It's Gorse of Course!

Photo by jen-the-librarian via flickr.

To wrap up Ireland I wanted to close with one more of my Grandma's journal entries. It is about the flower gorse, and I just loved it. Especially written in her beautiful cursive script.
"When gorse is out of bloom Kissing is out of season" (this is an old Irish saying).
"Yellow flowers in pastures = gorse. Farmers don't like it. Blossoms 3 times a year". If that doesn't tell you enough you can check out the wiki entry here.



I'm pretty excited because I just booked my trip next week to go visit my BFF Ris in Portland, Oregon. I'm continuing my travels to the places that I've done in the Places I Have Never Been line! So sad that Sasso can't come with me. It has become apparent that he will be chained to his desk this summer (just like last summer) so I've resigned to do some solo travel, so sad. Well, less sad cause I cashed in my miles for a first class ticket... to ease the Sasso missing.

Check out those pipes: Part Deux

Photo by AndreasC via flickr.

I've been away due to one of those lovely July colds. They are so hard to get rid of... you are hot (cause it is a thousand degrees out) so you put on the a/c but that just makes the cold worse. But all is better. Thankfully it came after our wonderful July 4th weekend to Cape Cod, namely Wellfleet and Provincetown. It was great to go to Wellfleet because that is a place from the Places I Have Never Been series, and now I can start my real vacation drawings for it.


Photo by Mark Grealish via flickr.

But to get on with wrapping up the Galway pattern... I just kept seeing pipe organs in all my sketches (see part uno) so I started to do a little research. I fell in love with the pipe organ at the Galway Cathedral. I couldn't believe the stained glass piece that was above it, because I had been drawing something similar to mimic the gorse flower that I wanted to be in the pattern.


Photo by Mark Grealish via flickr.

The organ was built in 1966 and then rebuilt and expanded in 2006-2007. The organ has 59 registers, divided over three manuals and pedals and the action is electro-pneumatic. That's a little techie for me and I have no idea what it means - but I just think it is beautiful. If you happen to be in Galway on July 29 you can attend one of the Cathedrals many recitals.

For more info about Irish Pipe Organs click here and for a "good laugh" check out the Pipe Organ joke page here, it is priceless!

Listen to those pipes!! Part Uno

Pipe organs, when I was perusing Flickr for some Ireland inspiration I kept stumbling upon them and I thought they were totally beautiful. They also brought me (somewhat) nostalgically back to the Catholic church days of my youth, leaning forward with my forehead on the pew in front of me praying for God to end the sermon and let me go ride my bike.
This first "organ" may not be the traditional kind. The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, many forming together to look like a pipe organ, located in Northern Ireland. Legend has it that it was caused by an Irish giant running away from a. either a baby eating a steak or b. a baby that was gigantic, tearing up the Causeway as he went. Read here for yourself. You might recognize the Causeway from the cover of Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy album (you know, the D'yer Maker one). Check out these BEAUTIFUL pictures of the causeway below from brian77kelly via flickr.

Notes from Grandma

Sorry for the lack of posting, it's been busy. Well, that isn't entirely true... design wise summer is s-l-o-w but doing all this engagement party/wedding business has been time consuming. The great news is that we have a date, a place, I have a dress and a house to stay in. We'll be getting married in a tiny ceremony in Playa Negra, Costa Rica next February. We are way excited. You can read more about our last CR trip here.
Then there was the whole Celtics winning the championship thing (woo hoo!) which kept me up late, and the celebration with a nice bottle of champagne and a box of delicious pastries from Flour kept me in bed late the next day. But I'm back!



So my Grandma, Madelyn, was the inspiration for the Ireland print. She was so nice to give me her travel journal from her 3 week trip to Ireland in May of 1984. She went back to see where her grandparents were from and to explore the country that her family reminisced so much about. A woman close to my own heart, most of the journal is a chronicle of the food she ate on her trip, but there are a few choice stories:
• Accidentally waiting for a LONG time on the wrong side of the street for the bus
• Meeting an Irish man who bought her a Coffee Royal to treat her cold and celebrate her birthday.
• Saw the castle that "Tip O'Neil stayed at the night before"
• After seeing an Irish funeral, they were invited in down the street for an Irish wedding
• Apparently they missed a lot of Irish Music because there are many entires that end in "Sorry no Irish Music"
The journal is extremely factually with very little opinion about what things were like. The only one I noticed was that "Cork was dirty."



At the back there is a list of addresses of the people she must have met, I'm SURE it was in order for her to send a thank you note promptly when she returned to the states. She also notes that it was a 747 and that there were 500 passengers on board. The whole thing is written in her beautiful penmanship, something I wish I had. She writes about gorse, the flower that is in the print, but I'll share that all on the next post.
All in all she is a wonderful story teller. She is quite funny and always likes to throw in a little gossip. When I see her next week perhaps I can get her to give up some of the goods and do a little podcast.

The Galway Pattern

Here she is, the new Galway Pattern. Inspired by the yellow gorse flower, (which my Gramma wrote about in her Ireland travel journal), and pipe organs. Why pipe organs? I just kept seeing them everywhere in my research. There are some beauts in Ireland and even a series of gigantic rocks that resemble a pipe organ. Maybe it is from being brought up in a pseudo-Irish Catholic household, Ireland reminds me of church, church reminds me of pipe organs. Go figure.
The Galway pattern graces one of our new Hello! note cards: Top of the Mornin'. This shot isn't bad considering my camera can't focus on anything lately (Dear Sasso - My birthday is next month... a new camera would be an amazing present).



Since we are talking about Ireland here...ss anyone else out there watching these Celtics games? I mean... I almost turned off the tv in disgust last night but boy was I glad that I didn't. Talk about the luck of the Irish! Fantastic!!

It's a Chateau Dahhhhling...

I wrote about my love of the word Villa in my Cabo wrap up, well I have the same affection for the word château (and also Chalet). Basically any word that is a bit more romantic and dreamier than "house". There were 3 châteaus that I thought of when I did this pattern.


1. Petit Hameau: The original inspiration for the patten was this little rustic place built for Marie Antoinette at Versailles. Do you remember in the movie when Kirsten Dunst was running around in tall grass in the most beautiful sun light glow? Then she picked strawberries and poured the most delicious looking cream from a pitcher.... mmmm. After checking it out I decided i wanted it all to be a bit more in your face and not so delicate. So I went on search for more châteaus.


2. Château de Chenonceau: The château was a gift from King Henry VIII to his mistress Diane de Poitiers. The place is so magical the way that it extends over the river. It has some amazing geometrically designed gardens too. You can visit the château's website here.


3. Château de Villandry: The gardens here are amazing. There are all sorts of geometric shapes including one part that is all hearts, which is where I got the inspiration for the hearts in the Merci pattern. You can visit their site here and see some amazing pics here.

I wish someone would say "Bonjour Mademoiselle!" and whisk me off to a château today. It has been a rough couple of weeks. The kind that makes you say, "Holy crap. The universe is trying to kill me!!" It has involved print proofs gone awry, burned hands, head colds, unresponsive vendors, torture via dentist, crazy client phone calls, a broken cell phone (which is just plain maddening), and one mess otherwise known as our engagement party / wedding.
But I'm not gonna let it get me down no more! The sun is out and even if I have to sit in my yard (with a box of tissues) instead of a château's that will do for now. To make things even better Eric the UPS man just brought all the new Thank You, Hello! and Holiday cards to me. The printing is SO beautiful! Lots of new stuff to show you soon.

Introducing Loire Valley

Soooooo.... I need to note that right now I am sitting in the studio with all the windows open getting a fantastic cross breeze of warm air. So warm that when I walk through the kitchen I check to see if the stove is on, I've been doing this all day. The scent of a neighbor's BBQ have been wafting in... I've been waiting for this weather to return since November.



A while ago I wrote about what was inspiring some new patterns. The first new pattern to be released is Loire Valley. She is French and very bright (as in colorful, though if she was a person I think she'd also be very smart and clever), and just bursting with flowers. The pattern was inspired by the flowers that flooded the Spring 2008 runways (especially the Balenciaga collection - swoon), a few chateau gardens in France and the idea of a colorful fruit basket (not sure why but that popped in my head the whole time I worked on this pattern).
This is also the first release of the new Thank You card line, which Loire Valley graces on the Merci card which you can see here. The cards are sold as singles as well as in packs of 6 and they are all enviro friendly as mentioned before.
This pattern had so many great inspirations and I can't wait to share them all. I know posting has been a bit light. Sometimes it is tricky to get pumped up about the inspiration for patterns I did like 18 months ago, so I'm really looking forward to sharing the 14 new patterns I have with you!

On another note my dear-dear-dear-lovely intern Alston is leaving me in Mid-May so I'm on the lookout for another talented design intern. If anyone is interested please email me at jhilldesign (at) mac.com for more details. One of the big projects for the summer is the rework of the Studio's website which will soon have a wonderful database driven shopping cart (adios paypal buttons!). Good experience and fun :)

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.

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).

Inspiration: The Last Page

Seriously, the last page is almost ALWAYS my favorite page of the entire magazine. It's so nice when a mag doesn't just fill the final page with ads, but considers it a little goodbye treat to the reader. Here are a few top favorites of my Mag Shelf:


1. Gourmet July 2007 My favorite food magazine by far. How can you beat their food photography?! Their last page is always a few simple recipes on a theme, here is one of my favorites. The Art of Reduction includes 5 different fruit syrups to slather on ice cream or mix with some soda water and vodka for the perfect summer (warm weather will eventually get to Boston this year, right?) cocktail. Here is the recipe for my favorite.


2. New York Magazine The Crossword Puzzle This is like, one of the only crossword puzzles that I can complete and I look forward to it every week. It does rival, however, their Approval Matrix which I always read first. Check out this blog which is a brilliant look at the Matrix. (As a disclaimer, NY now has a new last page, which appeared after the crossword called Artifact, but I can't quite figure out what the deal is with it, so I'm just ignoring it for now. )


3. Vogue March 2008 My favorite last page by far. Vogue's Last Look always has one amazingly designed and amazingly expensive object accompanied with just a small text blurb. These objects have influenced many a PIHNB pattern, including the upcoming Galway, Ireland pattern. Here is last month's Last Look. Mmmmmm a $7,950 Balenciaga bag.


4. Domino April 2008 I'm a big list maker, I love them. So naturally I'm a big fan of Domino's "10 Things That Make Me Happy". Since you've probably seen most of the April 2008 issue on other blogs (Drew's office was absolutely everywhere) I'll share the last page. I think Zoe Ryan and I would be great friends because I have almost everything she likes on my wish list, including the Girard dolls.

5. Sherman's Travel Fall 2007 I found this magazine at Logan Airport a few months ago and immediately loved it. It has everything that I love about the Time's travel section, but just more of it. I've totally given up on Travel + Leisure and CN Traveller, I just can't take the "Top 100 Hotels You'll Never be Able to Afford to Stay In" articles anymore. ST always ends their mag with a little blurb/photo about something fantastic. In this issue it was a balloon ride (including a light champagne breakfast) over Myanmar's Bagan Valley... imagine that!


6. Elle March 2008 I love Elle dearly. I do. I love chopping it to bits and filling my sketchbook with collages from her pages. Elle's last page always is an interview with some interesting person. This past issue talked with one of my favorite people: Rainn Wilson aka Dwight Schrute from The Office. I love Dwight Schrute and I think Rainn is hilarious. See him here at the Emmy's with Kanye West and in my favorite Office outtake here.

Inspiration: Magazine Round-Up

Last night I was laying on the couch indulging in a repeat of Gossip Girl when Sasso came home from work. He said, "Would you like to go through these magazines and throw out the ones that you don't want... there are like 2 issues of Elle right here." I became a bit irritated because:
1. I was in the middle of watching the debacle that was the debutant ball (what an evil grandmother that Serena has).
2. I have a hard time parting with magazines and it shall not be done on a whim.
3. There weren't 2 issues of Elle, it was an Elle and a Vogue - 2 very different things.

I have a magazine addiction and I am well aware of this as is the postman who crams them all into my P.O. Box. This year I let ALL my subscriptions run out cause it got out of hand and then I renewed after giving careful thought to each. (My theory is if you are going to pay $4 for one issue you may as well pay $12 for 12 issues) Subscriptions now include:
• Sherman's Travel
• Lucky + Domino
• Elle
• Vogue
• New York (a weekly)
• Gourmet
• Vanity Fair
• Wired + Rolling Stone (I get these for free for some reason and never end up reading them so I don't think that they REALLY count.)
But there are some new ones that I want... like Portfolio (Oh I love this business magazine), Departures (if only I too had a Amex Platinum card... someday), Home Companion, City, Art on Paper and the biggest guilty pleasure of all: Us Weekly (I just can't do it, I mean it is like over $100).
Much of the inspiration for the Places I Have Never been series comes from articles and fashion spreads that I read, clip + save. As you can see I don't throw away magazines lightly, what if there is an idea for a pattern nestled inside there?!
I thought that I'd do a few posts about some of my fav clippings and stories from my favorite magazines. Above you can see the stack I collected from around the house, many in their delivery bags. I think weekend might be one of reading... What are your favorite magazines? I'm always looking for a few more....

What's black, white and red all over....

A newspaper! I seriously remember that joke from a "joke book" that i had when i was in elementary school - I'm sure my parents wanted to burn that thing. Well what inspired the colors for the Fakahatchee print is the passage in the Orchid Thief where Susan Orlean writes about the "Vanda Deva Robert" orchid. Page 175: "Vanda Deva Robert is a brilliant red orchid with a smallish black lip and a speck of yellow in the center and large petals that are tessellated with blood-colored veins."
Red is my favorite color (hence the JHill Design branding) and I tend to wear a lot of black (not a goth thing, just goes with everything) so I thought I'd do a round up of my fav black, white and red things of the moment.
1. The Kitchen Aid Mixer: Seriously, the only reason I am even thinking of doing a bridal registry is in hopes that maybe I'll get one of these puppies. I just feel like I'd make a lot of great Christmas cookies with it and my yummy brownies would appear so much quicker. Plus, we have the red Kitchen Aid blender so it would match perfectly.
2. Orla Kiely Spring 2008: Orla Kiely is like who i want to be. She's got her amazing patterns all over everything. She's got her own store. She's got the whole Orla lifestyle thing going on. I love it. Here is a shot from her spring collections' look book. So cute.
3. Pyrrhuloxia: I love Abby Glassenberg's work. It is totally amazing and very affordable. I've been really drawn to high-end plush toys as of late. Check out her etsy shop here and her work at artstream gallery here.
4. Mac Lipstick: I love red lipstick and don't wear it enough. I am partial to Fresh's Plaza Red, but this red by Mac is pretty fierce, plus the rest of their line rocks.
5. Tea Cup: I was at Anthropolgie the other day browsing the sale racks (if I ever pay the full gazillion dollar price for one of their skirts - kill me) and I stumbled upon this little guy. so pretty.
6. Pomme Birds: I actually own this print and it is currently tucked away waiting for the day that I take all my little prints out to the frame shop. I love Tara Hogan's work, and infact she is one of the lovely ladies I will be sharing a booth with at the stationary show this May.

Today I spoke to a graphic design portfolio class at MassArt about my "design journey" which was basically Fresh > jhill design > places i have never been. I got to take a peek at some of their work and wow... it was beautiful and super creative. The the all-girl class made me miss my days hanging around the studio busting out projects... (I think hindsight is sweet because I'm pretty sure I spent most of my time obsessing about those projects and at least a few hours in tears over them). If you are in Boston you can stop by the design department's portfolio night in early May, (I will post the details once i get them) and check out the great work for yourself. Also, if your in Boston, do your self a favor and go to Ole's new little sister Olecito and have a pork taco with pineapple salsa... mmmmmmmm.

Oh and how could i not post what turns up on youtube when you search for "red black white". see below.

Adapting

As my lovely Ris commented on the last post, there was in fact a movie made about Orlean's book "The Orchid Thief", called Adaptation. The movie was a really interesting take on adapting a book for screen. It centers around Charlie Kauffman who is a cynical screenwriter who needs to adapt "The Orchid Thief" for the big screen. It isn't going so well and to make matters work Charlie's twin brother (both rolls played by Nic Cage) seems to write scripts with the greatest of ease. As you watch Charlie go through his own personal crisis, you get to watch all the book's action and lucky for us Orlean's roll is played by the lovely Meryl Streep.
I haven't seen this movie since it came out so I may need to add it to my Netflix que in order to refresh my memory. I remember liking it quite a bit, and of course I love Ms Streep (I just watched The Hours last week for the first time, and then again right after because I just adored it).
How sad that I missed Ms Streep's appearance at a favorite local independent theater, The Coolidge, in 2006 to accept an award. Especially since she brought with her some other favorites including the late Robert Altman, Kevin Kline, Chris Cooper, John C. Reilly (who I love), Charlie Kaufman and "The Orchid Thief's" Susan Orlean. Where was I that night? What could I have been doing that was better than that? Hindsight.... To read about that and more Coolidge events visit here.
Tuesday night was our Brainstorming night for the Boston Design Salon and it went great. We lined up come really great monthly events taking us through October. (Also I finally got to meet the great Kate of Three Square Design). The group is open to area women (sorry boys) designers and those that love them. It has been a great networking event and we've had wonderful speakers so far such as Kristin from Urban Living Studio. It is a great mix of graphic designers, store owners, interior designers, product designers, design entrepreneurs, design bloggers and more. If you are interested in joining send me an email and I will put your on our email list!

Ooooohhh... Fakahatchee!

Oh Fakahatchee... the way your name just rolls off the tongue. Fakahatchee is actually a swamp in the Florida Everglades. The print was inspired by the book "The Orchid Thief", the movie "Adaptation"and of course the lovely orchid.
I love the orchid and this is the first in a series of orchid prints (vanilla orchids in the Tahitti print and perhaps more to come). Sasso's mom has BEAUTIFUL orchids in her living room that have blossoms as big as your fist, they are totally amazing. Once, we were given an orchid plant as hostess gift for a party we threw. I swear it
was dead in 6 months. I just can't keep anything alive, which is why only cut flowers are around our house. That may be one reason for my slight growing (ahem, no pun intended) obsession. If I can't have them alive in my home I guess I will just have to draw them.

Just a note, on my site there is a big "Spring Cleaning Everything is on Sale" sale going on. I need to make room in the "inventory closet" for some new work that will be coming in. It should be called the "Did you know weddings are expensive?" sale, cause boy... I have found out that these shindigs do not come cheap...

A Little Ferro Battuto

The pattern overlapping the swaths of green in the Tuscany Pattern was inspired by Frances Mayes' description of the Tuscan wrought iron gates in Under the Tuscan Sun on page 59:
"Ferro battu, wrought iron, is an ancient craft in Tuscany. Every town has intricate locks on medieval doors, curly lanterns, holders for standards, garden gates, even fanciful iron animals and serpents shaped into rings for tying horses to the wall. Like other artisian traditions, this one is fast disappearing and it's easy to see why. The key word in blacksmith is black. His shop is charred, soot covers him, the antiquated equipment, and the forges that seem to have chnaged very little since Hephaestus lit the fire in Aphrodite's stove. Even teh air seems hung with a fine weil of soot." Sounds pretty romantic to me. Below is a pic of the Tuscany pattern in it's entirety.
So I mentioned that I'm working on new patterns for the Stationary Show. Yes, 4 down... 8 to go. Not as much progress as I hoped for by the end of February, I've been letting my procrastination get the best of me. But I am in love with the pattern I just finished for Sun Valley Idaho... I can't wait to show it to you. Luckily stress about the Stationary Show has been replaced by stress about planning a wedding, so I'm not really sweating it. Yet.
The above lovely photos (top left to right) are via flickr by XianRex & saltybullfrog.

Ooooooh... Tuscany!

Why did I choose Tuscany... there is just something so dreamy about the name. Years ago I saw Diane Lane trucking around her villa in "Under the Tuscan Sun" and I became infatuated. The thing that kept popping into my head is this: "Is all of Tuscany green rolling hills?" Cause I truly feel like it must be. Just rolling green hills sprinkled with blossoming, yellow sunflowers and streams flowing with delicious wine. Mmmmmmm.... If my husband cheated on me and Sandra Oh and Kate Walsh bought me a ticket to go Tuscany I to heal I would totally go to (well, that is what happened in the movie at least).

What else inspired my Tuscany print? I of course had to read the book "Under the Tuscan Sun" after seeing the movie. Then there is the print workshop that one of my favorite printmakers, Sabra Field, holds there each year. I hope that one day I get to join her.
I may not be going to Tuscany soon, but I am going to San Francisco on Friday! Sasso is going to be there for like 10 days for a video game conference (i know... tough job). I wanted to go, but since we just got back from Cabo and are saving for Morocco (do you know how much it costs to fly from Boston to Morocco in July? don't look - the price will blind you) I just couldn't swing it. Then I got an early Valentine's Day surprise - a round trip ticket for a 4 day trip! So nice... we are going to be in SF for one night and then off to Big Sur for the rest of the weekend. I'm awfully excited. To be honest, I'm even excited about watching 5 hours of cable on Jetblue.

Places I Have Never Been... 2009

Oh God I have no idea what month or year it is. Sometimes I sign my therapist's checks 2007, others 2009... See I'm showing at the National Stationary Show in May, and I need to have the new collection/calendars ready then. Which means, in theory, in June I should be working on the 2010 calendars. See my problem?
Oh but it is so exciting to have my new Moleskine sketchbook obsessively divided into places and being filled with ideas for new patterns. It's also a bit trying. I swear to god it is like conceiving and giving birth 12 times over. Every year I get a little cranky during this time. It's crappy outside, Sasso has been LOUDLY playing Call of Duty for 24 hours straight in the room next door and I have to give birth 12 times.
But I am excited about the new places! I can't tell you all of them, (what would i talk about here for the next year) but I thought maybe I'd share the one that I am wrapping up this weekend: The Gardens of the Loire Valley in France.
Sasso says I do too many France patterns - but I LOVE France. I have dear friends from France and it is the only foreign language I can speak. My only regret is that I can't do a macaron pattern for "Placse I Have Never Been" because I have been to Paris (and fully indulged in macarons). Well, the Loire Valley pattern is inspired by Balenciaga's Spring 2008 line (I mean look at those flowers?!) and the movie Marie Antoinette. I just keep thinking about mazes and the phrase "A riot of color". Oh, it is fantastic... you will see it in all its glory in a few months.
I thought perhaps I'd solicit a little help. I'm stuck on a pattern. I want to do a piece about Portland, Oregon and for some reason I haven't gotten that bolt of inspiration yet. My best friend 'Ris lives out there, the PIHNB line is sold there in a few lovely stores... for some reason all I can think of is moss. So if anyone has any little tales or favorite things they'd like to offer shoot me a line or leave a comment.
Tomorrow a new place begins.... I'm thinking we'll start talking about Tuscany.

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!

A Little (BIG) Moroccan Project

So... in July Sasso and I are taking off on a little adventure to Morocco. This is actually our first time vacationing alone in five years (we generally go everywhere with friends or family) and we are pretty excited. We are making our plans and I think it is going to include Essouria, maybe another place and definitely Marrakesh. While in Marrakesh we are going to stay at the lovely Peacock Pavilions which is operated by the lovely Marayam of My Marrakesh. I am just wrapping up the design of her website (the beta one is up right now) and it has been a real treat getting to know her - she is incredibly creative (something one often wishes more clients were). So, the plan is for me to try to work on a drawing about Morocco everyday before we go. Then, do drawings about the same places after - so in the end I will have a little travel book of before and after about Morocco. Now all I need is a publisher :) and maybe another trip so I can hit up Fez and Rabat. I'm really looking forward to starting it today and here is what I have in my arsenal, recommendations are, of course, welcome. (If my shipment from amazon was here i'd photo the actual books. hmmm.... where it that shipment anyways...)
- Fodor's Morcocco
- Time Out Marrakech: Essaouira and the High Atlas
- Morocco : Eyewitness Travel guide
- Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco
- The Voices of Marrakesh
- My Marrakesh
Let the inspiration begin!

Vancouver Wrap Up

Just for a little wrap up on Vancouver. Here is the final piece that was produced - the Vancouver note card set. The cards aren't available on the site, but I do have a few left, if anyone wants them just send me an email to place an order.
In other news... it was a sad sad Monday here in Boston. Sunday night the Patriots LOST the Superbowl, blemishing their perfect season. Luckily I was pumped full of delicious chili, wings, cookies, cornbread and a cheeseball while at Lisa + Shana's house, so the full brunt of the loss was dulled by my food coma (or maybe it was Lisa's Sangria that included brandy and triple sec in lieu of juice). Well, life goes on right. Here's to another season of watching Tom Brady.