Mmmmm.... Gelato!

Since this month's pattern is about the gelato of Rome, I thought that was the perfect excuse to do a little taste testing of the gelato of the River St. Whole Foods. Of course I used my favorite gelato (see previous post) Ciao Bella for the tasting. I was so pleased to see that WF had 5 kinds of CB gelato and 4 of their equally great Sorbettos. I picked 4, got sasso at work and we headed home to indulge.
I threw my acupuncturist's rule of "no dairy" to the wind and decided to just eat straight from the container. It was just me and Sasso and there was no need for the pleasantries of bowls.
So here is what we ate:
Pistachio: Hands down my favorite. Each little nut is like a little crunchy surprise swathed in creamy goodness. I remember my great Aunt Glady ate pistachio ice cream when I was little and it was BRIGHT green, I'm happy to say that CB's pistachio gelato is not.
Cholocate Hazelnut: Mmmmmm. I'm not a huge hazelnut fan (probably from od-ing on Nutella in college) but the hazelnut in this is nice and subtle. I thought it was delicious.
Vanilla: The vanilla gelato was so soft it was like eating marshmallows. I loved it, it has that great vanilla bean taste. For years my favorite ice cream was vanilla with chocolate sprinkles, i just realized that I have chocolate sprinkles in the pantry. Now I can relive my childhood while watching American Idol tonight.
Espresso: I almost didn't get this one because a few weeks ago Sasso gave up coffee because his addiction had taken over and he couldn't sleep. I didn't want to have to relive those few days again (it wasn't as bad as when he gave up bread for a bit, but it was close) and thought maybe I shouldn't tempt him. But then I said "screw it" and bought it anyways. I don't drink coffee either and I blame this ice cream for keeping me up til 1am. But that is what a no-caffeine-girl gets for eating (quite a bit) espresso gelato at 10:30pm. You know what, it was totally worth it and I'm sure I'll do it again this week.
All in all Pistachio was my favorite. Besides the gelato tasting like heaven Ciao Bella has the best packaging ever. Being a designer I will buy just about anything that is in good packaging, it just sucks me in. Luckily this product happens to be killer as opposed to some other good-package-crappy-product things I've bought.

On another note today I'm sending all the new cards to print. Yesterday all the 2009 calendars went to print. Yeah that is right, I'm going to have a closet full of 2009 calendars in about a week. If that sounds crazy try this, I'm working on patterns for 2010 now. Today I got the delivery of the brand new Cheers! card from the printer. I can't wait to photograph them and put them online. They are sooooooooooooo pretty. I just couldn't hand silkscreen the cards anymore... Also we've bought all the Ikea furniture we need for our booth, the line sheets and order forms are almost ready to print and the schematic for my wall of our booth is done so I am allllllllmost there.

So... what's this gelato stuff?

So sorry for my lack of gelato posting. I've been el swampo putting together schematics for the stationary show. Not to mention working my *ss off to pay for the samples I need to print. Oh boy... I'm trying to keep my Amex from catching on fire from all the swiping. But it is all coming together and looking very nice so it's all good.
So above you'll see April's gelato print (I've got a few wall calendars left and they are on sale here for $18.00 btw) which was inspired by Leees's gelato picture (also above). I mean have you ever seen anything more fun and delicious looking? Look at all the sparkles and umbrellas and fruit pieces. I guess I'm just a sucker for brightly colored sweet things stuck full with sparkly accoutrements.
So what is Gelato? Accoring to Wiki it is "Italian ice cream made from milk and sugar, combined with other flavorings. The gelato ingredients (after an optional pasteurization) are frozen while stirring to break up ice crystals as they form. Like high-end ice cream, gelato generally has less than 35% air, resulting in a dense and extremely flavourful product". All true I'm sure, but I just prefer a simpler definition: delicious.
Funny thing: I went to Italy on a back-packing tour in college and I remember in Venice my friend Sarah was obsessed with gelato and would get it at every chance. I was all "what's the big deal, it is just ice cream..." and I DIDN'T HAVE ANY! I went to Italy and didn't eat gelato. Stupid, I know. Regrets....
I didn't really get into gelato until I was out in San Francisco visiting JBatt + Picy. We went to Ciao Bella at the market building. I've always been a huge huge fan of their packaging and their gelato was just as wonderful. Especially their Champagne Apricot. MMmmmm. We went there twice. Luckily I can buy this deliciousness at my local Whole Foods. Which is exactly what I plan to do tonight so we can test it and give a little report to you.

Ooooooooh... Rome!

Rome, Rome, Roma!! It is April and the sun is shining into the studio (finally). I was so happy to flip over my wall calendar and see happy April smiling back at me. This pattern was all about gelato. My dear Leeees took a great picture of gelato on one of her Italy trips a while back and it got me all sorts of inspired. I can't wait to do a gelato taste test this week, and I'm sure Sasso will be looking forward to that as well.
It is a momentous day. I finished ALL 12 new patterns. I honestly feel like running up city hall's steps a la Rocky and doing a little dance. The first ones to be released will be Loire Valley (next week), Chester, England and Austin, Texas. The whole line is just about finished :), I'm just working on the new holiday cards. One exciting thing is that I'm switching most of the line's printing to an eco-friendly process. They will be printed with soy + vegetable based inks on 100% recycled, 50% post-consumer, non-bleached paper. It is very nice. Hopefully I'll be able to switch the calendars and the new notepads over once I can order, like thousands of them (it's all about the quantity).

Just A Little Note....

Just a little note that the 2008 Desk Calendars are on sale now for $12.00 a piece at www.jhilldesign.com. I'm in the midst of designing the new collection, which means I need to start cleaning out the inventory closet soon (bad for me) and that some card designs will be going on sale shortly (good for you) so keep your eyes peeled!

Mai-Tai's at Lunchtime

"Oh the life is sweet when you work for yourself" you must be thinking. Mai-Tai's at lunchtime. Well to be honest, I don't have a Mai-Tai on my desk but I sure wish I did. I've been waiting about 15 mins for my good ol' powerbook to apply the gajillion brush strokes on the Marrakech pattern and I'm getting antsy.
So the Mai-Tai... what does it have to do with Tahiti you ask. Well, as it turns out - very little. This little island drink was created in Oakland at Trader Vics by Don Bergeron in 1944. But to add a little drama, Don the Beachcomber says the HE invented the Mai-Tai in 1933 at his west coast bar. So how does Tahiti work itself in here? Trader Vic created the drink one afternoon for some friends who were visiting from Tahiti. One of them tasted it and exclaimed: "Maita'i roa!" Which means "Very Good!" so that is how this little drink got its Tahitian name.
The last time I had one of these was at the Kowloon on Route 1. I wanted to make a Mai-Tai this afternoon but there are about as many ingredients as there are brush strokes on the Marrakech pattern so I passed, (I felt like using a mix was cheating). But here is a recipe via epicurious.com (via Gourmet, May 2003) if you'd like to give it a go:

Ingredients
• 1 oz (2 tablespoons) dark rum
• 1 oz (2 tablespoons) amber rum
• 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 1/2 oz (1 tablespoon) Cointreau or triple sec
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon orgeat syrup* or 1 drop pure almond extract
• 1 teaspoon superfine granulated sugar
• Dash of grenadine
• Garnish: an orange slice

Preparation:
Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with 1 cup ice cubes, then strain into a glass filled with ice cubes.

Mmmmmmm....

Tahitian Tapa

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. Ours was filled with lots of great food and stories courtesy of Sasso's parents. We were lucky enough to be joined by my "little" Sister (there is no sarcasm intended here, though it sounds like there should be) and to have a nice visit with my Grandma. Then we went to my 10 year high school reunion.... I had so much fun (partly because of the open bar). It was so fun to see friends I've missed for 8 years and to realize that nothing has changed. Isn't it great when you are with people and you just fall back into place again? Well before I get all nostalgic let's talk about art from Tahiti.
One thing I really admire is the international art collection Sasso's parents have acquired on their trips to Africa, Tahiti, Libya and other places. There is something great about filling your home with reminders of your trips done by local unknown artists.
One piece OMR has is a Tapa painting from Tahiti and seeing it relaly influenced my Tahiti pattern. Tapa is a type cloth made from the inner bark of the paper Mulberry tree. After the bark is beaten and the fibers flattened it is dried. The cloth is then printed and painted on and used for clothing or decorative arts. OMR's piece was filled with strong geometric shapes painted in what looked like a thick black ink. (You can see some poor cell phone camera pics above on the left.) There is a great article here at tahiti1.com you can check out to learn more.

Tahitian Green

When OMR told us his story about Tahiti the part that stood out was "in the morning, when i stepped off the boat and looked at the island i said 'My God it is so green!". Not only did that quote end up on the print, but it got me looking for green inspiration. Not just any green, that rich, leafy kelly-ish green. My sketchbook is filled with little bits of green I found here and there, but I thought it would be a bit more fun to show some of my favorite green things I found.
1. Le Creuset Round Oven Dish: My favorite item in our kitchen. It is used daily as it is perfect or roasting a chicken, making a soup and just about everything else. Since you can throw it in the fridge there is minimal clean up which I love. The best thing is the amazing color range that the Le Creuset collection comes in. We have the red and blue, but there are a bunch more. Makes me want to collect all of them. www.lecreuset.com
2. Deluxe 16-piece Cutlery Set: This looks exactly like the silverware I grew up with - except this is plastic and bright green. It was designed by designers Donata Paruccini and Fabio Bortolani in 2005 and is available from the great design store Moss. www.mossonline.com
3. Celine Flats: I am a big flats (ballet flats to be precise) person. I only have one pair of heels and only break them out for the occasional occasion. I'm always on the lookout for a new pair of shoes, though I'm so picky I rarely buy anything. These I would totally rock, and the fact that they are a Rachel Zoe makes me think that perhaps La Lohan could be wearing them... but I would wear them anyways. I love this color green. They are available at piperlime.com
4. Phetnikone Shopper: I adore this bag. I bought 2 and am currently using the persimmon/currant version. This green one is saved for someone special's Christmas gift. The bags are made by my lovely friend Phetnikone Nokham. They are sturdy and are perfect for stuffing with mail, small FedEx packages, hats and gloves and all your other necessities. I'm hoping she'll make a larger version so I can use it to tote home my groceries. Check out her site here www.phetnikone.com
5. Felt Hearts: These little guys are made out of the recycled felt scraps that have been collecting in Etcetera Media's studio. Kelly of EM is another lovely friend of mine, and I can attest to how great her felt bags and homegoods are. If you are unfamiliar check out their site, I guarantee their pieces will be popping up in a store near you soon. www.etceteramedia.com
6. Green Felt Stocking: Tis' the season to start breaking out those stockings. We have some traditional furry red ones from Target, though I would like to upgrade to something a bit cooler. Growing up my mom made some pretty big stockings for everyone in the family, as well as the occasional boyfriend and our pets. Since I just learned how to sew on a button, I will leave the creation to someone else, such as RikRak, an etsy seller. Check out her etsy site here.
7. Glass Lapwing: I love glass birds. Not sure what it is. A few years ago one of my favorite stores, Good, carried a few for the holidays and I dreamed of having them all on my mantel. Here is one from Unica Home designed by Oiva Toikka for Ittala. www.unicahome.com

That's it for this week. We are leaving in a few hours for VT. I'm a bit stressed because this means that we need to get the protesting basset hound out of the studio and into his crate. He is NOT going to like it. I'm going to miss his howling (they really do that), his constant sniffing on our walks, the fact that my other neighbors will talk to me (they only respond to me when I have a dog in my hand, apparently it is some sort of JP secret society). I wish you all a super Thanksgiving filled with pies and leftovers. Remember the alka-seltzer and don't overeat! See you on Monday.

What's so cool about Tahiti?

It's snowing here. When I was walking the basset hound this morning, there were just s few little flakes but now it is a real snow flurry. It's really beautiful with the trees all orange and the green grass poking through the snow...time to dig out all that warm winter wear.
Let's talk about some cool things from somewhere that you don't need to turn the heat on - Tahiti.
Breadboxes: In Tahiti houses are equipped with a long mailbox, but forget the junk mail. They are filled daily with French bread. How great is that? I wish our mailbox was full of fresh bread instead of sale fliers from Stop 'n Shop.
Tahitian Tattoos: When I was in high school i got myself a small tattoo on my back. My mom said something about me turning into Madonna, or was it Roseanne Barr... I can't remember now, but she was NOT happy. If only back then I could have searched flickr and shown her a picture of this guy to prove that is could be worse...
Les Roulottes: Restaurant's on Wheels - this is Tahitian street food. Once the sun goes down these little places open up serving everything from Italian to Chinese. I want to try the local specialty, "Poisson Cru." A salad made from coconut, cucumber, citrus and fresh tuna. I imagine it to be a bit like ceviche which I love.
Brando's Island: Tetiaroa is the private island of deceased actor Marlon Brando. Mostly undeveloped this area is great for a day of sunning and bird watching. Better yet, it has a very dramatic history, read about it here.
Over water Bungalows: I've always dreamed at staying in on of these thatched roofed hotel room, but they seem to elude my travel budget. Some have glass floors so that you can watch the fish and coral from above. I just imagine falling asleep to the lapping of the waves...
Hawaikinui Va'a: "The Super Bowl of outrigger canoe races". Occurring in early November, each crew of 6 races 72 miles from Huahine to Raiatea to Tahaa and ends up in Bora Bora. This looks so fun, like the Tahitian equivilant to standing on Boylston St to watch the Boston Marathon. But you are in the crystal blue water and it is sunny, so I think this race wins. See the video below.

Above photos clockwise from top Bread Box by ThePreismans.com (check out there site here for some GREAT photos), Tattoo Man via flickr by thelastminute, les roulettes via flickr by zug poof, Tahiti via flicr by Matt Mihaly, Brando's island. Video via YouTube by zanawear.

The Tahiti Pattern

Calendar ordering time has arrived! A FedEx/packaging bomb has hit the studio in the last couple days and I can barely find the protesting basset hound beneath it all. I always think I print enough pieces and then a month before Christmas (can you believe that it is only a month away?) I figure out that I am in fact going to need to order more. I get incredibly nervous about choosing a quantity. Order too little then you have to reorder at a higher price or turn people away... Order too many then you are sitting on 2008 calendars when it is in fact 2010 (people don't generally purchase 2008 calendars when it is no 2008). Oh these are the things that keep me awake at night. Exciting, huh? So Tahiti is part of the 2008 calendar, I wanted to show you the page, see above.
This week is going to be a short one as we head north on Wednesday for a few days of stuffing ourselves with Turkey. This weekend is also (gasp) my 10 year high school reunion. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it, but there are a few people I do want to see... and it is open bar. So it can't be all that bad right? right....

Gaugin's Tahiti

I may have been an art history major for 3 years... but I think everyone has heard Paul Gauguin, though I could be wrong. Just in case I am, Gauguin was a leading post-impressionistic painter. His work lead to the progression of Modern Art as well as Primitivism. He was good friends with Van Gough (the guy that cut off his ear) and lived in France until he moved to... Tahiti.
Gauguin left France in 1891 for the simplicity of Tahiti where he planned to live out his final days. He soon became disenchanted with Papette claiming that it was too "European" and later moved further out of the city to a more remote location. His Tahitian pieces are exotic (imagine seeing these in the early 1900's) and use wonderful color combinations.
"Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?" is said to be the cumulation of his entire career. At the paintings completion Gauguin planned to kill himself, having finished his masterpiece, but he survived for a few more years. I've had the pleasure of viewing the piece in person quite a few times (we had many a class dedicated to just this piece, and lucky for us it was on view a block away at the MFA Boston) and it is quite extraordinary. The 12 ft long piece is meant to be read left to right, showing the circle of life from the beginning to the hereafter.
You can really get a sense of what it was like for Gauguin living in Tahiti by reading his journal "Noa Noa". The book is illustrated with beautiful woodcut illustrations showing the flora, fauna and people that surrounded Gauguin. You can read how Gauguin wanted to live like a local, the process of his work and more. Check out a few pages online from google books here.

Ohhhhh.... Tahiti.

The Tahiti pattern was really inspired by Sasso's dear old dad, to be referred to as OMR from here on out. OMR is probably the best story teller I've ever sat with, rivaling only my Uncle Doug. One evening, after a lovely dinner, OMR started telling us a story about being an engineer on this big ship where he crawled in little dark crevices to fix things and after a while at sea waking up and exclaiming "My God it is so green!" to the sight of Tahiti, then docking and renting a car and driving through the forest and oh my... much more. I love stories like this and could listen to them for hours. When Sasso and I retired to bed I said, "That was such a great story, I never knew your Dad sailed all over and went to Tahiti." "I didn't either," said Sasso. I love that after 31 years OMR is still breaking out stories that Sasso has never heard.
Later, inspired by OMR's story, I started researching Tahiti and found Gauguin, Vanilla Orchids, the Mai Tai and interesting bark prints. More to come tomorrow...
On a side note a basset hound is holding protest in my office. He flew in from Florida Tuesday late night (on a delayed flight of course) and yesterday he was supposed to be en route to my Brother + Sister's house in NH. But he won't get in the car. I even tried to lure him with a pork chop, but no dice. So here he stays, he and the fleas he may have caught on the plane... (here he is below last year).

And I'm Off!!

Oh man, am I looking forward to this little vacation. Lovely news, tonight I got to attend the PINE banquet and our 2008 Wall Calendar won a Pinnacle Award. She was very excited and loves to be entered into these design/printing beauty pageants, well actually it was our lovely printers that entered her into this one. None the less, holding that crystal award is as close as I'm ever going to get to getting an Oscar so I'll take it.
For some viewing pleasure - while away I'm winning millions at the slot machines - I thought I'd wrap up the book inspiration posts with some more mentions.
• Textile Designs by Susan Meller and Joost Elffers : When I was designing patterns for Fresh I always turned to this book to spark my imagination. It's really well organized and has some surprising finds.
• Earth from Above 365 Days by Yann Arthurs Bertrand : I saw this outdoor exposition of large scale photographs of abstract overviews of the earth in Paris in 2000. They are really extraordinary. See more of Yann's work here.
• You Are Here by Katherine Harmon : This book of unique maps is really interesting. It will have you thinking of maps in a totally different way. Again, very concept driven which I love. It has me thinking of doing a patterned map of the US...
• A Year in Japan by Kate T. Williamson : This is a great sketchbook of Williamson's year in Japan (duh). I love her graphic drawings, especially of her lunches. I love when people draw what they eat.
• Sabra Field: The Art of Place by Tom Slayton : Sabra is one of my absolute favorite artists. Her graphic depiction of the world around her is so vibrant. When you see her prints in person not only the colors, but the way that she uses gradients will amaze you. A dream of mine is to go work with her on her Tuscany trip. I just need to sell a few calendars...
Speaking of calendars, thanks to Holly at Decor8 for including our Places I Have Never Been calendar in her beautiful calendar round up. Pass on that kitten calendar from Borders and pick up one of the beauties she lists here.
I'll be back on Wednesday, rich with all my Vegas winnings, (more likely achy with a sunburn from the supposed hiking we are going to do). Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Shodoshima Wrap-Up

I thought I'd wrap up the Shodoshima postings by showing some more of Darren Ruane's amazing fall foliage pics from Japan. You can check out his site here or his flickr site here.
I think this weekend, (besides watching more baseball - these weeks of late nights and crappy bar food are really taking their toll), I'm going to try to catch some New England foliage. I live right near J.P Pond and there are some amazing fiery red trees over there that I'd like to take a look at.
As a side note... 7 more days til vacation. Thank God. So Sasso and I are flying out to Vegas to meet JBatt and Picy to celebrate their birthdays. Since we'll be there for four nights (you have to take advantage of company paid hotel rooms when you can - even if it means spending more time in Vegas than you normally would consider) we are thinking about renting a car and doing some exploring outside of the city. We've both been to Vegas a few times and each of those trips has involved some slot machines, cheap drinks, and Cirque de Soleil shows so we want to do a little something different. If anyone has any suggestions leave a comment or send me an email, I'd love to hear them!

I Heart Super 88

Ahh... yesterday turned out to be a good day. The Red Sox blew out the Rockies in game one of the World Series. I narrowly escaped what could have been a catastrophic car accident on 93S. I got to spend a good half hour browsing and buying at Super 88. I love walking around this local Asian market chain looking at packaging and imagining what everything is. I KNOW that all those labels do say things, they just say nothing to me - cause I can't read a single Asian language.
See above a few of my Shodoshima inspired purchases including 2 types of soy sauce and a package of somen noodles. It would have been great to find soy sauce and tenobe somen made in Shodoshima, but the labels just say "Product of Japan" so who knows.
"But how does it all taste?" you ask. Mmmmmmmm.....
So I read you should buy soy sauce like you buy wine. To me that means don't cheap out and go with the prettiest label - so that is exactly what I did. The smallest bottle is light and sweet, is made with "yuzu orange juice" and is labeled Higeta Ponzu Shoyu. The middle bottle is labeled "MARUKIN Yuki Marudaizu Nama Shoyu", is a strong, but very delicious, dark soy sauce. The tallest bottle is actually from Thailand and I think it is the mushroom sauce that Xander was speaking of. This Mushroom Flavored Soy Sauce by Healthy Boy quite delicious, like an earthy soy sauce. I better put these bottles back in the pantry before I just start drinking them straight... forget the sushi!!!
"Look, she even cooked a delicious soup with her somen noodles" you say. No, Zenna on Beacon did. I'm under piles of work without time to cook a lovely lunch, but trying to read all those noodle labels yesterday got me craving some noodle soup, so I went and grabbed some. I'll have to try my package of somens later.
Besides those treats I got some Pocky, (basically breadsticks dipped in chocolate) and a yummy jar of kimchi. I just realized that I forgot to look for Japanese Olives... but that is just an excuse for another trip to Super 88! Or better yet, maybe I should wait to get to Shodoshima to try some.

Mmmmm... Tenobe Somen

As previously mentioned Shodoshima has a lot to offer in terms of food. Soy sauce, Japanese olives, Tsukudani and tenobe somen noodles. The tenobe somen industry got its start in here in the late 16th century. These long, fine noodles are made from wheat flour, sesame oil and salt. The wheat flour dough is coated with sesame oil and then stretched as far as it can be by hand (see all those handing noodles up there...). Because the fine noodles can only be stretched during the dry months of winter, tenobe somen has become one of the symbols of the winter season.
It is things like this that I love to incorporate into the patterns. In the background of the Shodoshima pattern you will see (see close up above) the thin stripes representing the tenobe somen noodles. It is things like this that spurned me to start this blog. There are all these little secrets in each pattern that one would not assume were anything more than a mere design element without being told. I can tell you here.
I'm unsure if I've ever had tenobe somen, perhaps at sometime I have, I do eat a good deal of Japanese food. I didn't make it to Super 88 on Friday as hoped. But today on my quick jaunt down to the land of returns at Ikea, I will pass right by it. I'm hoping to stop by and pick up some somen, a few kinds of soy sauce, the mushroom sauce that Xander mentioned and some Japanese olives. Then tonight have a soy sauce tasting party accompanied by sushi, the red sox and some good friends (the kind that indulge me on my little weird research tastings like this) and then report back on the food of Shodoshima!

ooooh..... Shodoshima

I first read about Shodoshima in a article written by Daniel Altman in the travel section of the New York Times. Altman wrote a piece about the Japanese season of Kouyou, which literally translates to "red leaves" or "changing colors". Being a life-long New Englander, I never really thought about fall foliage happening anywhere else, which is crazy, I know. When my BFF, Ris, moved across the country to Portland I said, "What about the foliage, are you going to miss it?" Ummmm, chlorophyll breaks down in areas outside of New England and meaning that trees do change color else ware.
So the thought of a foliage season in Japan really peaked my interest. Apparently it is as important to the Japanese as their cherry blossom festival. Kouyou moves across the country from early September through late November spreading bright reds, oranges and yellows.
The line from Altman's piece that really got me was "... Kankakei Gorge, a valley on Shodoshima Island in Japan's Inland Sea,... turns flaming red and is visible from the island's cable cars." Imagine floating over a sea of bright red leaves, so amazing.
From my research I can tell you that Shodoshima is the center of soy sauce production, the first area to produce Japanese olives, where tenobe somen noodles are hand stretched and the setting for the movie "24 eyes" - but more on all of that later.
I do love the Shodoshima pattern, so much that I put it on the cover of the 2008 calendars, (I like to think that my patterns vie for that spot, just like the girls of Sport's Illustrated swimsuit edition), and I think she is very happy there.

Miss Marrakech

Well here is Miss Marrakech. You can see how she started as just little baby sketches on the left until she grew into the fine young lady, (that crashes my powerbook), that she is today. It has been one big busy week here at JHill Design. A week full of running around, printing and printing, meetings, and lots of alka-seltzer. I'm not a big fan of this kind of week. Not at all. Though I did get to enjoy the season premiere of Ugly Betty, (LOVED it), with some wine and a Sasso cooked dinner. This weekend I doing Open Studios in J.P. which is why it is 11:00pm and I am matting prints, (I always think I'm more prepared than I am). A great surprise though was the link from dooce.com to our note cards. Apparently Miss Heather is a fan and I can say we are a fan of her as well. If you are not a dooce reader check it out at www.dooce.com.

My Marrakesh, (actually it's Maryam's)

I finished the Marrakech pattern sometime ago, and wouldn't you know it as soon as I completed it I stumbled onto what could have been the most inspirational site yet... My Marrakesh. It is written by Maryam and let me tell you... she has one hell of any eye. Maryam writes about Morocco, Marakech, decor, design, fashion, art, travel, riding camels, designing guest houses, and so much more. She also posts BEAUTIFUL images, just check out this one of the slippers in her post about shopping in Marrakech. Delicious, huh?
I'm so excited to read her posts about Essaouira because I'm working on a pattern for that imaginary vacation next. She is also planning on launching her"Peacock Pavilions Shop" online which will, no doubt, be totally amazing. I don't get to read this blog as often as I should, so I just moved it to the top of my blogreader. I suggest you do the same.

Fez (the pen)

So a few years ago I got the pleasure of working with some great people while designing collateral for the Cross stores here in the Boston area. Perfect, (and dangerous), for me because I LOVE stationary (duh) and pens. During this time Cross was producing limited edition pens with the talented designer Rafe. Together they created some really cool pens, for example this one, The Fez. I adore this pattern. Really, I do. I've used it for over 2 years and have yet to lose it (though she is currently out of ink). I've checked the Cross site and ebay but it seems that they don't sell these pens anymore - which is a big, big shame. Their pens no longer have patterns, so sad. Luckily I stocked up on the Rafe collection when it hit the shelves.

I Love You, I Hate You...

I have an extreme love/hate relationship with the Marrakech pattern. See, the process to making the patterns is this: 1. be inspired 2. research + imagine 3. draw 4. format. Well with Marrakech I was inspired by tiny mint tea glasses. I researched and then imagined a huge tower of them like a stained glass window. I drew and after a few rounds was pretty happy with the finished piece. Then I formatted. This is where love started to turn to hate.
The drawing needs to be formated into a large print, a small print, a desk calendar page and a wall calendar page. Well the wall calendar page is 112mb which honestly almost killed my powerbook, (i mean my ANCIENT powerbook, we're talking 3 yrs + here). This is what happens when you get carried away with brushes in illustrator. Could I have found another way to make those tiny grains of sugar cascading through the cups? (Yes, I mean the ones that you need to be up close to the print to see.) Yes, I probably could have. Did I? No, no I didn't. I just timed my mac as the color wheel death spun around and around.
In the end, nothing was going to get changed on that print after I formated it. Hell, I'm scared to even open it. I did, however, show my original love to her by putting her on July, my birthday month.
Yes, I think Marrakech will stay closed until I can introduce her to the new man in town, the MacPro tower, (which, fingers crossed, will be very soon).