Always time.
I belong to the group of people that always blames time (Ex. “there is never enough time to do everything I want to do that is why don’t do it”). as horribly as it sounds is true. not only that, but I even use it as an excuse every now and then to justify myself with my responsibilities. For example, the typical “oh, I really wanted to finish that book this week, but men, after work I just never have enough time to do anything”. Anything??? I have 5 hours before going to bed that multiplied by 5 days of the week comes to a total of 25 hours a week to do anything I want, including finishing a book. I have plenty of time. I just don’t it.
All this thought and reflections occurred to me this morning, well, actually they are occurring to me at this precise moment, right now while typing on bed at 8 in the morning when I am supposed to be at work, being this the heart question of this post you would wonder why I am not at work? Well, because work was cancel due to extreme weather conditions. Yes, as elementary school l cheap excuse as is sound it is true. Check weather.com and type 66502 in the zip code and you will see I am no liar.
As I was saying, today there is not work and therefore is the perfect day to catch up in all the activities I haven’t done because my “lack of time”. Indoors activities are recommended.
1. cook breakfast, lunch and diner ☺
2. clean the house on a Tuesday (don’t wait until Saturday)
3. play with the dogs in the snow
4. finish reading my book
5. long warm shower
6. clean the office room/ studio
7. snuggle with David
8. go to bed early

the big question.
a number of years ago, children worked long hours to refine their handwriting. filling hundreds of pages with letterforms until the teacher approve their handwriting. years later and after long hours of training, if lucky, some of this children will become graphic designers creating beautiful letterforms that will change the course of graphic design.
nowadays, not many children work long hours in their handwriting and as a consequence not many adults (graphic designers included) create beautiful letterforms.
when bauhaus typography master Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946) pronounce a "mechanical art for mechanical times", he was asserting that the modern era was no longer dictated by the past and that all the aspects of art and design must be transformed to fit the new paradigms.
hands was no longer the tool of choice. typesetting is official; handlettering is informal.
it is true that the computer has made some of the procedures of creating letterforms easier, faster and more precise, yet it has also atrophied instincts needed to create beautiful and expressive handlettering.
typesetting is mechanical; handlettering is expresive.
the variations are infinite and the aesthetic unique. in both the possibilities are endless. creativity is the key.

speaking about creativity, i found a very interesting project conducted by craig oldham, an english graphic designer, "inviting fellow designers to tackle the issue of personality in a world of depersonalisation" {...} the project consists in summiting a hand written letter recording their visual reaction to the letter previously sent. the porject is named hand.written.letter.project. and is definitely worth looking at.

creative block...
the last few weeks i have been stock in what you can call a "creative block". however, during this time, trying to scape of the ghostly and scary feeling of lack of creativity, i have found very interesting sites, artist, illustrators and graphic designers that i will happily list at the end of this post. also, i have rediscover my passion for color. i almost forgot how funny was to design with out any rules and just playing with color and shapes, its fun!!! you should try out sometime.
anyway, allowing my self to think "out of the box" playing with colors, paint, brushes and scrap paper, has led me to re-think about the creativity i have put into my life and my work in the last months. i don't want to sound like i am horribly boring person, (maybe i am, i don't know), but i still think there is always room for improvement in the way of approaching life and of course design. it is important that we (all of us, designers and not designers) put all ourselves into everything we create. into what we are. lets forget about complacences, lets try complacency. its like designing ourselves every day. let your inner designer free. smile, design, create, be free.

bellow some of my latest discoveries about artists, art, color, and others (click on the image to go to the artist website)




http://www.otoshimono.org/
http://www.clintonduncan.com/
http://www.vault49.com/
http://www.jonburgerman.com/


valeriandrea.