Wise Words

Lovely, lovely work by South Carolina-based artist Danna Ray from her etsy shop, Groundwork.

Scenic Indeed

Love these painterly takes on San Francisco's scenic drive sign, by artist Annie Galvin. Annie runs a cool shop with her husband, fellow artist Eric Rewitzer, called 3 Fish Studios.

Etsy Faves for Friday

Rosie Music's "I think I'm in Love" print was a featured Etsy Find recently and it led me to her shop where I fell hard for the very dapper Mr. Elegant Cat, top. He is just awesome. I'm pretty sure if he was here in my studio we would have stimulating imaginary conversations about the state of the world and such.
The Elegant Cat by Rosie Music

Other Friday faves: Tangerine cosmetic bag by quiltish, 70's Sheer Striped Dress by Ainslie Wood Co., Screenprinted poster by honey & bloom

New Shop Banner

I added a spiffy new banner to my etsy shop today in anticipation of some changes happening in the year ahead. The aim was to give it a more fresh, clean, modern look. What do you think?

What's Old is New

It's a whole new year, so let's....look to the past? I wanted to share a few spreads from one of my favorite design books, Antique Packaging by Josep M. Garrofe. This yummy, tactile hardcover features Victorian-era graphics from products ranging from food to pharmaceutical to cosmetics...great inspiration! The cheeky Nestle packaging is a fave - quite different from the brand's look today.

Design, Simply Put

The winter holidays is my favorite time of year for curling up in a cozy spot with a good book and a hot cup of tea. This afternoon, I'm going to take a little time out to chip away at The Count of Monte Cristo (a small literary step up from last year's Twilight obsession, ahem) - I've just passed the halfway mark of the 1200-page volume. With the joys of reading in mind, I'm loving the simplicity of these book cover designs. The magnificent imperfection of hand-rendered design, above, and beautiful classic typography with colorful patterns, below, by Christina Ottolini for Mucca Design.

Om Tees Are Ready!

My yoga tees are finally ready! I'm so psyched with how they came out, the subtle sheen of the gold ink looking fab on super-duper soft light blue cotton. The style is very flattering and comfy, great for yoga class but stylish enough for post-yoga brunch, shopping, or just hanging out.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I was lucky enough to have my dear friend Fernanda model them. An avid runner and yogi, she was kind enough to lend her gorgeous self for an afternoon of shooting. We had a blast, and the shots came out fantastic. Thanks, Fernanda!!!

You can find the shirt here, in my etsy shop.

Sneak Peek!

I have been super busy this week with lots of projects. I am excited about some t-shirt designs that will soon be available in my etsy store. Here's a sneak peek of the 2 designs that will be screenprinted:

Happy 4th and Nice Type

Ending the week with a little something red, white, and blue. Enjoy the holiday weekend!
Poster by Supercinq
From FFFFOUND!

Leon and me

The recent MoMA exhibit, Tangled Alphabets, featured the work of Leon Ferrari and Mira Schendel, and it was a broad, extensive overview of both their life's work. But for me, it was all about several of Ferrari's elegant yet natural calligraphic works, some consising of letter-like scrawled shapes and others of actual words. Unfortunately I couldn't find a lot of this work represented online, but you can view a portion of the exhibit (now closed) on MoMA's exhibition site.
I've always loved swirly scrawly type; this type of thing is just impossible to reproduce in a font. His work inspired me to practically run home, get out the calligraphy pen and go to town (results below). Not exactly MoMA-worthy, but I think it will lead to some fun patterns and designs.

Dutch style

On our recent trip to Amsterdam, we noticed tons of inspiring bits of typography everywhere - here are a few favorites. Everything about the city and its habitants seemed well-designed, charming, friendly.