happy colors

These colors make me happy.

happy weekend

public art and press room visit

photo by delphine photo of the macarthur muni station

Last week John and I had a chance to visit with the super fabulous Cardstore.com peeps in Emeryville, California, and get a tour of their facilities. We loved seeing their press rooms, their fulfillment/shipping center, and their fun loft-like workspace. The press rooms were pretty quiet (we visited in late afternoon), but we were told that all the presses run nearly 24 hours a day around the holidays in order to keep up with all their orders! We were also beyond thrilled to find out that one of our holiday photo cards was one of their top sellers this holiday season.

One of the greatest moments of the tour was seeing their Heidelberg press, which they have converted into a die-cutting machine. It was completely surrounded by bright yellow safety bars. Our tour guide seemed wary of the machine and gasped when we told him that delphine uses the same type of machine to letterpress (only without all the safety modifications)! Many thanks to Matt and all the peeps at Cardstore for the fun tour!

inspiration: california

photos by delphine -- San Francisco, California

inspiration: neighborhood flowers

photos by delphine

Sometimes inspiration is in your own backyard. I took these photos in my neighborhood last week. The hot pink, lilac, violet and mimosa will show up in the upcoming delphine collection of floral letterpress note cards.

inspiration: factory orange and yellow

A recent visit to my dad's factory (top images) inspired the factory orange and steel grey color scheme for a project I'm working on now for Strathmore (bottom images). When I was a kid I loved visiting my dad at his factories and walking the floor with him. I inherited an appreciation for mechanical equipment, which, I think, is the reason I was drawn to the craft of letterpress.

inspiration: california

california wild flowers

I'm so excited the mimosa trees are just starting to bloom. They are my favorite Southern California tree. I'll take photos and post next week. FYI, the mimosa is a huge inspiration to me ... I have a wedding suite designed after it, as well as a lovely sympathy card. It's also my mother's favorite bloom, because it reminds her of her home town in the South of France.

ceci n'est pas ...

"i am not a paper cup," available at a+r

magritte

I'd like to fill a "this is not a coffee cup" with a "this is not a bloody mary" and go for a surreal walk on the beach this morning (instead of working).

vintage: floral wallpaper

wallpaper from second hand rose

Sometimes, when I'm feeling especially creatively challenged, I check out vintage wallpaper patterns for a little inspiration. I like the unexpected color combo here: olive, puce, pale seafoam, and eggplant.

wallpaper from second hand rose

This one makes my inner typofile happy.

holiday ornament swap

holiday ornament swap

I just signed up for the 3rd Annual Holiday Ornament Swap hosted by cake & pie and freshlyblended. For all the details please check out either of their blogs. Deadline to signup is November 10th. I can't wait to start making my ornaments!

another reason to visit manhattan

bouchon bakery

Oh, how I wish there were a Bouchon Bakery in my neighborhood (Rancho Santa Fe, California). I was initially drawn to Bouchon because of their fabulous graphic design, but became a big fan due to their perfect pastries. Sigh.

fun stripes

Paul Smith (notebook and coffee pot) is the master of stripes, but I also love these Jonathan Adler pillows! The sparkly dress by Banana Republic is in last year's Pantone Color of the Year, Blue Iris. I think you'll see this color sneaking into home décor next year. Necklace from Banana Republic; chic chartreuse lamp from Moss.

today ...

Today I get the true pleasure of watching two new citizens (my mom, Beatrice and my grandmother, Delphine) vote in their first US presidential election!

polling place photo project

The New York Times Polling Place Photo Project

I received a reminder email from AIGA, the professional association for design, this morning about the NYT Polling Place Photo Project. Take your camera to the polls tomorrow and help document the election.

Every state has diferent election laws, some which allow photos of polling stations and others that do not, so check your states' procedures to find out what is acceptable.

having one of those days, too?

photo: delphine

I'm having one of those days ... trying to balance work, more work, even more work, life ... and halloween costumes.

inspiration: trees

cards & journals by old school stationers

My friend L sent me a pic she took earlier in the month of fall Aspen trees in Colorado. They remind me of Brian's gorgeous work over at Old School Stationers. Here in Southern California the trees don't really change colors much ... it's still in the 80's at our house. While I love the "perfect" weather here, sometimes I do miss a good rainstorm and a crisp October afternoon!

what i'm missing

capri jewelry: pomellato

I think this is what my jewelry box is missing! Yum. Wish I could scoop up this pink gold, chrysoprasne and rock crystal "Capri" collection by Pomellato.

orange logos

community food & juice

10 cane rum

I'm loving ORANGE for logos--I think it adds a cool masculine, downtown vibe.

trend: crackle metallic

metallic ballet flats: J. Crew

"Soul of the Underground," by Jean Dubuffet at MOMA

Trend I'm loving: aged, crackled, and colored metallic, like these cool ballet flats from J.Crew.

"Soul of the Underground," by Jean Dubuffet, is an oil painting over aluminum foil. I stood in front of it for a looooong time. Hard to tell from this pic, but it's 3-dimensional and totally mesmerizing!

van gogh & the colors of the night

the sower, by van gogh (now on exhibit at moma)

I had the great pleasure over the weekend to visit MOMA in NYC and was lucky to snag a ticket to see the Van Gogh exhibit: Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night. I had seen some of the paintings (from the MOMA's permanent collection and at Musée D'Orsay in Paris) but never before had I seen so many Van Gogh works in one place. Walking through the exhibit felt like walking through one of his paintings--it seemed like all the walls were painted colors taken directly from Van Gogh's color palette.

What I found most remarkable was that all day I had been walking around the museum and had been confronted with sadness, loneliness and pain. So many pieces at MOMA are depressing! (Or maybe that's just me projecting???). BUT, I found Van Gogh's paintings quite the opposite. Here's a man who is known to have had serious psychological problems (he did cut off his own ear and all), and most of his paintings depict evening/night scenes, yet I found his paintings to be the most joyful in the entire museum: a celebration of life.

I highly recommend visiting MOMA's online exhibit (and of course the real one if you're in NYC)--the audio clips are great.

The painting shown above, "The Sower," is much (much!) brighter in real life. The setting sun is super bright lemon yellow and the green sky seems electrified. Loved it!