A Valentine for the Sailors at Heart

For the last ten years or so I’ve been making valentine cards for my friends. This year I was inspired by all the sailboats I’ve seen in Maine. Large and small, they are captivating to watch – always a dreamy sight on the horizon.

I based my sailboat sketch on the Mercantile of Camden. I have not seem this ship in person, but I’ll look for her when I visit this summer.

Above is the linoleum block I carved.

Not many materials or tools were required for this simple card. I did place a heart inside each one.

Happy Valentines Day!

Free For All Show at Space Gallery

Free For All is an annual open-submission show celebrating Portland’s community-wide creativity and embracing the spirit of collective chaos.  Another great show at Space Gallery.

A large cyonotype portrait on the back wall, visible from the street, holds a striking presence in the first room. The show itself has no shortage of impressive pieces–colorful and incredibly diverse.

Here’s Jay’s piece. A drawing of Portland rooftops titled Afternoon Light.

Although devoid of curators, the show experienced no shortage of critics.

Sean and Meghan admiring Meghan’s piece, a beautiful, delicate and detailed pencil drawing in a window frame, which the photo above does a great injustice to.

Above is the call to submissions poster I collaborated with Jay on (his drawing of the gallery, my design). This was a delightful project, and a delightful show. Thanks Nat and Space Gallery!

Forever Paris

I just got my advanced copy of Forever Paris in the mail this week. It’s great to see how the maps came out and all the historical photos.

The colors came out great. It’s a fun giftable book. If I ever make it to Paris again I’ll certainly consider bringing it along.

Mike Perry at Space Gallery

Mike Perry‘s silk-screened poster show opened in Portland, ME last night at Space Gallery. The show is touring in conjunction with the release of his third book, titled Pulled — a catalog of posters by “today’s most talented designers who are, in their own way, pushing the boundaries of this dynamic medium.”

The work on display showcased a variety of styles and hues, but true to form, they all possessed that ink-to-paper tactile quality indicative of hand-screened art.

I also loved how the posters were printed on all kinds of papers.

Here’s Mike Perry himself, Chelsea and Mike’s pal J.

Mike gave a talk about his silk-screened work, process and inspiration. He then gave a demo, silk-screening an intricate design onto the copies of Pulled.

It was inspiring to see the transformation of the covers. Each book came out a little different.

Mike’s energetic puppy was also at the gallery.

Move over Gocco, I might need to set up a silk screening station as soon my home “office” is up and running.

A tiny gift from Carol Pesce

Illustrator Carol Pesce sent me this little surprise in the mail. It’s a little thank you note encased by the most charming example matchbook art I’ve even seen.

This boxy, colorful, little bird went straight to the mantel piece for display.

He’s got a great personality. I love his long legs when he stands up, and the bright colors:

Carol is a talented Brazilian artist now living in San Francisco. Obrigada!

The Cloud Collector’s Handbook

Great news for this little book featuring colossal clouds. The Cloud Collector’s Book, whose American edition I designed for Chronicle Books was recently featured in The New York Times Science Section, and it was reviewed by  The Wall Street Journal.

I’m sure the Cloud Appreciation Society, who wrote the book and gathered the photography, share my excitement. I wrote a blog post about this book showing more images of it here. It’s also in my portfolio. It’s good having your head in the clouds!

Feel Better Little Buddy

The design of this charming little paper back, Feel Better Little Buddy, was inspired by homemade get-well cards.

It features home photos of injured pets, on their way to recovery, from the site Animals with Casts. The design uses scanned found papers, ribbons, and cut out patterns.

Although it’s sad that these little guys were hurt, they’ve all been cared for with love and in many instances pictured all better.

It’s a sad-funny book, meant to tug at heart strings, and be a comforting get-well gift for little buddies of all ages. Each spread was a uniquely created collage, like one get-well card at a time, with design help from Cat Grishaver.

Coincidentally, the little fella above is my “Dog Son” Pixel, who got an enormous cast on his leg after a luxating patella surgery. I took the photo on the right, showing him recovered and back to his happy camper mode.

Site Update

I updated the design of lagasa.com last week. It had been a while, so it was time shred some old projects and highlight the new. The funnest part of this process was shooting a landing page image.

The pile of books what actually quite heavy to hold up and keep steady.

My friend Emily kindly helped me hold them up between shots.

Then I had this idea:

Holding them on my head was actually pretty easy but balancing them without using my hands was another story. The whole thing only took about 20 minutes. But it was such a riot I could have done it all day.

Anyway, I hope the new lagasa.com design functions okay.

Thanks!

D.I.Y. Delicious By Vanessa Barrington

D.I.Y. Delicious was a lovely book to design. I wrote a little bit about it and the design experience (i.e. rejected covers on view) on Chronicle’s blog.

The chapter openers incorporate scans of the actual textiles used in the photographs (aprons, table cloths, even a shirt!) They lend a vintage, homespun quality to the design. I also pulled the colors for the book from these textiles and from the photos, which used many bright and somewhat rustic props.

Photographer Sara Remington and prop stylist Kami Bremyer did brilliant work, all of it shot at the author’s house in Berkeley, CA.

D.I.Y. Delicious also has many process shots, from kneading bread, to pressing tortillas to making yogurt (below).

I was very lucky to work with author Vanessa Barrington. She is incredibly knowledgeable, super nice, and passionate -all great qualities in a teacher, and great for a do it yourself kind of a book. She knew what kind of aesthetics she wanted, but she was also open minded, so we were able to try unusual colors and design moves here and there.

For many reasons this book make me wish I could also design my kitchen and my meals based on it.

I Dare You by Susie Bright

I Dare You contains 30 sealed sexual prompts and dares. The idea is that you’d select an envelope at random, tear it open, and read the card aloud to your partner. Then see what happens…

It comes with a disposable (recyclable) marketing sheet, leaving the box free of any text or branding. The pattern illustration is by Hannah Stouffer.

The interior is lined with flocked black paper giving it a soft, velvety feel. Inset card-stock lightly holds the 30 envelopes upright.

The dare cards have a purple pattern on the back and red type on the front, and the prompt cards have red pattern and purple type. Set is Caslon.

I love the element of surprise in this gifty sex title.