The Psychedelic Illustrations of Nicole Claveloux

Nicole Claveloux was born in 1940 in Saint-Etienne and moved to Paris to begin work as an illustrator in 1966. She produced many illustrations for children's books, illustrated for the French version of Heavy Metal magazine, Métal Hurlant, and had a popular comic strip called Grabote. Her work was championed by publisher Harlin Quist, who hired her as an illustrator for many books, including The Teletrips of Alala (1970), from which comes a great deal of the images in this post. Also featured are illustrations from The Geranium on the Window Sill Just Died but Teacher You Went Right On (1971; see more about it here), Gertrude et la Sirène (1971), and a version of Alice in Wonderland: Les Aventures d'Alice au pays des merveilles (1974).

These illustrations have been sitting around in my "favorite images" folders for years now (before I even knew where they came from, I'm afraid), and I just received The Teletrips of Alala as a sweet gift from G - so amazing! I love her colorful, fantastical artwork. I recently read a comment from someone that said "she's like Heinz Edelmann's sister!" - true indeed; I can definitely see the Yellow Submarine connections in style. I would add, of course, with an imaginative touch all her own!

Claveloux made this illustration of Romeo and Juliet for a 1971 poster that a Danish bank offered as a gift to young couples when opening an account.



In Betweens

Some experiments with carving rubber stamps and a quick painting of a cardinal (in anticipation of the colder months ahead) that I made just before our move this weekend.

Now all of my things remain in their temporary boxed-up homes, but I can hardly wait to get everything unpacked and put together - especially the room that will be my studio space! I keep saying this to everyone I see and talk to about the process of moving, but I just really wish I had the magic witchy powers of Samantha from Bewitched and could have the whole house put together perfectly with just a twitch of the nose. It's pretty overwhelming. On the bright side, it's so nice to think about a fresh start and new ways to arrange old favorites, examining and reconsidering what we really love and what we may have outgrown.

Anyway, more updates to come once the dust has settled - but in the meantime, check out these beautiful dresses on display at the Biba exhibition in the Brighton Museum as blogged about by Miss Peelpants. Gorgeous, everything - from the clothing to the lovely illustration by Barbara Hulanicki! Wish I could be there to see it all in person!

And another for any other lovers of vintage style out there (or fashion history, or just plain old history itself), a hearty recommendation to see the film out now about Diana Vreeland - The Eye Has to Travel. It is eye candy in each and every scene!  

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Program Progress

One very special aspect I forgot to mention about the wedding in the previous post was that I was privileged to be able to create the design for their ceremony program! Abbey is an old friend of mine from college, and I just loved being able to paint this for her. The event took place on Jesse's family farm in Maryland which also happened to be where the couple met, and I've been fortunate enough to have been able to spend a bit of time up there as well! It's such a beautiful place right near the water; gently rolling hills and lots of trees, and maybe best of all - there are ponies! So it seemed perfect that they wanted to incorporate this scenery with falling autumn leaves into the image of the program cover. Drawing and painting the leaves was the best part!

The image above is a shot of the program in progress. It's always so fun to see projects start to come alive!

›〉〉〉 Autumn Moments 〈〈〈‹

One of my goals for the future is to try and really get better about taking photos to capture life's events and experiences. This fall, October in particular, has been extremely busy - and while that has been a good thing, I don't have much by way of pictorial documentation to show for it. I am content in the moments to just LIVE them and not worry about or spend much time documenting it all, but it's afterwards that having those pictures is always appreciated. Nowadays things like instagram make taking and sharing photos easier than ever, but sometimes the quality doesn't translate from phone to screen. However, there is much more to speak of in terms of the positive... and having access to a camera that is just about always on me is at least a good small step.

Above is a handmade teepee on the site of a gorgeous wedding we attended earlier in October. We played records (mostly G, as I came down with the most awful sudden migraine out there in the woods, ugh!) and did projections with colored oils & water against the large white surface. Forest magic! Its inside was lined with beautiful patterned blankets and pillows, and hanging from the top was an iron chandelier of candles, making a perfect haven of warmth. The next weekend found my friend Mary and me selling some artwares outside at the Halcyon Vintage rummage sale. Truly a beautiful day of sun and friendly faces!

And at last, at another wedding this past weekend, when we stepped into a filter of fall.

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Here & There

Charles Swedlund

Radio silence...
has it really been since July that I last posted? I hate to state the typical "time flies," but it has. In many ways it feels like I was just welcoming the new beginning of 2012 (maybe many of us feel this way?), and now here we are with the days darkening earlier, earlier, earlier, and the months are drawing to a close, soon to curl themselves up into winter. (!)

I have thought often of this blog and of how poorly I've kept up with it, thinking of it along the lines of just one more place that needs tending to among so many platforms to virtually share these days.
It feels like it has been necessary for me to keep my head present in the physical realm as much as possible recently and focus on thinking, making, doing. Dreaming, of course, always.

Onward and forward - I hope to be back soon with news and updates!
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Meanwhile, some other places of internet interest:

+ This interview with textile designer Isabel Wilson, via Moon to Moon.
I love what she says about seeing her designs out in the world: "I have been doing this long enough now that I see prints that I have designed all over the place, whether my name is on it or not. There is a romance in seeing my print on a stranger. There it is and there it goes. That’s it, you know?"

+ This incredible story about a Texas postman who is also a Hermès designer.

+ These aura portraits, via the Sphinx & the Milky Way. So beautiful, and such an interesting concept!

And at last, to leave you for now with this fantastic video (click on its link in youtube to read more information about it!) . . .

Colorful crystalline visions originally used for the treatment of mental disorders: following attempts to correlate color with musical notes, and titled with one of the most beautiful words I've ever heard...

Auroratone.

⪥: Maria Calderon :⪥

Thanks to an incredibly warm and humbling blog post by Amy of Daughter of the Sun, I have been introduced to a wealth of tremendously inspirational artistic women. Maria Calderon is one of those immense talents, and her colorful mystical paintings and installations are just stunning. They touch on indigenous elements as well as beautiful representations of present existence.

As Amy wrote, "Her work reminds us where we come from and where we are going."

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Such gorgeous work! More paintings and information can be found here:

Maria Calderon

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The Wearable Art of Kaisik Wong

San Francisco designer Kaisik Wong was the pioneer of wearable art, and his work remains incomparably exquisite and dazzling! His pieces, mostly entirely handmade without patterns, were brilliant statements of escapism during a tumultuous time and era when handmade clothing became popular as an expression against materialism; a celebration of uniqueness. "He really bridged the gap between the hippie movement and the glam-rock movement," wrote Jon Alain Guzik, author of Radiate: The Life and Work of Kaisik Wong.

Wong designed extravagant costumes that channeled ancient (and future!) civilizations: combining kimonos, tunics, tapestries, piping and padding, layers of sequins, embroideries and appliqués, shapes of ancient Egypt, Mayan and Chinese textiles among others, to concoct a magical fusion of fashion. “I like the progressive state, the forward movement, the concept of the Aquarian Age,” he said.

His glittering visions are trips to different lands and dimensions, otherworldly fantasies... and as can be proven by their viewing these decades later, truly timeless!

Betty Davis wearing a Kaisik Wong design for her 1974 album They Say I'm Different

From the restrospective exhibit of Wong's designs, presented by Cameron Silver of Decades in Los Angeles, 2002



"A still from the incomplete film project Monkey, which was to be a collaboration between Steven Arnold and Kaisik Wong, pictured here in make-up and costume as the story's protagonist, Monkey."

"I think the whole body should be a jeweled, radiating beauty."

Kaisik Wong: 1950-1990

Other articles & posts:

Living Dreams of Visions - LA Weekly

Kaisik Wong: Still Dazzling - LA Times

Steven Arnold Archive

justoneeye.com - Kaisik Wong Wearable Dreams

Gerhard Richter's Overpainted Photographs

Beautiful spontaneous bursts of texture, blurring the lines between abstraction and reality.

Gerhard Richter: Overpainted Photographs

created 1986 - present