A little of something I'm currently inspired by—though I'm kind of at an inspiration overload place because of all the "research" I'm doing for my thesis... the artist books of Raymond Meeks are so beautiful, I love the simplicity and nuances of colour in them. I want to achieve something equally as nuance-y. It's just so nice.

Thanks Jen, from Simply Photo (where I found him!)

Yay! I received my copy of UPPERCASE magazine in the mail last week (it was actually just sitting on my doorstep for two days while I was away so I'm glad nobody stole it!) I am honoured to be a part of Janine's amazing creation, there are so many talented artists involved. A little piece of my paper collection was featured—my library cards and pockets—and they look quite nice in print. Like I said, I was blown away by this issue and I am looking forward to future issues!

Also, it's nice to be a page after dawbis, who I have definitely talked about before with her blog Lovely Paper. Her paper collections are a constant inspiration to me!

]]> http://www.whatyoulove.net/2010/02/long_overdue.html http://www.whatyoulove.net/2010/02/long_overdue.html magazines paper uppercase Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:06:25 -0500

I've been working hard lately, but it's mostly fun cut and paste work. I created four models of what the final project will look like (approximately). It feels like I've accomplished a lot by doing this but there is still so much left to do! I had fun with this though, and I used my glue gun for the first time in a long time. Above is one of my inspiration clipboards. Still wondering what it's all about? In due time... in due time.

(Oh and I've been making messes, too).

Woohoo! My first spring at Anthropologie, and can I just tell you how inspired I am? The clothes are also much more my style, the fabrics and colours and all (Cotton? Linen? Neutrals? Yes please.) This presents a problem though, because I want to spend my hard-earned money on clothes... Above is my wish list, below is what I have already sprung for. BEAUTIFUL gray and white stripe cotton dress.

Ahem... This is a problem. Don't worry, I'm not going to keep posting about stuff that I want all the time.

Phew! It's so hard to get caught up. Posting will probably be sporadic this season, because I'll be working on my thesis and of course my millions of other projects I distract myself with.

I'm quite excited about my thesis project, which is analyzing independent retail stores and creating an affordable, modular display concept. Which, hey, guess what, I am building BY HAND. I am perfectly capable but I am realizing just now what an enormous task this is... Wish me luck. I have to document my process so I hope to share some of it with you.

Here's a start, some inspiration-based layouts/experiments I am trying out for my final output (a catalogue).

The above images in the layout are from pony_tail on flickr. (Copyrighted, hope their not mad, I'm not actually using these layouts for anything)

Above main photo via willow ships via anabela. I am super jealous of how fabulous this girl (Chelsea Jade) and her photography and her band (teacups) are. Like wow. I still wish I was in a band, though I think that opportunity is long gone now!

Oh Seattle, why do you have to be so enchanting? I think at this point I could fall completely in love with any city, since I haven't done enough travelling to really know for sure where I want to be. We definitely had an amazing time there, and since returning to Toronto I have felt kind of gloomy. Who knew that's what travelling would do to me?! Toronto just doesn't have the allure it did before, back when it was the ONLY thing I knew. That makes sense though. Now I want to go everywhere. If only time and money would allow...

(This is not the hotel we stayed at, just a pretty one.)

Seattle seems to care about keeping its history in tact, which is something I appreciate. This is at Pike Place Market, which is so wonderful, for tourists and non-tourists alike. I don't like being a tourist for some reason—and people thought I wasn't one, I kept getting asked for directions and was giving them within a day (guess I'm a city girl for sure). I very shyly took most of these pictures. I don't see myself as a photographer—though I wish I was better at it—so taking out my crappy camera made me feel very touristy. Plus it was super rainy and I didn't want to get it wet. All my pictures came out blurry!

You have to be adventuresome here, because everything good seems tucked away and hard to get to. There were steep hills and alleys and very long staircases everywhere, sometimes I felt like I was trespassing. I visited an antique market right down on the harbourfront (across from the aquarium) which took some effort to get to. Down 200 feet of stairs later... I will show you some of the stuff I bought later!

Pike place again, in the evening. Most of the pictures I took were at night, this was early evening. There are so many neon signs in Seattle, I think almost every store has one. Kind of crazy but also cool, and makes the city light up nicely at night. Plenty of trees wrapped in christmas lights too.

From the first Starbucks, the cashier asked for Jory's name and even spelled it right!

Elliot bay books—I can't even say enough about this place. We were here for hours. Bookstores and coffee shops are a huge thing in Seattle, which naturally we loved. We also went to this nice Japanese bookstore, where I spent way too much money... I bought some magazines, a book with pictures of shops, some stationery and some masking tape.

Oh my gosh, I have been avoiding the internet like the plague this winter. Not like I haven't been at my computer… just not as much. I guess I've been in a bit of a blogging slump. I hope to fix this right now, because I love being a blogger! And I like sharing my findings, I suppose.

I have a couple of new ideas for things I want to do this year, one of them fits in with our resolution this year. We didn't really make resolutions per se, but we do have a goal in mind. There was an article Jory read about people living in cities who never see their own landmarks, and tourists who visit see everything in a matter of days. I like the idea of "traveling" where you live, because why not!? And it helps to see the good points of the city you live in, sometimes it's hard for me to look past the noise, tall buildings, smog and slush.

I have the travel bug, and it would maybe help to be a tourist in my own city when I can't actually travel. Would you believe I have never been on a real vacation? I've hardly been out of Canada! We're going to Seattle soon (for three days), but for a job interview—so that's not even a real vacation—but I'm going to make it feel like one! Anyone have any suggestions for places to visit there?

I would also like to do some posts about my favorite places in Toronto. I just discovered the blog "reading my tea leaves," and Erin has a section of posts called my downtown. This is so beautiful and inspiring, and I'd like to do something similar. I've been thinking a lot about Toronto's history too lately, ask anyone I've been bombarding with historic street views…

I'll be graduating this year, finally, hopefully. I enjoy the work I get to do but I hate "school." So I can't wait to finally be in the working world. I hope this year will be really good, 2009 was not all that. (There were definitely some great moments though!)

Sorry for all the talk, I guess this is like a journal entry, or probably an accumulation of all of my absences all at once.

Pictures are: 1. My favourite view from my apartment (from our office window).

2. Jory across the table from me at Lakeview (an awesome diner, established 1932). I love their new branding.

3. Some stuff I picked up at the Sunday antique market and some other stuff. (In the Hovis bread tin I also purchased there—a la threepotatofour—4 of them soldered together!

4. Lovely paper. Mostly bills and things, I'll show you some interesting things in this box later, a story for each one obviously. (The man and woman are my grandmother's adoptive parents).

5. Some photos from a 1920s album, look at those fancy photo corners!

6. A Victorian puzzle that took me 6 hours to complete, missing 3 pieces.

7. Some granola with yogurt and blueberries. Yum!

Happy New Year!

I love when collage is my homework, and I get to try new things all the time. These three collages are for my "art explores psychology" class, which is interesting in itself, (though a bit depressing). The theme was any psychological issue, so these collages have a tinge of sadness to them. It's pretty much about vulnerability to mental illness, and it's something that has surely affected my childhood. Other than the gloominess, I think they're pretty cool!

The photographs are by Bill Durgin, from corduroy magazine (issue five).

Hello,
I've been away... Those of you who are students can probably understand my stress right now, the semester is almost over and then one semester left! Then finally it's over (I'm not one of those people who enjoys school that much). Do you want to see what I've been working on?

Above is a soap package design for a men's cosmetic line (I know, they're pretty girly because of the calligraphy). It's hard to make something look 19th century and manly at the same time. I took this on as a personal challenge to create something NOT girly, and... we'll see what happens. I am also working on expanding on the cosmetic line I created "Organic Chemistry" to do the branding, advertising, and more packaging, which includes a women's version of the line. This is a quite exciting project, and I'm enjoying it (some of the projects they give us are pretty uninteresting, but not this one!). The goal is to design something that can be oriented towards men and women, and creating a distinction there.

I have also listed a few of my pieces from The Royal Family show on Etsy, so take a peek! There are so many more, but I don't want to post them all at once. I hope you enjoy them!

Pictorial Webster's: Inspiration to Completion from John Carrera on Vimeo.

Everybody has been talking about the new Pictorial Webster's lately, and it's so beautiful (I'm definitely going to get one from Anthro!). I stumbled across this video yesterday by John Carrera (who put the book together) and I was nothing short of amazed watching it. I can't believe the time and effort that was put into making the special editions—he spent about 10 years putting the archived engravings together, printing new linotype titling matrix by matrix, getting it ready for the press, then binding and gold foil and finger tabs, and oh my god!

Can you tell I have a soft spot for letterpresses and book binding? Not to mention the 19th century. You will love this video, whether you have my weird hangups or not... I just can't help being amazed. I wish I could dedicate my time to something so meaningful, haha. I wish I had $4600 to shell out for a special edition—I wonder if there are any left?

via Drawn!

One thing that never fails to surprise me is the elaborate sets that Korean clothing brands have, and the sheer amount of images of people actually wearing the clothing there are. It makes North America seem a bit lazy I think, or at least behind. Moles Room is a Korean clothing label that has a brilliant little setup, the clothes are all very classic and simple, and the backgrounds are full of antiques and office supplies (love!). I can browse these sites for hours, though I should probably be doing more productive things...

Hello! I have been absent a little while only because of the real life crazyness that occurred last week! I had my very first show and (I think) it went pretty well... If you're in the area please stop by, it will be up until November 12th. I didn't take any pictures, so I borrowed a couple from Juli (who posted about the show here). My sister took some so I will surely have some more to show you later (or you can go see it for yourself!)

I had fears that all thirty-seven pieces wouldn't fit in the modest 300 square foot-ish gallery... but it didn't end up looking too cluttered!

I did some serious window painting all day before the show, it looked so neat with the light shining through!

I also just want to thank everyone for coming, I had a great time (despite my lack of sleep) and I really appreciated everyone being there! I've learned that a gallery opening is like a sort of self-absorbed little party that makes you feel quite loved, haha... I already have ideas for the next one!

(Photos in this post by Juli Daoust)

Oh! I guess I should mention my show again before it is the day of, shouldn't I? I'm a bit scatterbrained from all this hard work I suppose (Plus, I haven't been feeling too well this week).

This is the poster for my first ever solo exhibit (aren't you proud?), and I am extending an invitation to anyone in Toronto that would like to come. The opening reception is this Friday evening at 8pm, and wine and cheese will be served. Here is the formal event writeup:

Entitled “The Royal Family”, this mixed media collage series was inspired by a pair of scrapbooks found at the St. Lawrence antique market filled with newspaper clippings of Queen Elizabeth and her family during the 1950's and 60's. Aprile's collages recreate the scrapbooks, changing the composition and adding materials to give each page a deeper meaning. All of these pieces are created on the actual scrapbook pages themselves, resulting in brittle and delicate collages which further the character and feelings of nostalgia in each piece.

Aprile had tried many different artistic mediums but her restlessness always led to back to collage work where she feels most comfortable. She loves assembling, disassembling, and rearranging the compositions as well as creating contradictions and versatile interpretations for viewers.
]]> http://www.whatyoulove.net/2009/10/the_royal_family_oct_16th_to_n.html http://www.whatyoulove.net/2009/10/the_royal_family_oct_16th_to_n.html art collage events Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:08:01 -0500

I have recently been obsessed with ribbons, medals, badges, awards, et cetera et cetera... I stumbled upon the wonderful work of Hayley Carmo this week, and I found her piece "Reliving it" so inspiring. It's a large collection of different ribbons, made of ribbon, mylar, and found papers.

For my first art show (!) I am making a bunch of ribbons to display on the wall with my pieces, using old book covers as the center and paper as the ribbon. This was also inspired by the ribbon we have at work in the elevator, warning riders of its unbelievable slowness. It was made by our display artist from wallpaper, and I stare at it countless times a day when I ride the elevator, and I just love it!

My ribbons will be of course in more muted colours, I really hope my art wall doesn't look to overwhelming... The ribbons will be for sale as well, for considerably less so that everyone can go home with something! Wish me luck on getting them done in time!

I have some great news, too! I just found out I'll be having a solo show at the gallery some friends of mine run (also where I sell my work) called ...industtrees at 1234 College St. I'm going to say (tentatively) that the show will open October 16th. I've got to get to work!

The theme is The Royal Family, which I've told you a bit about already. I have been working hard and scouring antique markets for "Royal" related things. Also horse and world war II related things, not completely the same theme but I have some ideas for display and I think medals and horses are pretty "royal," don't you? I've already arranged a trade for this horseshoe (nobody buy it!) My Etsy shop is emptying out a little, but I will have all the work from the show listed when it's over, unless I sell most of it, which would be nice!

So if you're in Toronto, I hope you'll come! I will post many more details and pictures of my progress later...