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It is really amazing how many times you can print pages in wrong order and upside down! Or maybe that is the inevitable consequence for using singleside-printer for both sides-printing, manually. I even had to make a dummy model of the book to get the right pages on the right sheets. And we are only talking 12 pages here…

In other words: my application portfolio is ready and I am relieved. Tomorrow morning I fill out the application form and take them to TAIK. Then try to forget about the whole thing for two months or so. Oh and work on the other applicatios, to two other schools, due next week!

While waiting for things to print out I have been enjoying reading typography-guru Ellen Lupton’s (and her sister Julia’s) blog design-your-life and also her website design-writing-research. She’s put online some material from the book she’s edited, d.i.y. (teachings-page, scroll down). It’s all about designing and making your own things, from business cards to press kits. There’s also free advice.

I like Lupton’s thoughts on design:

Design is an instrument for packaging ideas and making them public. People who have access to design tools can make tangible their own knowledge and concepts. This active mode of literacy folds back into the ability to read and understand what’s out there in the world. Learning to build your own Web site, or edit your own movie, or publish your own book, makes you more critical of the media you see and read each day, and more cognizant of the skill and artistry required to create such media at the highest level.

and

Design is art people use.

Constable worked in a mill
David Smith worked in a factory
Degas and Matisse were lawyers
Van Gogh was a preacher
Cauguin started painting in his 30s
Salman Rushdie began as a copywriter
Rousseau began as a customs agent
Wallace Stevens was an insurance agent
So was Raymond Chandler
T.S. Elliot was a banker

Artist is just another label.

What’s the difference between saying, “I’m writing a screenplay” and “I’m a screenwriter,” “I paint” and “I’m a painter”? I think it’s simply insecurity. Call yourself whatever the hell you want. Or don’t. Just keep working.

Talk less about your identity and do more to define, live, and believe it.

from the creative license by danny gregory

Too many conversations about this lately.
Graphic designers, artists, illustrators who are not artists. Ad guys and ad girls, and business people. And opinions who and what is creative. Sometimes how we categorize everything and everyone gets to me.

I paint.

And just like that it is spring. First day of wearing faded pink converse comes and goes. Sun glimmers in the melting snow. I seem to laugh more, and more loudly. I buy 700ml of white acrylic paint and a 10€ synthetic paintbrush (that’ll teach me to wash them.)

Cold is different because the light is warmer says photographer friend on a long walk by the beach. Two hours permafreezes us to the point that a cup of coffee in barcelona-cafe can’t warm us anymore. It only makes me sleepy. I yawn and yawn on the tram journey home. It is only nine, but feels like midnight.

Things to do. And things to draw. And things to complete and print and put in envelopes and send away. So forgive me if there will be a blogging break. Go and look at pretty things and remember to come back some time.

P.S. current state of mind.

“You have the strength to do it.” said the yoga teacher on my first ever attempt on preliminary handstand poses. “Hold your middle body. That’s it. Very good.”

I realised it was one of those things you just have to believe you can do. And if you don’t - no chance.

Rather like everything.

photo by sia.

I don’t want to live in Finland. Not eventually. I am not meant for this climate; even my cheeks develop goosepumps when I go outside in this cold.

I want to live somewhere like Holland. Warmer, full of crooked old houses, painted bicycles, little bookstores, vegan food, nice bread. I want a bright turquoise umbrella and a community of likeminded artist-designers to drink afternoon tea with. I want, I want; today I want so many things.
(and I don’t understand a word but I like to look at Sia’s site.)

High stress times:
I have been working on my portfolio for TAIK. I have had dreams about admission exams already. My flatmate tells me to go to Yoga and relax.

Fun things -times:
I am doing some illustrations for letterpressed cards for the lovely Eva Nouveau.
And a collaborative art project with the talented Celeste Najt.

What are you up to? And what is your dream place to live?

sinulla on minut
sillä jokaisella
jossakin on
joku yhtä lailla lohduton

Thursday morning. Tired. Overwhelmed.
100 hours work on a project going to print tomorrow.
A meeting about a new one today.

In the midst of too much things on my plate I crave for more healthy things. Organic bread, avocado salad, really dark chocolate, fruit tea instead of coffee. Going out on a walk. Starting yoga again (first class tomorrow morning). Laying in my bed half listening to music, half-sleeping.

In the afternoon I will paint.

jennifer causey aka photo bird
almost naked animals buttons
Shaun Tan (my friend saw the Red Tree and declared it an “Emma-book”)