Whoa

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Tilda Swinton

To me, Tilda represents maverick authenticity and f*ck you grittiness all while maintaining a sense of play and femininity. The above editorial and accompanying article in AnOther Magazine inspired me. Particularly, this quote by Frances McDormand; I love the sense of camaraderie conveyed by her uncomplicated words. One is beyond, just beyond, when FRANCES f*cking McDORMAND admires you.

printed quote in Helvetica

on the back of this (an illustration I did of Hilary Swank as Teena Brandon/Brandon Teena from a few years ago, there's a reason why I squirrel things away, see?)

cut letters

paint

paste

reflect

close up

Co-dependent

I see an interesting link between Harlequin romance novels (target audience: heterosexual women) and mainstream pornography (target audience: heterosexual men). Both are generally accepted as entertainment; neither question status quo gender roles. Each have over saturated markets, so the recipe for success is not as simple as rubbing tried and true clichés together until they spark interest in the audience. Regardless of the quality of each product, there must be creative people with clear vision involved. In our suffering economy, each market continues to thrive because, in my opinion, people will spend money on fantasy, especially in the worst of times. There are many, many more similarities and differences but I'll leave that to the imagination. I have something in the works with these ideas that I'll show here eventually.


source Megan Fraser via flickr

source tastymeat via flickr

Messing around

I'll file this under: child makes drawing and excitedly shows it to the parent. Parent exclaims "I love it, it's beautiful! What is it?" Child explains, but can't actually speak yet, so it comes out in bubbly gibberish. Parent is puzzled and enchanted. With unconditional support and love, parent sticks it on the fridge along side the growing collection of stuff.

Underground heroes

Ah. Beautiful posters.



source: The Daily Heller

The Jennifer Demographic

Once, I was in a Can Lit class with a total of 8 Jennifers, myself included. I knew there were a tonne of Jennifers born in and around the same time as me, though I had no idea there were more than a million of us! It may not be due specifically to my common name, but I've developed some hard and fast rules about my name including but not limited to

1. Jen should always be spelled with one n. I think the extra n in Jenn is redundant and things in groups of three are always more pleasing;
2. Jenny is not my nickname. I've met two people in the world who can call me that without triggering my gag reflex and my mother is already one of them. If I ever meet a third, I'll probably wind up marrying them.

I already adore the concept of this book, but then, I'm clearly biased.

More than a million of us were dubbed Jennifer within the span of just fifteen years. From a place of relative obscurity, the name grew on a wave of sudden and unprecedented popularity. We’re starting to learn that the effects of this phenomenon were not entirely trivial. Now as an adult, Jennifer has become targeted as the highly sought after demographic of Generation X. In the business press, we are actually known as The Jennifer Demographic or Jen-eration and are told that “focus should be almost entirely on Jennifer right now as habits of all other segments pale in comparison to hers.”

Most of us have some desire to feel unique, as though we have some authentic expression that is exclusively our own. So when the culture spins out the next trend based on you and your name, it is difficult to make sense of what is genuine. Maybe one truth that my Jen-eration makes visible is the simple reminder that we act collectively, often without even knowing it. Done with the right spirit, this can sometimes be the only way to act. —Jennifer Khoshbin

Jen11 by eleven artists named Jennifer

The book was designed by the Canadian book design company UPPERCASE and looks to be another exquisite edition to their portfolio.

P.S. I'm convinced that the song "Jennifer Juniper" is part of the reason for the prevalence of the name. Have you ever seen Election? It closes the film perfectly.

source: UPPERCASE

Class

I often say that if I could be a student for the rest of my life, I'd be infinitely happy. I'm slowly but surely starting to realize that I'm already there; it looks nothing like I'd pictured. Yet, I wouldn't change it for anything.

Recently, I learned how to paint on a silkscreen with photo emulsion and I practiced my registration abilities.

I started with two copies of a photograph I took a few weeks ago as a reference while painting the screen.

Planning a two colour print, I painted where I did and didn't want the ink to print, then coated with emulsion.

I ended up with this:

I can't say I'm in love with this project as a whole, as the product feels a bit flat for my liking.

I do, however, enjoy the texture of the post against the blue background.

Who knows though if I'll use it for another project in the future? Regardless, I'm now able to appreciate the joy of mixing the perfect chocolate brown ink (I haven't mixed brown by hand for years). And, I have a much better understanding of why registration is a challenge to say the least.

Viva student life.

Baby's first painting

My favourite gift of the moment is hands down, no contest, the precious piece of my friend's baby's very first painting. The little one is 15 months old and she's wonderfully talented. Knowing that I own a small piece of her expression keeps me humble and reminds me that creativity is as natural as breathing deeply.

Excited about a textbook

I know, I know. Excited about a textbook? But, this one is truly special. Well considered and beautiful; definitely worth lugging to the local coffee shop and leafing through for an afternoon. I love it when books find their way in my hands. The story goes like this: I was supposed to be doing other things. Instead, I was deep in conversation on the phone, chatting about anything and everything. The doorbell rang; I opened it, though I wasn't expecting anyone. A friend was dropping off long-borrowed stuffs some of which I'd forgotten I owned! I said goodbye to my phone friend. My doorbell friend and I spontaneously went for lunch in Kensington Market and afterward, popped into good egg, where I found this treasure that became my birthday gift to myself, thanks to the urging of my partner in crime.

The Printmaking Bible by Ann d'Arcy Hughes and Hebe Vernon-Morris


Thank you, good egg for being such a well curated store!