Mary and Max

A clip from the film, Mary and Max, that Ryan and I watched a few nights ago.

Max as you can see, wasn't shot in black and white, but rather, everything was designed in black and white. Mary, a little girl in Australia who randomly writes to Max as a pen pal, has a color palette all in sepia. It's brilliant really. And also streaming on Netflix... so you have no excuses about not seeing it!

-XO

Max talks about Aspergers from Gerald Thompson on Vimeo.

Impressions of Impressionists

Some of the most amazing painters in history were the impressionists. They were the first ones to change the way people expected paintings to be done. With photographs capturing every shape, detail and expression, these artists moved more toward the feeling that one would get from a painting rather than simply just how realistic the painting could be.

I was lucky enough to see an impressionist exhibit at the de Young Museum in San Francisco last fall by some of my favorite painters. And what better way to see how they worked than to see their self-portraits done in their emotional and colorful style.

Mary Cassatt

Paul Cezanne

Edgar Degas

Edouard Manet

Claude Monet

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

-XO

PS! - Is it just me, or does Claude Monet sort of look like a super beardy Brad Pitt in this self-portrait??

In the City

I know I posted some art from Emmy Cicierega before, but I had to share this piece with you that she created recently. Super simple, but totally poignant. It really reminds me of what it's like living in a city; everything often seems to be passing by in a blur of colors.

Go check out more of her art here.

-XO

Nature is ultimate in design.

These are some gorgeous paintings from unitedthread on Etsy.com.

It just reminds me that whenever I can't think of something to draw, I look to nature for inspiration. Most design can be traced back to things that occur naturally. If you don't believe me, just look at Mucha.

-XO

I love yellow, and I like owls, and I'm fairly fond of workshops.

While shopping on Fillmore Street this weekend, I came across a super cool necklace. It's made by a little shop here in San Francisco: Yellow Owl Workshop. I love their pendants and especially the color wheel one. Maybe as an artist I just remember a lot of that color theory stuff and it sort of seems like a symbol of art. Or maybe it's just a rainbow and it's pretty. Who knows!

They also have a line of fun cards and stationery! I think even a boy could enjoy getting this sweet card about love, en francais.

-XO

My Little...People

Cute idea from artist adz4000 on deviantArt.com. It's great because usually you see it the other way around, where people characters are morphed into animals. Plus, the lines and colors are just super awesome. Makes me want to dig out my old My Little Ponies!

-XO

Zoom In, Zoom Out

Created by Charles and Ray Eames. Yes, that Eames.

-XO

Blockheads...

Vinyl toys (if they're done right!) can be the cutest and most artistic things around. It seems weird though that the industry of vinyl toy making is filled with 75% crappy looking figures. I think the medium just isn't utilized as well as it could be since it's sort of a fringe art style.

When I was home in Washington for the holidays with my boyfriend and some friends, we ended up going to my favorite store in Spokane, Boo Radley's. It's filled with tons of cute little vinyl, metal, vintage, and independent seller toys, plus art books and comics and T-shirts and bags and candy and as an extra-extra bonus, they're always playing good music.

We ended up looking at some of the little vinyl toys and ended up getting one of these cute little guys (we got the Pegaphant or something, I forget it's real name - half elephant, half pegasus!) from the Tic Toc Apocalypse series by Amanda Visell.

I want more. Too bad they're sold out online!

-XO

On the 15th day of December...

...Awesome art by Dreamworks storyboard artist Rad Sechrist.

I love, love, love how he converts his line art to colors. You'd almost never guess he had lines in the first place.

-XO

On the 11th Day of December... (more to come!)

I love ceramics and stoneware that is done tastefully (i.e. - not looking like it was made in someone's 1st pottery class or like it used to belong to your 3rd grade teacher who wore African print mumus!) And I think these three from sellers stepanka, PigeonToeCeramics, and catherinereece from Etsy did an amazing job not doing anything like that.

-XO

On the ninth day of December...

...A weird orange little box... and I threw it back because it was creepy. But this animation by Kevin Perry is amazing!

-XO

The Arctic Circle from Kevin Parry on Vimeo.

On the third day of December:

...a pretty little, town print!

From Kate Pugsley's Etsy shop!

-XO

The Weirder, the Better

-XO

PS! - You should also check out Vera's blog (one of the co-creators for this short) here!

Flying Bug-Eyed Cat-Thingies

Ronnie del Carmen prints at Gallery Nucleus. Cute girl and flying cat-thingy; what more could you ask for?

-XO

Design to a Tea

Tea Kettle from the fantastic design shop Mjolk.

-XO

ps! - I have to add that this tea towel is super 60's awesomesauce and I might have a lot of trouble not purchasing it...

Discovery of New Art

I love finding new, amazing artists (even if I'm just totally behind in the game of knowing their work). Uwe Heidschoetter is an amazing, astounding, awesome artist from Germany. He has a new book out which I plan on purchasing very soon from the wonderful art book website Stuart Ng books.

Anyways, I found this piece to be especially home-hitting because, ever since 6th grade (and until two years ago) I've had pet rats. Yes, as pets, and no, not from the wild. They're the sweetest little creatures you can imagine, and they like burrowing unto hooded sweatshirt pockets and curling up on your shoulder.

The title of the piece was "Girls and Rats", apparently for an animated short idea. Which would be fantastic, because my friend Tamara, had rats also, and we would take our pets over to each other's house to play together, and they always had the best time in the little cardboard houses we made for them; i.e. drew furniture on the insides and cut holes and doors for them to escape in and out.

Too cute, and so nostalgic. It's nice to see someone not trying to follow stereotypes in their art!

-XO

Too. Cute. W/shoes.

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

A Guide to Hats

I love Rifle Paper Co's prints. They're all so adorable and creative. Not to mention the colors!

I'm such a color-whore.

-XO

Benches and Balloons.

photo via Flickr - Brandon Christopher Warren

For some reason, balloons and benches seem to show up a lot in photos online. This is my favorite collection of balloon and bench photos. And just for yucks, here's an adorable snowglobe couple on a bench!

photo via Flickr - Balakov

-XO

Best. Lines. Ever.

One of the most inspirational artists that I've been lucky enough to discover is Claire Wendling. Her art isn't some famous comic in the United States, but her art books are some of the most high in demand in the art community. Her style is artistic and pushed to the edge, yet she carries all her knowledge of anatomy, light, and weight in every line.

There's something haunting and inspiring in everything she draws.

-XO