Freelance illustrator and artist Marta Zafra has a very diverse body of work, her art both familiar yet unique in its portrayal of the everyday. The familiar is often transformed into the bizarre, the past often revisited, and the real made unreal.
Creativity tends to show up in my life as a feast or famine – is it like that for you, too? This year has particularly been full of highs and lows and I’m hoping everything will even out soon enough, after all challenging times generally point towards periods of growth.
The latest book from the co-founders and creative directors of Flow Magazine, Irene Smit and Astrid Van der Hulst, and Workman Publishing couldn’t have better timing. Creativity Takes Courage: Dare to Think Differently was released earlier this week. (If you’re unfamiliar with Flow, it’s a magazine that celebrates creativity, imperfection, and life’s little pleasures.) This is a creative book like no other – simultaneously a practical, hands-on guide to stretching your creative muscles as well as an inspirational book that focuses on the pleasure of the process.
Creativity Takes Courage is organized around a series of twelve so-called dares that are intended to break you out of your usual creative habits and provide a fresh perspective to help you step outside of your comfort zone. (And man, do I need that frequently!) It’s a book both about creativity and a book that inspires creativity with tons of prompts, tips, and challenges to complete in your own time.
Most chapters end with an And Now You section of questions, the answers to which can be written directly right in the book. These questions follow the theme of the chapter – reexamining something you may consider a failure that could be seen as a learning process or questions that might help you break down a new project or challenge into more manageable parts for example.
There are lots of pull-out extras throughout the book – probably my favorite parts! Use the daily project notebook for getting started and focused on something as simple as saving your shopping list or receipts, drawing a cloud, or writing something positive on the sidewalk with chalk. Read about the importance of sleep in creativity, then decorate your sleeping space with tear-out inspirational images. Pull out the included Polaroid-style photo frames to use in framing your favorite photos, or use them to help you frame a scene before taking a picture.
Not every single page includes an interaction– there are also essays about and lessons on how to get started on a new project without getting overwhelmed, stepping outside of your comfort zone as a means to unlocking creativity, and learning how to enjoy being alone and doing nothing at all among others.
There’s no right or wrong way to use Creativity Takes Courage! Make your way straight through or jump around among the dares. Tear out pages to put on the refrigerator or mail some to a friend. Keep it by your bedside to work through when you first wake up or before you go to sleep. Dog-ear it, use it to your advantage, and realize what a gift true creativity can be.
Want to win a copy of Creativity Takes Courage: Dare to Think Differently for yourself or a friend? Keep scrolling for a ton of ways to enter!
This post sponsored by Workman Publishing. All words and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting our carefully chosen partners that help keep Design Crush creating fresh content!
Posted In behind the scenes, create, read up, sponsored post
Perhaps you’ve heard of legendary artist Sol LeWitt, but did you know he has a very talented daughter named Eva LeWitt? Some of her latest work is this installation made from polyurethane foam, latex, and plastic that’s entitled Untitled. Once installed the 13 pieces resemble overlapping curtains with a variety of shapes, colors, and textures giving each its own personality, while the materials they’re made from both hold them up and weigh them down.
UK-based illustrator Rob Bailey‘s art is as lovely to look at as it is flat, which is to say very. Most pieces rely heavily upon great shapes and color choices that will pick up the slack from lack of details.
Who doesn’t need a little bit of perspective now and again? Cards for Perspective is a collection of twenty cards featuring fresh views on life to help you restore calm and clarity.
We mistake what is manageable for a catastrophe; we despair of ourselves too soon; we alienate others by over-reacting; we don’t notice and appreciate what there is still to be grateful for; we forget we’re going to die and that a lot of today’s headache will soon be forgotten. These cards provide eloquent invitations to recover a wiser, calmer, redemptive perspective on our lives.
When my mind feels jumbled up I like to search out things that are all sorted out, that’s how I came upon the work of Kristen Meyer. Her background runs the gamut from floral design to interior decorating to window design and prop styling, and she puts them all to use when creating these organized geometric flat lays out of themed groupings.
One of the fastest ways to update your kitchen or bath is by swapping out the faucet and accompanying hardware to make your it feel more like your own. I did just that with all of the sinks in my first home and I’m looking to do it again in my current space. Danze by Gerber has two new kitchen and bath faucet collections – Vaughn and Draper – that look to be the perfect match for my modern-meets-118 year old house aesthetic.
The Draper collection is an updated classic with vintage detailing and soft industrial influences, the curved lines paired with geometric detailing give each piece a refined traditional elegance that would look right in just about any home. Choose from chrome and stainless steel finishes for kitchen fixtures and chrome and brushed nickel for bathroom fixtures.
If you’re looking for a more dynamic, streamlined design then the Vaughn collection is for you. These kitchen and bath faucets feature a beautiful transitional style and sophisticated look that would be a perfect match for a more modern or minimal space. Choose from chrome, stainless steel, and satin black for kitchen fixtures and chrome, stainless steel, satin black, and brushed nickel for bathroom fixtures.
The Draper and Vaughn collections both boast pulldown kitchen faucets with DockForce magnetic docking technology, a SnapBack retraction system, dual function sprayhead, drip-free ceramic disc valve, and a water efficient flow rate.
No matter which style you favor, both come equipped with an arsenal of features from Danze by Gerber that focus on design, function, quality, and experience.
We know that stylish reliability is born from the balance of form and function. We know that when we polish the outside, the inside gleams too. And we know that the result of our work isn’t just a faucet—it’s our pride. Because inside every one of our designs is not only Gerber quality, but our relentless dedication to bringing even more beauty to the world.
This post sponsored by Danze by Gerber. All words and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting our carefully chosen partners that help keep Design Crush creating fresh content!
Posted In accents, behind the scenes, house and home, living, sponsored post
Los Ros is a Paris-based painter who got his artistic start doing graffiti. He carried that expressionistic style into his paintings, transforming what is clear into a blur. What I find most interesting about Ros is that he stops painting before he feels it’s actually finished…
“The moment where little is enough to suggest the stucture interests me, leaving the spectator’s imagination open at the moment the scene is starting to appear. Knowing when to stop before saying too much is what I tried to do.”
The simplicity of the Baker Menu board is its entire appeal. Turn your kitchen or dining room into the trendiest spot in town by adding it to your wall for some fun with magnetic letters and rails!
via Design Milk
Posted In house and home, living, walls
Feeling very inspired by artist Minas Halaj‘s Floral Minds series, which he explains so well below.
“The concept of beauty is a burdened one. We are living in a society that fears its adoration in contemporary art, yet intimidates its women into accepting it as their highest value. We have degraded it in mass media and the celebrity yet revere it above all other qualities of life. Beauty is a double edged sword an instrument of seduction and inaccessibility burdened sword an overwhelming distrust in the simple sensation of pleasure.”
