Sketching the outline

It's been quite a week. Taking care of my daughter, alone for the most part, because Keith was out of town at the Select until late Sunday, was quite the challenge. I've gone through 2-years worth of bonspiels taking care of Maddy, even one last month, but this week was by far the most challenging. She's almost 14 months old and getting into everything... which means I can't leave her alone for more than the few minutes it takes to grab a quick cup of coffee or to run to the washroom. And Saturday, she started to climb over the furniture. Joy.

But this isn't a mommyblog, it's a place where I want to highlight my design inspiration finds and my ongoing attempts at being a designer - graphic or otherwise. I've come around to being borderline-obsessed with design in the last year or so. Even with my close-to-15-years of graphic design, I've never really been analytical towards design. Sure, I know the basics - what the eye likes/dislikes, what looks 'good', simple, easy, basic theory.

But when I was put on medical leave from my job 4 months before i had my daughter, I had a lot of time on my hands. And I put that time to what is now apparently 'good' use by watching a lot of interior design shows. That's where I discovered what I liked and, more importantly - I think, didn't like.

I know I don't like all-white rooms. Or rooms where they take a bizarre joy in painting over beautiful hardwoods. I don't know if it's because I'm the mom of a very active toddler, but I've come to hate any designer who does up a room - knowing there's a small child in the house - full of sharp edges and glass tables. Or white furniture. Or $8,000 rugs.

But beyond that, I've come to really appreciate art deco. I'm a big fan of the cleanliness of the work - using simple geometric shapes and lines, along with strong, simple - but effective - colours. So beautiful. 

(artwork via Art Deco Style)

I've tried working with art deco images in a few projects, but have failed miserably. I don't know if it's a lack of training or if I've just been way too inundated with modern day design (cluttered, clumsy and just bad), but I'd almost rather not attempt to design anything deco-related and make it look like a three-toed-sloth did it (nothing against three-toed sloths).

Over the next few days, I'm hoping to post a lot more frequently - perhaps to make up for missing almost 2 weeks of posts - focusing on what inspires me and what I've done with that inspiration, as limited as I am. Not having formal training or access to a lot of the things that do inspire me - outside of online galleries and resources - makes it slightly difficult to do anything productive with the inspiration I do find. But we all have to work past roadblocks at some point, right? Living in the armpit of Canada is mine :)