BTS CREATIVEMORNINGS POSTER DESIGN

During the early summer of 2019 I was given the opportunity to design for my local chapter of CreativeMornings. What a freaking treat that was! This is an organization I love because it is an incredible source of inspiration and community for those who are creative, which is everyone, because truly, everyone is creative in their own right!

During this time I was in a bit of a life transition—navigating the space between being laid off from my job of over three years, doing freelance work, and looking for the next right fit in my career. This project came at the perfect time because of the theme that was set for July (every CreativeMornings talk is centered around a theme) the theme for July was ‘End’.

I documented my journey of creating this work, part scrapbook for memories and part deep dive into my process on how to execute a project like this.

I have my artist statement on this piece here if you would like to give it a read! It talks a little more about my thoughts around the theme and what it means to me and my work.

STUDIO SOUNDS: OCTOBER

Okkkkaaayyy.

I've fallen back in love with music.

During the summer podcasts were definitely my background-noise-of-choice, but that has taken a turn! I don't know if there has just been a lot of good stuff out there now or if my ears just wanted something different, also I don't know if the reason matters, really. ha!

Excluding full albums I've been bouncing around between favorite individual songs. I'll tell you the albums I have been listening to cuz it isn't many… it has been The Decemberists 'What a terrible world, what a beautiful world' album cuz it has all sorts of fall/pirate shanty/Nick Drake vibes and The 1975's album 'I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful…etc' because it's full of retro sounding pop-happiness.

Anyway. Back to the point! The point is I wanted to document my favorite songs of the month so I could binge listen to them on demand. Now I'm sharing the list with you!

Give it a listen! It's hosted on Spotify and for the most part is pretty clean, though the first song has many fucks in the beginning, be aware if you are unhappy by the f bomb. After the first minute and a half the song is just musically gorgeous, IMO.

The list has an hour and 14 minutes of jams ready to go. So enjoy!

What have you been listening to? Any favorite songs that you can't live without right now?

DESIGN IN MASS PRODUCTION

When I think about mass produced cards, I think one design, run through a fancy printer like a zillion times (very nicely, of course). But I ran into an opportunity a little while ago that lead me to think about mass production in a different way with my small scale Drawn & Delivered card project. This method even involves recycling so for this girl who uses (what feels like) a metric ton in paper it made me feel really good.

One morning, I spent an unusually looooong time working on my #dailyintention of the day to share on my Instagram and I wound up with 5 or 6 sheets of paper that I would have otherwise chucked into our recycling, but after becoming more interested in cut paper and mixing texture, it lead me to think about how I could use these sheets differently. I was also a llllllittle behind on my card schedule so all of this paper and started to look like an opportunity.

I sat down after randomly cutting up the pages and arranged them onto the cards. I liked how abstract everything was looking and the strange amounts of white space I was noticing too, so I opened up my glue stick and started to put the pieces together. Once I had everything glued down, I trimmed out the edges and voilá!

What makes this method work is the very simple color palette and some of the repeated shapes that you start to notice from my original pre-cut pages. It's almost as if there is a hidden system to the madness.

At the very end of creating these cards I thought they lacked a sense of grounding so that's why I added the black lines around some of the edges of the paper.

I would love to do some more work with small batch designs like this in the future.

If any of you have scraps from sketches hanging around, try doing this too! I think you'll like the results. It's also very quick and kind of like putting a puzzle together that has no image. So like freestyle puzzle building? Yeah… that sounds about right!

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ps! If you would like some great free desktop and phone wallpapers illustrated by me, sign up for my email list! It's on the right side bar. I will only send you stuff like personal insights, stories and glimpses behind the scenes in my studio. No junk mail, just fun stuff :)

IT'S NOT ABOUT BEING DONE

So I started a new book today! It's 'The E-Myth Revisited' by Michael E. Gerber. This is a book about small businesses, why they get started, why they fail and how a person can avoid the fail part. 😉 

A story he told was about the owner of a pie shop and how she started to hate this thing she built her life and business around. The quote I illustrated is what her aunt told her as she was learning to bake when she would start to rush. I re-read this passage a few time to let it really sink into my brain.

I have felt this way a lot in the past. I'd start something and then immediately want to move on. But then what?

It reminded me of a favorite piece of stand-up comedy from Jerry Seinfeld where he says something to the effect of 'we are all going around from one destination to another for another chance to sit down.' I think that says so much about how we appreciate or don't appreciate the act of making what we love or even experiencing life for that matter!

This is when life becomes a chore or a hassle, you can easily see this in business. The reason why you get into it stops being enjoyable because of everything else (book keeping, marketing yourself, technical issues, etc.).

The challenge is to enjoy IT ALL.

I know that might seem like expecting a lot from yourself, but I truly believe it's necessary to stop negativity from slowly over taking your life and the things you love. The good thing is that positivity is just as contagious as negativity. As soon as you relax and enjoy making stuff, even if the stuff is kind of crappy, that joy will be felt. I can't celebrate that fact enough and how true it is.

When you exude positivity it will shine back to you. Granted, I'm not perfect at this, but when I notice myself falling back to negativity I can recenter myself and it makes a huuuuge difference.

So bake those pies, draw those illustrations, read that book but not to be done, instead, do it to learn, grow and have some goddamn fun. 🎉

MARCH UNIFORM

Back when it was March, I wore a variation of this. A lot. 

I was able to pick up this excellently flowy denim top and these black pants from a great boutique in uptown Minneapolis called Proper & Prim. Both pieces fit into the season and my closet seamlessly. I was so excited to wear less layers as March came in full swing. With less layers I want to keep the layers I do have more interesting. Maybe integrating pieces that have unique shapes, different textures, or a-typical proportions. In any case, I want the items I wear to be a little more impactful. To me, dressing is all about having fun and being comfortable.

Here's a breakdown of this March Uniform:

HAIR
Curls! I actually used my curling wand sometimes! 

ACCESSORIES
Sunglasses. I actually wear sunglasses throughout the winter too, but they take on a new vitality when spring comes, dontcha think?

MAKE-UP
I was really playing up the eye lashes and filling out my eye brows, not like you can tell in the photo with my sunglasses on ;) but I have been keeping the rest minimal. However, I am on a very real hunt for a new mascara. My favorite from Bare Minerals isn't made anymore and everything I've tried since has been a disappointment. Suggestions???

SCENT
I wore a lot of different scents, some deep, some sweet and clean, it really depended on the day and weather. My favorite re-discovery in my collection has been the Dirty Springwash by LUSH. That stuff is for sure in my top 5 favorite fragrances of all time. Would any of you like the know what the rest of them are? I might want to do a post or video about that! Yay? Nay?

TOP
Chambray-ish boxy top with cute little mother-of-pearl style buttons. I love that this top covers my arms for the cold but lets the breeze in for warm days.

LEGS
These black pants have been a staple. I wasn't kidding when I said I would wear them multiple times a week in this video. They fit amazingly well and feel akin to the nicest pair of leggings I own.

BAG
Vintage Coach. One of my very best thrifted finds!

FEET
I love that wearing sneakers is so fashionable right now! It's like the this little treat for my feet to fit cozily into a pair of shoes. Granted, most of my shoes are comfortable, but not all of them started that way. And this black and white color palette for the shoes means they match everything and even elevate my outfits if I'm doing it right/am lucky enough :)

Annnnd with that, there you have my uniform from March!

I hope you have all been well :) As for me and the rest of my world b-school, freelancing and my day job have been leaving me pretty empty at the end of each day. That means little energy to put long winded posts around here. As I've said before, I'd like to keep it casual around here, easy and fun. So I hope to see you around here again real soon!