ron king bird illustrations

It's late and I'm feeling sleepy, but before I head to bed I want to share some of what we've been up to today.

We decided to hibernate on this lovely holiday, and cross many things off our to do lists - including many small repairs and home improvements we've been meaning to get to. Another thing we've been meaning to do is update our shop with these amazing bird prints!

These prints hail from a late 1960's children's book I've been hoarding for years. I absolutely love them! They're by an illustrator named Ron King. The graphic style, the bold colours, the textures - everything. It's a shame to see the book pulled apart, but I still have these pictures, and I'll always have my eye out for another copy.

thrifty!

There hasn't been that much time to thrift in the past week or so, but here are a couple of the things I picked up. The spoon on the right was made in Denmark, and is my favourite find. The mugs are Japanese and the  lamp is stamped 'Norway'.

throw back

I've been spending too much time over-thinking these days. I can't tell if the winter has got me down, or if I'm just inclined to be preoccupied with worry. I was looking back through my flickr account this morning, and I came across a few of these shots that look down. I thought I group them into a little collection and share.

Thesis prep is the worst of it, I think, in terms of the over-thinking and worry and general doubt. I'm not sure that I'm headed in the right direction right now, but for the sake of making it through the semester, I'm going to keep with it.

I am, however, really excited for the direction I'm headed in Concept Development. Our 'narrative' project had me feeling uninspired for some time, but I'm incredibly happy with the result - and very excited to keep exploring this theme. I feel that for the first time in ages, I've broken outside of this aesthetic box I had trapped myself in, yet I've still managed to maintain an aesthetic that (I feel) is very true to myself.

Andrew Bird

I just got home from the studio, and I wanted to share some music that's been inspiring me lately. Andrew Bird's album Noble Beast is amazing in it's entirity, and is on repeat on my iPod constantly these days.

This video by From the Basement is especially wonderful. And my god, I want this man to teach me to whistle. Enjoy!

Somehow, I've let the week pass me by and I have yet to write about the shows I got to see last weekend!

Corey and I made our way to Dundas Street to see Made at Home and Capacity, at Made and Bookhou, respectively. Both shows were incredibly inspiring - and I wish I could share photos, but my camera was stashed at home.

Made at Home was incredible, as well as incredibly relevant, as I just began my minor in furniture making. The show was set up like a typical apartment, albeit, a typical apartment full designer furniture. There were some pieces that made our jaws drop, and others that didn't quite do it for us - but that's taste. In coming weeks, I'll try to profile some of the work I loved most.

Capacity didn't have the quite the 'wow!' that Made at Home did, but in retrospect, I appreciate it more. The work took the form of a wide variety of media, from print, to ceramics, to textiles, to designed works. My favourites were the Aster* bowls by Kirsten White and the print series titled The Universe Will Not Be Typeset by Ayla Newhouse.

I feel like the Interior Design Show is too much to cover in this one post - but know that it was wonderful/disappointing. The Sibling Revelry exhibit was not only a great idea, but its execution was beautiful. The exhibit brought together four Canadian sibling design duos, with each team designing a 600 square foot space. The space by the Brothers Dressler was the greatest - not to mention, the are the babeliest twin brothers around. Studio North was also super well done! If you're interested, kitka has a wonderful post reviewing all three of these shows - complete with the photograph's I'm lacking!