Inspired by Design

Before I knew that I was an artist, before I’d awakened even to that possibility, I loved design. I craved it like water or chocolate or nicotine.

First it was interior design I loved. I would drool over set designs of favorite shows, comb the books stores for interior design books (this was before HGTV and books on the topic were a bit more rare), beg to go to IKEA just to take it in. I had fantasies of what my apartment in New York City would look like. I even drew floor plans, the smallest ones I could conceive, since NY apartments are notoriously small.

(please click mosaic for photo and design credits)

I still love it, but I’m not all that great at getting it accomplished in my real life. As anyone who knows me the tiniest bit knows, I’m not great at follow-through. I’m much better at the details, the fine tuning. Putting an entire room together, let alone a home, well, it just never gets there for me...so far

My next obsession with design began when my mom started getting really into quilt making.

(please click mosaic for photo and design credits)

Again, I’ve tried it and I do love it so much, but my patients wears thin. I have several quilts and fabric projects in different levels of completion, but none of them really even close. Maybe, someday, I will gain what I need to finish what I start.

One form of design that is much easier for me to participate in, due to the immediate gratification that is commonly involved, not because I’m any good at it yet, is styling or arranging still life.

(please click mosaic for photo and design credits)

I discovered styling, as a concept, relatively recently but it’s been something I’ve been attracted for a very long time. To my unknowing eye it was all about photography, and maybe back a ways in time photographers did all their own styling. But, that’s definitely not the case today. It’s an art in itself, and there are talented stylist who work freelance or for particular magazines or companies. Isn’t it amazing what a beautifully creative mind can do with a spoon and a cloth, or few skeins of yarn, or a couple of vessels?

I am in awe of design of all kinds.  And the relative accessibility of it has been great for folks, like me, who studied design principles  via magazine ads/photo spreads before they ever knew they wanted to know any of it.