Fashion Blogs

I love blogs especially fashion blogs because I am a sewer who loves everything fashion related.

1) http://www.garancedore.fr/en/category/streetstyle-photos/: Garance Dore as she calls herself is a fashion illustrator. She contributes to many magazines internationally. In her blog she give styling tips and documents tidbits she finds on her travels and experiences in the fashion world. I like it because it is a French perspective on fashion and I get to practice my French by attempting to read her blog in French.

2) http://facehunter.blogspot.com/: I like to check out facehunter before I get dressed to inspire myself or when I just want to mindlessly look at interesting pictures. The blogger also has a myspace television show that is worth checking out on a study break. He travels the world and takes pictures of peoples dress. What is cooler than that?

Mind Maps

I Google-imaged mind maps and looked through quite a few. (This image is from another blog https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5OMqfHwPJH_iKmbKsCKqzj-ztrMFiqSNQcjrxqFKfSQ5C7hs9utwbxc5Q1zZtmIf0NpA550LA9iRqEM7z0f0YygAMFXlrnbQzEWf5zs5qH727PaYah2p6gGy7tBuwY4NCHUIZIst8KH9A/s1600-h/Mind+Map.png.) I found this one to be the most interesting because it is very true to life and the creative process of an artist. In addition it contains many of the principles that I learned in a foundation class in the University of Arizona School of Art. Specifically, “applying knowledge and experience to develop multiple solutions, make decisions in the absence of rules, and work with in the constraints of a medium”. These principles were stressed by my teacher (Gary Setzer) in a Space class that I took last semester. Applying these principles makes better art and a stronger artist. I experienced this first hand when I had to work with wood. It was a medium that I was completely unfamiliar with and the tools like chop saws, ban saws, etc… were very intimidating to me. But as I worked on the piece and familiarized myself with the tools and the medium the final product was more than just my creation. I valued the process as much as the final product. I had to solve problems, over come fears, and create a piece with a medium that I would have never worked with willingly.

I also found truth in the section that says, “Explore values, understand cultural change, and engage with 21st century life and culture”. I find that I gain the most inspiration from the world around me. My observations and experiences translate themselves into what I create literally and figuratively, depending on the design and medium.

I was inspired my just looking at so many mind maps. I enjoyed exploring and following how different people think. I have done mind maps myself for projects and they are very helpful for organizing ideas and even generating them. I think it relates to the Saul Bass video Why Man Creates when he says, “ideas come from fooling around”. Mind mapping is an alternative to just letting ideas happen. It is a catalyst for inspiration.