Animated Omelette

Omelette from Madeline Sharafian on Vimeo.

I absolutely love this short film by Madeline Sharafian. 

It very sweetly and simply captures the love and pride that goes into cooking a meal for someone.

Being back at Theta Xi this summer, I get to cook again nearly every day--and it is so rewarding to take the time and the meticulous effort to make a delicious moment for someone.

I hope to see more from this budding animator!

Delights and Caprices

I just found this Parisian cooking blog called Délices et Caprices:

Gourmandisement vôtre, 

which means Delights and Caprices. 

All I could tell was that the blogger seemed to draw fashionable, shy little bunnies with squished faces to accompany each recipe she tried. 

I had no idea what she was saying, but I knew I liked her methods.

 

Then I found a giant google translate button for the entire page and everything made more sense.

 

Christ Appelhan's Bad Unicorn

Carnitas

Chris Appelhans has done a lot of concept artwork for Disney, Laika Studio and now for Dreamworks.

I first found his artwork for Coraline and loved his vivid, emotive, and painterly watercolors.

Then I stumbled across his unicorns!

They are anti-elegant, cuddly bricks of gigantic proportions.  

Bad Unicorn

Hide and Seek

Matte Stephens

Lillian playing with an abstract thought

I just discovered the illustrator Matte Stephens.

I love, love, love his work.  

It feels like the (now vintage) modern art style with a childish twist.  

His titles are like puffs of colored thought, and his compositions are flat, quirky, and endearing. 

I love his work so much that I'd like to someday purchase a few prints.

Without a doubt I need Lillian playing with an abstract thought; 

she evokes that childlike curiosity in which the artists like myself and engineers like my love tinker and toy with ideas and abstract concepts.  

His Royal Highness enjoyed a swim every morning

Although Frederick was considered odd by his peer group, Rupert always understood him best

Dark and Lovely Beasts

A Fright

The more I doodle and the more I delve into the work of other illustrators I find that I am drawn to creatures.  

I enjoy the stillness of a single strangely nostalgic scene filled with dark and lovely beasts.

Someday, I'd love to have a line of illustrations that are titled "The Menagerie."

Illustrator Julianna Swaney of Oh My Cavalier specializes in crafting these tiny worlds, and also gorgeous image and logo design for companies.  

I really admire her.

Winter Hares

Wolf Minder

Look at that wolf with a baby in a papoose!

Heron

Swift Fox

I Do Love a Good Venn Diagram

So much truth--I want to show this to every client, just so that we're on the same page.

Props to the designer, Colin Harman.

He was Ready to Follow

He was Ready to Follow

We are all carrying loads. 

Nothing is so exhausting as someone coming to you with problems and having to tell them,

“My life is a mess right now, too.”  

But His strength is made perfect in our weakness, and when I am my most waterlogged, I’m most peaceful.  

All I can do is heave my bruised body up off the ground to ease your broken bones---I may be black and blue but I will take you to light and healing.

Phillipians 4:6 To not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests known to God.

Una pieza más - Marian Ruzzi y Sr. Amable

I am such a big fan of illustration and animation, and this video encapsulates all that I love about them.

I found this incredible video on illustrator Julianna Sweeney's blog.  

Gorgeous, dark, sweet and strange are the illustrations by Luis Safa (Caricrimen) and the music by Mexican artists Marian Ruzzi and Sr. Amable.

Plus it is in spanish, which is just fun!

Mr. Squid's Handmade Moment

This video is by my latest artist icon, Hine Mizushima, who works with felt and stop motion, a combo I adore.  

When words fail me...

 My friend Andy dropped images of this little conceptual beauty in my inbox today! 

This piece, called the Chromatic Typewriter by Tyree Callahan won runner up at the 2012 West Prize competition.  

Isn't it gorgeous?

The Gibson Girl

Arguably the first American standard for female beauty, the Gibson girl was created by pen and ink illustrator Charles Dana Gibson.  

Sleep eyed, long necked, tall, voluptuous and hair piled atop her head, the Gibson girl was the favorite character of Gibson's many satyrical vignettes.  

She was always portrayed as being independent, confident, powerfully seductive in her innocent femininity and the woe and desire of all men surrounding her.  

I found three books of Gibson's work at the High today while conducting inventory and melted into a puddle when I saw his gorgeous and witty illustrations.

Christyl Boger: The Figure and the Ceramic Object

Ceramicist Christyl Boger says of her work, "It draws an equation between the figure and the decorative ceramic object."  

I was initially drawn to Boger's work because of the gorgeous and entrancing effect she had made by

seemingly dipping her figures' fingers and toes in gold and wrapping their skin in vines of filigree and Meissen porcelain.

Interesting that we are drawn to examine and appreciate the fine details of the porcelain, as well as the commanding and elegant idealized figures when their expressions and postures look quite vulnerable and fearful of the viewer's gaze.

They make me think of startled and kicked cupids who can't help being beautiful, who are abused for it and wish that you would leave them alone.  

Box Cat

I can't wait to purchase Simon Tofield's latest book of hilariously spot-on cat antics: Simon's Cat In Kitten Chaos.  

Check out the website for more shorts including two of my newest favorites: Double Trouble and Hop It.  

Paper Colosseum

This paper colosseum by the very talented dsharp suited my fascination with all things paper and all things Italian.  

This past semester I have not only been learning to speak Italian, but through my Honors Comm class have been participating in The Ideas of March, a role playing game staged after the assassination of Caesar.  

I'm actually going to be leaving for the curia as Senator Lucius Cornelius Cinna in about two hours.  

I'm learning lots and lots in that class.

I have kept the faith

2 Timothy 4:7

Speed, quality, price: choose any two.

Words I need to remember during a time that Amber finally articulated for me: 

the Sophomore Slump.

For the first time I've wondered: 

"Can I even do this?"

"What if no one will like my work?"

"What if I waste this education?"

"Why can't I just drop out now?"

"How much money do strippers make...?"

That last one was a little melodramatic, I admit. 

I'm attempting to adjust and reevaluate all the have-to's, got-to's and need-to-get-around-to's of college (along with the pouty I-don't-want-to's) and remember my goals and what is truly important.

Anyways, I've been completing many exercises in examining opportunity cost.  

For all my planning, only prayer is practical.

   

Bunny Meditation

Here is a silly illustration of the Jackass Rabbit from Mark Twain's Roughing It.
"He is just like any other rabbit, except that he is from one third to twice as large, has longer legs in proportion to his size, and has the most preposterous ears that ever were mounted on any creature but a jackass."

Terrain: Twinkle Lights

                                  

I love the repetitive detail on these light fixtures.  

Hundreds of pin holes make these hand-crafted lamps from Terrain look uniquely gorgeous both when lit and unlit.   

Filigree Sphere

Pint Dot Sphere

F is for my favorite!

Happy Birthday II

Ok...so I have a lot of favorites.  Artist Paola of Holli studied art in Buenos Aires, where she was raised and is now currently living in Villa Giardino, Cordoba.
I love the sweet delicate creatures and muted colors.  

S is for Squirrel

Q is for Quail

U is for Unicorn

Felted Acorns

Rainbow String Felted Acorns

As a devoted Alpha Gamm (woot woot Recruitment begins tonight, go squirrels!), I couldn't resist these colorful felted acorns.  

I'm not a big collector of ornamental squirrels, or AGD t-shirts, 

instead I like to have a few special pieces--my acorn necklace, for one.  

In the coming years I'd love to get crafty with badges, jewelry and subtle decor. 

These felted acorn garlands by Delica would be a nice addition to my room.  

White Felted Acorn Garland

Set of 10 Green Felted Acorns

Bunny Bounty

Flat Bonnie Bunny Plush

The bunny plushies are not a want.  

They are a very necessary need.

Twinklebird Bunny Ring

 Tortoise & the Hare

 Bunny Rabbit Box Bin Basket

 The Ultimate Cuteness