Inspiration Sunday

It's been quite a nice, lazy, blog-hopping, inspiring Sunday!

A different kind of light painting!! Something I miss doing!

Beat Maps by Owen Silverwood

The Art of Jim Denevan, a large-scale "illustrator," if you could say so.

Much bigger than a pen and paper!

And I am completely amazed by how his "drawings" are so perfectly shaped!!

Nella Mia Città Nessuno è Straniero (In My Town, Nobody Is a Stranger)

A community-empowerment campaign by Happycentro,

an Italian design firm whose website I came across today.

What I love about it most (and what I very rarely see from other design sites)

is that it sometimes features behind-the-scenes from its projects, such as this one.

From even the first step of conceptualization, when ideas were merely written on paper,

until the campaign's actualization!

Some fashion and embellishment inspiration from (top to bottom):

Givenchy Resort 2011,

Marchesa Resort 2011,

and a year old photoshoot by Enrique Badulescu

featuring Heather Marks for Velvet Magazine.

How I love accessories, beading, layering, details, and mixing and matching!

And lastly! Just to cap off a post about influences...

"It's Arguable Whether I Had Any in the First Place" by Lucia. . .

The artist's lament, perhaps? I know this thought has entered my head

and stayed there for more times than one.

Happy weekend everyone!!

Salita (And look!! Not just one light bulb, but many!)

I can't believe I haven't posted this!! I remember being very excited to share it after shooting... hahahaha!

As I mentioned in my last entry, I'd been feeling a bit down lately because of some mess-ups at work. Nothing like remembering this video again to cheer me up, albeit a little! The time when this was shot, in April of last year, was probably the last time I felt really very sad about work, even worse than I feel now. But shooting this was another reminder of why I chose to stay in production, something I needed to be reminded of today, as well. :-)

And look! Not just one light bulb moment appeared, but many!

Salita by Angulo, directed by King Palisoc http://vimeo.com/kingpalisoc, shot by Mackie Galvez http://mackiegalvez.com/, production design by me!

Light bulb moment, are you there?

There's a special place in art dept hell for me and what I've done!!

I've been feeling very disappointed with my work lately. I'm working on a project at the moment and the design isn't coming out as I'd imagined it to be (Oh, how many times has that happened to me!!) -- and I'm so deep into it already that I can't salvage the idea nor "make it work" as I would usually do.

I'll admit it -- It's my fault: I was lazy. For one of the first times ever, I chose the easy way to execute a design -- the easy and inappropriate way. Still now when I work on it, I think of all the ways I could have done this better, and can't quite put my finger on how to save this idea and in turn, save myself and my own sanity. I don't know how to make this something to be proud of, which is exactly what I'm not. In fact, one could even go on to say that I'm ashamed of what I've done, and how poorly I've executed this! :-(

In my experience, there are always at least two ways to execute an idea: the first would be to subject myself to unending work in the period of producing the materials for I need everything to be perfect, and the second would be to relax and maintain a balance of work and leisure in my life and at the same time, compromise the final product to a more manageable workload. Sometimes, the latter has actually worked. Sometimes, some work is really not work stressing over! But oh, never again am I taking that risk. I think I'll just choose a stressful and fulfilling life over these next two months of being haunted by and being depressed over this epic failure of a project!!

So there it is. I said it out loud. This is definitely not the first time I've felt like I don't know what I'm doing. In fact, my two-years in this job have been sprinkled here and there with many disappointing times. What do you do when you have a bad day?? Not just at work, but in life, in general?? :-( I used to enumerate all the small, happy moments that are able to somewhat lift my spirits. Right now though, I can only think of one: the great 3 1/2 hour nap I took this afternoon.

Later tonight, I will perhaps be halfway done with this fiasco, with a week or so more to go... How do I save it?? I don't know. Light bulb moment, are you there?

I'd like to curl up in a ball, hide from the world and arise when it's over and done with please!!

An Outtake

Last week, I attended an exhibit with work from 20 photographers and their collaborative efforts with 20 artists. My friend Kaity had some pictures on display, and I had helped out with make-up for the shoot. She projected her own photos, of streetlights and roadsides, onto a nude body, and shone some light on the only 'garment' the model was wearing: a pair of her partner-shoe designer's work. Though this picture above did not make the final cut (obviously, there are no shoes! Hahaha!), I would have to agree with Kaity that it's my favorite from what I've seen of the outcome. :-)

Sue, the model, is so beautiful here too!

Congratulations Kaity and the rest of the 39 photographers and artists that debuted work last Saturday!! :-) To be part of something you're passionate about is one thing, but to choose and pursue a life filled with love for a craft is another all together. :-)

My favorite of what made it to the walls of Outerspace Gallery.

20/20 Likhalayaan Exhibit was held in Outerspace Gallery, The Collective, Makati, Philippines on Saturday, June 19, 2010.

For more of her pictures, visit Kaity's Flickr account here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/likedeux. Hold your breath as you click and enter her realm of neon lights and windblown memories. I promise you, it's worth it!!

Guide to Get Lost

I'm sorry, I have no pictures from today. But be assured that it was fun! It was productive. It was for art! Hahahaha! Now to focus on work and more things I've decided to put off until the last minute. Which is now.

Guide to Get Lost by Emily CM Anderson http://www.ecmanderson.net/

In her write up for this project, she says she made this "using the concept of loss to generate new paths and discovery." Yes, that's exactly what I'm hoping for!

So what else can we do with books?

Some random pictures, part of what I look at when I brainstorm and daydream...

Mmmmm intellectual cake!

Book Spine Painting by Mike Stilkey http://www.mikestilkey.com/.

Small sculptures carved from books by Robert The http://www.bookdust.com/main.htm.

And book city stills captured from this next video from 4th Estate Publishers' 25th Anniversary, produced by Apt Studio and Asylum Films.

This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.

Kate Moss

It's been about a week and I still can't stop watching this video!

Directed by Nick Knight for Kate Moss' Topshop line.

P.S. It's really hard to get back in the groove of working after going on a break from it! Let's just dilly dally all day.

And Yet Another Lamp!

Done! Seven hours later and I'm done! I decided to make a "monochromatic" version of the lamps. I imagine this would be easier to match someone's room than the red-yellow-blue ones!

I still have a few more tapes left, though definitely not enough to make another lamp, no matter how small. What should I do with them? (That's a real question! Not an introduction to show you what I've done hahahaha!)

Now I can sleep! Good night!