+ Isn’t this staircase the stuff of dreams? It’s in Beirut! Though it reminds me of Guatemala, like a lot. Source. Also see these amaaaazing quilt and textile designs. The grid systems here makes my little designer heart swell.
+ On friendship break-up. Talking about the complexities of female friendship isn’t something we do enough.
+ Why there is no “fold” anymore on websites
+ Where small retailers love to sell. I was surprised by a few of these! Might be some additional shopping options for the small businesses without tons of added fees/overhead.
+ Thoughts on design criticism. Applies to criticism in general.
+ BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS: NPR’s favorite books of 2014. My, there are some excellent cover designs here. And Bustle’s best books of 2014. Interesting comparing the overlaps. For the little ones, Every Body Be Grateful, with lovely illustrations and words to teach kids about gratitude and body positivity. I don’t think it’s ever too early to start talking about this, especially with little girls.
+ Your friend said something racist on social media. Now what? Here’s a solid, 4-step plan for addressing it.
And now, to change the subject entirely, a plan for the first part of 2015:
One of the best, and maybe scariest, ideas to come out of my trip to Guatemala is the bestselling Artist’s Way series but Julia Cameron. It’s a 12 week program that’s helped thousands of people reclaim their work. At it’s core are three components: write three pages of anything every day, a weekly theme with discussion topics, and once a week you take yourself out on some kind of creative adventure independently. The point of all of this is to process the snags that plague our work, and uncover new directions, ideas, projects, plans for where else to go. Seems an easy enough premise, but I know this will be no small task. Here’s the basic themes:
Week 1: safety
Week 2: identity
Week 3: power
Week 4: integrity
Week 5: possibility
Week 6: abundance
Week 7: connection & perfectionism
Week 8: strength
Week 9: compassion
Week 10: self-protection & balance
Week 11: autonomy
Week 12: faith
I plan to start this program on Sunday January 4th with completion the week of March 22nd. I will be blogging about my progress but I’m sending this as an open invitation to any of you out there who might be feeling stuck and needing some new juice in your work, or more ways to work through overwhelm. I’ve set up a Slack chat room for us to help with accountability and as discussion place for whatever comes up along the way.
All you have to do to join is email me here. I also recommend you buy the book, or if you’d prefer there’s an online version of the program with weekly videos available for purchase here. I’ll be reading and writing the old fashion way because for me this’ll be about limiting screen time. I also plan to mix illustration in with the morning pages, as I want to work on creating a design and illustration style that’s only for me. I advise getting the book or the videos now so that you have time to read/prepare and are ready to go after NYE. (Nothing I like more than curling up with a book over the holidays!)
And, if you aren’t able to participate, any moral support is much appreciated for sure. You can also follow here and on twitter with: #theartistsway.
Making new years resolutions BEFORE the holidays is a first for me, but this year it feels right. It’s gonna be great Cheers to planning ahead sometimes too!
Until next week friends! Enjoy the weekend.
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