oliver & the gtc poster

Oliver brainstorming new exciting & creative ideas in one of his many offices

Hey ! I was just the designer - Oliver, our Don as we like to call him, oversaw the Creative Direction of the gtc poster. Other interesting facts about this multi talented, tres athletic, oh so handsome, tabby mix, super soft, smells like fresh laundry (& all-the-time) cat are as follows:

• will do circus tricks for whiskas tempations - will spin and dance round in circles and/or stand tall on hind legs and mew his cutest, pleading, chirping mew.

• he has a younger adopted brother Virgil (the cat formerly known as Gus) who is devastatingly handsome, trim & part feral. Oliver likes to put a poundin' into Virg every now and then just so that Virg remembers who's the top cat & big brother. Oliver often enjoys sleeping cuddled up with Virg and grooming him from head to toe - until the cows come home.

• he wishes to be best buds avec le beeg, blag, Brooklyn born Dominican cad - for he ees so cool

• he was invited to audition for Madonna's Jump video because of his most excellent parkouring (free running) talents. He loves to race around and up onto furniture at top speeds for no apparent reason other than the pure love of the art of movement. Unfortunately he had to turn it down as his passport/visa papers were not in order.

• he is madly in love with a tabby mix (like himself) with a black nose M Millie (ah she is stunning) from far away Newcastle upon Tyne (or NuT), he has been saving, his grossly underpaid Creative Director/Photo Assistant, wages in order to pay for a steerage fair in a big boat leaving our little harbour one day. He will wear his cream coloured, I'm a Nova Scotia hardy sea cat, cabled fisherman knit sweater to impress her.

• he is the best, most charming, sweetest, most dog like, affectionate, personable & super social cat ever. We, especially me, are totally crazy about him.

Oh yeah ! our Good Things Come big calendar poster's are ready - you can pre-order here !
10 bucks + shipping ... and we've got lots more poster ideas up our sleeve ... so stay tuned.

more inspiration (oh oh)

sighing - amazing Czech posters found at terryposter.com

Could she manage to combine her deep and historic love of graphic design & typography with
her new found love of mixed media & collage and turn it into something new, cool & beautiful ?

Can she ? Will she ?
Don't touch that dial ...

all revved up, with a tidy desk to boot ... this early Monday morning

what's better than ...

a toasted, home grown tomato sandwich with hellmans mayonnaise & romaine lettuce

I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero
'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero
'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life

Bonnie Tyler

- tomatoes from the garden
- chainsaws, reciprocating saws, extension ladders, pruners, & snippers (& 1 ton of enthusiasm)
- 1 handsome hero - boy oh boy he-sure-loves-his-projects, that Prince of All Things Good
- the black steed ('97 Ford Ranger pick up truck) loaded to the brim with yard and jungle debris
- movie night* (every night here at 29 Black Street) - last night's pick Bandits (sweet & funny)
- grape & cranberry juice popsicles
- enormous & fabulous paper stashes arriving at our little post office for me - hooray & merci !!
- fresh sheets & pillowcases just in from an afternoon hung on the line outside
- blue sky, sunshine and 20 c temperatures
- leaves, seed pods, spiders, chestnuts, asters, hydrangeas, pumpkins ...
- the sound of crickets
- feeling madly in love

happy Sunday
from the Bandits soundtrack and could be my theme song ... come on let's all dance, madly
* all our movies come from the library

i'm a designer part 1

hope is - collage

I never know what I'm going to do
I love not knowing
I like not knowing, 'cause I actually like to be afraid
that I'm not going to figure out what to do
or I'm not going to know what to do
and it allows me to follow any path I want

Squeak Carnwath - Painting is no ordinary object

Yikes ! any path ? Hey Squeak ! You're a crazy woman and your paintings are awesome !

This collage stuff I've been doing although I really love it ... it also totally freaks me out.

I've been working on several collage/quotation pieces similar to the Hope Is collage above and I swear I've been holding my breath most of the time I'm working on them. Tense & worried feeling. Knowing full well at any given moment, after the long deliberation with a giant capital D, the next piece I decide to glue down could be that kiss of death piece, the oh no ! why did I do that ? I've ruined everything. To be honest I'm not sure that I'm enjoying this recent more artistic process to my creative endeavours. Artistic as compared to designing. Designing for someone else compared to creating ... ultimately for yourself (??). Woah ! les pressure.

Way back when, in art college, I plodded happily along through both the fine arts and the design programs and ultimately made the decision to be a designer (at that time a graphic designer) for practical reasons (employment) and for a kind of spiritual/philosophical reason - I just couldn't imagine the daily pressure of staring at a blank page or newly gessoed canvas and deciding what to do, paint, draw, create and on top of that how to do it. Why on earth would someone put themselves through that ? How do they do it ? Cruise control I suspect.

The kind of designer I've been all these year, it's been easy to know when to consider my work good, a success - it's when my customer is happy & content. After 25+ years of trying to make customers happy, and succeeding much of the time, you begin to not care so much (or not know) whether or not you're happy. They're happy, your bills are being paid (at times handsomely) - why rock a boat. You can use your favourite fonts, and/or colours, your own go-to look or style that you try to sneak in each design project - applying your own tiny personal stamp on things ... but ultimately you are always trying to please someone else.

I like that. I'm good at that.

Pleasing myself on the other hand - WOW, who knew it could be so difficult ?

The sun's just up, the other side of the harbour's been painted with gorgeous orange light, Missy D's snoozin' in her bed under the TTD* and I'm about to have a kick ass day ! Regardless of all this creative angst. Remember ... I'm not asking myself any of those questions ... I'm just gonna keep on keepin' on. For now anyway.

*TTD - teak topped desk
Squeak Carnwath youtube video found at fabulous mixed media artist Cori Dantini's blog

heart & soul

I love the crows and I love where I live

you change your life by changing your heart

unknown

My heart often taunts me
You haven't changed a bit, you're still the same sad soul you've always been

My mind, always trying to encourage, will whisper back to me
Look around you, look all around you ... that cannot be true

Amazed with gratitude, always

Pouring steady rain, chattering crows, a dark & grey sky, a second cup of coffee, a brand new day

kingfishers & yoga

John James Audubon - Belted Kingfisher

The Belted Kingfisher is a species of bird that summers here and around our little seaside village. Like tiny jet airplanes you'll often see them zooming at top speed just a few feet above the surface of the water or hovering high up in the sky above the harbour with a blur of flapping wings, waiting to spy the perfect fish and then plunge diving, fishing, again at a great speed. They are beautiful - vivid blue and black with a distinct white band and a spiky black crest and fascinating birds to watch. Their distinct, loud chattering cry alerting you to their presence long before you might ever see them ... zooming around the village.

Yesterday was a bit of a kingfisher day for me. Winnie and I were kept company by a pair of them as we strolled along the harbour's edge and onto the crescent beach. Throughout the day I kept hearing their call as if they were reminding me of their message - Kingfisher Medicine.

New Warmth, Sunshine, Prosperity and Love

The Kingfisher (the Australian Kookaburra is of this family) is a symbol of peace and prosperity. The Kingfisher is the promise of abundance- its blue plumage is associated with Jupiter, the planet of abundance.

People with a Kingfisher totem need to live as near as possible to water and as far north as possible. They have a knack of teaching their children on how enjoy life and how to prosper at the same time. If a Kingfisher comes into your life, you might be required to dive headlong into some activity -- or possibly a new love will enter your life.

No matter what it is, don't be afraid of trying the new. Kingfisher will be there to guide you.
You won't drown - you will have sunshine, love and abundance!

Well a big Merci ! Kingfishers - 'cause I sure needed that message

I'll confess, I've been having a week of fairly extreme blahness. After weeks of pretty high energy, busily creating lots of new things, submitting things here and there and brazenly going after as many new possibilities and opportunities as I can find - I've had no responses. It's been dead quiet in my in-box and that looming silence has begun to pick away at my confidence (it doesn't take much). The worst thing ever for creativity is doubt. But yesterday those Kingfishers kept shouting at me, and I decided to listen to them. So ... this early morning I'm cleaning up the teak topped desk, getting out my scissors, glue and beautiful (ever growing) stash of paper -
back at it with a vengeance, guess I'll keep on rockin' on ...

And ... I joined an 8 week yoga class with a friend and had my first session yesterday afternoon. Sighing every tiny millimetre of my knotted up and stressed out body whispered to me thank you, thank you, thank you - not to mention the quieting of that crazy, busy, mean, f&cked up mind of mine. Exactly what I needed. Oh my a big hooray for yoga ! (and for Mary - most excellent yoga instructor).

Off now to visit hot steaming facecloths in the soothing lands of bubbles & scent.

songs I love

the seasons, they are a changin'

You see I've been climbing stairs but mostly stumbling down
I've been reaching high always losing ground
You see I've been reaching high but always losing ground
You see I've conquered hills but I still have mountains to climb
And right now right now I'm doing the best I can
At this point in my life

Birds and angels get the wings to fly
If you can believe in this heart of mine
If you can give it a try
Then I'll reach inside and find and give you
All the sweetness that I have
At this point in my life

Tracy Chapman

I had a massage last night. I always take a music cd with me because I have a hard time relaxing. It's always a mix of my own making. Last night I took in a cd that's cover photo is of sweet Piper Belle and the cd is one of two cd's that I made for the cowboy after knowing him only 16 days. I made 2 cd's, music for him to take in the car for his long and far away cross country road trip. A total of 36 songs. A bit brazen of me in hindsight.

It's strange to listen to the songs now, nearly a year later.
Songs I love ... compiled with love.

like this one and this one and this ... and this big favourite always makes me want to dance