Sean and I are headed out right about now to Seattle for a week and a half. I’m so looking forward to having a break from the city and to being by the water. In honor of that, I’m leaving you with these gorgeous prints by Paul Roden and Valerie Lueth for the Tugboat Printshop. These are all from the Deep Blue Sea Woodcuts series. We’ll be back with new posts on August 4th – see you then!

Via Modish.

My friend Betty sent me a link to the Pattern Foundry a while ago:

The Pattern Foundry is an archive of decorative patterns, open for anyone to license and use, created by designers and artists from around the world. The uses of these patterns are not prescribed; they can be applied anywhere and to anything. All patterns must be licensed (payed for) through the Pattern Foundry to be used anywhere.

The patterns are available for use in 3 different ways; digital download, print-per-order and an evolving preprinted range of products.

Total current number of patterns in the foundry is 82.

Unfortunately the prices aren’t listed on the website, but there are some great patterns in the Foundry!

The Shiny Squirrel has some great new prints by artist Katy Horan in the shop.

From the artist’s website: Katy Horan’s paintings and drawings are meant to be the long lost folk art from an imaginary world. Based on a wide variety of interests and influences, her work tells stories about the characters and communities that populate this world.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang is not your typical graphic novel. There are no crazy action sequences, aliens, femme fatales, or any of the standard comic book fare. Instead the book has a genuine take on growing up asian-american with a twist of fate and history. The book weaves the stories of its three separate protagonists together in their fates and purposes. It was a great (albeit short) read and it has won a ton of awards. Teachers have even adopted it as a tool to help teach young adults about multiculturalism. I highly recommend it.

American Born Chinese at Amazon

Jean posted the amazing work of Dan Hiller on Notcot…I love the feel of his illustrations – vintage with a twist.

Nick Dewar’s illustrations exude a retro charm in their linework and blocks of color. The smoothness of the paintings gives them an almost dreamlike quality. Check out the portfolio page and prints available at Thumbtack Press.

Kitsune Noir has a preview of Dan Funderburgh’s show Fellow Traveler at the Riviera Gallery in Brooklyn. The show showcases the work of three Midwestern transplants to NYC – Justin Fines, Dan Funderburgh, and Kevin Devine. According to the gallery’s website: “Like many immigrants, they celebrate their shared origins, but are also interested in where their individual paths diverge. Fellow Travelers are not adherents to a school or aesthetic, they are sympathetic allies with a shared perspective that refuse to be limited or defined by geography.” Looks like a good show! If you are in Brooklyn you can check it out at 103 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg.

I’ve long been a fan of most of kozyndan’s illustration work. They have a new show opening on May 30 at the maxalot gallery in Amsterdam called “Beneath the Surface”. If you’re in the area, check it out! Via Designboom.

Also – because Sean and I are so busy finishing up our prep for the NSS we weren’t able to make it to BKLYN Designs this year. But check out Inhabitat for great coverage of the show…

We are very excited to introduce a new feature to the blog: Subliminal, featuring the designers we love and their influences – big and small. Being that I was inspired by this post on Places I Have Never Been – Jennifer Hill of JHill Design’s blog, I am excited to feature her in our first Subliminal post.

Jennifer Hill is a Boston-based graphic designer who started JHill Design five years ago. You most likely know her for her paper line called Places I Have Never Been which revolves around drawings of her imaginary vacations. Besides making products, JHill Design also creates logos, websites, etc.

What are you currently working on?
I’m working on a new card collection which follows the Places I Have Never Been theme, but includes holiday, thank you and hello! cards. I’m also wrapping up 12 new patterns for the 2009 calendar.

What are you currently inspired by?
I’ve been finishing up my new 2008 collection (to be released in May) and there were some great influences. One of the big ones was Balenciaga’s Spring collection, all the crazy florals patterns and those great knee high, black and white gladiator sandals. There is a lot of nature in this series and lots of color, maybe it is because of this looooong winter.

What websites can you not live without?
what would tyler durgan do
design*sponge
i suwanee
yourgirlfriendisugly – the funniest blog EVER

What magazine subscriptions do you currently have? (Bonus Q: How many of them do you actually read?)
oh boy.
subscriptions: lucky, domino, sherman’s travel, new york, vogue, elle, vanity fair, portfolio, 7×7, gourmet. I know – it’s a lot.

I always read new york magazine each week. I don’t read lucky and domino that much, I usually go to them when I’m looking for inspiration for something. I adore elle. So I’d say I read 5 out of 10, browse 3 and 2 stay on the shelf til they are needed.

What are your favorite inspirational spots?
Spot 1: in my hammock under a big tree. We are lucky to live on a dead end next to a park in Boston and my hammock lays under a big tree. Of course there are also triple deckers all around me so it isn’t that private, but private enough.

Spot 2: my bed. I can lay and look out the window (we have very tall windows) and watch the planes from Logan fly away, I always wonder where all those people are going.

What is your favorite music to work by?
I like a lot of different music. Right now I have been switching between rilo kiely, patty griffith and jay-z. I know, weird.

What books are you currently reading?
animal, vegetable mineral by barbara kingsolver.

Any “inspiring” deadlines coming up?
I’ll be showing at the stationary show in May with Sub-Studio!!! Got to finish up that collection…

Thanks so much to Jennifer for being our first in the Subliminal series!

Frank Chimero’s The States project has already made the rounds but it’s worth a mention here – The States is an on-going design project in which Frank recontextualizes the shape of the state to create a new graphic image.