Friday, July 31, 2009

Gangsta Art


glass, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

At a local car rental place, I noticed bulletholes in the glass. I like this photo with the sky and cars blurred out in the background.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

I Love Poppies


drive through, originally uploaded by AnnuskA - AnnA Theodora.

I ran across this photo on Flickr by Anna Theodora. Stunning shot of the bees and great color!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

NokHoo Laptop Bags: Sneak Peek #5


sneak5, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

Leather label for NokHoo's soon-to-be-available laptop bags.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Crazy Bug


crazy bug, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

This is the Idolomantis Diabolica. It looks like an alien ninja. I found it in the "10 Most Disturbing Bugs" entry on the time-sucking site Odee. I dare you to check Odee out without losing an hour to it.

Photo by Scott Thompson

Monday, July 27, 2009

Sea Turtle Wallpaper


Sea Turtle Wallpaper, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

While looking for the green images yesterday, I found out you can download a lot of the AMAZING National Geographic photos as wallpaper for your desktop. My favorite is this sea turtle.

Photo by Tim Laman

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Greeny


Greeny, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

I'm looking at color trends for fashion and home dec and have been seeing a lot of these bright but natural greens. Photo credits clockwise from top left:
World Wildlife Fund
Maia C
Paul Nicklen (National Geographic)
Me!
Tim Laman (National Geographic)
Ecstaticist

Friday, July 24, 2009

Wow! Bird Pictures


birds, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

The bird photos on Flickr by John&Fish are easily some of the most gorgeous pictures I've ever seen. I have no idea how they get such incredible detail and vibrant color. Wow.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Hogwarts Ceiling Art


ceiling art, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

I took the ceiling from yesterday, reduced the colors and flipped it all around to make this pattern. The V-shaped lines are the arches and the fans are scattered on top. It's abstract but I like it as a texture.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Hogwarts Ceiling

I just saw the latest Harry Potter movie and couldn't help but be impressed by the interior shots of Hogwarts-especially its elaborate ceilings. Above is an old photo of the Divinity School at Oxford University, apparently it was used in the movies as Hogwarts' Hospital. Next post I'll put together some artwork based on this ceiling.

Photo courtesy of Cornell University Library.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Inspiration Board


inspiration board, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

I have about five inspiration boards I've been working from. Here's a peek at one of them-it's a random collection of fabrics, threads, inspirational colors and designs, plus a lot of notes to remind me of why I posted everything!

Monday, July 20, 2009

NokHoo Laptop Bags: Sneak Peek #4


sneak peek, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

Embroidery and beading detail from one of the bags!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Blissful Images


Blissful Images, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

When looking up the artists from yesterday's post, I got a good look at Traci French's work on Etsy. Really beautiful color and composition. Her shop is called Blissful Images.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Kindred Wallpaper


Wallpaper, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

Kindred is a very cool site that gives you free wallpaper desktop images from a variety of artists and photographers. Clockwise from top left:
Hadley Hutton
Bernadette Sipkes
Alicia Bock
Traci French

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Squirrely Trinkets


Squirrels from Etsy, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

Cool squirrels from Etsy:
top left earrings: veryvintage
bottom left clips: jackandjane
right embroidered coffee cozy (so cool!): flappergirl

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Squirrely


Intense, originally uploaded by mandj98.

I ran across this person's photos on Flickr. They must have taken a zillion pictures of squirrels. Click here if you like squirrels.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Hello, USA!


Childe Hassam, originally uploaded by nrillustration.
Arrived. Whew.

Painting by Childe Hassam "Fourth of July, 1916".

Sunday, July 12, 2009

On The Move...


Airstreams, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

We are headed back to the USA today. Bags are packed, cats are crated (imagine how pleased they are) and we're on our way. We'll be happy to see our friends and family back home but will sadly miss our friends here in this beautiful country.

Drawing above is called "Airstreams" by Adamambro on Etsy.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Rainbow Over Bangkok


bangkok rainbow, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

View from my apartment-skyline, construction, rainbow.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Dragon Fruit


dragonfruit, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

Since I'm leaving Thailand, I'm on a Thai fruit kick. Today's featured snack is dragon fruit. It's about the size of an eggplant, bright red on the outside and the inside is white with little black seeds. Pretty crazy looking... and it tastes like chicken. Just kidding. I can't think of how to describe the flavor but can promise that it is, indeed, tasty.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

NokHoo Visits Delhi!


Delhi, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

I've just gotten back from a trip to Delhi to visit production of the laptop bags. I really enjoyed seeing India and the talented people putting so much work into NokHoo. The hospitality everyone showed me was extraordinary. One of my new friends took me to see the city's finest sites-this photo is the Prime Minister's residence. Impressive.

Monday, July 6, 2009

NokHoo Laptop Bags: Sneak Peek #3


Sneak Peek Tag, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

Here's a peek of a tiny woven label.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Wat Pho Colors


wat po, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

One of the major tourist attractions here is Wat Pho. There are several chedis (like pagodas) covered in beautiful tile work. I love the colors covering this chedi.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Mangosteen Colors


mangosteen colors, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

When snacking on mangosteens yesterday, I happened to have my Pantones next to me. I figured it was worthy of a color match.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Mmm, Mangosteen


mangosteen, originally uploaded by nrillustration.

Thailand has some crazy fruits I never would have imagined before coming here. These are mangosteens. My favorite thing about them is the unpeeling-you push hard on the thick outer covering until it pulls away from the fruit. It feels like opening French bread-crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. The white fruit is sweet, cold and juicy. Mmm...

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Nightingale Bridge


Edmund Dulac, Nightingale Bridge, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Edmund Dulac is one of my favorite Illustrators. Here is one of his paintings for "The Nightingale", his use of color is hard to beat (also note half moon bridge).

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The Forbidden City


JIA Juan Li, originally uploaded by nrillustration.
About a year ago I saw an exhibit called "Tales From the Forbidden City" by Artist JIA Juan Li. There's something haunting about the way she paints. Her work for this exhibit imagines going behind the walls of the Forbidden City and the theme fits her style perfectly. Juan Li is one of the few well-known contemporary female Chinese Artists in the world.