Inspiring about courage and creative confidence

David Kelley talk on TED

The power of expression

Half an hour after my last post and I'm feeling crazy much better. I bow to the power of expression. And it hit me, I'm trying to do what I used to do in other places I've lived and spent time. I'm trying to keep certain energies and habits I loved. What I need to is to let go, maybe even have a ceremony of this. Out with the old, in with the new. I'm practicing yoga to music suddenly, it's new, it's possible and fresh. Why not!? I remember an old female yoga teacher that spoke at a yoga festival at Angsbacka a few years ago, she said yoga is organic, it's about your body, forget the "system", forget the rules. She was kicked out of her yoga group, but founded her own. When a routine feels wrong, feel the pose, feel yourself, move according to your body and embrace the presence. Which makes me think of my favorite question that always gives me a kick "how does your body wants to move?".

And here's a song to get you moving!

Unease

It's nice reading old posts, about enthusiasm for life, feeling at home in Melbourne. Those posts are quite old now, about a year and a half have past. Just now I was supposed to do yoga. It's Sunday morning, a beautiful morning. Though I feel far away from the beauty, far away from the morning. I couldn't practice. Too much clutter on my mind. Way too much stuff around. Maybe it's time for a ever so little journey to the mountains, clear my thoughts and create space for yoga and meditation. Then I'm thinking, while sipping tea, what does that mean? Will I not be able to live in the city again? In an apartment beyond ground floor? At least it will be my place, not borrowed, not temporary like this. However I'm curious. I'm not sure where my home is. I've always thought that home is within myself. This felt right while travelling, while living so far away. Then coming home, I feel my inner home is leaving me. Is this because the home here and my home are trying to make friends, or am I losing the home I have created over the years? This home here is quite strong, beautiful too, I'm just not sure if it fits anymore. I'm remembering another borrowed home, in Italy, how beautiful it was, how open it was. Open for anything I felt. This feeling would be amazing to create again. Being close to nature, feeling that outside and inside are almost the same. In, out, in, out. There's a notion of freedom just there.

I am seeking freedom,at the same time I'm applying for work. Is this a contradiction? I'm contemplation on doing freelance work again. I mean it's in the name. Many thoughts around it, but why not try!? Why not try it all! I just need a challenge I think, my my brain tired and crazy so the body too can relax on a Sunday morning. 

Another year, a master degree and a tonn of experiences after

I've been meant to write for a few days now, maybe a few weeks even. There's a lot to share, to process and a few things to throw up and never touch again. Cleansing. Again my time spent in India was a deep cleansing of body and soul. And after a clean up we all know the body is fragile, sensitive, the mind and heart open and optimistic. Boom; home, people, friends, family, society, duties, expectations, life.. What is life? This life here? Work, summer, bad weather, catching up, running, Internet, weekends, enjoying days off, newspapers, festivals. Is there room for more? Some days I love it, others I want to flee. I'm daydreaming about my life in the mountains of Bhagsu, Dharamsala. Waking up, walking down the mountain path to the yoga hut. Love, compassion, peace and practice. Eating breakfast alone, with my lover or meeting friends along the path. Feeling connected, free. The day is free. I go where I go because I choose to, because my gut tells me to. I eat what is good for me. I meet people I should meet. There's something truly special when you let go. When you allow the universe to guide you, to help you and bring you what you need. You learn to communicate this, trust this and then live this. Living in a normal society among all these people I suddenly feel lonely. Our society is so isolated. We are all so narrow always with a plan in mind, we go shopping, or we are with a friend or we are with work people having lunch. Most things need a label, a box with frames, an intention and therefore restrictions. This makes us closed off from the universe, from the collective life. 

A light of typography in dark folio times

In two weeks my folio will be lying on a white table in an empty classroom. In two weeks there will be no more to work on, no more stress, no more 2o something tabs in Firefox. No more eight open files in inDesign at once. No more a room filled with empty teacups staining dozens of school papers and sketches spread around my computer like yellow leafs around a tree in the streets. Yes I'm almost done. Almost gone crazy.

Before that happens, let me show you some cool stuff. Jonathan Safran Foer is one of my favourite authors. Also I love the art covers wrapping his beautiful words. My fascination for both his writing and the covers started with 'Extremely loud and incredibly close'. My dad picked it up for one of my birthdays telling me he had a feeling it would be a good match. It really was.
About the art cover, it is the playful typography that truly grabs me and makes this cover so special. Looking at some of the other art covers for Foer's books, they all have that same feel. They are all great examples of hand made typography in this loud and playful way.


They are all designed by Gray 318.
Talking about typography as an illustation artform, I can't help myself but to show you some wonders created by Sarah A. King, starting with my favourite piece.







Check out her folio online.

Can you speak silence?

Jean (Hans) Arp sculptor, painter, poet and abstract artist, once said: “Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation."

Mister Arp, or may I call you Jean, I would call you Hans, but I don't speak German. I just dived into your world of art today, you made some cool shit, you made some sense and you made me curious and inspired today.

"Soon silence will have passed into legend,” Arp believed.

I'm happy I don't agree with that. I guess I'm more of a dreamer and an optimist to doom the silent days. However it's become exceptional in our western society. In your daily life, when is it silent? I find it hard allowing silence. I'm aware of my need for it. Then society has this special gift of replacing one need for the other. The need to feel, or the need for shopping, eating and entertainment. Trying to fit silence into a schedule, well, if I'm not half asleep with a bit of time on my hands on either ends of the day I find it almost impossible these days. Too much is going on right now. I’m one of those who find it hard to set aside an hour to be creative, to write, to work with a brief or meditate. It's one of those things that usually just happen. They force their way in when you already have opened the window. If you’re lucky you'll have a piece of paper within your radius or even some time to collect, which again is usually sleeping time, but that I can work with. I feel pretty chocked now. In need of silence. I've always believed that things happen for a reason. That's why I'm sitting here now, why I'm not out drinking on a Friday night or at some friend’s holiday house. Maybe tomorrow morning I will have my silence.

What's your identity?

I just finished an interesting assignment in our contextual design class called identity. We were to create a piece that illustrates what identity is, with our own identity as a reference.

What I’ve tried to express with my work is that identity is an always growing result of absorbing life. By absorbing experiences and impressions our identity evolves and becomes richer and deeper. Working with this idea I’ve tried to illustrate my identity absorbed with the most important impacts on my life.

Throughout my research I’ve been reading articles, spiritual texts, talked to friends and thinking a lot about my background and how I’ve ended up here. Observing how different siblings and neighbours can be I’ve been drawn to the idea that identity doesn’t come from one place, but is a result of all the emotions, places and people you have ever met. I’ve been curious of the difference between personality and identity, and come to the conclusion that personality can change. It is fixed and can easily be communicated. Identity however doesn’t change, it’s abstract and an ongoing evolving process, that started before you were born.

The result is a metaphor of identity as a sponge. A sponge, like identity, absorbs outer impressions it’s been exposed to. The different shapes and colours of the experiences affect the total concept of the sponge. The different states of the sponge I’ve illustrated, symbolises different experiences of my life.

The thoughts behind the frames
Born in a snowstorm in Norway. Growing up with passion for colours and music. Fishes represent my love for water and animals growing up on the countryside. Moving from house to house has influenced me a lot and maybe kept me on this path of moving. Painting and creating a new space every time. Pink is my mother’s fashion sense mirroring me as a princess, green is my dad being in the special force military and the monster is my amazing brother. Flying carpet is my imagination and disappearing in the books and films I absorbed. Cheque pattern is school, friends and the slow game figuring out who I am. Red is love, black is lost and shut down, dusty and fall is moving back to my roots, moving in with my brother and coming back to life. Bubbles are freedom, support from family and good friends, and a choice to move far away. Blue is Australia. Donkey is a life-changing friend. Olive oil is living in Italy. Black/yellow is a deeper feeling of inspiration that led to another big step. Red, chillies and incense means travelling and especially India. The sum of it all is now, my identity.