A New Year Begins

Colourful Stationery

A New Year begins with a blend of old and new. I decided to actually use some of the scrumptious stationery that I keep saving for a special day, a special project. Why not start the year by making 2010 special, I thought, and broke in my orange leather note and sketchbook with some sketches for fabric designs.

One of my Christmas presents was a new diary from Swedish Ordning & Reda, whose range of funky, colourful stationery make your eyes smile!

For daily use, I like the calligraphy pen and packs of gel ink pens from earth-friendly, minimalist and innovative Muji from Japan.

Origami To-Do Notes

The box of delightful origami paper has been salvaged from my collection of paper treasures and I’m using it for notes and to-do’s. It felt like a bold step, but I wasn’t prepared for just what a huge difference it makes to my days! It’s a simple technique. I write down one thing to do on the back of a piece of origami paper, and when the job’s done the origami paper goes on my notice board, creating a beautiful collage, and a rewarding, visual payoff. It’s so inspiring and tactile to handle and use these gorgeous origami papers daily, and in a casual way.

A Personalised Computer Desktop

Now that my desk has a little stack of purple and orange stationery to keep me inspired and on track, I cleaned up my disastrously messy computer desktop and populated my current projects with Luminous Purple and Orange Folder Icons. Then I weeded out my RSS feed, e-mail subscriptions and bookmarks to a minimum.

Now I feel happy and wildly virtuous, and I think I’ll put-off sorting out my e-mail and have lunch instead!

A box of origami paper.

Origami to-do notes.

Tags: carpe diem, getting organized, goals, Japan, Luminous Folder Icons, motivation, organized, origami paper, productive, productivity, seize the day, stationery, to-do list, workspace

Autumn landscape by the lake

This time of year each day comes with subtle or startling changes and it makes me feel so present, my senses alert, my heart happy and grateful.

Yellow and orange leaves

Sometimes I wonder if I could express my impressions in the form of textile prints and tableware, but the whole industrial process seems pretty daunting!

Oak and pine tree

On my walks I’ve been listening to CraftSanity podcasts, a recommendation from New York artist Dana Barbieri who is working on a an inspiring Art Book project. I also joined a Facebook group “Faceless for six days”, the idea is to see how it feels to not use Facebook. So be warned, my Facebook footprint will be even tinier than usual!

Saturday’s The Experience Animation and Technology Exhibition 2009 where students of Hyper Island featured interactive and digital art powered by Wii technology turned out to be an exciting sensory overload! A few projects that made a deep impression were Soul Music (create music and light effects by dancing), The Jacksson Pollock Experience (make your own virtual “drip” technique paintings), The Triforce Installation (create ambient sounds and light animations) and the ingenious ThisPlay (hand held touch screen paper displays).

Orange leaves

Here’s another image with leaves that makes me think of transferring my impressions into pattern design.

Then again, I’m enjoying the ease of photography. The fast process is perfect for capturing ideas and makes such a contrast to the long and sometimes complicated process involved when I create with other techniques.

I hope you’re enjoying your weekend and that next week will glow exhilarating!

Tags: autumn, carpe diem, foliage, leaves, nature, orange, Photography, podcasts, red, rust, seize the day, senses, sensual, yellow

The Skandia Cinema, Stockholm, Sweden

Yesterday I watched Julie and Julia (here’s a link to the trailer) with my mum. It’s a delightful, witty and sensual film about passion, obsession and lots of butter!

New York blogger Julie Powell (Amy Adams) spends a year cooking and blogging her way through Julia Child’s (Meryl Streep) “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”. This meant that Julie had 365 days to cook 524 recipes from the classic cookbook that introduced the French cuisine to America documenting the process in her blog The Julie/Julia Project.

What I adore about Julie and Julia is the joie de vivre, the zest for life, the passion that infuses Julia! I’m so fed up with artists in film and literature portrayed as tormented, miserable, paying a price, victims of their past or current times, that it was refreshing with the description of Julia Child’s creativity as a passion for life. A joy. Julia loves cooking, she loves her husband, she loves writing, she loves Paris and she loves life. First and foremost. Then she becomes famous. That’s delicious, sublime! As Julia would say: Bon appétit!

Melting butter

Tags: blogging, carpe diem, cooking, film, France, seize the day, senses, sensual, USA

Autumn leaves.

Today is The Day. I can feel it clearly. The Snap. It’s as though a switch has been flipped. There’s a crisp lining to the day, a chilly backdrop, it’s the first day of autumn.

Autumn holds the promise of new beginnings for me. The glorious display of autumn leaves. Change. A fresh start. I think part of it comes from my childhood, from going to school. A new school year, new books, new subjects, new teachers, pencils and notebooks… Sometimes a new school, and a new route each morning and afternoon.

My theme for the autumn is to connect with my friends, inspiring artists, places and creativity. And to give myself some creative challenges.

The Creative Every Day Challenge is a fantastic, fun and simple way to infuse your life with a daily dose of creativity. It’s a low-pressure and freeform challenge to bring some focus and inspiration to your day-to-day life. Highly recommended! October’s theme is “Connect” – which also happens to be my theme for the autumn!

Next, I’ll be connecting with my senses in Unravelling Further: Exploring the Senses, a workshop where you stop to smell the roses. It’s about living a rich and enchanted sensual life, seizing the day, immersing yourself in taste, touch, sound, scent, sight and intuition through a series of photo assignments, projects and challenges. And I’m so looking forward to reconnecting to some of my online friends from this summer’s course, Unravelling: Ways of Seeing My Self, who also will be revelling in their senses this autumn! From unravelling to revelling…

Another project for my autumn is In The Fish Bowl: Life As An Artist Online with Marisa Haedike of Creative Thursday. The transparency and exposure of being an artist online can make you feel like you are a fish in a bowl, and this course is about navigating the fish bowl by staying fiercely loyal to your vision. I’m incredibly excited, this really feels so right for me just now! The course started last week and I’m feeling elated and thankful for lovely Marisa’s first class and the wonderfully creative and inspiring community of women crafters, artists and designers who are all swimming in the fish bowl!

Dare I connect with my dreams too? Speak my wish out loud? Jamie Ridler hosts Full Moon Dreamboards, and I’m tempted to participate one of the dreamers!

Finally, and this is still in the works, I hope to take a trip to London this autumn. To connect with my English self. Family and friends in England. I’d like to take some courses at The Make Lounge. Return to the Tate, Greenwich Market. The Maison Blanc, Holland Park, Chinatown, The Chelsea Physic Garden, St. Martins in the Fields. Oh, so many favourite places…

Tags: carpe diem, connecting, courses, Creativity, dreamboard, fresh start, seize the day, senses, sensual

Train tracks at Västervik railway station.

There’s something entrancing about the sound of trains rattling by. The hypnotic rhythm of the train drawing closer and passing by into a future of its own. Rails singing. The sound of travel.

An hour before dusk I was sitting by the harbour watching the fish come up to the surface to feed. And in Västervik, I found the house that my Swedish grandfather grew up in. Travelling through Småland, passing through the coast, fields, and deep into the woods, past lakes, rivers and meadows. Tints of yellow and rust among the greens.

Arriving on Öland, “solen och vindarnas ö”, the island of the sun and the winds. A ruined castle. Crafters and artists. Traces of a 18th century seaside resort. A spa-town off-season. Windmills. Endless flat plains and long white beaches. Harvest festival and art happening.

Sometimes time is elastic. A short trip packed with impressions expanded my sense of time, leaving me with a feeling of at least twice the time. Heightened senses, just like falling in love.

I saw a magnificent rainbow and I can’t remember when I last saw the Milky Way so clearly, the stars so bright! And yes, I made wishes.

Sailboats and sunset. Borgholm, Öland.

Tags: carpe diem, making wishes, Photography, seize the day, travel