ICINORI 'procrastination'

these awesome illustrations are done by duo Raphaël Urwiller & Mayumi Otero
they make books, posters, prints, and are amazing storytellers through their limitless imaginations.
Speaking with the artists, this project was done during moments of 'non-productivity', and a way to stay productive while procrastinating. 

Enjoy! and check out their work on their website

tower of inspiration

Alate Wisdom

 

"...walking through the haze he saw a hopeful sign before him. a distinctive roundness at the height of a tree. The old man had drawn it at the end of his map in the sand on the riverbank. After days in the forest he had almost lost hope, the cryptic map leading him further and further into a wilderness that was less and less navigable. But isn't it often with our absolute last exhalation of aspiration, when we expect to breathe in defeat, that we realize we've reached the elusive destination? Here he felt that this was it. This was right. This is where he told me I would find the next piece and finally here I am. 

So he looked up into the tree.

There was the owl. Eyes closed, meditative. I called up to him "hello, are you the owl in the tree?"

and he opened one eye, as if he could see more than enough without troubling the other...."

From "Spacesuits"

this awesome book just arrived in the mail- here are just a few of the amazing pictures inside.

images taken by Mark Avino in the book Spacesuits by Amanda Young, part of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Collection (2009)

"Now as for me, I always had the funniest notion to roll stones. When I was a kid, I did it, an' the bigger I got, the bigger the stones I'd roll. Ain't that funny? Honest...even now I...often get off my hoss jest to tumble a big stone over a precipice an' watch it drop, an' listen to it bang an' boom. I've started some slides in my time, an' don't you forget it. I never seen a rock I wanted to roll as bad as this one!"
Lassiter from Riders of the Purplge Sage
by Zane Grey

nostalgic

I have been missing my inspiration potlucks on King Street. My amazing friends who were so willing to get out there and bring some juice to the group. Everyone brings something to the table. That's my potluck motto. Mr Gien asked me, the night that he came "Is it necessary to be so serious on a Saturday night?" But it is not meant to be serious- just fun and inspiring. Is talking about inspiration serious? Boring? Stiff? Or is it fun? Is the context too formal and forced? We drank enough wine for it to be fun, anyway.
Last year it finally became a real book- one step closer to the goal.
Potluck #2 to be published at the end of this year.
Until then, I'll keep looking out for inspiration...

Great New Books

Psychedelic Exhibition that traveled around. I feel like I saw it at the Whitney in New York, and also at Musée d'Orsay in Paris. It wasn't the same exhibit, but within two years, it was cool to see it all come out at these amazing museums. I have started collecting books on post-psychedelic era exhibits because I like the perspective of retrospect. In this particular book, while the images are amazing, and the text is, too. Written by people who have were there. Who experienced it. Published in 2005 by the Tate, Liverpool.

Great New Books

The Cactus and Succulents that I have been looking at for months are something that my mom knew more about that I thought. When we went to Powell's in Portland, OR I decided to look around at the horticulture books. I have been looking for the right book for a long time, and the images are always very plant-seed-bag-esque. Nothing beautiful or creative about it. Nothing inspiring. Finally, in a totally different section, I found this book randomly hiding among the others on outdoor and indoor garden design, and Zen and Japanese gardens. It is used, It was published in 1977, it cost $7.95. And my flip test was proven effective when I fell in love with the images in this book. They get better each time I go through. So I wanted to share a bit...

succulent (ˈsʌkjʊlənt)
— adj
1.	abundant in juices; juicy
2.	(of plants) having thick fleshy leaves or stems
3.	informal stimulating interest, desire, etc
— n
4.	a plant that is able to exist in arid or salty conditions by using water stored in its fleshy tissues cac·tus /ˈkæktəs/ Show Spelled[kak-tuhs] –noun, plural -ti /-taɪ/ show+spelled">Show Spelled[-tahy] Show IPA, -tus·es, -tus. any of numerous succulent plants of the family Cactaceae, of warm, arid regions of the New world, having fleshy, leafless, usually spiny stems, and typically having solitary, showy flowers.

amazing new book

It is really inspiring, after looking at tons of graphic design books, to come back to something that felt so much more intimate. I love a good digital composition, and will always love them- but when it comes to actually applying the aesthetic to my own needs, this method is much more natural to me. And so I love this book, and as soon as I picked it up I knew I had to take it home. It is all about the images, which makes it beautiful to look at- there are a couple that are blown up too large, and so the image quality is not so great- but you still get a sense of the colors and compositions of the original piece. I want to get started on my own!
And it also made me curious about the publisher (Gestalten). At Artazart, my go-to bookstore by the Canal Saint-Martin, had a couple of them on display together and they all seemed very different and creative and cool. So I will keep them in mind. You should check them out, too.