Completely forgot to mention I've been in Tokyo on my birthday in August earlier this year and found out it was nothing like the Lost in Translation movie. It was so much more. And so much better. Nothing not to like, so I won't bother you with stories about how amazing every turn around the corner was, and how polite and helpful everyone was to us - two lost souls having no clue about the local culture. But as a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some (and the rest is on my travel account on instagram at @kotryna_meets_the_world)
Some projects are harder than others. Some are more time-consuming. This was both, but it also was a lot of fun.
Not everyday one gets an email describing in detail something called "Leaky Guts Syndrome" but that was exactly what Experience Life Magazine attached to an email assigning me for this project. There were a lot of small scale illustrated icons assigned, and what I've understood during this process was that small scale doesn't mean less time for generating ideas (normally I offer 3 for every illustration assigned). So though this was a stressful marathon with strict deadlines, great art direction by Lydia Anderson made this so much easier.
I am always very thankful for an opportunity to work on a subject that I've never worked before and in this particular case - allowing a conceptual illustrator like me to enter the field normally occupied by great illustrators specializing in realistic anatomical drawings.
Here are almost all of the illustrations, first bunch describing ways to fix one's guts by healthy eating and bigger changes in one's lifestyle, and the second bunch focuses on anatomic functions of different parts of the digestive tract.
Oi folks, sorry, there is simply too much work for "one new illustration" updates, but here are few editorial illustrations on different topics for various clients:
food coming on a table from different types of farms for (altered version published by) Zest Maine, (full page);
oil funds arts for Fort Worth Weekly, (cover);
and A Game of Choices (energy supply chain) for Deloitte University Press.
Though I rarely post about other people's creations over here, but I looked around and realized I have quite a bunch of talented friends / colleagues around the world, so I'm using the occasion to start a series of posts on these people and other inspiring creatives whose work really speaks to me.
The first one is Karina Manucharyan, my dear friend from Yerevan, Armenia. I'm super excited to see a person who has enough of courage to drop a proper graphic design job for pursuing her dream of entering a global illustration industry. She started with a children book and tons of hand drawn botanic illustrations, that are available to see at her portfolio http://karinamanucharyan.com/ and really strikingly gorgeous Facebook and Instagram pages full not only of her latest work, but also inspiration and process photos.
A conscious naiveness mixed with really properly done observational drawings gives some true honesty and authenticity to the whole thing, and in case you are looking for an illustrator for any hand drawn lifestyle / food / gardening / children's book project, drop her a line: karinamanucharyan @ gmail . com
Pew Pew! My biggest editorial illustration gig ever: Weekend (Going out Guide) cover for the Washington Post! The over the top ice cream bowl illustration is based on things to do at the Potomac river region (full article 'Summer bucket list: 20 tips for a splendid season' available here). My biggest thanks goes to Christopher Meighan, The Washington Post Deputy Design Director for Features for great art direction on the piece and endless patience with me. The next big thanks and massive compliments go to everyone involved into layout design so wonderfully designed around the illustration.
after years of digging into folk and modern ornaments, historic costume, fashions, and patterns, and various other decorative forms, I finally found some courage to do some of my own ornamental illustrations, and so this is how "Gourmet" greeting card series were born. These are aimed to give with gift baskets and other delicatessen or wrapped together with
home textile, perfumes, candles, ceramics, colorful glass, or other
unique gifts.
So here are some of the cards, and you can find the rest of them at my ETSY store.
Long story told short, it all started with me traveling from
Moscow to my home-country Lithuania, re-packing a bag for a weekend in
the country-side, then re-packing a bag for a short 2-days trip to the
Lithuanian seaside, Nida in particular, and then coming bag, walking in
Vilnius old-town during my birthday and later that day going to the
historical capital of Lithuania, Trakai, losing my bag there (with keys,
debit cards, cash, pretty new cell phone, etc.) and finding it at six
o'clock in the morning the next day.
Happy birthday, me.
Country-side weekend
reading Anna Karenina and drinking tea in the terrace, walking to the lake, cooking mushrooms, eating berries, sleeping in the hammock, breathing fresh air, taking a Russian-hot-steam-bath, and just resting my mind without a laptop, e-mails and anything like that.
Taking the long way
Traveling from Vilnius to the seaside on the long way (by the Nemunas river-side, not by the highway) and looking to my home-country as a tourist, visiting old historical places such as Veliuona church , Raudone castle and others and stopping to eat in Sturmai restaurant, great great place to eat fish-soup cooked by a local witch who brings it to you, puts on the table, takes her hot coal-stick, asks you to think of a wish, and then puts that burning stick into the soup for a second and leaves you to eat it. Food was great by the way.
Sea-side: NIDA
Nida Nida Nida.. what a great place to rest your mind, to be lazy, take a walking or cycling tour and get inspired. A place where Thomas Mann came to rest and write too, as well as tons of German seniors do now. This is not a place to go for clubbing or any other nigh-life, but it has clean and pretty empty beaches, amazing view from really high dunes, where it feels like being on the moon, also it has a pretty original cultural details that you wouldn't sea anywhere else, such as wooden colorful weathercocks that used to work as a code for what a family earned (how many houses, ships, etc they had). Not a cheap place, I should say, but it worth every penny spent there because after few days it feels like taking a month-long holiday. Switch your internet off, rent a lounge in the beach, buy some ice-cream or local smoked-fish, close your eyes and let Nida take care of you. At least that was what I did.
On a way home
Again, taking a long way home from Nida, visiting Joudkrante and its Witch-Hill full of wooden sculptures, and then taking a trip to the Hill of Crosses near Siauliai - magical place even for those as me, who has almost nothing in common with the actual religion. I found it inspirational and uncanny at the same time, but it worth visiting and at least taking a glance to it as to the historic place related not only with Christianity but with freedom and independence of Lithuania, a symbol of resistance against Soviet Empire. (for more about it, read here)
Vilnius-Trakai
So after long trips all across Lithuania, it was time to stop and think, take a cup of coffee in Vilnius' old-town, visit a Contemporary Art Center (and see some painted/graphic art by one of my favorite artists Laisvyde Salciute), then go to historic town of Trakai, eat local meet-pies there for dinner and say: happy birthday, me.
Its been a while since my last life-style post, so this one will be dedicated to my recent trips to Moscow, as now I live sort of 'one month here, one over there' life and as much as I hate airports and not having my constant work place, my own desk and my books with me all the time, I think I started to enjoy this lifestyle as much as I can and I even admit that recently Moscow was friendlier to me than ever. So I would like to introduce you to some of my favorite places and events over there:
One of my favorite cafes in Moscow - cozy Stolle cafe that serves best PIEROGI (pies) in the world! The next best thing after food there is interior of the
cafe that was inspired by interiors of Russian cities of
the end of XIX and beginning of XX century: oak parquetry, solid wooden
doors, cast brass chandeliers, leathern sofas, natural tones facing. While sitting and eating chicken-pie 'Kurnik' I sort of waited for Chekhov to enter the room. The best thing about this place is its democratic family-type atmosphere, very cozy, very tasty.
' "Usadba.Jazz" is a festival that takes
place during the first weekend of summer in the manor Arkhangelskoe near
Moscow.Festival has five stylistically different stages: Parter (mainstream), Aristocrat (traditional jazz and avangard), Caprice (swing, blues, rockabilly), Waterfront (acid-jazz, cool-jazz, dj's) and LiveJournal
(rock, funk , ethno). Each stage offers full program of performances.
In addition, you will find many different interactive areas, playground,
art objects, exhibitions, fairs, coffee shops.
Arkhangelskoe is a palace and park
ensemble of classicism, a monument of Russian culture, the estate that
once belonged to knyaz Golitsyn, then Yusupov. The artistic value of the
estate, intended "for fun, not for profit", had already been noted in
the XVIII century. Arkhangelskoe has always been a center of arts and
social life. And in the beginning of the XXI century jazz took place in
here. Jazz integrated into the heart of the Russian Country Estate and
made us look with new eyes at palaces and scenic beauty, enjoy the riot
of colors and mixing genres, savoring every drop of art like good wine,
dive into the mystery of new music. '
My favourite act personally from what I saw at USADBA JAZZ was Georgian diva and an energetic life-performer Nino Katamadze: (sorry, the only proper sounding video I could find was a life-act from the previous (not recent) Usadba Jazz festival, but I hope you'll get the idea). And no, I don't understand Georgian, but it still sounds great to me..
MOSCOW ITSELF
There is not enough place in the whole blogasphere to show or describe the beauty of what is left from the Moscows old-town and central area - a mix something European and something Asian, of something imperial and grandiosic and something that chaces that grandiosity. A mix of something that could be called Soviet futurism and something, that was a Soviet reality.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT
After almost three years of visiting Moscow I finally took a ride on a public bus! Pretty cozy after all :)) even if it was a midnight in the middle of somewhere outside the metro-area. Not sure if I took a bus if I were alone at night in Moscow but anyway, a driver seemed very friendly :))
But ofcourse there is nothing as Moscow Metro, starting with names of central stations - Chekhovskaya, Pushkinskaya, Mayakovskaya.. and ending with gorgeous interiors full of marble, ornamental decor, sculptures, paintings, murals, etc., its like a history lesson in live action:
photo taken from http://www.trekexchange.com/tours/131
photo taken from http://www.226-design.com/review/blogimages/2008/1116-moscow-metro.jpg
photo taken from http://www.thisarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/moscow-metro-subway-art.jpg
photo taken from http://www.thisarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/masterpiece-architecture-in-public-area.jpg
but as beutiful as metro in Moscow is, there is nothing better than a train that takes you home. Or at least a train that takes you back to the airport :) bye bye, Moscow, for now, see you soon!
Its been a while since I've last time written a post on my personal life here with no self-promo message behind it :) And its been a really great and active weekend here in Moscow, exactly what i needed just few days before leaving back to Vilnius for Christmas. So I decided to share some of it with you.
So it all started with a lecture in the GARAGE - a contemporary culture
center here in Moscow. Sorry, I didn't make any photos there, and its
pretty hard to find some online, so this is all i could get:
Before culture came to the GARAGE
Really nice cafe inside the GARAGE - cozy cozy cozy, well designed details, friendly costs and no complaints on food or service from me.
I've attended a public lecture/discussion on art and design relation in the lecture-hall, then bought a book that I couldn't leave in a book store - Hieronymus Bosch / Garden of earthly delights/ by Hans Belting, published by Prestel - can't wait till I get a spare hour for it at least in an airport in a week, and then had a cup of coffee with people from the lecture at the Garage cafe, and moved to the Don Jonne pub to celebrate friends birthday and have a drink, some food, and one more drink between silly drunk talks about art, design and life in Russia in general.
Best food I've ate at John Donne - chicken/ham sandwiches with potatoes. Photos re-blogged from http://joffreyp.livejournal.com/tag/moscow%20pub
And finally, after getting up late after that long Saturday night on Sunday morning, having a slow breakfast, then going for food-shopping, doing some house-work and etc., the TIME FOR THEATER-TRIP IN MOSCOW HAS COME! ta-daaaa!! Finally: saw Chekhov's play 'The Cherry Garden' in the Sovremenik theater (Московский театр "Современник") - classical Russian theater in Moscow - one of my dreams came true finally. Loved the atmosphere, actors, and public - it seems most of the people in the audience knew where they came and what did they come for - saw more than few fans of classical theater - a house full of snobs hating contemporary theater and expressing 'finally no blood and meat on the stage' sort of ideas - could it get any better? :D
Sovremenik theater (Московский театр "Современник")
So to conclude: Design-talks, Pub, friends, Bosch, Chekhov, and a cup of cacao before Monday. Too good to be true. It reminded me all reasons why I love Moscow so much. Nice way to end a really intense week: glass of bear in one hand and a theater-binocular in other one. Going back to Vilnius in a week.
Extremly cozy weekend at my friends home at Luberci, an edge-part of Moscow. Late dinner of home-made pizza, chess, drunk-drawings, sleeping on a couch, laughing, eating, drinking, talking.
drunk team-drawings on 'out of the box'
theme and chess while waiting for pizza.
Home-made PIZZA!! I have to confess, i didn't participate in cooking it although I've promised to. The good side is that by not participating I didn't ruin it all - it was SO GOOD.
Outside and inside.
Surprisingly cozy interior of the Soviet-era block-house.
MMMMmmmm..!! finally found some time to cook fish on steam. its a pity that IKEA had only this thingy for steam-cooking, but i did my best with what i could get, it just took me longer. Pieces of salmon, spices, lemon, lemon, and some more lemon. No oil, no fat. Served on the top of little gem lettuce leafs.
i finally got a chance to enjoy short holidays outside and inside Vilnius. Starting with a country-side style i ended up drinking wine in Vilnius' oldtown. One of the best birthdays ever - so calm and relaxing - i really feel i'm getting older :) but the most important thing is people who surrounded me that long weekend.
