small but good

Just a nice little reminder that no matter what is going on in your life to always appreciate the good, however small because sometimes it's easy to overlook them.

Contact me if you are interested in a poster print of this design. Or download the desktop wallpaper here, free!

Want more like this? Let me know in the comments!

tree. triangle.

Work was a little quiet today so I had a play around with some images. Trying to design a little out of my regular style, use different techniques or colours or shapes, playing with contrast. I'm liking this grid-based, triangle design layered over a couple of pictures from Palos Verdes (taken in 2010). It's a bit like I took a bunch of triangle stickers and stuck them onto a photography poster! Fun!

art afternoon

A little more from my recent visit to LACMA. I like the use of red throughout the newer buildings, the incorporation of outdoor space (and deck to see a great view of Los Angeles) as well as the clean, modern lines.

In other news, work is keeping me pretty busy!

balloon lamps

One fine afternoon a couple of weeks ago I decided it was time to visit LACMA and see some art and design, particularly the California Design exhibition. The great weather meant the museum was pretty busy for a weekday afternoon. The "Urban Light" installation out the front of the museum seemed to be quite popular - plenty of people posing in/next to it, kids running around between the lamp posts. I had a wander through it too, taking some snap shots and enjoying the way the sun made the shadows fall. There was also a photo shoot (or filming) of a lady with some balloons. It looked pretty fun and I managed to snap some pictures of the balloons - the colors and curves of the balloons make a nice contrast to the rigid straight lines of the lamp posts. (Similar to a project I did for a photography class in art school, back in the day, using a bunch of colored balloons next to a plain wooden structure.)

Hope to get back there more often!

love bombs

This is a picture I took around six or seven years ago, when at university. I was walking along my favourite stretch of beach in Melbourne looking for type and lettering that I could photograph for a project when I came across this stencil graffiti. I thought it was pretty sweet! So on this week with Valentine's day I thought I'd share it with you. (I brightened the image though, it was a little faded on the wood.)

I wonder if it's still there now...

above eye level

It always pays to look up. This is something I learnt back in art school when we were sent to explore the city and take pictures that we would have to use as a basis for a project. Often buildings have interesting architectural details above eye level, on the exterior, which can go unnoticed as people go about their daily business. I did get a bit of a crick in my neck looking up and taking pictures that way but it definitely made my designs more interesting!

I've already posted some pictures from our Seattle trip (here, here and here) but some of my favourite are of the super colourful ceiling filled with Chihuly glass creations, on the Bridge of Glass. The riot of colour is wonderful to look at, lit by the sun and reflecting passers by - see my husband and friends patiently waiting for me to snap photographs!

This ceiling has so much detail, I could have stared at it for ages! The shapes are somewhat different to the ceiling at the Bellagio or the Persian ceiling, this one truly showing the diversity of glass art.

nite lite

Sometimes for fun I'll just play around taking pictures of something that looks quite mundane but has captured my eye for some reason. Then these pictures often end up in the trash but every now again the "experiment" works and some of the photographs turn out to be interesting or useful for a future project.

These here are some night pictures of the street (in DC) through our hotel curtains. I'd use something like this as a background image for a poster, magazine layout or an edgy website or layering in some digital art.

sculpture in tacoma

On our trip to Seattle (other posts here and here) we decided to head to Tacoma to the glass museum. Mainly because of me because I wanted to see the Venetian Wall and whatever other glass art I could find. On the bridge where this wall is located was the fantastic glass rock sculpture, looking like big sticks of candy (good enough to eat?), a similar type of structure to Crystal Mountain (featured in the Jerusalem 2000 exhibition). From that location you can see Union Station and the Chihuly art in the window! I also like the lettering of the station signage.

see through abc

This past Labor Day weekend we headed off to visit Washington DC (for the first time) and take in as much of what is on offer there as we could in three days! There was so much to see and learn - architecture, politics, museums for for everything, art, history - we only scratched the surface of what is there!  (The heat and humidity made touring tiring.)

I got a crash course in American history during a visit to the Capitol Building and Library of Congress and we enjoyed a tour of the White House (part of it). The Conservatory had a beautiful collection of plants and flowers and we popped into a couple of other museums along the way. One of these museums was the Smithsonian Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The images below show an interesting metal and wood sculpture (located on one side of the museum) with one side stamped out Cyrillic letters and the other our English Alphabet letters. I liked the combination of materials and the balance of construction. And it was kind of fun taking pictures of each other through the lettering.

(Apologies for neglecting to note down the artist name.)

The art inside was varied - modern, sculptures, paintings, installations - and there was one exhibit that was really trippy, I think it was this.

Looking forward to going back and exploring more sometime in the future!

vegas art #3

Some more glass art from our Vegas trip. Blues and colored shadows! (More after the jump.)

Stunning sculptural elements.

vegas art #2

The pieces shown here are just a few of a large display of smaller glass vessels and shapes. This was one part of the gallery I kept going back to as each glass creation was so unique with the transparent and opaque glass layered. You can see the inspiration in nature (like seashells). The swirls and patterns in the glass a still object such a dynamic look. (My dream house has a place for one of these Chihuly creations!)

Vegas art #1 here.

And here's something delicious I made using some of these ingredients. Mmm, refreshing!

Happy weekend!

vegas art #1

Earlier this year, we took a few days off and drove to Las Vegas, NV (my first time there) and then on to various places in Arizona (Sedona, Flagstaff, Pheonix). We weren't in Las Vegas for very long but I was excited to discover that near our hotel was a gallery of work by Dale Chihuly, my favorite artist since I went to see his Lights of Jerusalem exhibit in 2000. I spent a good hour in this gallery, taking in the colors and forms, the light and shadow of the glass sculptures and vessels. We were only there a short while so I'm sure there's a lot more to explore but with all the glitzy and gaudy hotels and neon lights on the strip, I liked this the best. (Although 'O' was amazing!)

Have a  colorful  weekend!

front of the gallery

sculpture rocks [hike]

Sometimes out and about you see some interesting things. Saw these rock stacks while hiking a few weeks back. Quirky little sculpture that someone put the effort into building, right in the middle of the trail, it's got my attention!

Pictures are from the same hike as on this day at Topanga State Park.