PAPAYA! BLOG

Kickstarter Site Helps Fund Creativity

I found Kickstarter's site today (via Angela Ritchie of Ace Camps), and wanted to spread the word to other creatives out there, who may be struggling to get their ideas out into the world by the way of project funding.

I've been looking around the site, getting inspired by all of the different creative ideas small and large this morning. There were burning man sculptures, documentaries, cook books, stickers, and amazing techological gadgets like this artist brush.

Topics range all over the board: food, fashion, drawing, painting, film, technology, etc...it's really worth checking out!

 

Just Arrived: Lunch Bags and Banners!

We just keep rolling out the new goodies this week! Allow me to introduce you to two of PAPAYA's newest members of the family: Banners and Lunch Bags. Our new glittered banners say either "Congratulations", "Happy Birthday" or "Love Who You Are"  and come packaged a tin with gold foil. The Banners have artwork on both sides but the letters are only on one so you can hang it up year-round!

We also received seven new styles of Insulated Lunch Bags.  Make your snacks sexy.
 

The Sketchbook Project: 2012

It's back! The 2012 Sketchbook Project has returned. This is a very cool art collaborative (similar to 1000 journals) that launched with great success last year. I have participated in both and it's awesome to feel like you've been part of an artistic/journaling/sketching community. I highly recommend signing up!!!

Just Arrived! Decorative Gift Bags and New Post Card Tin Styles

We've just received six beautiful new glittered Decorative Gift Bags and two new styles of Post Card Tins: Hello Friend and Caravan Dreams. Enjoy!

Everyday Beauty

I really enjoy capturing the little details around my daily life. They might seem small at that moment, but later, looking at an old photo, I can see, smell and almost taste where I was that day. Here are a few snippets of life this past week.

My backyard prepped for a little Papaya Ping Pong Party...a fun end of summer get together for us. I strung one of our new PAPAYA banners on the gable....can't wait until they arrive on Friday!!! 

And of course there was cake! xo

Finding time to be creative

(photo above is of Flora Bowley's art studio, check out her amazing little line with Papaya! here)

I want to pass on this fantastic article by treasured writer Anne Lamott (Author of Bird By Bird) that focuses on ideas and the true worth of making time, in the midst of our hurried lives to go to the depths of our creativity.

I begin with my core belief—and the foundation of almost all wisdom traditions—that there is nothing you can buy, achieve, own, or rent that can fill up that hunger inside for a sense of fulfillment and wonder. But the good news is that creative expression, whether that means writing, dancing, bird-watching, or cooking, can give a person almost everything that he or she has been searching for: enlivenment, peace, meaning, and the incalculable wealth of time spent quietly in beauty.

Then I bring up the bad news: You have to make time to do this. -Anne Lamott

It's ok to give up a night of watching the news, cleaning the house, or an hour of websurfing social media sites, to give yourself back the time we all complain we don't have enough of. Time to write a page of that novel, time to cook a gourmet meal, time to garden, time to make art. The things that inspire us, are the things we will remember 20 years from now, they are the true riches that we are all sitting on.

Anne Lamott's full article via sunset magazine on time lost and found.

 

Behind the Scenes: Creating a PAPAYA! Catalog

  
Last week work began on our new catalog. I started the project by collecting images, colors, and textures I thought would compliment our newest products (above). When I was finished and took a step back to look at the final product, it was obvious I was drifting towards a late summer "harvest" theme.  

Scouting a location was easy. For the last two years, I have stopped by dear friend Margaret's farm for a post-work glass of La Crema a few times a week. Usually there is something simmering on her stove and I stay for dinner. There is so much magic and beauty in these moments and it seemed like the perfect pallette for PAPAYA's imagery.

I jotted a few ideas for shots in my notebook, gathered a few things from PAPAYA! Living to add a little texture, and got to work.

It was over 100 degrees as I shuffled bags of beautiful PAPAYA! goodies around the yard, through blackberry bushes, over goats, around chickens, and under rows of sunflowers. 

After what seemed like an hour (had been 8) Margaret poured a glass ice water into a mason jar, added a lemon, and we sat in the hammock to watch the sunset. My brain was humming with that post-surge-of-inspiration feeling I love so much.

Inspired by Oliver Jeffers

My art crush of the week is Oliver Jeffers. I first discovered him as a children's book author but quickly learned that he is also a prolific illustrator, journal artist, writer and painter. 

The Heart and the Bottle: one of his many terrific books for kids...or big kids if you love the art.

I love this page from one of his many sketchbooks.

If you have a bookworm child in your life, I highly recommend gifting this book--wonderful!

 

I love it when my well loved journals look like this....always great to see other artists cherish them the same way.

 

Inspiration: Irene Suchocki's Eye Poetry

I'm completely taken with these dreamlike images by Irene Suchocki of wild horses running in Camargue, France. I love how she is able to evoke a magical feeling through experimental photography techniques both in camera and in the digital darkroom.

To see more of Irene's work take a visit to her website: Eye Poetry by Irene Suchocki

 

Friday Inspiration: Contemporary Papercuts

A little Friday inspiration... papercut (top) By Elsa Mora (Elista), and a new book PAPER CUTTING  (that she also designed the cover of) which includes another one of my top favorite artists, Rob Ryan. I'm looking forward to grabbing myself a copy!