๏۞ 121212 // End of days ۞๏

Images from here, here and Tumblr.
Just posting a little mid-week inspiration magic as a nod to this most mystical of dates -- indeed, the last consecutive-number-date we'll see in our lifetimes. 

Texas Radio and the big beat.

Wild, wild horses

All images by Alexandra Valenti.

One thing I miss most about the farm is the horses.

Among them were a stockhorse-cross named Mohawk -- who basically babysat me from age nine to 15, and only threw me off to teach me how to stay on -- and a copper-coloured quarterhorse named Reverend's Dee Sciple, who seemed to be about three-parts cattledog and one-part rebellious teenager, and only threw me off to see what he could get away with. 

Anyway, it's safe to say I loved them a lot, and whenever I was on the ground, I followed them around with a camera. 

So, that was a good 10 years of horse photographs. Ten years of photographs that all really should be given the Alexandra Valenti treatment. Her most recent artworks (above) have been popping up on my Facebook feed and making me so happy -- they are by far the most vibrant and brilliant take on horse photography I've ever seen.

Wild minds II

In my first year of school, I sat next to a girl with beautiful, smooth olive skin, and I can clearly remember her looking at my hands and asking me, "Why have you got old hands?"

So, for years after that, I cursed my parents and ancestors for a lineage of pale Irish and Scottish skin, and for giving me these tiny hands that were, apparently, born with about sixty years of weather under their belt.

Anyway, I'm at an easy peace with the tools of my trade now, I even kind of like them, even though they haven't gotten any prettier over the years. The Wild Minds piece is a nod to the aspects of our lives we can see in our hands, or the things that our hands may influence -- as a vehicle of creativity, healing, love, mischief, or the search for knowledge. 

Prints of my favourite recent work are available here.

SH+LS X Pony Gold

1. Sugarhigh+Lovestoned's new logo, designed by me.

2. Crawling king snake 

I wrapped up work on these two pieces a few weeks ago, and have been dying to send them out into the world. They're two pieces that I love a lot -- sometimes, rarely, the idea just flows out: no snags, no tedious redraws, no minor slips that throw the whole thing off. These two worked like that... and I'm so, so psyched that Sugarhigh+Lovestoned have picked up the top piece to use as their new logo. It's quite special to be able to share something with creatives I admire across the globe. 

Also, the lovely ladies gathered up a post of my artwork here, and as it turns out, they've chosen most of my favourite pieces...

☽ Star mystic ☾

Images from: Tentative Decisions etsy, Davis Ayer, tumblr, Planet Blue, Melancine Moon, Pamela Love.

Edge of Urge X Pony Gold

Stoked on this fun little project with Edge of Urge... the creative masterminds over there in NY have incorporated some of my illustrations into a mini-shoot for their homepage -- linking up the ideas and inspiration between drawings and photos... Love it!