*yawn*

school is back to it's high-speed pace.  ny is enticing me to enjoy the city instead of the studio.  and i took an internship writing for an online magazine that is just getting its start.  [i'll let you know when my stories, if they're good, go live]


so here's a mood board.  not finished quite yet, but basically this is my general mood for this season of designing, constructing, writing, and being.  light. blush. breezy. ethereal. feminine. and whimsy. --wait--that's pretty much my mood all the time. oh well. enjoy.

chocolate kettles

i tend to average about 1 post per week.  i'm not busy.  until classes start back on monday, i'm just sitting in the same spot on my couch surfing the interwebs during the day, then getting dressed, then heading out to socialize at night.


how, then, am i not posting 560,098 times a week? you pose an intriguing question that i could not have honestly answered 24 hours ago.


last night, with no plans, i settled into my couch corner and started to research my next post--i.e. online shopping at barneys.com.  i racked up an impressive cart of items during my two hours on their website, only to take a screenshot of each coveted dress, coat, and blouse.  


of course while completing any online task, i have a facebook tab ready, as any attention-holic would, in case someone wanted to chat, express their endless devotion on my wall, or tag a primo picture of me from last night's escapades.  every half hour or so, i would switch from barney's to the social networking hell, but with nothing juicy blooming on the newsfeed, i could continue "shopping".


that is... until i saw a video of a toilet.  i read the description, and saw that it was my friend receiving a swirly.  i hate germs, and i had friends in middle school who attempted to give me swirlies on multiple occasions.  it is an indescribable sense of impending doom, and i watched in horror as my friend succumbed to her loss of a farkle  bet.  


well, naturally, i had to see who posted it.  then go to their page.  then click their website.  (you're beginning to see how i don't post more often, now, right?)  the website on which i landed was that of my friend's husband.  I read a few of his posts and his intellectual wit had fully captured my attention.  i saw in the sidebar that he had recently finished a book that was free for download.  i clicked.

the book, entitled melting chocolate kettles, authored by austin l church, addresses common hurdles in following through with your creative ideas.  every artist struggles with their own form of writer's block, and are quicker to make an excuse than to write the first word.  as a frequent victim of this process, i started reading my personal pdf copy of the book and could not put it down until i finished it (at 3.30 am... i'm a slow reader).  It is 59 pages of respectable, intellectual, and totally relatable advice for the lackadaisical artist.  i was consumed with the wit, flowing sentences, and impressively organized content, and it left me inspired. 


the author promotes blogging as a key tool in honing your creative abilities, as readers provide an "assignment", posts provide a "due date", and comments provide "editing/feedback".  so if you are in the same creative boat gone adrift, head over to the gu.e website, skim a couple posts, read up on the author, and DEFINITELY download his book, if for nothing else but a creative resource for your next slump.  and don't let the 59 pages frighten you. i'm a slower reader than your two-year-old cousin, but it was so entertaining it seemed unbelievably quick.


i implore you to comment on/edit/complain about/contribute to my posts as freely as you like.  it can only help me become a better writer/illustrator/designer, and you should be open to the same critique.  i know this isn't about fashion, but a lot of you are creators of different sorts, so let this challenge you, and me, to keep up with our processes and share our art(s) with the world just as austin has.


image from www.whatsleftout.com

lulu

in the winter of 2008, i accompanied my boyfriend (at the time) to his barbershop.  since he insisted on just a walk-in, rather than an appointment, and it was obviously the fave hair-joint for the local seniors, i was tremendously bored and fervently reached for an outdated issue of W magazine.  I had no idea that one, miniscule feature would change my creative future forever.

lulu at work

flipping through the pages, observing every detail as this was the most engrossing subject matter available, (much better than watching grey locks fall to the floor), i came across one of those pages that gives a quick review of interesting haps, publications, or people in recent culture--aka, my quick pop-history source.  in the bottom right hand corner, almost cut off by the fold of the binding was a photo of the cover of a textile designer's soon-to-be-published book.  it was beautiful and i had to know more.

the designer's name is lulu de kwiatkowski, a parsons school of design BFA (studio art) graduate (holla!), world traveler, textile + wallpaper + artist extraordinaire.  splitting her childhood between the hamptons and the bahamas, she was constantly exposed to vibrant/earthy colors, patterns, and just interesting things.  after her own textile company celebrated its 10th anniversary, it was deemed necessary that the world learn about the creative processes of the artist behind her wildly popular prints.  

i received this book as a christmas gift in 2009 and refer to it on an addictively (i think i just made up this word) regular basis.  you're about to see why.

snippit of the engaging cover

i feel like lulu's anonymous mentor-ee.  she obviously loves yellow, red, pattern, handwriting, collaging, fauna, vintage, intricate drawing, and figures as much as i do.  maybe we're secretly related or something.  all of the above images i took with my camera from her book, as only a TINY sampling is available on amazon.com, excluding some of my favorites.  The book, should you want to look it up, recommend it, or purchase it is entitled Lulu, published by Ammo Books, and is 192 full-color, giant-sized, incredible pages.

Now that you know her artistic side, here is the kind of product you can expect from her design company, called Lulu dK.  these are all fabric prints, prints-in-progress, or print-promos.  i sourced these images from her blog, trailofinspiration.com.  i could have posted 90,000,000 more images, but not only would that start to look sketchy, it's a lot more fun to find it yourself!! go check out her blog, the lulu dk website, or best of all, her BOOK!

and i had to throw in this image of hand-painted owls/butterflies.  she's just amazing.  i want several of these little guys for my room :)

now if you'll excuse me, my paintbrushes are calling.  have a colorful day.

photo sourcing:

i took all "black border" images of Lulu.

lulu working: 'me at work'

sailboats: 'lulu dk homepage'

yellow pattern: 'hand-painted fabric preview'

pastel dots pattern: 'petals petals everywhere'

floral pillows: 'did you know?'

color block fabric: 'voila!'

owls: 'thank you'

how i got here

this is a pretty cross-section of my inspiration for pursuing fashion school.
it's funny to see these images now, because i feel like in 1 year my aesthetic tastes, preferences, and inspirations have changed drastically, but the underlying themes i'd say are pretty similar. we'll see as i progress, i guess.

left to right:
free people
anna sui print
anthropologie print?
free people
lulu de kwiatkowski (last two images from her book LULU--sneak peak on amazon!)


love patterns. love hippy. love flora/fauna.  love collage. love earthy palettes.  love yellow + pink + orange (although i hate wearing pink. ew.)