my aquarium boys

Our hero the sting ray flying overhead. Another great facet to the San Fran trip. Watching sting rays is still my son's all time favorite thing to do for 2 years running.

the exploratorium

It takes a pretty great museum to revive a nap deprived three year old late in the afternoon after a day full of enough sites and sounds to fill a week in normal life mode. The Exploratorium is that kind of museum. Hands-on doesn't begin to describe the extent to which children and adults alike can immerse themselves in science. Some of the exhibits were so simple yet so absorbing. Like this beach ball/safety cone/air blower contraption. The museum was absolutely a highpoint on our San Francisco trip chock full of high points.

walking in san francisco

I have only just begun to mine the riches from our recent trip. These are from just one morning walk. So much color, texture and wonderful sunlight. With sweet little front porches and potted gardens seemingly around every corner.

one seahorse done... one to go

red trees

I think I'm ready to print this one. To me it feels like a very loose interpretation of Japanese fabric design. I wonder if my forest of red trees needs a little white outline of a stream running through it to pull it altogether... or maybe I should just stop tweaking and print.

views of yosemite

Three days in Yosemite provides enough natural beauty to just about make your eyes glaze over from over-stimulation. With a three almost four year old, it's not about the strenuous hikes or roughing it on the Muir Trail, but maybe it's the beginning of all that... maybe we're a future family of committed outdoor enthusiasts. It feels like we're forging that path.

Highpoint: watching the debut of Ken Burns, The National Parks outdoors on the floor of Yosemite Valley with the projector's light illuminating the high granite wall behind the screen... faint as mist. Sitting with a hushed crowd of park visitors of all stripes, it felt monumental.

cool collection found

When you've worked in the same office for 8+ years every so often one has to do a little purging. It's amazing the things you unearth. I kept some favorite concepts for future reference but my favorite discovery of the day was this little gem: a collection of found letterforms I started way back when and forgot. I think I am going to resume the exercise, get a good collection going and digitize them all. Sorry for the pesky scrawly stuff on top. It's my new personal mark. However if you squint at it, it kind of works with the black background and the supersaturated colors. This may be a pattern idea in the making. (Hence the pesky watermark) Only two days until the most excellent vacation ever. San Francisco here we come.

tree in need of a cool swing

I have a great giant tree in our back yard that just screams for a cool swing. These are going on the short list: from shiver me splinters. The top one is covered in vintage fabric. The bottom is covered in fabric from Joel Dewberry's Deer Valley collection. Very lovely stuff. Now if only the back yard were not so soggy and mosquito infested.

Found via aesthetic outburst

a sketch of an etch a sketch...

why?
this is a mental note post to myself and to those who may like the following sentiment I recently heard on the radio on the way to work.

what?
to paraphrase:"Our minds are like etch-A-sketches, sometimes we get shook"

who?
said by Regina Spektor in an interview on NPR about that pesky phenomenon of having a great idea that you loose before you set pen to paper.

Frankly it happens to me all the time, mostly when I drive or right before I fall asleep. It's a big part of the reason I started this blog: Idea Loss Prevention.

But then it got me thinking about etch-a-sketches and long drives and childhood and the intersection of all three. Our minds need to wander. Our hands need to doodle. I can still remember some of those monumental drives across country. Treading that delicate balance between car sickness and boredom armed only with your imagination... it builds character.

Our little family is about to embark on a big trip. It entails a long flight and lots of hours in a rental car seeing as much of the Pacific northwest we can cram into a week. I bought an etch-a-sketch. My son is currently mastering stair stepping lines and lop-sided squares. Even so, I can't deny the ease of popping a DVD into the laptop on a cross country flight. Frankly leaving the DVD player at home is not a risk I'm willing to take. But I do hope we can bring the etch-a-sketch along and minimize the hours spent in total catatonic tune-out. What can I say I'm nostalgic.

fun posters from Able Design

A fun menagerie from Able Design available here. I love it when I find talented designers with fun kid-oriented side projects. These posters have such lovely textures and patterns within them.

who needs sock puppets...

How cute are these cool monster hand tattoos.
Also available in non-monster animal flavors here.

enjoying my new cool pen

I'm drawing my way through the sea horses. Before this it was artichokes. I can't imagine what I'll get fixated on next... I'm just glad to be drawing. I'm ashamed to admit it's been over a decade since I've drawn with any sort of regularity. I'm determined to change that. This blog is supposed to be the place where I fight to get my mojo back. But more often than not, I just post about the beautiful things I see others doing. What does that mean when you can't bring yourself to express yourself on your own blog. I think it means you're afraid. Afraid of sucking... afraid of someone else thinking you suck. Like there's some sort official suck police just waiting for me to post and then they'll pounce and a wall of derision and judgement will shower down on me from all four corners of the internet. Well that's enough of that. I've set a goal to do fifty drawings. I probably won't put them all here. I just need to put pen to paper and do it.