art for Japan : updated

I think a lot of people feel helpless with everything we’ve seen and read since last Friday. Some artists have quickly made special prints available as fundraisers, here are a few. (Will keep adding more as I find them – if you have anything to add to this please mention it in the comments.)

Over at 20×200 there are some prints for which all proceeds of the sale will benefit Japan Society’s Earthquake Relief Fund.

Shinjuku, 6:43, by Joseph O. Holmes

Tatsuro Kiuchi (木内 達朗) is offering digital files of 2 different illustrations in return for a donation to the red cross.

updates:

Pika Books is donating 100% of the net profit of their Chotto Omoshiroi poster (ちょっとおもしろい！) by artist Mogu Takahashi to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Illustrator/artist Hine is donating 50% of all the proceeds from her shop.

Hickoree’s Hard Good’s is raising funds with the beautiful woodblock-printed 和 pocket square.

A Public Space has released an English edition collecting stories from the Japanese literary journal Monkey Business, and 25% of proceeds are earmarked for the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund.

books for 2011

For the past few years I’ve been saving money by making great use of my city’s very excellent public library system. It’s been successful in the sense that I’ve stemmed the tide of books filing up every corner of our house (don’t get me wrong – I love books, but our house is tiny). And I think I’ve saved … maybe a thousand dollars? Maybe more? I limit my library use to non-fiction and ‘fiction-by-dead-people’ … if I want a novel or book of short stories and the writer is alive, I buy it.

But with the new year I’m feeling a little splurge-y, and very project-y, so with that, here are a few of the books I plan to get my hands on in 2011 (for keeps):

Whether you’re a loyal decor8 fan or have been following Holly Becker’s adventures as she sets up haus in Hanover, you will probably be interested in picking up Decorate: 1,000 Design Ideas for Every Room in Your Home
for inspiration & how-tos, especially if (like me) you perpetually have a decorating project on the horizon.

I’ve read quite a few business articles recently that ask the question ‘what is the next cupcake?’ … don’t get me wrong, I love cupcakes, but it is my fervent hope that the answer to this question is either “pie” (or, to be practical, tarts) or “donuts”. But until the day when cherry pie or toasted coconut donuts are available on every corner, I believe I will occupy myself with the recipes in Martha Stewart’s New Pies and Tarts: 150 Recipes for Old-Fashioned and Modern Favorites & BabyCakes Covers the Classics: Gluten-Free Vegan Recipes from Donuts to Snickerdoodles.

Caketrain is an independent press who have consistently published excellent work over the years (I particularly loved All the Day’s Sad Stories, by Tina May Hall. So I definitely plan to order their upcoming release, The Weather Stations, by Ryan Call, whose work has appeared in Hobart and The Los Angeles Review.

(Also check out the gorgeous cover photo by Maia Flore).

cupcake friday: nutella cupcakes

I have been looking for a good nutella cupcake since acquiring a mondo-sized jar of it recently on sale. When I saw this sour cream version from Ming Makes Cupcakes I was sold.

The process: I made a few variations on this one. I wanted the cake itself to have a nutella flavour, so I added one heaping teaspoon to the batter. I also eliminated the vanilla and added a 1/4 tsp. of coffee flavour. Upon mixing the wet & dry ingredients the batter was extremely dry, so I added 3 tbsp. of canola oil. This still left me with a fairly stiff batter but it was wet enough to spoon out at this point. For the icing I used 5 tbsp. each shortening and nutella, plus 1/3 cup icing sugar.

The result: The taste was nice. A little too nutella-y for my husband, while I would have liked the nutella to come through even more. The icing sugar was again a little sweet for me … if anyone knows of a not-too-sweet icing recipe I’d love to hear it!

personal stationery set

This is a little gift I made for someone last year using my print gocco. The folded notes with the blue flowers are vintage Hallmark cards … the set came with a piece of goldleaf that you could use to transfer your name (by handwriting it) onto the blank space on the cards – I took my cue from that and used gold gocco ink instead.

more here

cupcake friday: cookies and cream

This is probably ill-advised, but I’m going to start an occasional series of posts as I take a crack at my “cupcake recipes to try” backlog, with the results posted on Fridays. First up: Cookies and Cream cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

I’ve had such great results with the cupcake recipes in this book that I’ve never actually strayed from the first few that I tried (the Maple Walnut one in particular is stellar). But checking out some more of them is a big motivator in this whole cupcake spree, so it was only right to start here!

The Cookies and Cream recipe is a variation on their very reliable basic chocolate cupcake, with the main difference being that store-bought vegan Oreo-type cookies are required. These were not hard to find (and in fact, the ingredients list led me to suspect that it was possible that Oreos themselves do not have any dairy, I’ll have to see next time I’m at the grocery store).

The process: I followed this one almost to the letter, the only difference being that I didn’t have quite as much vanilla on hand as the recipe called for, but I went ahead anyway.

The verdict: Delicious. The icing was a little sweet for my taste but other household members found it just right. I would make this again, especially if there were any little monkies around, as the crumbled cookie aspect makes them kind of fun.

i am i

This is another very cool kickstarter project. They were really creative with their incentives (which include walk-on roles and ‘associate producer’ credits!). Watch the pitch, you will immediately want this project to succeed ^_^.

website | kickstarter

giant earrings by anna gleeson

I find this to be so gorgeous. That colour palette …

photo : anna gleeson

exhibit : STORE (ストア)

I support this project

Have I mentioned I love kickstarter?  There is something infinitely more satisfying about being “backer” of a creative project than simply picking up a book off a shelf (though that’s fun too).  Anyway this is the second one I’ve pledged for (I can see this becoming a very addictive habit!):

via spoon + tomago

new work by: Jill C. Lee

I was excited to see these new notebooks by Jill C. Lee of Beau Ideal Editions … then these prints appeared.  I would like to choose just one. I am having a hard time.

all images : Jill C. Lee | Beau Ideal Editions

Posted: February 13th, 2010 | Author: Stockton | Filed under: art, new work | Tags: beau ideal, jill c. bliss, prints | Comments Off

Jessica Hische

erhaps you noticed the lovely drop cap on my last post (or this one). This is the work of the talented Jessica Hische, whose work I stumbled upon here. (Though actually, after a little poking around, I realized I was already a fan: it turns out she is the creator of the Buttermilk font I’ve been admiring for a while.) I recommend heading here to see more of (or subscribe to) her amazing & amazingly generous drop cap project (you can also buy individual alphabet prints in her shop).