Did I post this same completely perfect and lovely Charles Schulz cel illustration for the last two years for Thanksgiving? Yes. Why? Because it’s the best silly.
Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving in all of it’s meanings for you.
Click to read or listen to the interview at NPR's Fresh Air.
Driving and doing a post office run yesterday, (with our pup Sprite! in the car, of course) I heard this fantastic interview with Veterinary behaviorist Nicholas Dodman on NPR‘s awesome Fresh Air.
Dr. Dodman is the head of the Animal Behavior department at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine who was being interviewed about his work and his newly published collaborative book: Good Old Dog: Expert Advice for Keeping Your Aging Dog Healthy, Happy and Comfortable.
If you know us? You know that we’re dog people to the max. Seriously. All of our dogs (a good 7 and counting) have been rescues as strays or from local shelters and it was really great to hear Dr. Dodman be such a vocal proponent of adopting not only shelter dogs, but older dogs who are so desperately in need of a new chance and a new home and the love they deserve.
The interview with Dr. Dodman, and the book both cover the adult lifespan of human’s best friends, from our 4-legged BFFs from diet and exercise to behavior and table scraps. Basically, everything we humans love and think about for our beloved furry loves. If you love pups like we do, and have all the way to their last days with us, then I can’t say enough about this interview, and the book (which is of course, now on my Wishlist!) Especially the considerable attention paid to doggie Alzheimer’s, which as many of you who read our blog regularly, our dog Jettson suffered from until we had to make the hard decision to let him go last September 2009. Above all, Dr. Dodman’s love of dogs and committment to their security, health and happiness through all stages of their lives with us is so evident that it’s the tops.
Check out the interview on Fresh Air at this link here, and to read more about the book click here.
Click to learn more about this book.
Click to watch the marimekko Spring/Summer collection for 2011.
Being a pattern, design and not-so-secret textile nerd it’s no small wonder that I have a special place in my heart for the Finnish powerhouse of design, Marimekko.
For close to 60 years this design house has been busy playing and creating some of the most stunningly beautiful, bold and lovely prints and designs. I can spot a Marimekko piece a mile away be is a pillowcase, a wall hanging or a dish, just ask Craig. It’s almost as uncanny as my ability to see groundhogs on the side of a highway at 85mph.
Recently I came across this video of Marimekko’s Spring/ Summer 2011 collection was breath taken. The nontraditional set up of the runway in an X against a wall of hundreds of green plants and a floor adorned with thousands of live flowers, allowing the models to turn and criss-cross rather than simply do the usual runway thing. I can only imagine how wonderful that runway & transformed warehouse smelled.
You might think that such a riot of color could be seen as distracting, and a lesser design house would probably stay with more muted & neutral backgrounds to show off their work, but the genius of Marimekko lies in their designers’ ability to understand and see the harmony of pattern, color, texture, and light in vibrant & expressive combinations. It’s an exaltation of nature as well as hard work. And, with a lovely spot of music by Matti Pentikäinen.
I love you Marimekko!
Click to watch the marimekko Spring/Summer collection for 2011.
Click to watch the full 1937 cartoon, "Lonesome Ghosts".
I am! Halloween is my favorite holiday, I love love love everything about it. The beginning of fall, the spookiness, the candy, the costumes, the pagan leftovers of a past filled with spirits and harvest. Love it all.
So much so? I have one of these:
And one of these, so that I can watch Lonesome Ghosts forwards, backwards, sped up and in slow motion, over and over again. Just like when I was 4.
Happy Halloween!
Hey gang!
Sorry that there haven’t been any updates for a couple of weeks. I do have a good backlog of new posts, new releases and fun stuff to post and things have been as busy ever here at strawberryluna HQ.
I got the pneumonia smackdown a bit back and it’s been a real bear. High fevers, trouble breathing, an ER trip, meds, the whole nine.
So, we’re here, we’re working (slowly!) and I’m taking a bit of a break for the next week or so until I feel less like a shark is attacking my lungs 🙂 This illness is no joke, dang.
What a cool vintage poster, right? So, of course I wanted to post it and share it. (Pneumonia not included.)
New posts coming soon, but until then, feel free to totz check my website for new posters & prints OK? Cheers!
The making of Process Yellow ink at the Printing Ink Company. Click to see the movie at Youtube.
I came across this short piece by Ian Daffern & Tate Young on the ink-making process by The Printing Ink Company via my design & teacher e-friend Denny Schmickle and just love it. Beautifully shot, it’s a cool peek into the work and craftsmanship that goes into the process of making printing inks. Although these are not water-based acrylic inks like I use in my prints, the same basic principals apply for both types of inks and this type of oil-based ink is the standard for most every type of printed material that we see in our daily lives.
Testing colors & mixability at the Printing Ink Company. Click to see the movie at Youtube.
There is something always amazing and somewhat nostalgic to me about the craftsmanship, attention to detail and virtually unchanged technology of printmaking in most of it’s current forms that I adore. It truly is what it is. And this applies even to the materials that are used in printmaking as well, such as inks.
Smoothing out Process Yellow inks at the Printing Ink Company. Click to see the movie at Youtube.
The Printing Ink Company is a family-owned business was founded in 1973 by Mr. William Welfare. A small company with only three employees, including Mr. Welfare, and an operating facility of just 250 square feet, we manufactured and sold press room chemistry and supplies. In 1977 they started making printing ink. At that time we had 5 employees and about 4000 square feet of space. The Printing Ink Company‘s growth has continued since then, and their current facility is 24,500 square feet with 19 employees.
An introduction to The Printing Ink Company, makers of lithographic ink based in Vaughn, Ontario. The passion and the science of the four colour process are presented by Peter Welfare, president and head inkmaker.
Find out more about The Printing Ink Company by clicking here.
Cans of Pantone matched Orange inks at the Printing Ink Company. Click to see the movie at Youtube.
Poster designed by Northcoast Zeitgeist in honor of Banned Books Week. Click for more info.
I am totally loving this poster from our state-neighbor-friends in Ohio, Northcoast Zeitgeist done in honor of Banned Books Week. What is this? It’s rad, that’s what.
It’s no secret that I’m a complete book & reading fan, nerd if you will. And the idea of banning books has always broken my heart. It’s sort of the first step towards book-burning, which is the ultimate sacrilegious destroyer of the freedom of knowledge. To that end, I think that these posters by our pals at Northcoast Zeitgeist are super.
Poster designed by Northcoast Zeitgeist in honor of Banned Books Week. Click for more info.
From the Banned Books Week website:
Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than a thousand books have been challenged since 1982. The challenges have occurred in every state and in hundreds of communities. Click here to see a map of book bans and challenges in the US from 2007 to 2009. People challenge books that they say are too sexual or too violent. They object to profanity and slang, and they protest against offensive portrayals of racial or religious groups–or positive portrayals of homosexuals. Their targets range from books that explore contemporary issues and controversies to classic and beloved works of American literature.
During the last week of September every year, hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2010 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held from September 25 through October 2.
The purpose of this Web site is to help the public join the celebration of our freedom to read. The easiest way is to visit a participating library or bookstore. There is a list of Events, to help you find one in your community. (If you want to post information about an event in your community, please click here.) There is also a list of suggestions of other activities that will help remind people of the importance of free speech, What You Can Do. If you want further information about BannedBooksWeek.org, contact us at info@abffe.com or bbw@ala.org.
Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Association of College Stores. Banned Books Week is also endorsed by the Center for the Book of the Library of Congress.
Poster designed by Northcoast Zeitgeist in honor of Banned Books Week. Click for more info.
Banning books is dumb, OK? Cheers!
Denver Zoo's new baby sea lion, born on my birthday in June 2010. Eeeee!
Long story short, baby animals are freaking adorable.
That’s an undeniable fact friends.
And now, there is a website devoted to the wildly cutest baby animals called ZooBorns. That’s right. Wrap your head around the perfection of that name.
I met Andrew from ZooBorns when he came into my booth at the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago this past September. And, while we talked about some of the not-so-anatomically correct aspects of an Alphabet Print of mine, we had a nice chat and he was super cool. I’m soooo happy that he gave me his card, (featuring an insanely cute baby Fenec Fox, of all things, below) because otherwise I might not have known about this website devoted to newborn baby animals born not only in zoos, but in wildlife centers and rescues around the globe.
WHAT??? Frick. So cute. A baby Fenec Fox, born at the Everland Zoo in Korea in September 2008. (Click for details.)
Omg omg omg!
And with that, here are just a tiny few of the cuties over at ZooBorns, my new obsession.
Baby ewe from the Cosley Zoo. (Click for details.)
Lookit this lumpa cute! Beluga whale mom & calf at the Shedd Aquarium. (Click for details.)
Stinkers or no, skunks are super cute. Kits at Korea's Everland Zoo. (Click for details.)
A sweet little plover chick on some serious stilts at the Lincoln Park Zoo.(Click for details.)
1-week old baby hippo being insanely adorable, from the Zoo Antwerp in June 2010. (Click for details.)
Go check ZooBorns out and get your “Squeeeeee!” on.*
*This blog is not responsible for intermittent and unpredictable squealing.
Click for more info on the amazing Crafty Bastards craft show in DC on 10/2!
That’s right & you heard it here first, we’re bastards. Crafty Bastards!
Crafty Bastards is truly one of the best handmade craft shows in the country, fully. We are so honored and excited to be participating in this amazingly fun and cool show for the 2nd year in a row. I’m working away as fast as I can in the studio to get fun new stuff and prepare. Come look for us at BOOTH #114 Hope to see you there!
Last year was our first year at Crafty Bastards and it was amazing, so fun, so busy, and such a lovely day. We can’t wait to repeat it all this year and hope that you are excited too 🙂 We’ll be at BOOTH #114, on the map below. Click for a larger version. Come on by & say hello!
We're booth #114, come say hi! Click for a larger version.
Chicago & The Renegade Craft Fair Gang? You are fantastic. Thanks to everyone who came out to shop and check out the 350+ artists and crafters at the 2010 Renegade Craft Fair in Wicker Park, Chicago. It was great getting to meet so many new people and to talk with old friends too.
After doing our usual fun convoy caravan with my friends Mark & Beth from Hero Design, I set off on my own to find my way into Roscoe Village in Chicago.
Forgoing the hotel route, this time I took the advice of a friend and tried out the website Homeaway.com to see if I could find a short term condo / apt. rental for our friends Beth & Joel from Rag Trader Vintage & myself to crash in while working Renegade. It took a little work and a lot of back & forth communication between a few different owners, but in the end it worked out beautifully. We found the Roscoe Village Guest House units, with a 3 bedroom / 2 bathroom place in the super pretty Roscoe Village neighborhood for less than a hotel, and, shoot. We had a kitchen & livingroom to relax in at the end of a long hard workday. I highly recommend them. And Rag Trader Vintage were my lifesaving booth neighbors, helping me set up & break down this time since I was working this show solo. Thank you so much guys!
Despite the potential for trouble with rain on Saturday morning, everything turned out tip top. The early morning rains on Saturday went from this:
Rainy Saturday set up.
To this within just a couple of hours and all was perfect for the rest of the weekend 🙂
All set up and in the sun. Yay!
And, holy cow geekery, we got a mention on the amazing design & lifestyle blog Apartment Therapy today in a post about first-time art buying, where our Beach House poster was the recommended print buy from the Renegade Handmade Store in Wicker Park. Thank you Apartment Therapy, you make me blush.
Click to read the full Apartment Therapy article.
And last but never least, thanks so much to a customer who left me this sweet note, you ROCK and made my day:
Dawww, thank you kind sir!
Hope to see you all again in December & next year!
photo courtesy of Mark, Hero Design Studio.
Everybody needs one.
We’re here, we’re working, but in a summery kind of way for a week. Taking some time to relax, (finally), for a minute before summer is all gone.
You should too. Happy summer!
Love,
– the strawberrylunas.
On the road to Chicago!
Thank you so much awesome people of Chicago, Pitchfork Festival & Flatstock Poster Show!
We had a fun & pretty crazy & event filled time this past long weekend in your city. Thanks to everyone we met & talked to at Flatstock, and moreover, thanks for buying some of our work. We’re always mega appreciative and blown away by the awesome people we get to meet on these roadtrips.
Highlight bands we got to take turns to see and loved: LCD Soundsystem (!), Sleigh Bells, Pavement, and Kurt Vile. Super great sets by all, and we heard the lovely St. Vincent & Beach House & Local Natives all kick ass from afar.
The below is just a few parts of our trip, in photos. From Pittsburgh, to the Renegade Handmade store for the Rock Paper Show book release party, to the Post Family gallery for The Cantankerous Hellfighter show featuring collaborative work by our friends Delicious Design League & Aesthetic Apparatus, to Humboldt Park, The Congress Plaza Hotel, Flatstock, & everywhere in between.
See you next year!
A super neat guy from the Delicious Design / Aesthetic Apparatus show at Post Family
Yep, it was that hot.
Craig & Jason Delicious hanging out in our booth at night, at Pitchfork & Flatstock 26. Oh look, Huggies on ice! (photo courtesy of Doublenaut)
One Crazy Cop, Mark from Hero Design Studio.
A shoot of the aisle at Flatstock 26, Chicago Pitchfork Fest.
I have a major thing for manhole covers. Taken in Humboldt Park.
That Which Would Not Scrape Off: EPIC bird doo strike classes up a beautiful day.
Gol’dang we love these guys and we love this band. 2 separate but equal loves.
The super rad Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin have a new record coming out next month on August 17th called “Let It Sway” and like many of their fans, I could not be more excited and full of anticipation. Nicely, as these dudes always are, they’ve put up a lovely short film about the making of this record. “Let It Sway” was produced by Chris Walla, of Death Cab For Cutie, and is the first record that SSLYBY hasn’t self-produced. From the sounds of the first single and a couple of other sneak peak listens at live shows of new songs, it hasn’t changed their sound, it’s just freed the band up to be even better than before.
Anyhoo, yay! Watch the documentary about “Let It Sway” by clicking the image above, and click the below for more information on the new record in all it’s forms (CD, vinyl, you know the drill) and from their label Polyvinyl or click here for pre-ordering.
And click to pre-order info for sslyby's "Let It Sway" from Polyvinyl.
If you read this blog regularly, or visit GigPosters.com, or are into the modern rock poster movement, you’ve (at the very least) heard of “Flatstocks“. But what all are they and how can you learn more, or keep up on which Flatstocks are where & when?
Via the new Flatstock Blog! HUZZAH!!
The new Flatstock Blog is a clearinghouse of sorts for up-to-date information on upcoming Flatstock Poster Shows, with lists of attending artists, time & date & location details, and that’s just the start. The Flatstock Blog is debuting with the following super posts:
Click here to enter the HUGE Poster Pack Giveaway at Flatstock 26!!
Coming soon to the Flatstock Blog there will be profiles, interviews, special sneak peaks at new Flatstock Artists’ projects and tons more in the coming months, so keep an eye on the new Flatstock Blog. Visit by clicking the banner above or right here!
Related Flatstock links:
About Flatstock Poster Shows:
The FLATSTOCK poster show series is presented by the American Poster Institute (API). It is an ongoing series of exhibitions featuring the work of many of the most popular concert poster artists working today.
The API is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to serving poster artists and promoting the art form. Both the API and its FLATSTOCK series were organized in 2002 as a result of conversations between interested artists and supporters frequenting the popular web site GigPosters.com. The best concert posters have always captured both the essence of the music they promoted and the spirit of the time in which they were produced. This is as true today as it was in San Francisco during the Sixties.
The FLATSTOCK shows provide the general public with an ongoing series of opportunities to see fine poster art in person and to meet the artists who’ve created it — they provide the API with a way to present the poster artists collectively while showcasing the breadth of individual styles they represent.
This 12+ minute documentary speaks for itself. So, just take a break and watch sign & advertisement painters work the old fashioned way. Total badasses.
