Monday's Inspiration: This

An important question to ask...

I usually reserve "Monday's Inspiration" posts for people, places and art that inspire me and inform my artwork. This week, I'm doing something different because sometimes I serve as my own inspiration.

St. John's Booksellers is one of my clients. More than that, Néna, the owner, is a very good friend. I've designed her window displays and her print material for over a year now and I've gotten to hear a fair amount about the challenges of running a brick and mortar store in today's economy. I have to say, it takes a huge amount of dedication and courage to run a bookstore and go up against the big guys in the business.

One of the thing that's struck me over and over again are Néna's stories about having a customer come in, ask about a book -accessing Néna's many years of experience in the industry and her incredible base of knowledge when it comes to books- and then decide to go buy the book somewhere else. Even telling her that they can get it cheaper on Amazon. It is maddening.

I've wanted for a while now to help her address the issue of people using her store as an Amazon showroom. While I have nothing against Amazon in general, I very much value independently-owned bookstores as vital community resources and neighborhood anchors. And if we don't actively value our neighborhood bookstores, they're going to disappear.

With this window design, from the brown paper to the question and the answer, I think I've pretty much summed up why we should be shopping local and supporting our neighbor's businesses. When I first had the idea, I was worried that it was too confrontational or that Néna wouldn't like it. She liked it and decided that we should run with it. It went up on Saturday night.

The reaction, in just two days, has been phenomenal. It has started many conversations. A picture of the window, posted on Facebook, has been shared over 90 times. It's been described as "scary, provocative, and witty" "right on and badass" "like the Ghost of Christmas Future, pointing at the grave..." and more. Every once in a while, I have a design idea that hits a sweet spot - something that communicates a powerful idea very simply and directly and in a way that can't be ignored. When I do, it serves as a deep well of inspiration for whatever comes next.

This is one of those times.

Monday's Inspiration: Etsy Artists

Blushing: a treasury on Etsy

Recently, I've been working on building up my store on Etsy, and spending time promoting other artists' work as well. There's a community aspect to Etsy that is very appealing. I'm finding that building treasuries (curating lists of various items, usually built around a theme) is very inspiring.

There are so many wonderful creative people out there, doing amazing things. When I build a treasury, I deliberately go looking for amazing handmade items. My most recent treasury, Blushing, was built around a soft warm pink like, well, a blush. Note the awesome flamingo from Cart Before the Horse!

I hear my dream kitchen calling...

It's poor etiquette to include one's own items on a treasury, so none of my pieces are pictured here, but I get so much out of seeing what other people are doing and feeling inspired by it. Take the kitchen treasury, for example. I stayed with a soft, near-neutral color palette, one that my friend Alison has really taught me to appreciate. While I don't really do any of the arts involved in making these items, the overall effect of the restrained, serene palette makes me want to put myself on a color diet for about a week - picking a simple palette and then seeing how many things I can do with it.

As a consequence of being a part of the amazing creative community on Etsy, I find myself learning and growing and stretching, and I value those things more than I can say.

Blast From The Past

Work in Progress: You Can Take It With

I've been thinking a lot lately about the kid that I was in middle school. Looking back, I was fearlessly creative and completely unafraid to be myself, and therefore so un-self-aware as to be utterly clueless about anything social. I had almost no friends, but except for the constant teasing at school, and bullying, it almost didn't bother me. I had my creative outlets and my books, and that was pretty much enough.

In some ways, I think I was almost happier back then because I didn't have the kind of creative inhibitions that I do now. Self awareness has its price, and so does the desire for social acceptance. There are days when I am so worried about how someone will judge my work and me along with it, that I'm afraid to do/make anything. Considering how badly I want to make my living through my personal handiwork, this is a problem.

While thinking about these things, I decided to make a piece of art as if it were 1983, and all I had were scissors and glue and an old magazine. This is what I came up with. Nothing is glued down yet, because I'm still fiddling with placement and pondering new elements, but I'm not displeased with the effect I've created. I like the ghostly, Cheshire Cat-like effect of the eyes. We'll probably be seeing more of that in the future.

I don't have any answers to my problem yet, but at least I made something real.

Frida Progress

Frida in progress

I've been making some progress with my Frida Kahlo illustration. At this point, I'm much happier with her face. The smile and brows are much better (thank you, Heather!) and I've made the eyes just a touch larger, without the chibi-ness of the second version. There's a ways to go on this, though. I need to figure out what I want to say with the composition - the illustration as a whole.

Getting Your Hands on Vintage Books in St. Johns

It's true!

One of my favorite tasks as a designer is to work with Néna at St. Johns Booksellers to come up with ideas and window designs to promote her wonderful bookstore and the books she sells. For January, Néna wanted to showcase some of her outstanding vintage books. This is what I came up with:

Decembers's window was a much-welcome explosion of lights, color and glitter for the holidays, so I wanted to do something very clean and simple for January to let the amazing vintage books shine. Hence, the idea of books being pieces of history you can hold in your hands. To carry the idea, I created a number of hand outlines in various fun and vintage-style papers, to place in the books and around the window.

The results were exactly what I wanted! I love the moment when I take a step back, about halfway through the process of setting up the window, and realize that my idea is going to work exactly the way I'd hoped. Especially when times are tight and the design budget is limited.

I've had so many compliments on the poster I created for the window, I decided to offer it for sale in my Etsy store.

Néna has some AMAZING vintage books, including a gorgeously tooled set of Oscar Wildes, and an almost unbelievably cool self-published and AUTOGRAPHED Anais Nin! She also has a Victorian-era Imperial folio on Pompeii which is just incredible. I am rapidly running out of superlatives!

Check out more about St. Johns Booksellers over on Facebook.