Eleanor Roosevelt

What good have you done today?

I found this post and here's what Benjamin Franklin used to use to motivate himself to create each day. A simple schedule and a question posed in the morning: What good shall I do this day? And in the evening: What good have I done today?

It comforts me to know that even this wonderful genius tackled his tasks by placing one foot in front of the other.

source Maria Kalman NYtimes blog

work escape

Work is slow right now, which I'm doing my best to be thankful for. I'm trying to use my time wisely so, I decided to keep going with my fire escape paper cuttings. I'm toying with the idea of using the laser cutter at the workroom to cut multiples because each one done by hand takes about 30 minutes and strains my hands like a mofo. We'll see if it's worth the time/money. I think that if I resort to the laser cutter the cuttings will lose their preciousness, because isn't anything done by hand exponentially better? On the other hand, worlds will open up if I can automate the process. (Somewhat similar to printmaking.)

By now, people at work are used to me cooking up what they deem as strange projects. The questions tend to go like this:

Them: What are you doing?
Me: I'm cutting out fire escapes.
Them: Why?
Me: Just because. For me.
Them: Oh. It looks cool.

Though, the best comment by far was "everyone needs a fire escape." I agree!

death as change

Here, I’m exploring death as symbolic of change. Death tends to be viewed negatively in Western culture; however, death can mean the end of a cycle and mark the beginning of new chapters. The haunting, beautiful image of Vivien Leigh reminds me that defining oneself with purely outward successes such as beauty and status is an empty, constructed definition. Much more productive, though often the more difficult path, is to take time to reflect and focus on how we react to change.



NB: I continue to be surprised at the darkness that I express. Despite the haughtiness of this post, don't fret: I still have lots of lighter, superficiality in me. I won't stop wearing bright pink lipstick anytime soon.

Best garage sale sign

I was excited to find the best designed garage sale sign I've ever seen in real life today! I wish I'd had time to actually check the sale out because there's something thrilling about being able to legitimately nose through strangers' unwanted wares. Extra points to the rad residents of 486 Clinton for making the effort with this sign. I'll forever hold other garage sale signs up to their high standards.

Randal Ford

A collection of curious street people signs by Randal Ford. Such a great idea!
via sharesomecandy.com

Andrew Bush

Part curation, part photography, part collage, all inspiring and wonderful. See more of Andrew Bush's work here. I found Andrew via Aprile Elcich's lovely blog.

Aprile Elcich

I was thinking that I seem to be posting only male artists and would like to highlight female artists as well, but the idea of specifically seeking out great artists who are women seems wrong. I'd way rather be attracted to work that I love just because I love it than focus on gender.

Then, magically, Em alerted me about Karyn's interview with Aprile Elcich who works in collage and produces these wonderfully poetic pieces! Aprile is going to be at the workroom's Kids Trunk Show this weekend. I'm planning on swinging by, so I'll have to do my best not to drool too much on these lovely collages.



source youarewhatyoulove

New form

What I love about collage is its ability to transform found objects in new and completely surprising ways. Last week, we found paper on the street to play around with. Here's what I did.

The worst trip ever

No matter how lovely the hotel room, or how nice the new place is that I'm visiting, traveling is inevitably stressful. Almost every trip I've been on has its ups and downs. Ultimately, I remember the good parts years later and somehow, even the horrible parts become hilarious. Here, I recall every time I wanted to push my travel companion(s) under a bus for having to pee at inopportune times or tear up the map out of frustration of getting lost, again. (Somehow, I can read maps with ease but still manage to get lost even in my hometown. Let's just say I'm directionally challenged.)