Designing for an Album

If you want to listen to one of the most sweet and lovely songs ever written, click this link and select song #4: Aimless Day. This song is by my friend Bahhaj Taherzadeh, who plays under the moniker We/Or/Me. He is one of my favorite musicians and he just launched a kickstarter to raise money for his next album!

If you donate at a certain level, you can get this poster that I designed:

You may notice that Bahhaj has fulfilled his minimum desired funding for this project, but he still needs a couple thousand more bones. I don't think he realized how many people are into his music and would want to support the new album.  The point is, you can still donate!

Bahhaj has asked me to design for him several times over the years. I enjoy designing for musicians: whereas in some situations art stands alone and speaks for itself, album art contributes to the overall mood created by the music.

Bahhaj is drawn to a very simple and almost rustic visual aesthetic (in a cool way). The images are tattered and aged and refer to a familiar, yet distant place and time that one still longs for.  I think it goes well with is music, because a lot of his songs seem to communicate a lonely longing as well.

I enjoy the challenge of designing for him because it is a departure from the bright, vibrant colors and busy compositions that I usually create. Here is a selection of a few of the album covers and posters I have designed for him over the past few years:

Best of luck with the new album, Bahhaj!

In the Studio

Design Inspired by a Rug

A few months ago, I bought this very cool "Kite Kilim" rug from West Elm.

At first I had it on my living room floor, but my husband was a big crybaby and said it was too scratchy, so I had to move it under our console.  I really really love the pattern on this rug, and I was inspired to duplicate it into a piece of art I was working on.  The 1 piece turned into 3, and suddenly I had a series inspired by a rug!

Starting out: I painted a few elements to merge together digitally.

The three images I came up with

Art inspired by a rug!

Visit my ETSY shop to buy these pieces!

Shiny and New!

A few months ago I started designing a new product that could hold earrings in an interesting way. I don't have too many pairs of earrings, but I have always had problems figuring out how to store them. For years I have just neatly lined them up in a jewelry box, and they all get completely tangled and jacked up every time I accidentally jostle the box.

I came up with a simple design and started researching how I could manufacture it. After a few strike outs, I came upon a local laser cutting studio, makeatx.  Here is a piece of wood just after the laser worked its magic:

 Here is my design, freshly cut:

Before cutting, I painted the wood with non-toxic, no VOC Milk Paint.  I then took the final cut pieces and mounted them each onto a piece of MDF that is routed for easy hanging. Sandwiched between the two pieces of wood is an image that I designed and sealed. 

The final look has a sort of modern meets rustic flavor. Milk Paint is a chemically safe, environmentally friendly product that stains the wood while allowing the texture of the wood to still be seen. This gives each piece a little character. 

The piece mounts flat against the wall and holds 13 pairs of earrings.  10.5" x 4".  Available at local Austin stores and at my ETSY store.