Inspiration

Inspiration- a word that has become somewhat mystical in its meaning. However, running short of ideas or just feeling unmotivated is a very real concern for me. What do I do to get my creative juices flowing? Well, there are several avenues I turn to.

1) http://www.book-by-its-cover.com/ is a great website that peeks into artists' and designers' sketchbooks and features picturebooks. These images, for example, are from Liza Corbett's sketchbooks.

Aren't they just lovely? I am amazed at the creative processes going on inside the minds of artists and designers. They inspired me to start my own sketchbook. All are fantastic, but I prefer the sketchbooks to the picturebooks simply because of their spontaneity and rawness. My favourites include Joseph Hart's sketchbook (a fabulous look into artistic exploration by an abstract artist), Dancers by Henrik Drescher (a picturebook, but with really spontaneous figures and colours), Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva's sketchbook (love her use of colour to highlight certain areas), Lauren Nassef, Pablo Amargo (remniscent of graphic design), The China Notebooks (quirky!) and many, many more. It's really interesting to note that everyone has his/ her own distinctive style.

2) Personal blogs of artists/ designers. They provide insight into their working process. Some that I know are http://www.meghunt.com/blog/, http://www.myfolklover.typepad.com/ and http://www.krisatomic.com/blog/.

Art by Catherine Campbell of http://www.myfolklover.typepad.com/

3) http://www.flickr.com/ is a treasure trove of inspiring photos. Look at various photo groups or just search random words like 'Tokyo', 'paper' etc.

4) Similarly, http://www.deviantart.com/ is where artists post their work. Take your time to trawl through this one.

5) The Art and Design forum on www.thefashionspot.com/forums is full of interesting threads such as shop design and displays, children's book illustrations, owners and their homes etc. Hard to name a favourite 'cos I like them all!

Pictures from the children's book illustrations thread

6) http://community.livejournal.com/foto_decadent/ is a great source of photoshoots ranging from the intensely beautiful to the innovative.

Photos from French Vogue April 2008

7) http://www.condenaststore.com/ is a website selling prints of fashion illustrations featured in various magazines in the past such as Vogue. Their fashion illustrations are stunning.

Pages from my notebook

Just posting a few pages from my personal notebook, including an attempt to re-fashion the school uniform. My version may not be universally-liked (cap sleeves? shorts?) but hey, it's an idealised creation of what I want. I admit that I was influenced by the TV show Gossip Girl in adding the (so cute!) hairbands, especially the red satin one which is so very Blair. Shame, shame.

pictures from www.thefashionspot.com

Gastronomic delights in Japan

I'm quite the food lover so I did take some photos of the food in Japan. Here they are, compiled for your viewing pleasure.

The organizers did a great job in preparing the food. Just look at the first picture: that's the feast that greeted us on the first night! The bento boxes were so pretty as well.

Cutesiness galore

Realised that I've never posted any photos from my japan trip last year. I'm currently nursing a possible eye infection, which explains why I'm taking a break from schoolwork. Hopefully posting some merry photos from Tokyo Disneyland will make me feel better. Be warned about the cutesiness and self-indulgence of the following photos.

Top to bottom: cute kids posing for photos, my sister trying on an uber-cute stitch headpiece, me wearing a daffy duck headpiece, and me as a suave pirate.

These headpieces are pretty much useless but i suppose I'm entitled to try them on to indulge my inner kawaii. I'm striking my best pirate look, ditto side-swept fringe. Suave might not be the right word though...

And finally (I saved the best for the last)...

Girls in my japanese class posing with local male students.

Photography

Most people might not know that I enjoy photography. The photographic lens, for me, possesses the magical ability to capture the moment and convey a certain emotion. The first time I travelled without my parents (in Sec 2 when I went with my drama club members to put up a performance in Perth), I was kind of clueless about cameras. Being the amateur that I was, I neglected to bring any extra camera batteries and a charger. I was so shocked when my camera ran out of batteries :). I felt like I was allowing many precious moments to slip away. Ever since then, I've made sure to carry extra batteries and a charger with me when I travel. I don't necessarily try to take only postcard-pretty shots of a place, but like to take photos of the people and their activities as well. So, here's some recent photos:

Clockwise: coloured glass marbles, chair legs in motion, flowers in my room, a tear in a piece of paer, lace detail on my mum's old nightgown, my sis lying on the bed.

Half of these were taken by my sister and half by me.