Google travel

I have been busy at work lately. Illustrated three stories the last two weeks, two of the stories I created animated gifs. I am sure I am doing it the wrong way; they are fun, but a lot of work to get them just right. I found out you can convert an animated gif to a mp4 ezgif. I might have known that before, but it has been a long time since I converted a gif.

This one is for 'New nanoparticles make targeted, temporary gene therapy possible". My first version was very rigid and decided the more organic feel was the way to go.

Additionally I created an animations for "New guidelines take aim at chemo-related nausea". 

I spend a lot of time watching video tutorials, trying to learn after-effects. ;0

Looking up, thinking trees

How trees talk to each other | Suzanne Simard 

 

“Crown Shyness”, A Phenomenon Where Trees Avoid Touching
 

Crown shyness (also canopy disengagement, canopy shyness, or intercrown spacing) is a phenomenon observed in some tree species, in which the crowns of fully stocked trees do not touch each other, forming a canopy with channel-like gaps. The phenomenon is most prevalent among trees of the same species, but also occurs between trees of different species. There exist many hypotheses as to why crown shyness is an adaptive behavior, and research suggests that it might inhibit spread of leaf-eating insect larvae.

Deep in the woods of the West Pomerania region of Poland, an entire section of trees bends at sharp angles near their bases, forming an odd and entrancing phenomenon known as "The Crooked Forest." 

Some unusual shapes of trees here. 

I wish I was braver

I know well enough I am an artist (and graphic artist). I suffer and delight in creating something almost every day of the year. I struggle daily learning new skills, keeping up with updated apps,  trying to stay "young in thought" and relevant as I age and talented coworkers have just left college with a shiny new degrees. Sometimes it is fun and wonderful, sometimes a challenge, sometimes painful, sometimes I don't want to own it and sometimes I want to shout it out to the world, "this is mine"!

I feel like a chicken because I choose a paycheck instead of exploring the life of a real artist, untethered by rules, regulations, stackholders and budgets. Set free by exploring every little corner of a creative thought or internal spark. But I have always been too cautious and poor to be that brave. Maybe in another lifetime. In the meantime, I can enjoy these little snippets of what seems like real artist enjoying their talent. To quote the song in video below ...  "Oh, if only, if only ... "


Edith Rewa · Field Trip from The Design Files on Vimeo.

More on Edith Rewa here

Sheridan by Ken Done from The Design Files on Vimeo.


More about Ken Done here on Design Files.

Lidiya Marinchuk

Lidiya Marinchuk is a toy maker! And I want to wear one. 

Mother Earth is glorious

Sometimes I get completely lost on Google maps exploring the world. Fractals rivers and what looks like layers in a quartz rock and little man-made watered dots in the desert. 

Story of China

I have been watching The Story of China on PBS and it is fantastic. I have to watch them a couple of times to take all the information in ;) The last episode was talking about the gardens of a palace and one place caught my attention so I had to go investigate. The description was "Pavilion of Fragrant Snow and Azure Cloud". I mean really, how does THAT not stop you in your tracks? Humble Administrator's Garden had many Pavilions and honestly, I wish I could visit each one at peak season and just sit there for a day and take in the fragrances.

Celestial Spring Tower: An octagonal tower with flying eves, built around a preexisting well called the celestial spring. 

Fragrant Sorghum Hall: A five bay hall open on four sides with hipped-gable roofline. The name comes from sorghum fields that once existed near the garden. The windows are decorated with boxwood carvings of scenes from Romance of the Western Chamber. 

Orchid and Snow Hall: A three bay hall internally divided by a lacquer screen engraved with a map of the garden. Orchid and snow are symbolic of ritual purity. 

Pavilion of the Leaning against Rainbow: An attached square pavilion with hipped gable roofline and flying eves built in front of the main entry to the central garden. This pavilion is the vantage point for a borrowed view of North Temple Pagoda.  

Pavilion of Lotus: A terrace open on two sides with a hipped gable roofline and a portico on all four sides. It overlooks a lotus pond and was named for the verse by Yang Wangli, "To the horizon green lotus leaves seem to extend infinitely; under the sun reddish lotus flowers go bright scarlet." A scholar stone is mounted in the middle.  

Fragrant Isle: A landboat structure, named for the smell of the lotus blossoms in Surging Wave Pond  

Listening to the Sound of Rain Hall: Named for the sound of rain on banana trees. It anchors an enclosed courtyard with rockery and pond. 

Peony suffruiticosa Pavilion: Also called the Embroidered Silk Pavilion, it is a square pavilion open on three sides. It is sited on top of a yellowstone rockery and forms an ideal vantage point for viewing the islands.

Busy week

I did three illustrations on top of other work. I  have a little too much fun at my job. ;)

 

Finding focus

I have never been more disgusted to be an American citizen than I am this day and all the days since November 8th. 

I have taken myself off of Facebook. After unfriending 90% of my friends and family. Literally deleting most of my family from my life. I am intense, too focused on what this present administration is doing to our country. This is NOT a joke. This is NOT normal. This is NOT a religious movement, as some of my Texas family believes. I understand Republicans voted on abortion ... but really, do you give up your entire decent belief system just to get abortion illegal in this country. Do you allow a maniac and his family to use the United States as their personal ATM machine while breaking every ethical law in the book? 

So, now. I am trying to focus on some beautiful things again. It is hard. It is hard to find a smile when someone tells a joke. I think to myself ... this is not a joking time in our country. I don't want to watch the Today show and segments about the best mascara or how to cut up a watermelon. I think ... how shallow can we be right now? Our country is falling apart and they want to concentrate of trivial crap. So I have given up watching morning news shows and opt for CNN, MSNBC, BCC, Cspan, and any other news organization that will focus on what is going on in this country's downfall. 

I have never felt the need to own a gun but I told my husband the other day that I want to buy a couple of guns and learn how to use them. I see and hear of the "next civil war" and I am not convinced that we are not heading for one right now.

The alt-right is so far away from anything decent and true. That I am not sure what is going to happen next in this country and I am truly scared.

I keep thinking ... what would people have been doing when Hitler was taking over Germany? Some would sit back and see nothing unusual going on. And some would say and see ... we live in a dangerous time right now and speak up against it.

Color

RABARI. Doshi Levien for Nanimarquina from Maite Felices on Vimeo.
Dresses with mirrors Deepak Perwani bridal spendlor

Purple explosion

WoodSwimmer

A music video made entirely from wood for a song by bedtimes.xxx/music, WoodSwimmer is based on a concept I developed while designing a new stop-motion universe where wood is the primary element. The sequences are cross-sectional photographic scans of pieces of hardwood, burls and branches. It is a straightforward technique but one which is brutally tedious to complete.

You can see photos here.

WoodSwimmer from bfophoto on Vimeo.

Tamae Mizukami

I am struck by the beautiful simplicity of Tamae Mizukami's illustration of trees. I can't turn away, I want to see more and more. 

More of her art on Flickr

Oliver Jeffries

I know it is hard to be an artist full time, but Oliver Jeffries seems to be a master and having a great time creating the most fabulous kids books! 

Instagram

Requiem For A Soldier

With or without lyrics the Band of Brothers theme song, Requiem For a Soldier is one of the most beautiful songs ... always makes me feel like I am hearing a heavenly chorus of angels. I echo what what was said on the video, stay safe out there wherever you may be. For my uncles, grandfathers, cousins who served in war. Strangers who sacrificed all to make us safe. Thank you! 

"You never lived to see 
What you gave to me 
One shining dream of hope and love 
Life and liberty 
With a host of brave unknown soldiers 
For your company, you will live forever 
Here in our memory In fields of sacrifice 
Heroes paid the price 
Young men who died for old men's wars 
Gone to paradise 
We are all one great band of brothers 
And one day you'll see we can live together 
When all the world is free 
I wish you'd lived to see 
All you gave to me 
Your shining dream of hope and love 
Life and liberty 
We are all one great band of brothers 
And one day you'll see - we can live together 
When all the world is free" 

Envelope Poems

I want this book: "The Gorgeous Nothings: Emily Dickinson's Envelope Poems" 

Browse the Emily Dickinson Collection, Amhearst College, online.

Listening room

I really need to get back to listening to Audible (I even have two credits) ... instead of the news and screaming obscenities at the radio. 


I might try this as well, LibriVox, Free Audiobook Collection. They have a nice blog for monthly picks. Sanity, is important and there is nothing better than to escapte into a book story on the drive to work in traffic.

“Seeing Nature” typeface

Celebrate natural shapes and flowery letterforms with this fanciful nature alphabet called “Seeing Nature.” This font is a bit different from other OpenType fonts we usually feature at Chank.com because it is provided to you today in the form of a great big image file, where you need to select each letter, then copy and paste the full-color letter images to create new colorful words. It is an image file you can open and use in Photoshop. These letters word create at the Minneapolis Institute of Art as part of a fontmaking workshop at the museum’s Third Thursday event recently, in conjunction with AIGA-MN and the MN Landscape Arboretum. Seeing Nature typeface here.

More fun fonty things here on my pinterest board.

Owen Davey - dots, lines, patterns

Dungeness Crab Timelapse from Owen Davey. Isn't that fantastic? 

Dungeness Crab Timelapse from Owen Davey on Vimeo.

Marie-laure Cruschi

I want to come back as this illustrator ;) - Marie-laure Cruschi.


Live Illustration with Marie-Laure Cruschi (Cruschiform) 3/3 - hosted by Michael Chaize