- Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving in all of it’s meanings for you.
- We hope that your holiday is as magical as this perfect Charles Schulz scene from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Happy holidays!
Blog Archives
Best holiday of the year. At least I think so.
Enjoy & Happy Halloween all you witches & goblins!
Click to go to Fab.com!
We are mega-excited to announce our very first Fab.com sale, and it’s coming up soon.
For just 72 hours starting this Saturday 10/1/11 we’ll be featured on the amazing design loving and fabulous Fab.com.
With special discounts to Fab.com members of 30% – 40% off of our day-to-day retail, there will be tons of great deals will be available on our hand silkscreen printed rock posters, art prints, complete sets of our Alphabet Prints, and a brand new line of adult super soft tees will be available for just 72 hours. But only to Fab.com members.
Fab.com is a member-only, extremely well curated design+art shopping site featuring flash sales of 72-hour duration with special deals, available exclusively at Fab.com.
Not already a member? Why not silly, it’s FREE! To get a your free Fab.com account use this invite link and see what the fuss is about.
Don’t forget, our sale runs for just 72 hours and starts Saturday 10/1, and once the sale is over, done, and gone….BOOM! It’s gone forever.
Already a member of Fab.com? Click to see our special sale preview!
In 1953 UPA released a groundbreaking and incredibly executed short animated film version of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart” with art by Paul Julian and a single voice actor, the incomparable James Mason.
This short is absolutely top-notch. I can’t believe that I hadn’t seen it before.
The claustrophobic spookiness is perfection, as is Mason’s voice over in translating Poe’s main character’s intense sense of rationalization of his crime. In short, it’s beautifully creepy and does full justice to Poe’s iconic short story.
One of the few not-for-children shorts produced in they heyday of Disney and Looney Tunes, this film also has the distinction of being the very first to have received an X-rating in the UK at the time of its release. Ahhh how the world has changed.
Hope that you dig this little gem too.
Sometimes, it’s hard for me to describe what I do for a living being a screenprinter, print maker and rock poster artist. I’m not saying that this awesome short film on the amazing scene at Screwball Press Chicago (owned & operated by one of my favorite dudes around, Steve Walters) has all of that wrapped up nicely for you…
But, I am saying that this is a great peek into the lives of rock poster artists, screenprinters, the incredible Chicago print community, and some of our favorite fellow poster artists. It’s so rad seeing some of your friends, who happen to be mentors and design heroes get the attention they well deserve. You go kids!
I hope that you enjoy this short documentary by Sara Evans & Daily Planet Productions, Ltd. highlighting Screwball Press and a slice of the Chicago screenprinting community!
Produced by Daily Planet Productions
Edited / Directed by Sara Evans
Camera / Sound by Tom Bluett
Production Assistants: Travis Heberling, Karen Wittekind
Music by Cool Devices
Yep, this is a full re-post of what I think is a great, important, and should be seen by anyone interested in design type of blog post. I think that Katie Kirk, one half of the lovely couple behing the design studio 8 Hour Day said it best, so I’m just spreading her words and images below.
So awesome to see some of the best women designers and illustrators out there too, friends, peers, and new to me talents who kick ass in this field every day.
*Please note – The below is a post originally written and collected by Katie Kirk of 8 Hour Day, not myself, so if you dig, also go over there and check them out, comment there too and support them as well. Cheers all!
There’s been a lot of discussion happening around a recent Good Magazine article entitled “Why We Can’t Let Design Become a Boys’ Club” by Dylan Lathrop. It has spawned numerous comments, opinions,counter arguments and retorts from all sides. Many of us feel strongly about this, and it’s definitely a subject with many shades of gray. Though we may not all agree on the matter, I think the fact that it’s being discussed at all is great. After reading through all the articles and all the commentary, I felt compelled to showcase some of the women that continue to inspire me. So here are some of my favorites–thanks for the inspiration, ladies!
Melissa Buchanan (The Little Friends of Printmaking)
Parliament of Owls (Meg Paradise, Lauren Sheldon & Ariana Dilibero)
Veronica Corzo-Duchardt (winterbureau)
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Click to see more from this collection.
In my morning-coffee-stumble-through-the-internet-while-waking-up ritual today I came across a fantastically cool / I can’t believe that I didn’t know about this before blog, called 50 Watts, run by Philadelphian (yay! My hometown!) Will Schofield.
50 Watts is great little space of the web covering the intersection of book collection, design, and illustration. Sounds like heaven to me. What caught my eye was an image from a post on now vintage book covers from the 40 year span from 1964 – 1984. Here, I’ve posted a few of my favorites, but definitely check out the full post at 50 Watts here.
And yeah, part of me wishes that I could read the text on these beauties. At the same time, they still speak quite clearly and the other part of me loves being able to make up stories about what these stories are about.
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Click to see more from this collection.
Mostly, I just adore the flatness of the color fields, the kapow! of their graphics and layout, and symbolic style of the illustrations. Being a silkscreen printmaker, there is something so excellently familiar about the way that these were printed, probably cheaply, probably in a spot, or one color at a time process like screenprinting. You can see the areas where pieces aren’t in perfect register, or where colors overprint one another, and the use of halftones to mimic saturation levels of a color. All make my heart do little flips. The limitations of this type of printing force incredibly creative and freeing design and illustration choices, which, clearly I love and have embraced as a career. So, no. It’s no surprise that I dig these. I hope that you do too.
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Click to see more from this collection.
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Click to see more from this collection.
All of the Flatstock 29 identity designed by exclusively us at strawberryluna this year!
Around these parts? Mid-March means the opening of carnie season when we start our new year of shows. And it’s super exciting to always get to break out of the evergrey of a long long Pittsburgh winter (ummm, it snowed this past weekend. I mean, come on!) with our first trip and show of the year to sunny, warm and awesome Austin, TX.
Don’t mess with it.
We are super honored and really proud this year to have been asked to design all of the Flatstock 29 official and exclusive identity work, from banners, badges, posters, handbills and more. We also hand silkscreen printed a limited edition of the Flatstock 29 poster that we will have for sale at our booth in Austin, and then also on our website here too. If you are down at Flatstock and see these pieces, right on! We did our job well 🙂
We’ll also have a HUGE slew of Test Prints that I’ve been working on for a top-secret project (but details will be coming soon) for early next year. In the meantime, hopefully some of your will enjoy the current crop of them. ‘Cause Cousin? We got a bunch for ya.
What is Flatstock? It’s over 75-100 currently working poster artists coming to show their talents, display and sell their work and talk with new people about what we do and why. And yep, hire us! And yes, Flatstock Austin is FREE to attend and open to the public!
The details for you:
The very first Flatstock Poster Convention of the year will once again be held in Austin, Texas during the SXSW Festival. This is our 29th Flatstock to date, and the Austin Flatstock is always FREE to attend & definitely wide open to the public. We are in a new room this year, so check below for a convenient map to help you find over 75 poster artists from around the world displaying & selling their rock posters. Hope to see you there!
Dates:
- Wednesday March 16th – Saturday March 19, 2011
Hours:
- Wednesday 3/16 – 2pm – 6pm (note this is the ONLY half day)
- Thursday 3/17 – 11am – 6pm
- Friday 3/18 – 11am – 6pm
- Saturday 3/19 – 11am – 6pm
Location:
- Austin Convention Center – Level 1, Ballrooms A, B, C at 500 E. Cesar Chavez St., Austin, TX 78701 (see map below)
You DO NOT need to have badges to be able to attend Flatstock 29. It’s FREE & open to the public! For more info on Flatstock 29 & the SXSW Festival click here.
“The FLATSTOCK poster show series is presented by the American Poster Institute (API). It is an ongoing series of exhibitions featuring the work of many of the most popular concert poster artists working today.
The API is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to serving poster artists and promoting the art form. Both the API and its FLATSTOCK series were organized in 2002 as a result of conversations between interested artists and supporters frequenting the popular website GigPosters.com. The best concert posters have always captured both the essence of the music they promoted and the spirit of the time in which they were produced. This is as true today as it was in San Francisco during the Sixties.
The FLATSTOCK shows provide the general public with an ongoing series of opportunities to see fine poster art in person and to meet the artists who’ve created it — they provide the API with a way to present the poster artists collectively while showcasing the breadth of individual styles they represent.”
Click to see a larger map.
Click to see a larger map.
THE LIST OF PARTICIPATING FLATSTOCK 29 ARTISTS (subject to change):
Adam Pobiak
Animal Rummy
Anville
BadMoon Studios
Billy Perkins
The Bird Machine Inc
Boss Construction
BRIANEWING.com
The Bungaloo
Burlesque of North America
Carlos Hernandez
Clintprints
Cricket Press
Crosshair
Dan Grzeca/Ground-Up
Dan Stiles
Daniel Danger
Decoder Ring Design Concern
Delicious Design League
DKNG
Douze Studio Dresden
Empire Press
f2design
Furturtle Show Prints
Ghost-Town Studios
GIGART
Gigposters.com
guyburwell
Hero Design Studio
Hosco Press
Idiot or Genius?
Industry Print Services
Insurgent Arts
James Flames
Jason Munn
John Howard / Monkeyink
Kevin Tong Illustration
Kollective Fusion
La-La Land Posters
Landland
Lil Tuffy
Lure Design
MadPixel
Magnificent Beard
Mercerrock
Methane Studios, Inc
Micah Smith
Mig Kokinda
Mike Budai
Mike King/Crash Design
Nakatomi
Nevada Hill
OchoLocoPress
Pedal Printing
Powerhouse Factories
Powerslide Design Co
Rural Rooster
Sandusky Bay Poster Works
Shawn Knight
The Silent Giants
South Austin Popular Culture Cen…
Squeegeeville.com
STANDARD DELUXE
strawberryluna
Subject Matter Studio
Tara McPherson – Cotton Candy Ma…
Todd Slater
Two Arms Inc
UKPA
Uncle Charlie
Under Pressure Screen Printing
Vahalla Studios
VGKids
Voodoo Catbox
Vrooooom Press
Young Monster
Click!
Yay! It’s Toro y Moi new release day!
I fell in love with “Still Sound”, one of the songs off of this new record from the South Carolina based Chazwick Bundick, aka Toro y Moi earlier this month and have been waiting with just about still breath for the release of this full length record. Today’s the day. Hooray!
Check out Carpark Records to purchase and support independent music & musicians. Or, hop over to Chaz’s Etsy shop and buy a tote bag with his drawing hand screen printed onto a bag that comes with a digital download card of “Underneath The Pine” here.
And fall in love with “Still Sound” above.
Milton Glaser illustration in the 1960 Gershwin Song Book
Score! Pun!
I saw a few loose pages in an Etsy shop (called Sensorium, click here for more) of this amazing Gershwin Song Book (which is cool enough) illustrated by the legendary Milton Glaser (which is amazing!) published in 1960 and had to find out more.
I searched out an inexpensive & complete song book, in beautiful condition at Abe Books and eeeeeeeeeeeee….it’s really lovely. Below are a just few more images from the song book. Yet, there are many more throughout the song book. Yum.
Milton Glaser illustration in the 1960 Gershwin Song Book
Milton Glaser illustration in the 1960 Gershwin Song Book
Milton Glaser illustration in the 1960 Gershwin Song Book
Often, I really like a book that I’m reading. And, I like nerding out and talking about it. No one else that I know has yet read Amanda Foreman’s biography of Georgiana Cavendish (née Spencer) Georgiana, Duchess Of Devonshire. Engaging, painstakingly researched and oftentimes this is a bittersweet look at one woman who represented many women, and men (!) both literally and figuratively in the 18th C. & early 19th C Britain.
Georgiana was a bright, lively, smart and amazingly energetic woman interested and talented in writing, politics, and science. She was able to press forward despite some of the constrictions on women’s participations in professional and / or esteem in these arenas. It’s also stunning to see how fragile the balances of power can be in one of the world power governments was at the time, and their reactions to Revolutions happening in and all around Britain at the time. Revolution had taken place once again in Britain in 1688, and a century later the country was still grappling with Regency vs. Constitutional governance, as Ireland, The United States, and France fell into full-scale and violent revolutions and nation-making, and un-making all at once.
Sometimes, through certain biographies or stories, you get a clear sense of how wasteful discrimination whether based on gender, race, sexual or religious orientation, and the like, can be when you see with such clarity talent subdued and held back. In this case, the discrimination was based on in Georgiana’s gender. Yet despite the restrictions of her time, Foreman shows the huge direct influence that Georgiana had on the politics and government in her lifetime. It’s actually astonishing.
I do have to say, the fact that the movie “The Duchess” claims to be based on this book a trifle confusing, as some of the pivotal moments in Georgiana’s life are nowhere to be found here. And in some cases, that’s relieving. However, there are other events in her life not in the film that are just as brutal and tragic, and she cuts a fair and nostalgia-worthy figure for sure from her remaining letters and historical remnants about her.
Aside from the times of her life both public and private, there is another almost unbelievable world at work as well in her story. A famous beauty, it was often noted that she was loved & adored by every man but her husband. This seems like no exaggeration. Entering into marriage with the 5th Duke of Devonshire as a young and lively romantic, she soon found the realities of her new rank quite a life unexpected. Not the least of which was the Duke’s relationship with Georgiana’s best friend, Lady Elizabeth Foster who eventually came to live with them in a very complicated and tumultuous 3-person marriage. Menage a trois seems to be inaccurate, as it reflects a more sexually based fling. What the Cavendishes & Foster created and lived in was something far more emotional, political and complex. This publicly known living situation, while scandalous to a large degree, and mysterious to all including the Duke, Duchess and Bess (as she was known), it was their lifelong arrangement. It lasted through thick, thin, and even legitimate and illegitimate children throughout the extended family until the end of each of their lives.
Georgiana’s life was enmeshed with the politics of her time in a complex way the same as her private home life was enmeshed with friendship, duty, and marriage. She fell in love with Charles Grey (namesake to the tea flavor, Earl Grey) while working closely with the Whigs and the Prince of Wales (later George IV). Her lifelong lifelong friendships with both men endured many bitter times, including becoming pregnant by Grey, and the subsequent birth and fostering out Georgiana’s beloved illegitimate daughter to Grey’s extended family. Of her many heart breaks, her relationship with Grey was her greatest. It’s quite a shame that she didn’t live to see him become the Prime Minister of England, an achievement that she would have been thrilled by.
It’s also interesting, though really no surprise at all that Georgiana Cavendish was Princess Diana‘s great-great-great-great-great-aunt, in many ways. Hard not to draw comparisons, surely.
I’d recommend this for anyone, though particularly those interested in history, the history of the Whig party, 17th C. politics & Britain, as well as women of that era, women’s history, and just a good compelling biography.
Portrait of Georgiana, by Sir Thomas Gainsborough, 1783. My favorite portrait of her.
I am truly, a bird-nerd. I draw birds constantly, perhaps way too much, as anyone could tell from the preponderance of birds in our art and prints such as our seasonal-based Cardinal series, this year’s 2011 Hello Birds Calendar, and We Fly On The Backs of Our Forebears, just to name a few. It’s no secret. I am also an avid bird feeder. I have feeders here at home and also at my studio and nothing makes me happier than a full house of hungry and chirping birds. When I am printing away in my city neighborhood studio in Friendship and the sparrows come and nibble while I’m laying down color after color, it’s really nice to have a little nature-based company.
Northern Cardinal, male. Photo courtesy of birdfeeding.org.
Here at home, we have a really amazing variety of birds that come all year long and it changes with the seasons pretty dramatically. We get everything from Cardinals, Chickadees, Carolina Wrens and (my favorites) Mourning Doves to adorable little Titmice (yes! That is the plural of Titmouse, I checked!), beautiful Dark Eyed Juncos, Blue Jays, several types of Woodpeckers and many more. I and definitely keep my guide book to PA birds (a super thoughtful gift from Craig) close at hand so I can identify them all and geek-out dork style.
Red-bellied Woodpecker, male. Photo courtesy of birdfeeding.org.
In honor of my amateur bird watching and feeding obsession, I wanted to do a post here about February being National Bird Feeding Month. So cool. If you are bird-friendly or interested in getting started feeding birds in your backyard, or learning more about migration and other neato things about our feathery friends, visit The National Bird Feeding Society website, The Audubon Society and/or check out the below information & links.
Blue Jay, photo courtesy of birdfeeding.org
From the National Bird Feeding Society:
The National Bird-Feeding Society is proud to host and sponsor “National Bird-Feeding Month.” This national event was created to advance and publicize the wild bird feeding and watching hobby. Each February, we introduce and promote a new and unique theme. Our theme for 2011 is “Most Wanted – America’s Top Ten Backyard Birds.”
There are over 100 species of birds that visit bird feeders throughout the United States. For 2011, the National Bird-Feeding Society selected 10 species in two geographic regions to highlight. These 10 species are among the most colorful and widespread birds that use feeders, and will provide you with a wonderful, year-round, bird feeding experience. View America’s most wanted backyard birds.
National Bird-Feeding Month was established in 1994. Read more about the origin of this celebratory month.
To celebrate National Bird-Feeding Month, the National Bird-Feeding Society is pleased to provide a Guide to Better Bird Feeding.
Also, definitely check out this really nice piece on National Bird Feeding Month here at Etsy in the Storque, chock full of info and great vintage photos.
Happy birding this month!
Titmouse, photo courtesy of birdfeeding.org.
Chocolate Toffee Marbled Mocha Drops, aka bitchin' good cookies.
That sort of sums up the best of the holidays around here. Despite being super sick with a megaflu + hardcore sinus infection most of this December, we did manage to have a little holiday cheer right before Christmas in the form of cookies for our good friends’ family cookie exchange and in mulled wine for the same good friends’ family Christmas Eve fun too. In fact, this is the same set of friends that we started the Alphabet Print series for! So, you see? It all comes full circle. We’ve been working on and bringing the mulled wine by special request for years, and I usually just wing it. This year the recipe was in hot demand, so I had to pay attention as we made it, and the result is below.
Though I love to bake and Craig loves to cook (he’s a kitchen wizard!) we don’t usually share recipes via blogging, so I thought it might be fun to pop one or two up here every now and again. Seems like we talk about what we’re working on but not very much of our downtime, which often happens to be in the kitchen.
So, boom! I hope that you enjoy either & both, at any time of year. The Chocolate Toffee Marbled Mocha Drops are a cookie recipe that I developed on my own, and the mulled wine is a recipe we’ve sort of worked on over the years, but a lot more loosely.
If you make either, let us know what you think in the comments!
Chocolate Toffee Marbled Mocha Drops
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened 2/3 cup granulated sugar 2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I use 1 whole tablespoon) 2 tablespoons instant coffee granules dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water 3/4 cup chopped nuts (if desired, I omit them) 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 12 ounce package (1 3/4 cups) Semi-sweet chocolate chips 1/2 cup Heath Bits ‘o’ Brickle Toffee Baking Bits (or any toffee / Heath Bar bits)
To Make:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (Fahrenheit)
2. In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy; add egg, vanilla and dissolved coffee granules.
4. Blend in flour mixture and nuts (if using nuts).
5. Remove half the dough to a small bowl; set aside.
6. To the dough remaining in the mixing bowl, blend in cocoa powder.
7. By hand stir in the Semi-sweet chocolate chips & Heath Bits ‘o’ Brickle Toffee Baking Bits the into the two doughs, using half of the package of chocolate chips and 1/4 cup for each of the 2 doughs.
8. Combine the two doughs by folding together just enough to marbleize, about 4 strokes.
9. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls, about 2-inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheets.
10. Bake 10-12 minutes just until set; DO NOT OVER BAKE.
11. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack until completely cooled. Store in tightly covered container.
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.
Mulled Wine
Hot-cha! Yummy mulled wine fills the house with a delicious and super holiday aroma that’s really sort of quaint and lovely all at once. There are a million ways to make mulled wine, so feel free to use this recipe as a jumping off point and vary to taste or adventure. The photo below was definitely just taken on the fly with an iPhone filter for dramatic effect, so don’t let the darkness scare you. This is good magic below.
Deep, dark mulled wine. Mmmmm!
Mulled Wine
Ingredients:
1 – 1 & 1/2 Bottles red wine, typically a Cabernet or Merlot, but any decent red will do. 1 liter or one half of a half-gallon of apple cider (we use Apple & Pomegranate cider) 1 liter or one half of a half-gallon of apple cider (we use Apple & Pomegranate cider) 1 liter or on half of a half-gallon of an orange fruit juice mix (we use Orange, Strawberry, Banana) 3/4 cup Cognac, or Brandy 1/2 cup Sweet Vermouth 1 handful or 3-4 tablespoons of mulling spices 1 orange or 2 Clementines 1/4 – 1/2 cup white sugar 2-3 tablespoons honeyTo Make:
1. Pour one whole bottle of wine, add Cognac or Brandy & Sweet Vermouth into a large pot over medium heat.
2. Add the apple cider & orange fruit juices, sugar and honey.
3. Place mulling spices into a large tea or mulling ball and hang into pot so that the contents are covered by the liquid.
4. Gently using a vegetable peeler, peel off the top orange part of the orange or clementines, avoiding the pith, but getting more peel than you would with a zester. Add to pot.
5. Peel and separate orange or Clementine sections and add to pot.
6. Bring the contents up to temperature without letting the liquid boil at all.
7. Turn down heat to very low and let simmer / heat for 1-2 hours.
8. When you are ready to serve, taste to check for bitterness. It often is bitter at this stage. If so, add another few tablespoons of honey and / or 1/4 white or sugar to taste and stir allowing them to dissolve, and feel free to add a big more juice, cider, and uncooked wine (up to half a bottle more) too, all to taste.
9. Remove mulling spices and discard. Strain if wish.
10. Serve toasty warm either from the cooking pot, or keep warm during a party in a crock pot, or an airpot. Thermos.
11. Enjoy!
Makes about 1 gallon of mulled wine.
Happy New Year all!
May 2011 be your best & brightest.
Being a poster artist for me essentially also means being a fan & student of the history and art of posters, no matter what, where, when & for whom. In my case? Also being a bit of a film nut (to put it mildly), means that yeah, I’m really impressed by these absolutely amazing posters designed by London based outfit La Boca for Darren Aronofsky’s new film Black Swan. Which, I can’t wait to finally go see, as it looks incredibly cool & creepy. Holy spooky mirrors.
Add in my undying love for some good old-fashioned propagandist style & design, and poof! The perfect recipe of awesome was born with these masterful pieces. And while the photo-based posters (of which there a many striking and excellent ones too), are also incredible, I’m just floored by this set of graphic & illustrated posters. What a bold set they make and how well they work in tandem as well as on their own. It’s perfection. Hope that you dig them too.
Edit/add: Thanks to our pal Cameron of Two Duck Disco for letting us know that these posters were created by La Boca out of London. Cheers!
