Rococo Cocoa

I am, admittedly, going through a bit of job stress lately. Hopefully no one with a big mouth who works at my 9-5 will read this and go blabbing, but I'm sort of at the point where I don't rightfully care anymore I guess... As Wanda Sykes would say,

“I love getting older, because the older I get, the less I care. The words ‘I don’t give a fuck’ just fly out of my mouth. And if I’m not saying it, I’m thinking it.”

Naturally, this has affected my drive to post as often as I would like. And for the (one, two?) readers of my blog, I apologize. Now on to bigger, happier things...

Above you see a couple of screenshots from book cover designer Darren Haggar's website. So simple, yet to the point. He really lets the work shine with a simple drop shadow on white. Check out his other work too, it's all so good.

• butternut squash soup
• the warm smell of cinnamon
• hot cider
• wassail, for that matter
• hot toddy, for that matter
• pockets of fireplace scent during a walk
  
• pumpkin cookies
• nutmeg
  
• the prevalence of orange in an outdoor palette
• long sleeves
• jack o' lanterns
• layering
• apple crisp
• the sound of drum brushes being appropriate in music
• light scarves and cardigans
• autumn.
  

Further branding and website theme inspiration through Abduzeedo tutorials. I tried my hand at light painting using part of this tutorial. Pretty nifty.

I have been seeing this cover all over fashion blogs recently and every time I have to pause, cause I just love it so. From Pop Magazine - which can get Agyness Deyn and Naomi Campbell to model for them, but can't hire a web designer to make a website past their myspace page (!?!)- September 2008. My first issue as art director comes out soon, so I have my eyes open extra extra wide.

In high school, I had an English teacher named Ms. Machemer. More on her at a later date. I don't feel like typing that much. However, a tidbit: she looked like Ursula the Sea witch from The Little Mermaid. Think purple eyeshadow. She introduced us to a lot of different kinds of literature, which I appreciate. She often handed out short stories by authors I've never heard of, and wouldn't find out about on my own.

One such short story was "The Heat Death of the Universe" by Pamela Zoline. It's about a housewife preparing for her sons birthday, and she's losing it a little. (Understatement)

Take a read. I'm thinking (way) ahead into the future after Black Fruit is done, maybe doing a series of pieces on this. Chew on that for a spell. Song of the week coming up later today.

Click here and here to check out the work of Slovenian artist Frank Grom. He drills holes in eggs! Crazy patience.

This guy's Illustrations are amazing. Amazing! Tim O' Brien. Check out his website.