luke haynes

my grandmother owned a small quilt shop in rural kansas, but the quilts i grew up with are quite different from those sewn by artist, luke haynes. luke’s modern interpretation of the quilting process is refreshingly unique, and i am excited to see how his work evolves. favorite pieces include abraham lincoln, woods, and red leaf (back). for show inquiries, commissions, or to purchase quilts, contact him here!



i chose these colors, because they are the colors that i see. the colors i pick out when i walk into a fabric store and am barraged by the entire palette of color on the walls knocking me over the head.

elsa mora

wow, where do i begin? elsa mora, aka elsita, is a cuban-born artist whose talent exceeds classification. i knew of her first as a paper artist, responsible for perfectly-curved edges and the conceptually-brilliant paper sculpture, fears, and el corazon. more recently, i’ve been following her—GASP personal style, which has left me equally enchanted and a tad underdressed. her creations span all media—here, a few of my favorite gems: el jardin de maria julia, missing garden, mimi, unlimited flower protection, felted necklace, emanuel, her way, uchi…i really could go on forever. OH, and did i mention her new book?! for updates on all things elsita or to purchase her lovely creations, stop by her main blog.



here i did a selection of colors that i love. but the truth is that i love all the colors in the rainbow. to me each color is a door to a new world, each one of them has a personality, a language and i’m always curious to see what they “have to say”.

lindsey manwell

lindsey manwell is a san francisco children’s book illustrator who creates some of the most enchanting scenes. her soft little characters appear to lead such charmed lives. my favorite illustrations include windup, tort, shelf, and one of her new characters, wart. you can follow her blog for recent work and activities.



i don’t really know why anyone is drawn to the colors that they are drawn to, but i do know that the most emotion for me, from any picture, comes from the color compilation. i’ll never forget seeing sargent’s fumée d’ambre gris—it was perhaps this image that made me become an artist all together, it was that powerful. i tend towards lighter, muted colors all over with highlights of deep, rich color.

christine berrie

i am thrilled to bring you glasgow-based illustrator, christine berrie. i am fascinated by her drawing collections. hooray for microcars, alarms, and my absolute favorite—cameras! if cameras aren’t your thing, check out her etsy shop, which is filled with all sorts of carefully-rendered treasures.



christine’s influences* london markets, bric-a-brac, flickr, vintage picture books, old buildings, glasgow city centre, antique shops, vintage posters, printed ephemera and found scraps, tickets, retro film posters, london underground and the tate modern.

*via comarts.

romain philippon

i find romain philippon’s inconscience incredibly captivating. i love examining the photos for trinkets and other clues to personality and profession, while the owners lie sleeping. i enjoy seeing people through romain’s eyes—everyone is so real, yet hopeful. other favorites include a0003b, a0018, and a0007. romain lives in réunion, an island amidst the indian ocean. for inspiration, check out his blog.



to me these colors mean asia, africa, europe, south america, and reunion island (where i live).

monina velarde

monina velarde is a chicago-based graphic designer who recently won
the aiga command x competition—congratulations! i am a fan of her lift airlines identity, this superfun new year’s resolution generator, and cleanse packaging, which you can view on her site. you can follow monina’s work…and possibly score some tasty-looking baked goods
on her blog!



one of my favorite projects that i’ve gotten to work on was designing the identity for the kansas city art institute school of design. i worked on it
with my good friend, jessica bayer. we took the basic elements of swiss design, the fundamentals of what the kcai design program was founded on, and reinterpreted them to fit within today’s design culture. we derived our color palette from swiss poster design. the colors used were primary green, yellow, red, blue and black. these colors were then updated by us to fit contemporary design.

tiffany shih

tiffany shih designed the most fantastic bra packaging i've ever seen. what i wouldn’t give to be an apple. i am also fond of her how to be a texan poster, which you can use to make your own hat—yeehaw! i can’t wait to see what this girl comes up with post-graduation.



my work tends to be obnoxiously bright, bold and loud. i think it’s very reflective of my personality—not to say that i annoy everyone that i come across (although friends and family might say otherwise), but i’m not afraid to be goofy and sing loudly on the streets if i feel the sudden urge to. i’ve also been told by the roommates that they can hear me laughing in my room through the window from a couple of streets away.

…yeah…i’m one of those people.

happy new year!

thank you to all of the wonderful creative people who sent me colors in 2009…there were over 100 palettes! it looks like blue is still the favorite. here’s to 2010!