ART watercolour; the unforgiven/ing

I stumbled upon Samantha Hahn's illustration during one of my daily jaunts around the design blog block. I was struck by the vivid colours she uses in her watercolour work. She clearly is a master of controlling the uncontrollable. Soft bleeds and floods of colour yet contained just enough. Her work displayed on her website portfolio has a strong fashion focus which I can imagine being an extremely difficult subject to portray in watercolour (getting just enough detail to be recognizably unique but retain an emotional feel through soft illustration) yet she is able to highlight the pieces beautifully with her technique and palettes.

Watercolour is a medium I yearn to master yet don't have the ability to throw caution tothe wind and let the life of the medium do its thing. The discomfort with its "unc

ontrollability factor" is something I have never overcome. I am acontrol freak to a fault and if it what is in my head doesn't immediately leap to the page, I have NO ability to just go with it. It's such an unforgiving medium yet those, like Samantha, who can so artfully let gravity, water, air and the other earthly elements just DO THEIR THING, the results are breathtaking.

Nearing the due date of my son in 2009, I was apparently high

on pregnancy hormones and agreed to do a contract while on leave for the museum I work for. Approaching their 25th anniversary, the museum was planning a silver celebration exhibit highlighting 25 of their most fantastic finds. Having worked closely with the hired illustrator (Julius Csotonyi) we had used on numerous previous projects, I felt comfortable with the relationship and agreed to try my hand at watercolour work while he provided the line art. I wanted this to be an opportunity to force myself to learn a new skill and breech that discomfort zone. Many hours were spent frustrated and hallucinating from lack of sleep as a brand new mother and late nights working on version after version of each painting. We are all our own worse critics, but I am so hard on myself. I had no technique and absolutely no idea what I was doing.

In the end I made it through and the final pieces look great in the space. The painted illustrations were used in print, ads, text panels and other misc. applications. Looking back, past the frustration and the tears, I'm really glad I pushed myself to try and therefore grew in the process.

Below are a few of the final paintings in the series.

DESIGN letterpress lovely

I am a huge fan of letterpress printing. Typographic elements take on a 3 dimensional life of their own. Soft impressions on soft paper.

I am totally in love with Madcat Press and their incredible design and print work.

I'm embarrassed to say that I've never been in the presence of a letter press machine and are pretty perplexed by the process, but are eager to get the opportunity. Get my hands dirty. See a pro at work whose results are textural, graphic, beautiful and done with care. Some of the best results are unexpected outcomes which just reinforces how mechanical craft over digital has so many virtues. The limited colour palette, the shallow impressions, misregistration; it all comes together in a treasure you can hold and feel and covet. My new goal is to understand the print process better from a mechanical, craft perspective. As a graphic designer, I've visited printers and been guided on tours which show their warehouses of industrial machines, whirring and clicking but haven't really understood the evolution.

My father, a communications professor, has written books on the process of communication. I remember as a child (too sick to go to school but surprisingly well enough to sit in on his classes...) listening to him teach about Gutenberg and the printing press. How this single invention truly revolutionized our society and brought ideas and academics to the masses. Fast-forward 20 years and now I make a living based on printing and bringing ideas to the masses through type and graphics arranged to communicate an idea. But I work in a very digital bubble. I design, have ideas, talk to printers about how to make those ideas come to fruition and then voila! The product is delivered to my doorstep, usually as predicted, sometimes not. But my design could be so much better if I understood the insides, the guts, the amazing potential and possibilities that can be produced with the right knowledge of the craft.

Now to find the time. Sigh.

Letterpress Poster Printing from Joshua Gerken on Vimeo.

FASHION purse 'N boots

To continue my mini theme on boots, I heard about this shoe designer on a recent CBC radio morning show. Pretty awesome idea but on radio I couldn't picture how they work. After spending some energy searching for these, I finally found them and were impressed. Form and function. A good mix. Now, if only I could wear boots with style! As earlier mentioned, I am no fashion plate, but surely appreciate and drool from afar!

Check out Elizabeth Anne's website and her blog, puss 'n boots on which she shares her love for fashion photography.

ARTS outside comfort zones

Recently, a group called Improv Everywhere (out of New York city,) did an improv stint at the Met where an actor impersonated King Philip IV in front of a recently restored figure painting of the monarch. Watching the video, the execution made me a tad uncomfortable, but was so happy to see people engaged in an environment which traditionally ends up being a very introverted experience.

After signing autographs for several minutes, a security guard became uncomfortable with the hallabaloo and asked both the king and his handler to leave. While exiting, the actor continued to sign photographs as people continued to ask for his X.

Why is it we are so uncomfortable with the idea of interaction? There are no laws against a guy dressing up in costume, and after a highly publicized restoration of the painting and announcement of its return to the gallery, why would the Met snuff at further free publicity? The buzz in the room was intoxicating and people were actually interested and engaged in conversation. Who is that guy? Why does he look like the guy in the painting? What is he handing out? How old is he supposed to be?

I think museums need to take a page from the IE book and figure out creative ways to engage their visitors. And not more bad onsite plays were a mediocre actor pretends to be a famous figure. The brillance of this stint was that it was subtle. No script, no wigs and no canned music.

I think they were pissed off just because they didn't think of it first!

FASHION: these boots were made for stompin'

I am not, by any means, a fashion plate, but I do appreciate good wearable design whether it be pretty, practical or whimsical. As the weather steadily improves in this part of the world, people are coming out of the woodwork and starting to sport shiny new spring attire. Perhaps a little premature for this climate, but with the first real melt of the season underway, kids everywhere are itching to pound some puddles!

I bought these for Sam last fall when I had no idea what size he would be this spring, but just couldn't pass up shark boots. After a brief stint outside, and a few wet falls trying to get a sense of balance under control when one's ankles are locked in a 90 degree position, the chill got to us and we had to move the fun inside. After refusing to allow me to take off the shiny new footwear, we made some puddles of our own.

DESIGN a disappearing art

Cd covers are such a fantastic opportunity for artists and designers to really sink their teeth into the creative process. There's something fantastic about designing based on another sense, like sound or taste. The fact the cover should say SOMETHING about the music offers both a challenge and an opportunity to really feel the subject matter.

But it seems the CD is a dying breed. With the advent of the digital era where everything is downloadable, where does that leave the case? I still enjoy buying cds (often from Starbucks) because I like having something to hold

in my hand. I like opening the cases (especially the cardboard ones with leaflets and lots of folds,) but that being said, once I get it home, I upload it to my various technology devices and the case gets shelved. Still, there's something great about that experience when you first open it.

True, even when you have your music in a digital library, most devices and programs want to give the listener some kind of visual so there is still a market for a design, but that's it. No typographically composed playlist, no cd label, no leaflet to pull from the envelope like a little treasure, no photos, no textured papers. It's too bad but a reality.

All that being said, with the uprise of the digital era has come other opportunities for design in the music world; websites, apps, ummm...

I guess that means as designers and artists we need to figure out ways to give that "added benefit" factor. Give the audience the something extra. I don't know what that is, whether its working with programers to give more control to individual cds in how they're presented within a library (going beyond just the album cover), or when you buy a cd you get a fantastic something in the mail (poster, collectable postcard, notecard...) I don't know, but I suppose when one door closes another opens with a creative opportunity waiting to be discovered.

Ruth Moody's Solo Album The Garden. Beautiful music and beautiful album design.

DESIGN Down Home Patterns

I've been making a point to look closer at the every day things in my home that have charm and that I take for granted everyday. Of course we all love the things we buy at the time because something in them struck us as having the "it" factor, but over time they become blasé as we see them every day. So, I'm making a point to open my eyes again and give my everyday things another look. Perhaps a closer look, perhaps just in another light. Either way, I hope to continue to refresh them from the function.

The shower curtain in the guest bath. Organic neutral lines but with lots of variation and texture close up:

Our upstairs couch cushions: