrics are cute, but baby projects can usually be finished within an hour, which is just my style.
This weekend it’s been bonnets. I made a variety, but this little narwhal is the only one I carved and fabric printed for the project.
the lining is the same cream shamrock color.
The ruffled bonnet is reversible, though why you would ever want anything but the narwhal on the outside is beyond me. Size 6-12 months.
Fast by Permission
When you block print on old cookbook pages and then make crossout poetry from the remaining words, it gets a bit… steamy.
It’s been a long while since I worked in a restaurant — I did for awhile when I was starting my freelance business, but quit in 2010 to go full time — but some of the stereotypes are true. There was quite a bit of intrigue and lack of inhibition that comes from long, fast-paced nights, in and out of a hot kitchen. Especially when the owner is a bit liberal with the Italian wine.
Perhaps some of it is how visceral the process of making food is, so visceral that we’ve taken food words and sexualized them. Steamy. Simmer.
And in English we also use food words as terms of endearment — sugar, pumpkin, cookie, sweetie pie.
Food and Sex and Science
The pleasure from eating and the pleasure from sex are also very intertwined in the brain. They both light up our pleasure centers, engage all of our senses and cause an avalanche of hormonal and chemical responses in our bodies.
I’m sure there’s some scientific research to back up what I’m saying here, but googling it is giving me a bunch of listicles on what to eat for better sex and I’m getting a little depressed.
Rainbow in the Storm
Over the last year I have participated in John Pedder‘s truly fantastic #oneofmanypostcard project three times.
It works like this:
Artists from all over the world make a run of postcard sized art, which they offer to send for free, anywhere, on a specific date.
People can check out the hashtag on Instagram and request whatever pieces they may want, with one caveat:
In exchange for each piece of art, you donate what you would have paid to the charity of your choice. Donations of time are also welcome.
The goal is to spread a little good.
John is in the UK, so he chooses dates for the send that are related to Brexit… but it’s good for everyone, everywhere.
I think it’s a lovely project — and I also do well creating to a deadline — so this little “Stormy Rainbow” will be going out on October 31st.
It’s a two-layer, 5″x7″ linocut block print on 120gsm Strathmore printmaking paper. The inks are all Speedball, though I used a mix of their basic and professional lines.
I made a run of 24 prints but am only happy with about 15 of them…
And all 15 of my cards were requested within about 12 hours of posting, which was super nice of people.
I’m actually going to try to squeeze in a few more prints this weekend because I’m not great at saying no and promised about four more prints than I have.