Besotted with…

 

They say there is no time moratorium on saying thank you. I am going to apply the same concept to blogging, we come, we go, we blog (sometimes). I jest, we have been busy, per usual. Me, I’m nursing a broken heart as my beloved pup passed on. The hurt is unreal right now, but I am trying to focus on all the happy with her and keep my mind occupied, so here we are with are current favorites…

I. We are thrilled to congratulate our friend, and calligrapher extraordinaire, Maybelle Imasa-Stukuls on her new book, ‘The Gift of Calligraphy’. It’s a beautiful 215 page, hardcover project based book. There are so many great projects to try, I don’t know where to start. Maybelle has truly out done herself with this offering.

II. Another exciting Maybelle related favorite is Melmoth by Sarah Perry.  Our Rare Bird font Specimen I (in Maybelle’s hand) was spotted on this soon to be released book cover. It’s not out yet, so Michelle and I downloaded the Serpent of Essex by the same author, which also has rave reviews (we’ll keep you posted).

III. With our Frenchie passing, we wanted to find ways to ease the pain with our 4 year old (death being a very hard concept for a Little). We have been reading this book and this book to her. We also ordered this Frenchie stuffie, a character from a fave book. The company that makes it also creates stuffies for other beloved characters such as Olivia and The Day the Crayons Quit.

IV. October is around the corner and I am going to participate in Inktober, it’s 31 days of drawing with ink and posting to share your work. I will be sharing on both my Instagram and Lettering Rx instagram. Is anyone else joining in?  There are daily prompts, but I think I am going to go with another daily theme. I still have on my goals for this year to draw a realistic face. I can draw ONE realistic eye and that’s about it, my progress is slow going, but we still have a few months left. The founder of Inktober is also a partner in the Society of Visual Storytelling which has a plethora of drawing classes including one on how to ink!

 

Besotted with…Our current faves!

We have been away for a bit, but only due to some technical difficulties we have been having with our web hosting, you know the really exciting stuff in life. We are back and have some faves though!

I. We are offering Custom Product Photo Editing sessions now at Foto Rx! We created this offering for those that feel they need extra hand holding when tackling their product photo editing. Our Product Editing Photoshop actions automate the process but we know that even opening Photoshop can feel intimidating. We will edit 3 images and record the session so you can see exactly how we would edit YOUR images and can reference back to the video.  For those that don’t have products to edit we are happy to offer the session for any of our other editing offerings!

II. I really, really want to try one of these new tinted facial oils. Supposedly it’s your skin, but better and it works as a serum so it’s performing double duty. Totally in.

III.  I just ordered this makeup kit as an early birthday present. I am on the fence, it feels super comfortable on, and my husband mentioned how great my skin looked, but Michelle thought it looked really heavy around my eyes (not what I was going for). They have a 60 day return policy, which is huge plus and other people have had AH-MAZING results. Here’s the how-to video. I will keep you posted…

IV. I can’t justify the price of this line but it sure does look like it would comfy, PJ’s cute enough to wear out?

V. Michelle just got this bag for her laptop, it fits a 13″ Macbook pro perfectly and hits the perfect note between put together but not trying too hard.

Besotted with…Friday Faves

 

star_orchid_graphite-on-cotton-paper-by-tristan-b

Another wonderful week down and hopefully too many to count to go! Loving the sunshine, seriously loving it, like I want to marry it L-O-V-E!

I. We keep seeing this beauty company come up all over the interwebs, looks like a great resource for clean beauty!

II. Looking for new artists to follow on Instagram?  We are loving Gideon Rubin’s memory based work.

III. This chocolate company is trying to change a whole industry practice one chocolate bar at a time (bonus–packaging is charming and it tastes great!)

IV. Instagram has a new ‘ask me’ feature where you can ask your fave follows questions in Stories!  We can’t wait to try it out, we think it will be great for businesses maybe not as fun for personal?

V. I just listened to a podcast on Orchiddelirium during the Victorian age. As the name implies it’s about intense orchid obsession and it has all the ingredients for a wonderful tale-passion, adventure, lawlessness. Really interesting listen, so much so that I started reading this book to coincide with my own delirium about orchiddelirium.

VI. Because this is just too good to not share, such inspiration in spades!

star orchid, graphite on paper by tristan b.

Besotted with Belinda Love Lee Paperie

Rare-Bird-Font-Foundry-x-Belinda-Love-Lee-Paperie

For those of you that don’t know, Michelle and I run a  font foundry (part of our desire to create a little creative empire, one must start somewhere in the empire building, no?) with said foundry, we are collaborating with the oh so talented Belinda Love Lee for a giveaway of a font of your choice (for you and a friend) and this gorgeous letterpress print from her new paperie. We love Belinda Love Lee’s minimal +warm aesthetic. Be sure to check out her beautiful work and feed!

//RESOURCES//

Rare Bird Font Foundry

Belinda Love Lee Paperie

Belinda Love Lee Instagram

Besotted with..Friday Faves

Gingko wave by tristan b.

Every week we write this I can not believe how fast the week flies by. Also, every week we write this I wonder when I am going to stop? Nobody else seems to be blogging anymore, but I can’t figure out a great way to get the info we want to share to you in a format that is as easy as this? We don’t Facebook, it just never resonated for us. We Instagram like lunatics (we actually have 5 Instagram accounts, 2 personal), but it doesn’t have that same ease. I personally feel like a last hold out of an archaic system, the information decimation equivalent of an individual still using cassette tapes while the rest of the world has moved on to streaming. So I ask, what blogs are you reading still?  If you are I’m going to take a guess that they are either home or food blogs, am I right?  Just curious, as I move forward with the times (and I do want to), I am trying to figure out what Besotted should be (if anything), just a little ponder…

I. This isn’t new eye candy, but it’s still incredibly creative and smile inducing!

II. I love a nude lip, and word on the street (love her or hate her) is that this is a really, really good one!

III. I am obsessed with this nature docuseries, OBSESSED. I can not believe all the perspectives they were able to capture from literally birds eye views to bees dancing, to snowflakes falling. I can’t even begin to understand how they did it or the time and skill it took to accomplish, just fabulous!

IV. What are your thoughts on this new Synograph process? Yay or nay?  I really liked the idea for these found art pieces…I am intrigued…

V. I am still going strong with the 100 day project (100 days of botanicals). I am almost on day 70 and can tell you it has been one of the best creative exercises I’ve done for myself in a long time. I now have a cohesive (ish) body of work that could potentially turn into a portfolio.  I can tell you it has been incredibly challenging with an already filled to the brim schedule, but I’ll share some things I think I did right, that have helped me stay on track. I chose a subject that I loved and that was readily available–botanicals. I didn’t limit it to just photographs, I included drawings and paintings (and whatever medium I desire to represent the botanicals). Both these two decisions have made it easier for me to continue to stay motivated and not feel like I am stuck in a creative rut. If you choose to do something like this you don’t need to share with anyone, but I would encourage it, because it has kept be accountable and I have been introduced to some new industries and faces from around the globe and that my friends is very exciting!

photo by tristan b. | shot with iphone | edited with foto rx co. fine art b+w photoshop actions