Airplane in the blue hour

I’ve been hibernating after twisting my ankle two weeks ago while escaping huge icicles falling off a rooftop on a narrow medieval street paved with cobblestones. Lets just say that there’s a whole lot of things I’d rather do than walk with crutches in snow and on ice.

It’s interesting to see how much comes with the role of “being injured”, at first I was so surprised when someone offered me a seat on the bus and then I remembered oh yes, I’ve got these crutches. People can see that… Then again, this is a role I’ll soon be able to step out of, and I’m so grateful for that.

This whole thing has been a drain though, so things have been quiet round here. But enough with the drama!

I found a desktop wallpaper with Forsythia, that somehow didn’t make it into the move to WordPress, and re-released it. I hope it brightens your day with thoughts of spring to come!

I’ve been asked a lot of questions about my photography and here’s the scoop. All of the photos on my blog are shot with my iPhone. I often use an app called CameraBag that recreates the magic of film without all the chemicals needed to manually use and develop film. There aren’t any settings or choices for each filter, you just decide which vintage camera you’d like to use, some of my favourites are the instant camera (that I used for this Polaroid of vintage graffiti), as well as the Lomo (in action in these over-saturated photos) and Holga (that I used to put a dark and moody edge on some of my summer photography). But sometimes I don’t use any additional software at all. Just raw iPhone photography, iPhoneography.

Tulips at night

Last night I thought this bunch of tulips might wilt before I got round to taking some photos of it, so I took a few pictures with the camera in my iPhone, although it was almost midnight and the camera doesn’t have a flash. Tulips are an early sign of spring for me, even if you have to buy them at the store because the ground is still deep with snow and it’ll be months before they blossom here! I find these tulips so inspiring, but with all the excitement over Apple’s new iPad and the administration and economy that I handle at the end of each month I’m way too busy to do much more than capture them on film.

Blurred tulips

I really like the rough quality that the low-quality camera of a mobile device can bring out! And the immediacy. There’s something very appealing to me in this blurred photo of tulips. Perhaps it’s the almost painterly quality… Normally I wouldn’t post this photo, but seeing as I’m talking about photography, and some of the unexpected beauty of the imperfections of lo-fi photography, I did.

I absolutely refuse to spend time in Photoshop editing photos. If I’m going to be creating using my computer as a tool, I’d prefer to work on my own art. There’s something endlessly satisfying about the simplicity of lo-fi photography, trusting the moment, seeing what happens. Finding moments of serendipity. It’s a liberating contrast to the sometimes laborious methods involved in designing icons and the endless and complicated options and settings available in the tools of my trade, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

I first got an iPhone because I was designing icons for the platform and I needed to see what they actually looked like in their own environment. At the time, I’d never guessed what a huge inspiration the iPhone turned out to be for me! A digital playground and a canvas to experiment with and to capture ideas with the built in camera, notes and voice memos. It’s become the place where my creative process often begins. But my favourite source of creativity on my iPhone is finger painting with Brushes! More about that another day!

These birches grow in the park behind the bus stop. It looks like the branches are sugar-coated! Although it was dark I had to pull out my camera. The photos are in colour but the landscape is in black and white. Monochrome. This scene makes me think of woodblock printing, linocuts, engraving and etching. And again, I’m inspired to create patterns for fabrics.

Scottish Fold

And now there are more kittens in the litter. Pleased to introduce this marmalade tabby, an illustration of a  Scottish Fold.

Expanding, meeting new friends, participating in group projects and finding inspiration. Closing in to focus on personal projects and deep connections with both online and offline friends and loved ones. And to swing back and forth between expanding and finding focus. Last year was an expanding year for me, this year I intend to be focused and yet open.

This extraordinarily snowy winter we’ve been giving different kinds of snow names. Feather snow, icing sugar, ice mist, castor sugar, sea salt flakes, snowball snow, movie snow… It’s been playful and imaginative.

I enjoy studying thoughts and ideas, the origin of words, to broaden my knowledge and explore the background. This winter I found out that it’s it’s a popular urban legend that the Inuit or Eskimo have an unusually large number of words for snow. And here I’d been saying “did you know that the Inuit have lots of words for snow!”…

It’s like someone powdered the trees with icing sugar. Or dipped them in a bag of sugar. Or poured a bag of flour over the landscape. Or something like that… And it’s breathtakingly beautiful!

Turkish Angora

My main focus for January is to create my first design for fabrics based on the Full Cold Moon. I’m so enthusiastic about the whole project and I’ve got such a terrific feeling about it! I’d got the fabric samples and colour chart just before Christmas and only need to transfer the design to a curtain format and adjust the colours so they work for printing on textile before I can have the first sample printed. I don’t know about “only”, but still, I’m so close to being there, and so I was very surprised to find resistance within me! What am I afraid of? The technical process that I need to learn? Getting the curtain dimensions wrong? Is it about putting this project out in the world? Is it about completion and what to do next? About the possibility of failure? Or success? I don’t know. All I know is that these ultra cute cats emerged, at this very time of the process.

They’re terribly cute, kawaii, as sweet as sugar, and really not what I consider “my style”! And yet here they are. I thought about it. Then I decided to just let them come. They’re fun and playful and perhaps they appear with ease because I have no big dreams or strong emotions attached to them?! So I’ve been making more friends for the first cat. A family. A collection of cat breeds. They could be a collection of icons or they could be a set of prints or illustrations in a children’s book. Cute as a Button. That’s it, that can be the name for this cute crew!

I’ve been spending more time offline, unplugged. Batching my internet activities three times a week. It’s bliss. Now if I only got round to sorting out my mailbox too!

And I’m looking for a good recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon for my birthday dinner. I’ll be serving it either with potato puree or Potatoes Boulangères and a green salad. Not sure what the desert or starter will be yet. I’m thinking of trying Delia Smith’s recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon but I’m interested to hear if anyone has any other recommendations?

Christmas Crackers

We had a wonderful Christmas and are now enjoying “mellandagarna”, the days in between Christmas and New Year’s. Peaceful days for contemplation, cosy days at home, long walks in the snow.

Before I return to my new book, The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, and painting software Art Rage 3 I wish you a “happy continuation”, “god fortsättning”, as the Swedish greeting goes.

Firefly lights and a sunset view from the studio.

In the winter, the sunset begins around three o’clock in the afternoon, and then it goes on for an hour. I often think, these sunsets are the reward for putting up with the dark and short Scandinavian winter days. Photos rarely capture these sunsets and although I’m often tempted to paint them, the paintings would probably be considered garish, cheap, unrealistic and even cheesy!

Today we’re closing the studio for the winter holidays. I’m busy finishing my last projects before the break and preparing a holiday e-mail with limited edition desktop goodies exclusively for members of Club Marmalade Moon. I expect to keep on blogging throughout the holidays. We’ll open the studio on the 8th of January and look forward to starting the new decade in a refreshed and inspiring environment.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who reads my blog, my window from my studio and to the world. Your comments and emails have been so encouraging, appreciative, inspiring and supportive. I wish you all the very best for the holiday season and for 2010!

Back home with a cup of tea and a slice of apricot and nut bread after a day in this beautiful winter wonderland landscape.

Frozen Apples

The birds must be having a good year as there still are apples on this apple tree! Frozen apples. And finally a few photos of the Christmas tree at my local shopping centre before I get dinner going.

Frost Star

Finally some of the pieces for Christmas are falling into place. After many attempts, I found the right bulb for the new Advent star, it turns out it’s the same type that you use in an oven! Who would have guessed…

Advent star with window reflection.

If you’ve heard my laments about the lack of sunlight this winter, you can probably imagine how poor the lighting conditions are for photography. So I gave up on waiting for sunshine, and I also wanted to show you some of my Christmas lights, so I reminded myself of how much I love the spontaneity of lo-fi photography . The gritty grain, the distortion, the overload and the pastels. Like playing rock ‘n’ roll, like feeding the distortion of your electric guitar back into the amp, like feeling the base in your body before you let your guitar play the sweetest song. Raw emotions with a minimum of editing and styling.

Christmas lights on the balcony.

I’m so grateful for all the new online friends and acquaintances I’ve met this year. Carla, the creator of the wonderful iPhone app Gratitude Journal. The many brave soul seekers I met in the Unravelling course, and the inspiring, talented artists I got to know in Marisa’s fish bowl. Tracy, the artist and crafter of the Pink Purl. Jamie who created the Full Moon Dreamboards that it’s been so magical for me to participate in. Just to mention a few. You’ve all brought so much light to my life!

A pale pink amaryllis

Silhouette of trees in November