The Bright Studio is my one-woman creative studio that works with small businesses.
a few sketchy pages from my notebook today. brainstorming for some little projects and thoughts in my mind… i kinda love rough, awkward line drawings. and doodling a few everyday objects is like mental meditation.
hope you have a beautiful weekend. go out and enjoy the sunshine!
:: coffee & cast iron pans from lillieinthecity / flickr
i spent a lot of time in the sun this weekend: in my backyard, at the farmer’s market, on my bike, across town, and outside some great echo park coffee shops. i love that summer in LA starts in april.
i finally played with some sunprint paper that i had bought a few months ago. this simple photo paper captures the shadow of objects in bright light. it’s a fun art/science that is perfect for a sunny afternoon. i experimented with an assortment of buttons, bread tags, and backyard plants for some simple little prints. check out more inspiring sunprints at anna atkins and boomslice and rinneallen.
hope you took advantage of some sunshine over your weekend.
listening to: rebel rebel by seu jorge (listen)
:: image from lillieinthecity / flickr
recently, my mom and my aunt had a shared revelation: they both suffer from (but mostly celebrate) The Love of Glass Jars–the insatiable need to buy, scrub clean, and save any neat glass containers that they find. as their collections build, the jars are repurposed to store food, buttons, art supplies, and collections of all kinds. my auntie phyllie’s latest glass loves are the “nice little squat” jars that, in a past life, held salsa. in their new incarnation, they live on her bookshelf displaying this awesome rainbow of colored pencils.
i know this love well myself, as there are rogue jars tucked into every cabinet of our apartment kitchen. too many times, i’ve bought grocery store items solely because of their containers (the food is like a bonus prize!). spega yogurt jars are one of my favorites.
someday soon i will post photos of our infamous kitchen shelf that is constructed of pine wood planks and 12 enormous jars of pickles.
are you a glass jar lover, too?
listening to: the woodlands national anthem by the arcade fire (listen)
:: image from phyllis mchugh leocha (auntie phyllie)
earlier this month, i went on a one-day letterpress adventure at the international printing museum in carson (printmuseum.org). their introduction to letterpress workshop (which was i was psyched to attend) was a great mix of fun, informative, and inspiring–and the museum itself is a hidden gem for anyone interested in printmaking.
the day started with a guided tour of their museum and a brief history of printmaking. and then we dove into the type room, learned the the basics of typesetting, and got to work on two basic printing projects. the museum has an awesome collection of type fonts and woodcut images to explore. for my name print, i couldn’t resist this woodcut of a windblown cypress tree (for love of the california coast).
if you’re in the los angeles area, the museum offers lots of classes about letterpress, book arts, and printmaking. i’m hoping to be back for their intermediate letterpress workshop on april 18. more printmaking soon!
see a few more letterpress pics at lillieinthecity / flickr.
listening to: feeling good by nina simone (listen)
i’m excited to be attending a one-day letterpress workshop tomorrow at the book arts institute. i’ve been wanting to do this for months, but timing, cost, and location never seemed to work. and then days after making a resolution to myself, i landed on the book arts website. perfect!
it’s a part of the international printing museum, which also sounds fantastic, and located just south of los angeles.
this is a great next step with one of those “new projects” that i mentioned. i’m hoping to share some fun stationery and paper designs soon…
p.s. check out my photo of a Heidelberg letterpress being pushed down the middle of a street in san francisco. crazy! and one of my favorite memories of last weekend.
:: image from moontree press in brooklyn, ny
My name is Lillie Dignan. I'm a designer and maker, living and working in the Bay Area.