Here in Sweden the summer is coming to it's end and all the holidays are ending, time has come for autumn and work. For me it means getting back in to town from the summer island of Sandhamn, were we spend our summers and in to my studio, to start painting.

It made me start thinking of :

How to get going with ones creativity? 

What do I do? I have to start with things which gets me inspired, gets me 'going'. For me that is colors, canvas and paint! I love the materials and I need to get them out. 

 I put on music in my studio and poured the paint I feel are the colors I like today.

Then comes the big question: What to start with?!

I got some tricks. Here is a short list:

1. Have an inspirational archive and look at things which inspires you.
2. Don't be too fussy about what you start with, as long as you do. Start with a thing you know is easy and that you like.
3. Get your gear ready. Take out things you like.
4. Don't plan what has to be, just enjoy what comes!

Well how do you do? Any tips you can share with the rest of us? Please comment on this post with your insights.

Having an inspirational archive.

How does one get and archive on your own and why do you need one?

I advice everyone of my students as I advice you to make your own archive. It is not done in a day, so you better get started. But hard? No it is not!

It is one of the most fun things to do. You save everything which like and find 'inspiring'. If you look in to a book and find pictures you like, buy the book or take a picture of the page. Remember to get a photo of who the creator is, you can google the name later.

If you see something beautiful, like the light passing through the trees, a child playing, a beautiful flower..don't hesitate, Take a picture! And if you don't like the picture, take several and later choose the once you like.

If you fall for a tea cup or a vase, buy them if you can and otherwise take a picture. 

Don't hesitate too much and think. No, go for your gut feeling. Our gut feeling is the only guidance we really can rely on. Because if it tells you you are right, you will always have that same feeling and it will always be right...for you.

If you have films you like or you get inspired by then write them up, save the link and watch when you need a kick start.

Your archive can be anything, stones or sticks from a beach, your own photos, photos from other people, paintings, drawings, ceramic goods, the view from a window, a table at a cafe, a walk or...well just anything that will get your inspiration to start to tick!

An easy one is to start a pointers account and save all inspirational things you can find in one folder or you make a folder on your computer or a real one with printed photos. It is up to you, but feel what works the best when you later look at them. If you start searching pointers instead of looking at what you have in your folder, then that is not a great way for you. Find out by doing what works for you.

What do you do with a cup if that is your inspiration? Well that is then up to you. That cup will give you a thought or o feeling and you pick up on it. So start to draw it, paint it, take pictures of it, put it in a surrounding you prefer and make a still-life.

So there you are that first day when you are supposed to start. How do you use this?

Well take out the photos, the art book or the vase, see what you react to today. Do you want to paint one of your objects or try out what a other artist already has one? Well don't dismiss any of your thoughts and start with what ever comes up in you as an idea.

Good luck!

Keri Smith -

You ever heard of Keri Smith?
No?!
Her fame is evident in all the fan pages which her work has created.
She has already made a collection of books with her thoughtful and creative books.
What has she done? Well  check out all her books on how to re-discover your creativity and your world.
I gave her first book to my nice for her birthday. She called me the next day to thank me and tell me that it was a 'Crazy book!' and that she loved it! 'Because, she said, Is says I should climb up a tree and throw the book down from there, to see what happens!'
Yes, that is just one thing Keri asks us to do with her books, to see what happens and to register and re-discover our world.
-Just lovely!

And check out all pages made by everyone on Pintrest from the books of Keri Smith!

Tom Cullberg

All of you who are interested in painting shuold take the time to view my friend Toms work. I just love it.
He reminds me in his abstacts of Agnes Martin, but he ads a layer of his own. I get the thought that he sometimes is painting a washcloth and that would just be amazing An Agnes Martin parafrase as a washcloth.
Well others make me think of Peter Doig, but the mix in his pictures is just his own, a Tom Cullberg way.
Enjoy
www.tomcullberg.com

Amsterdam guide from a local.

Here is a short guide from me, a local Amsterdamer, for you if you visit and want to get off the beaten track. Enjoy
The map 
 and the Guide

Industrial Designer Jessica Signell Knutsson

Please check out my friend and great Swedish industrial designer Jessica Knutsson Signell.

See her work at http://www.signellknutsson.com/

And read her blog about design at http://jessicasignellknutsson.tumblr.com/

Pieke Bergmans - Industrial designer

Watch the work of Pieke Bergman. Dutch designer working very much like and artist, I would say. I love her latest work funny lamps thought out from funny ideas, Like a pipe's smoke, pasta water boiling over, a flash light and more!
See the whole exhibition at www.dilmos.com
And then go and look at Pieke Bergmans own website for more adventure.

Mediastorm

MediaStorm is an award-winning multimedia production studio, working with top visual storytellers, interactive designers and global organizations to create cinematic narratives that speak to the heart of the human condition.

This is how Mediastorm describes themselves. Good. I could not describe them, I can only say go there and watch amazing stories being told in beautiful and humane way.

MediaStorm
Worth watching!

Jackson Pollock

Just for the great fun of it!

http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

Enjoy!

And look out it is very addictive.

Russian Tattoo book

I went in to a museum of art and came out with a book on Russian Criminal Tattoos...
Anyway, what interested me were not the tattoos, though they are art pieces, interesting, scary and intriguing. What caught my eye was the photos of the people wearing them.
The photos are taken inside Russian jails and they tell so much of the state of the society they live in.
They show us the criminals of the street, many of them looks insane and they remind me strongly of photos from the beginning of last century made of patients. Those pictures were made for doctors case studies. These photos of Russian criminals show people on the edge of life, society and sanity. The photographer is conscious of his power to shine just a little spotlight on the people and the temptation to receive just those minutes, puts them in a vulnerable position. They are showing off their tattoos, but the voyeuristic camera lens undresses them and shows instead of cool tattoos the fragile person. To put these people into the context of the news we get from Russia lately, broadens at least my view of the country and the state it is in.
If you want to see more of this book it is made by Steidl in three volumes. I happened to buy the second one.

Awagami - Fine art paper

Another thing I found in Brussels was a Creative Art paper pack from Awagami Factory. A bag full of fun and beautiful paper. On the Awagami site you can read about how the Japanese paper is made in a different way then western made paper, but I'm more in to just looking at the nice papers with flowers and all. On the site though there is for everyone who admire paper a lot to look at. Walls made by paper, paper in every form for decoration, buy your own paper making set, go to a paper making workshop, etc.
I got the small "Creative Washi Pack", a very small taste of what they are able to produce, for me it is inspiring enough. On the outside of the pack there is a illustration of how you can use these papers into wrappings for different things. I like the illustration and would rather find more of those, giving me more ideas about that to do with my stack.
And for those of you wanting to get your hands on these here are the shops were to find it.
Enjoy.

Broleskine - hand made notebooks from recycled paper

Brussels is a wonderful city and in it I found wonderful things amongst others two notebooks which took my breath away. From old books, papers envelopes etc Broleskine makes new notebooks.
As they write about their work: 'From all sorts of books, papers, packaging, envelopes heather, Broleskine creates unique books. In a current design of the binding, Broleskine think in colors and textures, questions on paper and always in a spirit of recovery. Ruled, squared, colorful, screenprinted, collages, hand-stitched, these precious objects are never developed in the same way. Book tailor made, ready to read book dismembered, calendar reusable.'
It is a form of poetry in notebooks. The love for paperwork you see all through their book, which are also usable. Go to their site and brows and if you like me find it in a store, be amazed.
Here is their link to the stores and other places were you can find their books.
I found mine at bozarshop. Which is really cool and well worth visiting!

All images are from the broleskine.be site.

Siba Sahabi- Ceramics in paper

You have to watch a friend of mine's work. Her name in Siba Sahabi and the latest works of her are all made in paper. She made ceramic in paper. Impressive work, the material and the work which has been put into the making of it, a fragile feeling like the one you get from very thin ceramic.

http://www.sibasahabi.com/

Mark Jenkins - Street Art

Mark Jenkins is making extremely cool and sometimes even scary street art. I came across his art as my friend intends to exhibit his work in Örebro konsthall in September. Otherwise on the street his work is difficult to see if you are not notified. I missed an art-piece just next to my house...I now conclude when I see his collective work at his website. Go through his website so that you don't miss it! I wish he could tell me were the next thing will be.



All images are from website of Mark Jenkins.

Pictures of Walls

Enjoy toilet scribbles? Wise or strange notes on walls? This is the website for you. At Pictures of Walls you are asked to take a picture of the wall art you see and admire, then contribute it to their collection. But as they say, they won't put up all crap you send. They will only show a collection of imaginative wall drawings and thought-provoking scribbles. No real graffiti. It all worth spending time looking through.
If you like it, there is a best of collection book. You can find it at amazon (and many other places). I love it!

All images are from the website picturesofwalls.com

A single man -A Tom Ford Film

- "What a beautiful film!" -"It is so beautifully shot!" -"Everything is so well done!" My friend kept whispering to me during the movie 'A single man' by Tom Ford. I think everyone in the cinema heard and probably agreed. It is a very beautiful film. With a strong story which captures you from the very start and keeps you in this tight story. It is plays out during just one day, though memories keeps moving us back and forth in time. It is a beautiful portray of a man who begins with telling us about himself "It takes time in the morning for me to become George, time to adjust to what is expected of George and how he is to behave. By the time I have dressed and put the final layer of polish on the now slightly stiff but quite perfect George I know fully what part I'm suppose to play." It paints a portray of a heartbroken man, wrapped in sorrow unable to see the world around him and the people trying to reach in to him. It is capturing and recognizable in its feelings. We might not all have lost a lover to death, but we can all feel with the terror of losing someone loved and we can recognize the feeling of depression when we see it in Colin Firth's George. The only thing bringing me slightly out of the story is a part played against Julianne Moore. She is perfect in her role, but did we really need this part of the story? It is the only time when Colin Firth's George takes a step out of his character's cloud of depression and to me it doesn't fit. It is something to do with the connections between the two actors which doesn't feel 'right'. What is is? Well maybe they are just both too good and they cancel each other out. I just don't believe in their dinner scene.
One very interesting feature Ford makes is a very nice work with the colors of the film. It goes from light grayish polish over everything in George's life including himself, to Kodak chrome colors in the vividness of the world around. Not doing the old trick with different colors of memories and the now, but playing with it to fit the mood of George. It is a strong part in the telling of the story.

The film is so well made and tight, with so many memorable quotes in it, together with great actors performances and beautiful sets which makes it a joy to watch.

To leave you with another great quote which captures the essence of the movie "For the first time in my life I can't see my future. Everyday goes by in a haze, but today I have decided will be different."


If you want to read the plot or more about the film here is the IMdb link.

Björn Terring photography

www.terringphoto.com - Nice photography. Not pretentious our conceptual, just straight up good, interesting photos.

Photo belongs to Björn Terring and is from his blog.

Disaster design - Paper plane

Woo woo woo, super cute! What to say about a purse in the form of a old school letter? It feels like leather and have everything not printed but sown on to it, as the 'Air Mail' sign and the 'address' (save your pennies 4a rainy day). It is produced by disaster design and you can find more super cute and many 'too much cute' on their sales site temptationgifts.com. I fell for the letter of course as I'm weak for all things referring to old school things in a new form - especially in the form of purses, letters, books or pens...



temptationgifts.com