Concentrate

Concentrate

Concentrate is a simple and intuitive application that helps you eliminate distractions so that you can focus.

Concentrate lets you create Activities, which are groups of actions that help you focus on a task. For example, you may want to create an Art activity that quits social networks, launches your favourite software for creating art and changes your desktop to an image that makes you feel creative. If you like you can set a time for the activity.

Activities in Concentrate

Here you can see the different activities I’ve created with Concentrate.

There are activities for blogging, writing, art, economy, general focus, but also an activity that turns on social networks and my RSS-feed.

For a visually oriented person it’s wonderful to automatically switch desktop wallpaper to indicate that you’re moving into a different space. I love how it makes me feel like there are several spaces in the same digital environment, and as though I’m moving from one space to another when I switch between activities.

Below you can see my desktop dressed up with its regular wallpaper as well as the solid black I like to use when I focus on art and design.

This is software for the Mac. There’s a free demo of Concentrate and the application sells for $29 with a money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied.

Desktop for play and desktop for focus.

ColorSchemer Studio 2

ColorSchemer Studio 2

When you create art using digital tools, you use the colour wheel with its endless possibilities for selecting colours. I like to limit my palette when I start working on a piece and pick a group of colours as a starting-point. This is where ColorSchemer Studio 2 enters the scene.

ColorSchemer Studio 2 is a professional colour-matching application that helps you build beautiful colour schemes with speed and ease. It can help you identify colour harmonies, create unique palettes based on photos or images, find related colours, mix colours to create a gradient blend and work with RGB and CMYK colours in a colour-managed environment. But it doesn’t stop there.

With ColorSchemer Studio 2 you can preview colours on a variety of layouts, view colours through colourblind eyes and analyze contrast, readability, and accessibility!

This is an incredible tool for handling colour, again this is software for the Mac there is both a version for the Mac and for Windows and although the price-tag might be steep for a hobby I think it’s well worth it for professional art and design work. ColorSchemer Studio 2 costs $49.99 and there’s a free trial available.

One Small Change

Lastly, in February I’ll be making One Small Change to make my digital life more sustainable. I’ve already got my laptop set to be optimised for high energy savings, but I tend to leave it on and charging over night, so I can just flip the lid open in the morning and read my e-mail over my morning coffee. Of course it’s ridiculous to leave it on charging at night! So, no more of that.

Seashell, stones and a plug

I’ve been asked a lot of questions about my photography and here’s the scoop. All of the photos on my blog are shot with my iPhone. I often use an app called CameraBag that recreates the magic of film without all the chemicals needed to manually use and develop film. There aren’t any settings or choices for each filter, you just decide which vintage camera you’d like to use, some of my favourites are the instant camera (that I used for this Polaroid of vintage graffiti), as well as the Lomo (in action in these over-saturated photos) and Holga (that I used to put a dark and moody edge on some of my summer photography). But sometimes I don’t use any additional software at all. Just raw iPhone photography, iPhoneography.

Tulips at night

Last night I thought this bunch of tulips might wilt before I got round to taking some photos of it, so I took a few pictures with the camera in my iPhone, although it was almost midnight and the camera doesn’t have a flash. Tulips are an early sign of spring for me, even if you have to buy them at the store because the ground is still deep with snow and it’ll be months before they blossom here! I find these tulips so inspiring, but with all the excitement over Apple’s new iPad and the administration and economy that I handle at the end of each month I’m way too busy to do much more than capture them on film.

Blurred tulips

I really like the rough quality that the low-quality camera of a mobile device can bring out! And the immediacy. There’s something very appealing to me in this blurred photo of tulips. Perhaps it’s the almost painterly quality… Normally I wouldn’t post this photo, but seeing as I’m talking about photography, and some of the unexpected beauty of the imperfections of lo-fi photography, I did.

I absolutely refuse to spend time in Photoshop editing photos. If I’m going to be creating using my computer as a tool, I’d prefer to work on my own art. There’s something endlessly satisfying about the simplicity of lo-fi photography, trusting the moment, seeing what happens. Finding moments of serendipity. It’s a liberating contrast to the sometimes laborious methods involved in designing icons and the endless and complicated options and settings available in the tools of my trade, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

I first got an iPhone because I was designing icons for the platform and I needed to see what they actually looked like in their own environment. At the time, I’d never guessed what a huge inspiration the iPhone turned out to be for me! A digital playground and a canvas to experiment with and to capture ideas with the built in camera, notes and voice memos. It’s become the place where my creative process often begins. But my favourite source of creativity on my iPhone is finger painting with Brushes! More about that another day!

These birches grow in the park behind the bus stop. It looks like the branches are sugar-coated! Although it was dark I had to pull out my camera. The photos are in colour but the landscape is in black and white. Monochrome. This scene makes me think of woodblock printing, linocuts, engraving and etching. And again, I’m inspired to create patterns for fabrics.

Scottish Fold

And now there are more kittens in the litter. Pleased to introduce this marmalade tabby, an illustration of a  Scottish Fold.

Expanding, meeting new friends, participating in group projects and finding inspiration. Closing in to focus on personal projects and deep connections with both online and offline friends and loved ones. And to swing back and forth between expanding and finding focus. Last year was an expanding year for me, this year I intend to be focused and yet open.

This extraordinarily snowy winter we’ve been giving different kinds of snow names. Feather snow, icing sugar, ice mist, castor sugar, sea salt flakes, snowball snow, movie snow… It’s been playful and imaginative.

I enjoy studying thoughts and ideas, the origin of words, to broaden my knowledge and explore the background. This winter I found out that it’s it’s a popular urban legend that the Inuit or Eskimo have an unusually large number of words for snow. And here I’d been saying “did you know that the Inuit have lots of words for snow!”…

It’s like someone powdered the trees with icing sugar. Or dipped them in a bag of sugar. Or poured a bag of flour over the landscape. Or something like that… And it’s breathtakingly beautiful!

Turkish Angora

My main focus for January is to create my first design for fabrics based on the Full Cold Moon. I’m so enthusiastic about the whole project and I’ve got such a terrific feeling about it! I’d got the fabric samples and colour chart just before Christmas and only need to transfer the design to a curtain format and adjust the colours so they work for printing on textile before I can have the first sample printed. I don’t know about “only”, but still, I’m so close to being there, and so I was very surprised to find resistance within me! What am I afraid of? The technical process that I need to learn? Getting the curtain dimensions wrong? Is it about putting this project out in the world? Is it about completion and what to do next? About the possibility of failure? Or success? I don’t know. All I know is that these ultra cute cats emerged, at this very time of the process.

They’re terribly cute, kawaii, as sweet as sugar, and really not what I consider “my style”! And yet here they are. I thought about it. Then I decided to just let them come. They’re fun and playful and perhaps they appear with ease because I have no big dreams or strong emotions attached to them?! So I’ve been making more friends for the first cat. A family. A collection of cat breeds. They could be a collection of icons or they could be a set of prints or illustrations in a children’s book. Cute as a Button. That’s it, that can be the name for this cute crew!

I’ve been spending more time offline, unplugged. Batching my internet activities three times a week. It’s bliss. Now if I only got round to sorting out my mailbox too!

And I’m looking for a good recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon for my birthday dinner. I’ll be serving it either with potato puree or Potatoes Boulangères and a green salad. Not sure what the desert or starter will be yet. I’m thinking of trying Delia Smith’s recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon but I’m interested to hear if anyone has any other recommendations?

Bombay

During the weekend, this cute little character appeared out of nowhere.

It’s funny how things can happen unexpectedly! When I look at the illustration I can see how it’s inspired by kawaii and characters in Japanese packaging design, but at the time I had quite different plans for my weekend and this cat seemed to appear of his own accord.

Birman

I started making a few friends for him, but I can’t think of a good name for the series yet. Does anyone have any ideas?

I thought these cats might make nice prints and later on this week I’ll do some testing to see how they come out on paper.

Well, now I think it’s time to curl up with a book and a cup of hot chocolate to wind down from all the excitement these cute cats brought me!

“Green is not a colour it’s a state of mind”

One of my plans for the New Year was to take a break from participating in online activities and focus on my creative projects. But this changed when I read about the One Small Change project to help protect the planet.

The idea is to make one change each month leading up to Earth Day (April 22, 2010), and to blog about it. The challenge is hosted by Hip Mountain Mama.

I first heard about One Small Change from some of my blogging friends. At A Place Like This where Valarie will be using re-usable grocery bags instead of plastic bags, and at Mousy Brown’s House where the plan is to “find a source of locally produced (organic?) vegetables and use only these or those I have managed to harvest and preserve from our own garden”! How inspiring! Of course I had to join in!

So what will I do in January? What will my small change be? It’ll be switching to a new brand of climate smart, soft toilet paper made of 100% recycled fibers. Also switching to a new brand of locally produced and eco-friendly laundry detergent and washing-up liquid. And to remember to bring my re-usable cotton bags to the grocery store!

A New Year Begins

Colourful Stationery

A New Year begins with a blend of old and new. I decided to actually use some of the scrumptious stationery that I keep saving for a special day, a special project. Why not start the year by making 2010 special, I thought, and broke in my orange leather note and sketchbook with some sketches for fabric designs.

One of my Christmas presents was a new diary from Swedish Ordning & Reda, whose range of funky, colourful stationery make your eyes smile!

For daily use, I like the calligraphy pen and packs of gel ink pens from earth-friendly, minimalist and innovative Muji from Japan.

Origami To-Do Notes

The box of delightful origami paper has been salvaged from my collection of paper treasures and I’m using it for notes and to-do’s. It felt like a bold step, but I wasn’t prepared for just what a huge difference it makes to my days! It’s a simple technique. I write down one thing to do on the back of a piece of origami paper, and when the job’s done the origami paper goes on my notice board, creating a beautiful collage, and a rewarding, visual payoff. It’s so inspiring and tactile to handle and use these gorgeous origami papers daily, and in a casual way.

A Personalised Computer Desktop

Now that my desk has a little stack of purple and orange stationery to keep me inspired and on track, I cleaned up my disastrously messy computer desktop and populated my current projects with Luminous Purple and Orange Folder Icons. Then I weeded out my RSS feed, e-mail subscriptions and bookmarks to a minimum.

Now I feel happy and wildly virtuous, and I think I’ll put-off sorting out my e-mail and have lunch instead!

A box of origami paper.

Origami to-do notes.

A Bed of Roses. Collage.

New Year’s Eve will be lit by a Blue Moon and the moonlight will welcome the new year, 2010. Obviously, this only happens once in a blue moon!

As I prepared my dreamboard for the Full Moon Circle, I thought a lot about this. The Blue Moon shining as fireworks go off and the new year rings in. The passage between the first and second decade of this century.

Then I thought about the word I’ve chosen to guide me through the New Year. My word is “ease”. I thought of clouds and minimalism. But in the end my research of the word and its origin lead me to the synonym “bed of roses”, and that was irresistible! So here it is, passionate, romantic ease!

Christmas Crackers

We had a wonderful Christmas and are now enjoying “mellandagarna”, the days in between Christmas and New Year’s. Peaceful days for contemplation, cosy days at home, long walks in the snow.

Before I return to my new book, The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, and painting software Art Rage 3 I wish you a “happy continuation”, “god fortsättning”, as the Swedish greeting goes.

I just sent out the winter issue of limited edition desktop goodies exclusively for members of Club Marmalade Moon. This time I made an assortment of festive ribboned holiday gifts in the same style as the collections of Productive Icons.

Five presents in silver, green, red, white and gold to put your desktop in the holiday spirit. These icons come in very handy if you’re giving someone a digital present. I also adapted the holiday gift design into a desktop wallpaper.

Not quite sure how to customize your digital environment? Check out the Help Desk where there are tutorials both for Windows and Mac. It’s easy and quick! Then join the Club for limited edition desktop art. What are you waiting for?  It’s fun and free!

Happy Holidays! Merry Desktop!

Desktop Holiday Gifts