Woodpecker

When I was in Canada over spring break I woke up to see a beautiful pileated woodpecker outside my window. It was almost 2 ft tall!

And so I drew a little picture...

details

Bear Skull

Hip hip hooraah! What does it say about me that the highlight of my spring break was finding this beauty in the woods? My family has been collecting animal bones, skulls, and feathers for as long as I can remember. Our Canadian cottage is literally full of deer jaws and eagle feathers...which may sound gross to some, but its so beautiful to me. My older sister has the best collection, but with this find I'm close behind.

Finding something like this in the woods is a true gift from nature. Seriously its so circle of life and natural.

After some research and talking to island locals who have grown up knowing the species that live there inside and out, this skull and bottom jaw has been identified as a black bear. You can't really tell how huge from the pictures, but those front teeth are about 2 inches!

The above photos were taken right when I found it, and I was way too excited to get any good shots. Cleaning and bleaching the skull was a most-of-the-day project but its now drying out in the shed and should look sparkly and white by summer :)

Knitwear

Knitwear moodboard, color chips, and knitted stich sample...

I love knitwear because of all the texture you can create within the garments...I think if I had a career in textiles or knitwear I'd be pretty damn content...its such an inspiring concentration.

I also feel like this project turned out to be a huge extension of my creative brain in its truest state that I didn't really know existed, which was a really exciting discovery...

Finge, manipulated birch bark printed wovens, and knits oh my (:

Desert Dreams

Loungewear/intimates/nightgown collection.

Inspiration: 1920s slips and the desert.

Presenting 'Desert Dreams' ladies and gentlemen.....so corny that i'm making fun of myself.....

Photoshop collage that I used as my mood board! (yay technology?)

I used this photo I took in Israel as the background for my presentation boards.

A new illustration style I was tryin' out...

Garment flats.

Flat detail....drawn by hand....I can't wait until they teach us how to do these on the computer....

*ALSO* I had this problem last year (and of course can't remember how I fixed it) but my blog told me today that I reached the picture limit on this blogspot, and it won't let me upload anything! Does anyone ANYONE have any suggestions?!? :(

Owl Friend

Recently a new friend flew in through my window.....we've really been enjoying each others company.

A little craft project I painted and put together. Owls are fun stuff.

Canada in March

Just got back from Canada, and even though I spent longer in the car getting there (4 total days traveling and 2 days actually in Canada) it was SO WORTH IT. The drive from NYC to Canada was beautiful..especially once we got to Maine and hit up our favorite lobster shacks and blueberry pancake diners.

When we got to the ferry landing to go the deserted island it was dark. The sky was glowing as it exploded with stars--everything was so clear!

I swear nature is the best medicine. I missed it sooo much!

Sitting by the fireplace burning logs my dad chopped himself made me so happy/grateful/think about everything. Now I'm back in Brooklyn and its bittersweet...but mostly bitter. I guess I have to get back in the design mindset because the weeks ahead are going to be grueling, but I can't stop dreaming of having a little studio in the middle of the woods where I can display all of my animal skulls and seaglass and be super inspired all the time and create create create!

On another note i've been reading loads of blogs recently and I kind of like it when people only post a couple of pictures at a time...its kind of a less is more thing I think...I know its a small presentation detail but thoughts? I do it sometimes, but then I go somewhere and take a million pictures and i'm awful at editing etc.....well I'm giving it a try now and will post more Canada pictures later!

Above is a sea urchin I found in our field....which is an odd place to find a sea urchin, but seagulls pick up urchins, clams, and crabs at low tide, eat them and then drop the shells wherever they please...

Holi Festival Inspired Dresses

Holi Festival is the festival of color in India. During this holiday the entire country is covered in colored dust and painted elephants...so inspiring! I used the above images for my mood board.

Sheer velvet burnout fabrics.

Patterns and tassels.

See the black velvet patterned swatch above?...I image all the dresses being in a different solid color fabric with the design on the dress burnt out with a sheer-ish background.

Closeup.

Closeup #2

Flats. These dresses would be sheer and flowy not stiff like they look above.

Tthe first and last two pictures are from around the web as inspiration. I'm dying to go to India and experience this!!!