Wednesday, February 29, 2012

FEBRUARY MIX


It's that time again! Time to share some of the new songs I discovered this month, the old favourites I had on repeat, and other musical goodness pertaining to the month. My musical highlight of February was undoubtedly seeing Jeff Mangum in concert. Absolutely incredible. Here are a few of the other songs I've been listening to this month. If you like, please leave a comment and let me know what you've been listening to! I love discovering new music.



HAPPY LEAP DAY


What are you going to do with your extra day?

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

SEND MORE MAIL

I live 2000 miles away from home, so my sister and I like to send each other silly cards and packages. (Although, we would probably do this even if we lived in the same city). There is just something so gratifying about the simple act of receiving something in the mail. Send More Mail is a beautiful blog I stumbled upon the other day that is dedicated to snail mail. If you live in Canada, they sell packages of vintage stamps that contain enough postage to mail a standard sized letter within Canada. And if you don't live in Canada, you can still oggle the exquisitely minimalistic photos.


Monday, February 27, 2012

BITS OF MY WEEKEND

Friday morning arrived with a vengeance. The biggest snow of the season—which would just be a regular amount of snow any other year. I walked outside and it was quite stunning. I had almost forgotten what a proper snow day looks like! Other than that, I was chained to my desk for the majority of the weekend trying to get a couple of projects wrapped up for February. But that's not as bad as it sounds. It involved a whole lot of drawing and drinking tea (with a bit of Oscar watching thrown in). How was your weekend?

All pictures are from my instagram. Username marisamidori if you'd like to follow along!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

HENRI WALKS TO PARIS

February 14 may have been important to many people for various reasons, but to me it meant the re-release of this fantastic book! Written by Leonore Klein and illustrated by the incomparable Saul Bass, it is everything I hoped it would be. It is the story of a boy who longs to visit Paris and decides to walk there from his countryside home in France. Its beautifully minimal compositions and rich, punchy colour palette are perfectly balanced—one of those books where every single spread is even better than the last. Here are a few of my favourite pages and you can see more here.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

MAPLE BACON S'MORES

I just wanted to take a time out from our regularly scheduled illustration/design programming to say look at these beauties. Those are maple bacon s'mores. Made with maple bacon marshmallows. (And you can thank Jacey for these being brought to your eyes.)

JENN KITAGAWA

I featured a bit of Jenn Kitagawa's work in my type round-up a little while ago but wanted to share a few more of her fantastic designs today. This girl gets type and colour. You can see more of her work right here or check out her blog.


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

HOW CAN YOU SWALLOW SO MUCH SLEEP?

I don't usually watch a lot of music videos unless a friend recommends one to me, but this fantastical stop-motion one stopped me the other day while I was lost on Youtube. Stop-motion, miniatures, and jellyfish? Yes please.

The animation is created by the marvelous Anna Ginsberg for a song by Bombay Bicycle Club and I find the entire video to be equal parts surreal and charming. There are plenty of behind the scenes shots right here and watching the making-of video just made me marvel at all of the exquisite craftsmanship and long hours of filming that when into creating this great music video.


Monday, February 20, 2012

BITS OF MY WEEKEND

It was a relatively uneventful weekend around here. The weather was lovely so there were a couple of walks by the lake. I saw these special edition Birthday Cake Oreos at Target and had to buy them (they're amazing). A couple of books also arrived and I love the art in them so much I can't even stand it. How was your weekend?


Friday, February 17, 2012

GOOD GOOD LINKS FOR THE WEEKEND



Hello Friday, it's about time. Have a good one everyone!

Wes Anderson from Above via Siobhan Gallagher

Ok Go and Sesame Street join forces to teach you about primary and secondary colours.

Holy moly these cookies look deadly.

The best beanbag chair possibly ever.

How to open a beer using a sheet of paper.

An awesome colourful pair of socks.

A dreamy place to visit.

These Harry Potter Valentines are brilliant.

I also loved Alyssa's Valentines for Paper Bicycle.

A team shirt I can totally rock (via Where the Lovely Things Are)

And I forgot to mention last week that I was over at Ten Paces and Draw sharing an illustration for When I Grow Up week. You can see my illustration based off Natalie Andrewson's sketch right here. (And want to see what I wanted to be when I grew up? Nat's awesome illustration based off my sketch is right here)


photo from my instagram

Thursday, February 16, 2012

EVERY PIECE

Was scrolling through the Uppercase blog this morning and ran across this sweet video. I am thoroughly graceless when it comes to anything three-dimensional or crafty, so paper arts really blow my mind.

ABIGAIL BROWN

Abigail Brown, aside from being an illustrator of many cute things, creates these fantastic bird figurines. The texture of all of the feathers and her colours create such a beautiful menagerie. Here are a few of my favourites. You can see more of her amazing work right here. (Now, if only there was a wood duck!)

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

PING SZOO

I love the gorgeous brush marks in the illustration work of Ping Szoo. Her gorgeous mark making and fantastic gestures (that fox? Looove it) really help to bring the wonderful characters in her illustrations to life. You can check out more of her work on her blog right here.