PAPAYA! BLOG

Roulottes

I am drooling over eclectic gipsyland's Roulottes photostream and thinking of ways to convince my landlords to let me put one of these romantic caravans in the grassy area I share with fifty other people. How could they say no?

 

Jeanne Bayol, les verdines

Papaya Takes To Tokyo

We find ourselves on an exciting journey to share Papaya with the world.  Recently we met some new friends in Japan who wanted to join us in our adventure.  I thought it would be fun to do a brief mention of our new friends at Tokyo Antique.

Above is a picture of Tokyo Antique's debut showing of Papaya at this winters Tokyo International Gift Fair.   I would like to give a special thanks to Mr. Takehiro Tsutusmi and Mr. Hiroaki Higashiyama for their amazing representation of Papaya.

The commercial world meets the art world

I love these commercials by Sony Bravia, inspired by the world of color.

(click the button lower right with the four arrows to view videos full screen)

 

(Check out this set on flickr, for behind the scenes photography during the making of this commercial)

The Hotel Figueroa

We recently returned from our latest journey and one stop we made was at the Hotel Figueroa in Los Angeles.

I flew in the day before the show started and had some time to take some pics with my little Pentax K10d and a couple prime lenses. I used my 35mm 1:2.8 Macro and 50mm 1:1.4 lenses, but mostly the 35mm.

Enjoy!

-Brennan

 

Details

In the past we've shared a few photos of rooms around our space in Papaya. Today, I wanted to share a snapshot of some of the details of our lives here on a daily basis. You can click on the photos for a closer look.

Kathleen's cozy and colorful office (above).

Fun finds in the Design Room

 

Fun finds from the Design room and Denise's rich and luxurious office.

 

More fun finds from the Design room and a beautiful rustic wood table and basket from Anahata's office.

From the much appreciated "Wellness Room"

the warehouse (above) and a couple bits here and there (below)

Ugly Betty "Smokin Hot"

Papaya gets some love from ABC's Ugly Betty

In the episode that aired last week "Smokin Hot" Betty sports the Papaya Lotus Garden Journal while checking out a no name designers fashion show and attempts to make her a star. 

This is the second time Papaya has been featured on ABC. In mid October Papaya art panel prints and giclees got a cameo on the new hit comedy Modern family.  Check out that post if you haven't seen it already.  So thanks to whoever out there at ABC is a Papaya fan.

Things to come

 
I've been working on some new artwork and the theme has been repurposing my originals.  These two images will be new in our collection in early summer.  They are large scale mixed media originals that I did in Bali last year and have made digital enhancements to them for PAPAYA.  A combination I am quickly falling in love with.  Originals translated with digital love. 
   You'll be getting a taste of more layered works as I clean out the artwork storehouse and begin this process of reinvention...

Downtown in China Town- inspiring color

I shot these photographs quickly on my iphone, in China Town Los Angeles just after they had recently re-painted in vibrant colors last year. I love to look at them from time to time for inspiration...

All of the shapes, patterns, color, and textures combined were such a visual treat for the eyes. I even adore the sun worn tattered lanterns in contrast.

What places inspire you visually? We'd love you to share.

 

Spread the Love

For those of you who celebrate this day, here's a couple little goodies to spread the love:

• Make a homemade Valentine- download the image above to print (and glitter) or just email as an eCard.

• Make a mixed CD- DJ Kathleen has put together a great mix to get your gears spinning. Top off your new mixed tape with a cute CD cover by downloading them here. Either print them on a full page sticker sheet, or paste them to a CD. 

As always, we love to see what you come up with! If you missed Anahata's last blog post "Valentine's Day Love or Grinch?" you should definitely check it out.

The Paper Runway

I was in the airport in Atlanta and had just cleared the ever increasingly pleasant security checkpoints, when I stumbled upon something quite refreshing.  I had found an exhibit of hand crafted fashion pieces completely made of paper  It had been dubbed as the "Paper Runway".  I want to apologize in advance for the quality of the  photos in this post. I snapped them as quickly as I could with my Iphone while running late for my flight.  I would never usually post pictures of this quality, but I thought it was such a fun thing I had to share.

This Ruffled Tatoo Jacket was created by the artist Nancy VanDevender.  It is made form cotton an vinyl mixed paper with digital printing, and a combination of hand and machine stitching.  In my opinion this piece was able to be bold and extremely interesting while simultaneously remaining fashionable. 

 

When I saw this piece I thought Calvin Klein meets Sasquatch.  In actuality this artist made this out of used lottery tickets.

What else can I say but WOW!  This piece was created by Kirstin Demer.  Her usage of color, structure and presentation is truly amazing.  In my opinion this belongs in a gallery not an airport.