For Children Only

(the wall and the arrival)

Sometimes I wonder where and when certain ideas began and how they were able to build and gain strength even though they make little sense.

One of these unspokens is illustrations are only allowed to be in children's books. Adults are allowed a thought-provoking quote and a perhaps a squiggle of an illustration at the top of a chapter, but a picture?! The horror!

Two of my favorite books are shelved in the kid's section. One is about growing up behind the wall in what we now call the czech republic. Another is about the journey of an immigrant. Both are beautiful and thought-provoking. They make you stop and really listen.

(The author of "The Arrival", Shaun Tan, has a website which is also a nice place to visit.)

::sigh::

figs and ginger make the most precious necklaces i've seen in a while. i was going to say, 'that i've seen in a long time' but this would not be true since etsy is overflowing with wonderful artisans.

i visited the renegade craft fair's site today and had to lie down afterwards. there is just too much goodness going on there. i'm so very happy they are coming to l.a. (finally!) some of my favorite artists/designers (catia chien!!! yay!) are going to be there. it will be a fun weekend.

Sketches from my Journal

This has been a great weekend in so many ways and Saturday isn't even over.

On the creative front, I'm relaunching my etsy and artfire shops this month. The onesie designs are complete, though I'll be adding new ones along the way. I decided this time to add new things to the shop month by month instead of trying to launch with a ton of items. So there will be other things that are not baby-specific in the weeks and months to come.

For now, here's a little something I'm brewing as an idea for a second book for the nieces and nephew.

This Little Girl...

I've been trying out painting and collage recently. This little girl was a teeny tiny sketch on a piece of paper. Now she is a little painting.

I Love Blurb

Last year I had a great idea. I would illustrate a book about a little girl who is looking for her kitten and give it to Emma as a Christmas present. The book was sketched out and watercoloured. Uck. Then it was sketched out and stitched. The pieces for that attempt are still stuffed in a drawer in my closet. I eventually put the project on the back burner and forgot about it.

Until this spring. The babies in my family have been around cats (as each family has two, including my parents) since birth. So it was natural to want to make a book where a very small child could 'find' something on each page--something he or she was very used to seeing. I've noticed in some baby books, though they are very sweet, there is nothing to identify for the child. Maybe the story is about a whale and on every page, you see a whale having his adventures, but a baby doesn't identify with a whale and besides, that's a difficult word to say. When Alyssa was visiting recently, we 'read' her books and whenever she'd see a cat, she'd laugh and point and say, 'Meow!'

By then, I had decided to take up the book creation again in an attempt to finish it for Alex's birthday in July. I re-sketched the scenes out on a piece of board. I painted them, cut out the pieces (since I used a ginormous poster board), scanned them into Photoshop (and realized how crazy-difficult I was making this for myself), and uploaded them to blurb.com.

The book came last week and though there are some technical things I wanted to change like drawing the type on the front cover for the 'second edition', I'm pretty happy with it. :)

The sun spread its rays out onto our heads
And I followed a family of 15 walking down the sidewalk.
Shuffling, really. Heads bowed, arms around each other.
Two by two by one.
The last one pushed an empty wheelchair,
The oxygen tank and tubes still attached.

We passed a woman walking, her face determined in the warmth
Her belly large and waiting
A life coming just as one had left
Her mother and sister scuttled behind her, unable to keep up
She was ready, holding her IV bag in hand and marching around and around

A piece of eucalyptus bark attached itself to my pant leg and I kept walking
The rhythmic scraping on the sidewalk and the warmth of the sun
Rushed up to take over my senses
Leaving the goodbyes and waiting inside me

(experienced today—walking back from the Hospital)

The Lost Tribes of new York

The Lost Tribes of New York City from Carolyn London on Vimeo.

Crocheted Bouquets

i can't say i've ever seen anything quite like this...too bad i can't crochet (yet.)

Waves

I love waves so much. Both real and imaginary.
However, I do not like to swim in them. Mostly because there are Things in the waves. :/

Just thought you'd like to know.

Balance

I'm having trouble embedding this video into blogger today, but it is worth clicking this link to watch this very short video by Janine Antoni. A friend told me about this work and we were both struck by her quote (regarding tightroping, but so pertinent to life in general)-


"...after about a week I started to feel like, 'I’m now getting my balance.'
I started to notice that it wasn’t that I was getting more balanced but that I was getting more comfortable with being out of balance."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_n2kfqNmpY

Had some fun on Photoshop this afternoon...I need to fix or get a new keyboard though since using Photoshop with only a mouse is a bit of a bummer.

Chosen

Alex's Birthday Book

...working on Alex's birthday book today. it's a baby's version of Where's Waldo. minus Waldo. plus a little grey cat.

Another TGIF

Trusting I will finish a HUGE project at work today. ::gulp::
Grateful for the time spent with my sister and family last weekend. Alyssa stole my heart, as I had expected. I'm also grateful for the glorious cool weather that allowed us to take many walks.
Inspired by the beauty of where I live. Last night I went running through my neighborhood of overflowing flower beds, squawking Pasadena Parrots, and billowing trees. It was like getting a soul refill.
Happy Friday! :)