Notes: Illustration by Pascal Campion with Quiet World. Inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky, from “Notes from Underground” (1864): “I want peace. I’d sell the whole world for a kopeck this minute, just not to be bothered.” (Source: finita–la–com)
Lightly Child, Lightly.
January 17, 2019 by 19 Comments
A poet is someone
Who can pour Light into a spoon,
Then raise it
To nourish
Your beautiful, parched holy mouth.
~ Hafiz, “Your Beautiful, Parched Holy Mouth” in I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy: Renderings of Hafiz (Penguin, 2006)
Notes:
- Poem: Thank you Make Believe Boutique. Illustration: bakanohealthy
- Prior “Lightly child, lightly” Posts? Connect here.
- Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”
how easy it can be to find your own quiet place
January 12, 2019 by 23 Comments
Q: Is the image based on something you saw? How did it come to you?
“More than being based on something I saw, I would say it comes from something I experience often. I was trying to capture the feeling of being immersed in a book to the exclusion of everything around you. I think my love for reading comes more from the need to connect with my inner reality than from the desire to escape the external one. Proust described it perfectly as “that fertile miracle of communication that takes effect in solitude.” …
My first time in New York was in 2010, when I spent three months there, during the winter. My most vivid memories are connected to that first stay. I remember big blue skies, ice-cold feet, hot black coffees, fresh bagels, and huge pizza slices.
The gif was animated by the talented Jose Lorenzo. I often collaborate with him—I love the way he brings my images to life. We didn’t want the image to be too frenetic. For me, it was important to maintain that feeling of peace and timelessness that happens when you’re reading. I also wanted to show how easy it can be to find your own quiet place in the city without having to go far out of your way.”
~ Anna Parini, in response a question from Françoise Mouly, on this week’s cover in The New Yorker, which shows a rare moment of calm amid the bustle of a new year. Parini, who has contributed illustrations to the magazine since 2015, grew up in Milan but is now based in Barcelona. Mouly spoke to Parini about New York’s wintry charms and the process of creating an animated cover image.
(Source: Anna Parini’s “A New Leaf”, The New Yorker, January 7, 2019)
It’s been a long day
January 10, 2019 by 32 Comments
Human life is a kind of myopia, everyone walking around, seeing only what’s in front of them, or not even that—passing each other by, embroiled in our little dramas to such an extent that we miss out on everything; making big what is small.
~ Sheila Heti, Motherhood: A Novel (Henry Holt and Co., May 1, 2018)
Notes: Illustration: Owen Gent. Related Posts: It’s been a long day
Lightly Child, Lightly.
January 10, 2019 by 16 Comments
Notes:
- “A Cup of Sake Beneath the Cherry Trees” by Owen Gent. Illustration based on the beautiful book a Cup of Sake Beneath the Cherry Trees by Kenko. “There was not a sound except for the soft drip of water from a bamboo pipe buried deep in fallen leaves…Moved, I said to myself, ‘One could live like this’”
- Prior “Lightly child, lightly” Posts? Connect here.
- Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”
Forecast: 94° F. (Feels like…Hot)
August 28, 2018 by 37 Comments
Wiebke Rauers, a freelance illustrator from Berlin working on character designs, children’s books, and magazines. Find her on Facebook here.
The Not New Yorker (Christmas 2017)
December 5, 2017 by 17 Comments
Source: “The Not Yorker” is a collection of declined or late cover submissions to The New Yorker, curated by illustrators who love and admire traditional cover illustration. This site is for celebrating cover art, and great ideas that didn’t make it. Illustrators are encouraged to submit their rejected covers , so that they might have the opportunity to be rejected by this group as well. The site is not officially affiliated with The New Yorker
This declined cover is was created by John Tomac and titled “Christmas 2017”.
Flying over I-40 N. With Cotton.
November 3, 2017 by 32 Comments
- 2:38 a.m. Alarm set for 3:30, Body set to go, Now.
- 2:40 a.m. Check Sleep App: 4 hr. 30 min. Could be worse.
- 3:50 a.m. “Good morning Mr. Kanigan. You’re off early.” No sh*t.
- 4:00 a.m. No car. Check calendar. I’m 30 minutes early. Wow. Nicely done.
- 4:15 a.m. I Shazam R&B tune coming thru hotel pipes. Leela James. Swept away.
- 4:50 a.m. DFW airport doors open. Insomniacs, airport workers and DK stream in.
- 5:50 a.m. Walk concourses. (Yes, Plural.) Fitbit Counter: 4,033.
- 6:05 a.m. Board AA# 1150 to NY LGA.
- 6:25 a.m. “We’ll be cruising at 31,000 ft. Flight time: 3 hours. Expect a smooth flight.”
- 6:37 a.m. Eye lids heavy. Leela on loop crooning thru the earbuds.
- 6:40 a.m. Drifting to Bradbury‘s “country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist.”
I’m flicking thru Netflix and spot him. Ray Liotta (Fields of Dreams / Goodfellas) in a 2016 movie titled Sticky Notes. Papa Bear writes this on a Sticky Note to his daughter:
“Whoever feels it deepest wins.”
I look out the window, and here we are…31,000 ft up and floating on fluffy, mountainous sized cotton balls.
Cotton balls. White. Cotton. Balls.
- New cotton briefs. Stretch fabric. Contoured to snuggle it/them…
- New, cotton socks. Toes wiggle, happy.
- Soft cotton twill Chinos, hugging the legs and thighs.
- A velvety cotton, v-neck t-shirt wraps the chest and back.
- A cotton button down shirt, hundreds of stitches, fitting just so…smooth.
“Whoever feels it deepest wins.”
Feels it deepest.
Wins.
Notes: Image: Perception is reality, Andrey Kasay
