Brilliant Corners

THEBLOG WEEMADE celebrates the artwork of children. I love this.

I’ve yet to hold a copy of Maya Waldman’s book, to-do list, in my hands, but I can heartily recommend that it be bought. Immediately. I’ve come to know Maya’s work from a friendly online community, and over the years I’ve enjoyed seeing the artwork she has contributed. And now, some of what’s she has drawn (and written?) comes in the form of this neat little book.

Can I really recommend this book without seeing it first? Why, yes I can. If you’re not convinced, here is some of Maya’s other work to get an idea of what you can probably expect from the book:

• Some of Maya’s finely-detailed work from her notebooks
• A weblog of Maya’s letters home during her stay in the Marshall Islands

And just for good measure, here’s the description from the Amazon listing:

To-Do List inspires young and old not to take life too seriously. The “tasks” on Maya’s to-do list range from the everyday-buy milk, be less messy, go on vacation, make friends, and no fighting-to the exceptional-dance like an octopus, hug flowers, star gaze, smile giant, eat sweets, and count clouds.

Each “task” is adorned with an ink drawing that has been painstakingly hand-rendered in astonishing detail. Soon enough, your own to-do list will include enjoying the novelties found on every page.

And please note that although Amazon lists this as an audiobook, it’s not. That should hopefully be corrected soon.

I drew this yesterday while sitting outside a local coffee shop. The last dated drawing in my sketchbook is from May 21st. That’s just about three months of nothing. Ridiculous! I think I’m more talk than action when it comes to saying I’m going to draw more.

When we visit Italy in the spring I want to be able to capture what I’m seeing in my sketchbook. At one point we’ll be visiting some distant relatives of my wife’s who live in a tiny, tiny village atop a hill in the middle of the Abruzzo region. I’m sure I’ll be taking plenty of photos, but to be able to have a record of our visit on paper would be extra nice.

I have lots of practicing to do.

In the latest Giant Robot magazine there’s an interview with the artist Dan-ah Kim and she answers a question about the recurring theme of kites in her artwork.

My father has been making kites for ages–the Korean-style ones with strips of bamboo and rice paper. We’ve been making and flying them for as long as I can remember, and my father once told me that people who fly kites have a lot of promise since they’re always looking towards the sky.

Wonderful.

manhattan: tony bones show
Originally uploaded by Polish Sausage Queen.

Well, what do you know. The local graffiti artist that I’ve come to know as “soler” and “soyler” also has another name: Tony Bones. I came across the photo above in one of my Flickr friend’s photostream. Apparently, she attended an art show featuring the non-graffiti art of Tony Bones/soler/soyler. Here are some other shots that “Polish Sausage Queen” took at the show.

Here are a few other links I’ve now dug up relating to this artist:

• soler on dallaspolice.com
  
• Tony Bone’s personal homepage?
  
• Tony Bones at Dallas Arts Revue

I love his little drawings all around Dallas, and it’s certainly interesting to see that there’s more behind this graffiti than I originally thought.

You really must see this collection of gorgeous Moleskine art pages and books (via the wonderful Everyday Matters).

John Densmore explains why he doesn’t want to use The Door’s songs in advertisements.

My friend Maya is about to embark on a six-month travel across Asia. Thankfully, she’ll be chronicling her journey on her weblog and on Flickr. Before she takes off on her trip and the updates start rolling in, you can marvel at her wonderfully-detailed notebook drawings and notes.

Have a great trip, Maya!