this has been a wonderful and surprising year. i am hoping to find more time for blogging as spring and summer warm their way in, though come august a certain little one will probably be turning my world upside down in ways i can’t imagine. while i haven’t been blogging much, i’ve been collecting my inspirations (along with so many others) over on pinterest, storing ideas away. there are a lot of great designers doing beautiful things like this:
(click the image for a post full of awesome posters!)
& i also wanted to share a few posters and flyers i’ve had the good fortune to design for different local events, friends, &tc. i hope to create a proper portfolio for some of my design work this summer, but here are just a few glimpses—
event poster for a reading hosted by Heavy Feather Review (I also was a reader!)
poster for an event at Denison (the artist’s favorite structure is the accordion, also a favorite of mine)
a little flyer for a friend’s new business: story creek studio
Being married to my husband has stretched me in many ways (most of them good), including altering my sleeping and waking habits (not always so good). I’ve always been a night person until I lived with him. When we first started dating, he tricked me into believing he stayed up like me, and I don’t know how it took so long to realize that was all just for me. Now that we’re past the I need to know everything about you all at once! late night conversations, I realize that he is quite happy to be in bed before ten, and that his sleep is a precious commodity he does not like to give up. I am also the girl at slumber parties (not that I’ve had much occasion to attend them since the age of 13…) who keeps talking to you for sometimes minutes at a time before she realizes you’ve fallen asleep, leaving one of those sleep-deprived musings hanging awkwardly, with no certainty of how much the listener took in before drifting off. But I always craved that pillow talk, trail-offs and all, which means that sometimes, I will go to bed at ten just to have that sleepover feel once again, but then lie there restlessly in the dark after dear husband falls asleep at will (how do people do that?). Eventually, I will leave the room and fiddle around on the internet or watch something on TV. Night used to be my productive time, full of energy and creativity, but that requires the illusive second wind, which I tell you, can not be caught when you stop mid-evening for a false bedtime. This restlessness, along with the help of a mocha provided by a generous coworker this morning, brings me here to the blog tonight.
Since sleepovers are for sharing, I’ll share this video with you of my recent poetry reading. I feel a little shy — it’s one thing to read for a small room, another to share it here. But I imagine I’m not the only one who doesn’t like the sound of my voice on tape, so I’ll do it anyway. We were asked to speak about influence/the muse/inspiration, which is where this video begins.
Also, my dear friend from grad school, Bess Winter asked me to design a banner for her website. In addition to the final result, I wanted to share some of the other ideas I had, just for fun. Be sure to visit her website for the final results!
Hannah and I will be back to our posts on each others’ blogs next week, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share a recent project with you. A. Minetta Gould asked me to create a book for her chapbook Elephant: Poems for a benefit auction (elephant themed) in Boise. For a trunk-like feel we decided on an accordion. The backs use patterned paper with hand painted detailing. I liked the exposed chipboard for the covers, and made use of my new best friend Absorbent Ground along with watercolors for the cover design.
*Please don’t mind the busy surroundings. I am a lazy (and not very good) photographer.
These are a few watercolor studies I did awhile back. They’ll be going into the Sketches, Collages, & Ephemera section soon, but I wanted to share them here. I love taking advantage of the fluidity of watercolor, and that I have to relinquish some control, which allows me to surprise myself. The ability to layer without completely covering anything creates a nice sense of history on paper.
And here is a sneak peek of what am working on lately. Better pictures when I 1. get further along and 2. find my camera.
