Paper Art Made of Hearts

I've always loved paper art. Could be that I started my road to graphic design in scrapbooking as a teenager. Or it could be that no matter what, I just love paper and handmade materials. Nonetheless paper art has always been on my list of things to experiment with/learn. Sometimes I doubt that I have the patience to do anything intricate though. I mean I know I could never be a Yulia Brodskaya. But some of these seem simple enough to recreate. And it is perfect timing for Valentines Day. Check out all of Sarah and Bendrix's beautiful creations at their Etsy store.

{via Bliss}

Streetlight Storm: Lights powered by Lightening

Artist Katie Paterson has teamed up with Vauxhall Motors for a pretty amazing art exhibition that monitors global storm patterns. Basically the lights flickr in time with lightening storms as they occur live across the world. So basically if there is a lightening storm somewhere in China, the lights will flickr on this pier in a sleepy British town on the sea. Apparently there are around 6000 lightning storms happening across the world at any one time. So the flash of the pier lights shows the pattern and intensity of the various storms happening around the globe. Like I said pretty amazing. Check out the video at the bottom of the post.

via Cakehead Loves Evil

Studio Mela

I thought these two prints were pretty cute with their inspirational life sayings over at Dazey Chic's Etsy Shop. 

Sky of Umbrellas

Today has been absolutely insane so I've barely had time to breathe!  Its always crazy right before a holiday.  So I leave you with these fun pictures of street art.  I would love to walk under this cover of umbrellas in Chile.

Technology + Art

Turner sent me this article from engadget a few days ago.  Technology + Art.  It definitely is an interesting thought, instead of hiding those pesky chords and outlets using them for art.  And you would never have to worry about finding enough outlets/extension cords again!  Though it is also a little overwhelming and for some reason that amount of electricity stresses me out.  

I was thinking what could be cool is if you had lots of outlets variously placed (instead of up against each other) with different designs on them.  Or different outlet covers on them.  Hmmmm.....

"Green" Graffiti

I'm sure it is pretty obvious by now that I love street art. There is just something about taking the ordinary every day, making it beautiful, and leaving it for everyone to enjoy.  Also I love the idea of unexpectedly brightening somebody's day.  So of course Toronto based street artist Posterchild's project of street gardening is right up my alley.  He takes abandoned distribution boxes and turns them into beautiful planters.  I know a few nasty gross unused distribution boxes in DC that could use a little plant love.  

{via Animal New York}

"Repairing" with Legos

Jan Vormann, a 26-year old who lives in Berlin spends his days walking around the city repairing old buildings with bright legos.  He calls his work "Dispatchwork."  After he puts together the correct pieces he then glues them in place.  A few times he has been stopped from making his "repairs" by security guards.  But what a fun art form!  I think I'd get a kick out of walking past an old building and noticing legos in its structure.

{via Accidental Mysteries}

I judge books by their covers

So I know you aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I totally do.  The design is definitely a contributing factor to which books I purchase.  And a stellar design can bring a good book's status up to amazing.  Secretly I think I'd love being a book cover designer.

So I am thrilled that W.W. Norton has started a flickr pool of their book design archive.  It is a whole world of inspiration for me.  Also another great discovery is a website called The Book Cover Archive.  They break it down into  different categories, so you can view book designs by author, designer, genres and so on.  Simply amazing.

{via design work life}

365 Drawings

Flickr user AlmostPhony has a similar project to my 365 photographs, but she did 365 drawings for a whole year.  Such great inspiring drawings that I recommend you check out.

Street Art

I've always been fascinated by street art.  The process that goes into it and what people get out of it.  I often wonder if there are times I've walked past street art in DC without noticing.  Usually street art is used to make some sort of statement.  And sometimes it is made just to add a little beauty to the landscape or make you stop and think.  2leep has a great post of 10 street art installations along with explanations of the purpose.

Mark Jenkins is a street artist who often has installations in DC as well as internationally.   His stuff is great and I always wonder what I would think if I came across some of his work!

Also LoisInWonderland has a flickr page of DC street murals.  Some of them I recognize, but a lot of them I don't!  And it makes me want to seek some of them out.

It also got me thinking if I were to create street art in DC, where would I do it?  And what kind of message would I try to convey.  This city is already so overrun with political messages, maybe I'd just like to say something about slowing down and enjoying life outside work.  Since we all know how Washingtonians are such workaholics.  I'd love to do something that helped others tap into their own creativity, like my stranger candids project.  But maybe I'm being just a little bit too much of rainbows and sunshine right now.

Daily Art

Yesterday I was reading in my HOW design magazine about people who have a personal project of creating art every day.  It is very similar to my 365 project where I take a picture every single day.  Randel Plowman creates a collage a day, Stefan Bucher draws a daily  monster, Noah Scalin creates a skull-a-day out of various objects, and Kate Bingman-Burt draws a purchase from every day.

It is amazing how when you force yourself to create art on a daily basis that you become a better artist.  I have found that I am always looking for a new angle and an opportunity for an interesting picture.  Reading about these artist's own personal project is encouraging and makes me want to think up a new creative project for myself next year.

Modern Dog: Art Walk Poster

Seattle based design firm, Modern Dog, just released their 14th poster for 2009's Art Walk.  Over the years these posters have become well known in the design community.  They have even been collected by various museums including the Louvre.  I can't even imagine the feeling as a graphic designer to have your work displayed in the Louvre.

I saw the two principles of Modern Dog speak at last year's HOW design conference in Boston and loved how down to earth and corky they were.  Their work is so unique, entertaining and funky.  One of their points that I still remember is to stop depending on the computer so much.  Pull yourself away and start sketching with a pen and paper.  

They do work for a lot of high profile clients, which is encouraging that you can still be edgy and different and work with mainstream corporate companies.  Check out their work for yourself.

Art Walk 2007

Art Walk 2004

Art Walk 2000

Art Walk 1998

Local Art Scene: Cherie Lester Photography and Mixed Media

I am a huge fan of supporting local artists whenever possible.  Both for the obvious reasons and because I feel like the artwork is more meaningful coming from your own town.  A place where the artist may use the same daily surroundings as an inspiration.  And when the time comes to move, you can take that piece of your city with you.  It is important to me to have a little piece of everyplace I've lived in my home.

With that being said, I've decided to seek out more local DC artists to feature on Inspiration DC.  The first of many is Cherie Lester, who does Photography and Mixed Media.  I love that she uses a few familiar DC scenes in her artwork.  But I can also appreciate that she does have variety, and not all of her work is DC themed.  For someone looking for new wall artwork to add to their collection at a reasonable price, she is a great place to start.

Bertoia Chairs

Eastern Market on Capitol Hill

Thinking Bird Framed

Collage Print on Recycled Wood Wall Hanging

Photoprints on Wood

Harry Potter Cover Redesigns

M.S. Corley has taken the liberty of redesigning the Harry Potter covers to reflect the style of classic Penguin books.  Now don't get me wrong, I love Mary GrandPre's illustrations, but these are just so great.  I am a sucker for two color design and having read all the books, I love the simple significance of each cover.  Scholastic hasn't bought into these redesigns, but I'm really hoping they do as an alternative.  Corley will also be offering these covers as prints in the near future.  

It also makes me wonder, does it ever upset you when a favorite book cover is redesigned?  I absolutely hate it when they make a movie out of a book and put the movie stars on the cover.  But I also love it when I go to a used bookstore and find an older cover design of a favorite book that I had not seen before.  In this case I am in full support of multiple designs.  And I'm also very thankful that they never put Daniel Radcliffe and his pals on the cover as an alternative design.

{via Oh?}