Off To A Warmer Place...

Hopefully I will be able to stand up on my board more than I will be off of it!


I will be taking a LOT of photos! Get your smiles on, jungle monkeys.

Ahhh, fresh, locally-grown coffee every morning with breakfast. In the great outdoors.

NY Times Wine Club.

I noticed this logo for the NY Times Wine Club on the back of one of the sections of the Saturday paper a couple of weeks ago and instantly loved it. Even though it's a wine glass (an icon that is fairly prevalent when dealing with wine, of course) I thought it was done in a clean and clever way.

NY Surf Film Festival.

Getting ready for our upcoming (read: three more days!) vacation to Costa Rica where we will be taking in the great outdoors in the form of surfing and any other outdoorsy activity we can get our feet on, I thought it would be only appropriate to check out the 2nd Annual New York Surf Film Festival (love their logo!). We have watched a couple of movies already at home in prep for the trip – Endless Summer was of course one of them.

Maira Kalman & The City of NY.

Always something I look forward to seeing on the NY Times homepage the latest from artist Maira Kalman. Some of my favorites from her illustrated story "For Goodness' Sake" are above. The story is about her visit to various city offices and departments. Definitely read and see the whole piece here.

Nora Thompson: Illustrator.

It's almost that time of year for the Society of Illustrator's Children's Book Show. Almost. In eager preparation I found a fantastically fun children's illustrator, Nora Thompson, whose work I wanted to share with you. One thing about her site that I loved is that she shows her sketches and then the final art. There is something wonderful about seeing the bare bones of a piece of art. I have posted them next to each other so you can see.

Polaroids & Pinholes.

Some fun photography from the UK via Polaroids and Pinholes on Trunkt. The artist uses some unique techniques to get these desired effects. A la this one about the first photo, The Bud and the Bloom:

"This photographic print is a section of virginia creeper vine, ripe with seed berries. The image is part of my darkroom photogram series - created with light from a camera enlarger directly onto colour negative paper, processed in RA4 colour chemistry and contact-printed to create the positive image."

Paul Smith for Evian.

From the Dieline today. LOVE. IT.

MAC & Artist Inspiration.

by Richard Phillips for MAC

by Maira Kalman for MAC

by Marilyn Minter for MAC

A few weeks ago I found myself in a MAC store waiting to get my make-up done for my friend Kristin's wedding. Though I love the clean design and layout of MAC stores, I rarely go in them. Spending almost 90 minutes (between the wait for the artist and actually getting my make-up done) in the store my eyes had a treat. I noticed up on the back wall was a life-size piece of art from Richard Phillips in striking bold colors (shown above). I asked the artist, Dana, who was working on my eye make-up at the moment, what that was all about. He told me that MAC took three artists - Richard Phillips, Maira Kalman, and Marilyn Minter – to inspire colors for the Fall collections. What a fabulous idea! Art imitates life or now here, life imitating art!

Caitlin's Illustrations: A New Site!

I couldn't help myself and have to blog about my EXTRAORDINARILY talented bff, Caitlin, and her new website (hot off the HTML press as of yesterday) that showcases her work in a most perfect light. I am proud to say that I know of almost all of Caitlin's work as we met before the first day of school when we were in all of the same freshman foundation art classes at Syracuse. Since then, I have watched her amazing watercolor paintings flourish in the apartment we all (with Kathy) shared post-college for almost 5 years. Some of my favorites are above but I highly recommend checking them ALL out.

AdamsMorioka.

How I love a good website. One that is clean, easy to easy but at the same time a little bit fun without being drowned down with annoying Flash techniques. The site for AdamsMorioka, a design firm in both LA and New York and whose work I love, has a site that fits the bill! A fun and EASY user experience. Click here to play around a bit.

Morning Coffee & Tea.

I love mugs. They remind me of the morning and homeyness and just warmth. Only good things come in mugs: coffee, tea, hot chocolate, soup. One who waxes poetic about mugs should have a pretty good collection of these breakable wares so it shames me to admit that I actually only have two mugs in our our kitchen cabinets. TWO! And they were part of Matt’s gift two birthdays ago (fabulous “Brooklyn” mugs from one of my favorite NYC shops, Fishs Eddy...reason behind the gift? At the time I noticed my new boyfriend didn’t own ANY mugs). Limited shelf space has prevented me from adding to this collection but recently I have been thinking about adding to this. I want to be able to invite people over for brunch and let them drink out of fabulous ceramic mugs too! Perusing Etsy, I found these quirky ones from the shop Mr. PS based out of England. I think they would look great displayed on a narrow shelf on the kitchen wall (thus not cramming cabinet space and allowing mugs to be art! Everyone wins!).

Spacecraft.

Welcome earthlings to a new place called Spacecraft. Noooo! Not THAT kind of spacecraft but literally a space where you can MAKE crafts. What a great concept for all of those DIYers east of Manhattan who have little apartments and lots of ideas. Discovered this today via the Martha Stewart Crafts Dept. blog and am pretty excited to check it out the next time I am in Williamsburg. Perhaps a Michaels Crafts store is on its way to Brooklyn, even if it was at the end of the Q train?
photos from MS Crafts Dept

Michel Comte for John Richmond.

Looking through photographer reps' studios websites and/or physical portfolios is one of my favorite "chores" (and I say that completely tongue-in-cheek because I LOVE looking at photography!) that MUST be done as a graphic designer/art director. Currently I am looking for inspiration for some new beauty visuals and one of the first sites I checked out (is one of my favorite photo reps) is Walter Schupfer which is where I just gazed longingly through Michel Comte's photography for John Richmond's fashion line. Loving the energy and of course the cropping the art director did (who? I don't know).

Carnival...on Labor Day...in Brooklyn?!

Being Labor Day yesterday, the day was ours to do with it whatever we wanted. From driving to the beach on Saturday, Matt and I had seen the police barriers getting set up at the side of one of the main roads in Brooklyn as well as various Caribbean flags being sold out the back doors of various vans. A little Googling told us that what we saw was the preparations of the 42nd walking/dancing/running of the West Indian Day Parade. Being it's the one time of year where Matt can get one of his favorites, jerk chicken, just a few blocks from our apartment we were off to the parade in the early afternoon. He mildly prepared me for what I would be seeing and it did not disappoint. The bright and bold colors of the many flags of the West Indies plus the costumes being worn by parade marchers/dancers was quite amazing as well as the smells and sights of all of the food vendors (don't fret, we ate the much-anticipated jerk chicken). I was so glad I had brought my camera! And of the many photos taken, I put some together for you, dear readers, above. Enjoy and I highly recommend taking a trip out to Brooklyn for it next year. This year had an attendance of almost 3 million spectators and marchers combined.

Shake Shack!

Pretty much anyone in NYC who has ever walked by Madison Square Park (since 2004) has surely noticed the lengthy line of hungry New Yorkers (or tourists who are in-the-know) waiting outside of the wind-powered metal-sided "shack" that is Danny Meyer's Shake Shack. This is not new news here, people. However, your hostess here at Capturing the Seven has never eaten at this ALWAYS recommended "restaurant" known to forever be found in lists of "top burger" in NYC.

This is not because I am behind on the times but because my dietary choices had been contradictory to what they are currently (thank you, meat-eating boyfriend). Up until about a year and a half ago, I hadn't consumed red meat or pork products in almost 10 years. I can hear all of you gasping right now. I know what you are thinking, "but she went to Spain last year. Spain! The land of the cured pig product!" Well, thankfully, Matt had had his carnivorous influences on me since our 5th date or so and by the time I arrived in Barcelona, I was ready for the jamón. Mmmm. Jamón. Sorry, sidetracked by the thought of the delectable Spanish cured pig product.

Long story short, I eat red meat every now and then without a second thought. I must say, eating at restaurants is much more enjoyable now. Enter now: the burger at Shake Shack! It was INCREDIBLE (and how great are the graphics on their website? You know I had to turn this into a design-related post)! Though Audra and I waited in line about an hour it was decided between the two of us that it was worth every minute. Delicious. I now understand what Kathy has been swooning about it since the first day she went.