Great quote on swiss miss via the always thoughtful designer Frank Chimero. (who has an amazing new splash page - very kinetic!)

Man this is a good quote.

People who can focus, get things done. People who can prioritize, get the right things done.

- John Maeda

"Work is the process of turning ideas into objects or acts"
-Hegel

(In other words... Get it outta your head and onto the paper)

Creative Morning video by Sharon Ann Lee

Great talk by trend analyst/author Sharon Ann Lee.

This is one of the slides from her talk. What quadrant are you in on this work/happiness map? You can watch here.

I needed to read this today.
via swiss miss and The Happiness project

So funny, so smart: Christoph Niemann

What a cutie.

Christoh discusses how he divides up his 9 hour work day.
(Love the second guessing and 'Inspiration' sections!)

Christoph explains the balance he requires in order to limit stress:
1 wildly creative job with no limitations for every 3 dull ones!
His feelings during the creative process

Today I watched the Creative Morning video from April with Berlin based Illustrator + Designer Christoph Niemann.
Insightful + hilarious and filled with great metaphorical drawings to illustrate his points.
My favourite point: His belief that assignments with 100% creative freedom can be very stressful. As a big fan of limitations I agree!

*Highly recommended for anyone working in a creative field.*
Do yourself a favour and watch this.

New Work: Window Mural for Good egg

Today I painted a "Garden of Earthly Delights' mural in the window of good egg


Above: Mika's tweet

The Process:

The Inspiration: Textile artist Josef Frank


The sketch
(done in 45 minutes- more on this in a later post!)

Me in window

Painting a flower

Groovy view from window onto Augusta St in Kensington Market


Finished mural with good egg owner Mika in the window
(Better pics coming soon!)


Special message :-)
This post is quick cuz off to NYC soon.
xox

Inspiration: Biz Stone Cofounder of Twitter

Great interview on Fresh Air with the cofounder of Twitter Biz Stone. I found his description of Twitter's creation very interesting. He explained that he + cofounder Jack Dorsey were supposed to be working on their podcast company Odeo but were uninspired and felt the need to 'scratch an itch'. This description fit nicely into one of my theories of work: that often the most exciting projects for creative folks are the ones they aren't supposed to be doing!

Did you make what you wanted to make?

Watched this Creative morning video with Andrew Zukerman last week.
Loved his line "It doesn't matter how many books you got published, or how many hits you got in You tube.. the question is "Did you make what you wanted to make?"

George Sand on Happiness

"One is happy as a result of one's own efforts, once one knows of the necessary ingredients of happiness - simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self-denial to a point, love of work, and, above all, a clear conscience. Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain."

--- George Sand

via swiss miss via The Happiness Project (which is a great site)

A nugget from Alain de Botton

"The point isn't to achieve everything, simply to honour what one suspects one is capable of."

-from the twitter feed of alain de botton.

The right thing

Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard.

- Caterina Fake, Co-Founder of Flickr

Advice from Milton Glaser

Really like this 10 things I have learned piece by Milton Glaser.
Part of his AIGA Talk given in London on November 22, 2001.
Fave bit is No. 1: You can only work for people that you like.
Ideally this is the way it works.
Great.
via swiss miss. (ofcourse)

Joan Rivers: A Piece of work

Nice hand lettering.

Saw this documentary on the weekend. Directed by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg.
Funny. Tragic. Fascinating to get such an intimate behind the scenes look at a creative person's life. I viewed it as a cautionary tale of what happens when you work too much.

Finding Flow

I am rereading one of my favorite books: Finding Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
Quite great. More on it soon.

Filling the Well: Design matters Podcast with Maria Kalman

After a couple weeks of eating, drinking and being merry it's time to fill the well.
Tonight did some painting while listening to a great Design Matters interview with the wonderous Maria Kalman. She talks alot about her creative process and feelings about illustrating vs. writing.
Really loved the fact that when she has an art opening she asks people to bring in some "light sewing" to be done (by her!) as she likes having something to do with her hands at all times. My kind of gal.
ps. You can subscribe to Design Matters in iTunes.

Sister Corita and Her Rules

At the studio on Tuesday my fantastic studio mate Jeff Garcia introduced me to the wonderful printmaker Sister Corita. She was a really happenin' nun who silk screened her way to pop culture status during the Vietnam war. Saul Bass was a fan. These are some of her rules which she hung in the classroom.
I love love Rule 7 and 8.

Inspiration: Philip Glass

I rented A Portrait of Philip Glass in Twelve Parts by Scott Hicks last week.
Quite fantastic and contained lots of great nuggets on his creative process and theories of work.

On Work and Success:
“I have one secret: You get up early in the morning and work all day"

On Writing music:
Writing music is listening to music. Music is like a river for me - it’s constantly flowing beneath the surface. I just need to focus till I can hear it - then I listen closely and just write it down”

On Growth:
"The best way to continue to grow as an artist is through collaboration." Yes, yes.

Very inspirational. I love these images of him working at home. He is so focused and you can feel the creative current underneath him.

ps. rented from my neighbourhood dvd shop Black Dog video. Should give them a plug too! Great selection of films + ice cream!

On the Value of Working with your hands: Matthew Crawford

Great interview on Q just now with Matthew Crawford on his book
Shop Class as Soul Craft: An Inquiry into the value of Work.

A former white collar worker, Crawford explained how he found salvation through returning to his first love: motorcycle repair. He explains that working with one's hands and fixing mechanical objects is immensely gratifying + grounding because it's a genuinely rational activity in an increasingly irrational and abstract world.
I agree.

Now, excuse me while I go hammer something into the wall.