Dag in de Branding - Promo Trailer

Design and animation of intro for Dag in de Branding, Festival for new music in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Knitted Imprint.

The widows, sisters, lovers and mothers of men that have been lost during Peru's internal conflict between the Mao-inspired rebels of the Shining Path rebels and state forces in the 1980s and 90s have gotten together to knit a 'scarf of hope'. [BBC article:]

"Each one is knitting a message or epitaph to their loved one the size of an A4 sheet of page which will form part of an enormous scarf which, it is hoped, will reach a kilometre in length. 

It is being called the Scarf of Hope and it aims to be more than just a symbol of Peru's estimated 15,000 "disappeared" but a physical reminder that in the majority of cases their relatives live on without ever knowing how they died nor where to find their remains. 

"It's like a piece of memory," says Marina Garcia Burgos, a Lima-based photographer who was inspired to initiate the project with two colleagues while working in Ayacucho. "Each woman chooses the colour and the knit of her panel. As well as embroidering the loved one's name, some also sew on a piece of their clothing or a photograph."

It's a collective work of art with a great deal of emotional power behind it. It's probably one of the few truly sincere attempts at creating something guiness record worthy for a genuine, heartfelt purpose. In Peru, the indentification of the dead is often aided by the knit of the clothing the person wears. Almost like a secret code women plant on their men before they go into the world.

Narrative Fantasy Art.

Stuck in Dragon Age. Funny how my interests keep twisting and turning from one area to another just-like-that. It's almost like I'm having a running conversation with myself while stoned. Last week I became absolutely obssessed with patterns and now I'm totally hooked on game art. Years ago, before art school, I wanted nothing more than to learn how to make elaborately rendered fantasy worlds. That was why I chose to major in Animation. The eventual idea was to end up developing narratives and making concept art for games.

Lately I've been thinking of doing that again. Creating worlds and characters are fun! I found the website of this funny Norwegian artist while looking up character art of GRR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire's Arya Stark. I love his plan view drawings for the board game "Mansions of Madness". I have still yet to meet anyone intelligent that didn't appreciate beautiful minatures (whether real or drawn). There's something about it that triggers the narrative instinct in us, and immedeatly weaves a cloud of story in our minds.

Deco Fan Print.

More prints. Inspired by those turn of the century novels. A friend of mine from long days pasts back in time to my primary schoolgirl days contacted me and said they'd look nice on the dust jackets of books. Check out the new Penguin Classics covers :)

Begonia Rex Print

Aftter days of digging around online for inspiration, I've decided to get down to it and make my own. There's a lot of lovely, cute stuff out there, but very few that strike a chord with me. My favourite prints are still from Erika Wakerly. Personalljavascript:void(0)y, I prefer prints that are more abstract, drawing inspiration from scientific illustrations of exotic flora and fauna and geometry.

Inspired by the Begonia Rex plant on my kitchen still.

The Closing of the Western Mind.

Philip had this awesome book on his shelf dedicated to books solely against religion. I can't think something like this is happening again, but the religion this time is the school of rubbish economic development policies. In the hope to preserve their power and current status in the world, the paranoid economise engineer their own demise.  Here are a few reasons why:

Their Moon Shot and Ours, NYT.
China is doing moon shots. Yes, that’s plural. When I say “moon shots” I mean big, multibillion-dollar, 25-year-horizon, game-changing investments. China has at least four going now: one is building a network of ultramodern airports; another is building a web of high-speed trains connecting major cities; a third is in bioscience, where the Beijing Genomics Institute this year ordered 128 DNA sequencers — from America — giving China the largest number in the world in one institute to launch its own stem cell/genetic engineering industry; and, finally, Beijing just announced that it was providing $15 billion in seed money for the country’s leading auto and battery companies to create an electric car industry, starting in 20 pilot cities. In essence, China Inc. just named its dream team of 16-state-owned enterprises to move China off oil and into the next industrial growth engine: electric cars.

Not to worry. America today also has its own multibillion-dollar, 25-year-horizon, game-changing moon shot: fixing Afghanistan.

And the UK cutting funds for science and axing the film council.

The moral? The good guys get shafted and the bad ones are allowed to do as they please. Because after the expensive mistakes they made, they surely must be billions of dollars the wiser to manage the economy better.

Grow House Grow.

I found this collection of wallpapers inspired by female naturalist during the Victorian era. I think they are an interesting artistic tribute to the work of the scientists represented. I like the designs for their quirkiness, although I think it is the narrative behind the design that makes these wallpapers more than they are on the surface.

Mary Treat (1830-1923) was an American-born naturalist devoted to the understanding of carnivorous plants. Throughout her many years of autodidactic study, Treat made extensive contributions to the botanical world, published several books and was an outspoken correspondent to Charles Darwin.

Treat and Darwin’s recorded discourse extends over five years, and most notably involves the inner workings of the Utricularia plant's trap. Darwin believed insects wedged their heads into the traps, thus becoming stuck and then consumed. Treat's extensive research, fueled by her curiosity and vigor for experimentation, revealed that the Utricularia plant actually snapped shut when small hairs around the entrance of the trap were triggered. Treat so influenced Darwin's understanding on the subject that he references her several times in his Insectivorous Plants (1875).

Though much of Treat's work has been forgotten, four species of plants and animals bear her name, including the ant species Aphaenogaster treatiae. Look hard enough, and you might spy one of the little critters within her leafy carnivorous menagerie. 

Mary Ward (1827-1869) was born into to a renowned scientific family in Co. Offaly, Ireland, she was educated at home with her sisters and by the age of three had developed a penchant for collecting bugs. These insects became the subject of study for Mary, and with the help of a magnifying glass she began meticulously drawing and reproducing their details. By a stroke of luck, astronomer James South discovered the drawings, and was so impressed with her talent that he persuaded her father to invest in a microscope.

Owning her own microscope allowed her to transform her love of insects into full-blown, self-taught microscopy. She spent her time reading everything she could get her hands on regarding the subject, and became so skilled that her knowledge surpassed that of most experts. Over the years she wrote a series of books, of which A World of Wonders Revealed by the Microscope (1858) was reprinted eight times. It became a go-to student text in the field of microscopy, which considering her sex, is truly representative of her talent.

Further distinctions include her work as an illustrator for scientific publications, and her significant status as one of just three female recipients of the Royal Astronomical Society's newsletter (of the other two women, one was Queen Victoria).

True to her love of scale, this pattern blends late-Georgian silhouettes with over-sized insects; an entomologist's dream.
 
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