Archive for the ‘inspiration’ category
Sunday Inspiration: The Summer Day
July 17, 2011Bahama Blue Bathing Beauties
May 30, 2011
The color BLUE dazzles in The Bahamas. Countless variegated shades of aqua, cyan, cerulean, azure, sky, royal, indigo, and sapphire surround us in the shifting seas and are celebrated in all kinds of art—including these artist trading card collages I created for the blue-themed ARTchix challenge.
I loved making these vintage Bathing Beauty mixed media collages. The backgrounds came from photos of tropical-water-hued fabric prints in my fashion wardrobe, photographed and printed onto paper, then layered with some retro-fun ARTchix Studio images and historic postcard text.
I love splashing into waves of blue and frollicking in art.
Tra-la.
Making Something Bright & New from Your Old Calendar
January 11, 2011A brand new year means a brand new calendar. But what do you do with your old one? Sometimes I save it as a keepsake of the year’s events, but this year I decided to recycle it into something new and useful thanks to the ARTchix Studio challenge to make something out of your old calendar. My 2010 calendar was full of beautiful and whimsical illustrations and heart-brightening quotes from a company called Brush Dance. The name Brush Dance got me thinking about giving my paint brushes a fun new container to shimmy in and out of in 2011. Next thing you know, an old holiday cookie tin was being repurposed and jazzed up with a collage of inspiring images from the old calendar, mixed together with some retro-cool ARTchix graphics. Here’s the 360 degree view, together with wishes for a New Year painted with love, a playful heart, and plenty of reasons to smile.
Sand In My Shoes: A Collection of Island Stories
December 20, 2010
I love this book. It’s touching. Tender. Laugh-out-loud funny. It gives you a taste of island life that goes beyond the usual idyllic picture postcard images and gets straight to the heart of things. I love these vibrant, adventurous, warming, and humorous stories so much that I helped the author (a dear friend of mine—Marina Gottlieb Sarles) orchestrate the layout of the book for publication, and I’m pleased to say it has been received as a new island classic. Well into its 2nd printing, the book has garnered fans from around the world. It’s a wonderful gift any island lover will enjoy and a great introduction and insight into Grand Bahama’s beginnings—the author, Marina Gottlieb Sarles, is the daughter of the first village doctor and nurse—and draws storytelling inspiration from her childhood in The Bahamas.
Sand In My Shoes author Marina Gottlieb Sarles
You can learn more about this delightful book by clicking here. And it can be ordered online here or via Amazon.
On Grand Bahama Island, Sand In My Shoes is available at the Coldwell Banker James Sarles Realty offices at #9 Regent Center, at the beautiful new Art of Giving gift shop at The International Bazaar (beside Island Watch Repair near the arcade), at Oasis drug stores, and at the Underwater Explorers Society (UNEXSO).
Falling in love with the island and getting sand in your shoes is a true treat—enjoy!
Shades of Blue Bliss: Water Inspiration
December 10, 2010
Blue Bliss: Water Inspiration 8821 © christine matthäi
Artist Photographer Christine Matthäi has created an alluring and intriguing series of images inspired by the changing shades of blue and blissful reflections of what surrounds and supports us most—water. Her travels to Grand Bahama Island and watching the wind and waves create motion, reflecting the sunlight on our gorgeous clear sapphire seas, is certainly part of her ongoing inspiration and fascination with water—that life-giving source vital to us all. Take a look at these modern, contemporary art works:
Blue Bliss: Water Inspiration 9589 © christine matthäi
Blue Bliss: Water Inspiration 8789 © christine matthäi
Blue Bliss: Water Inspiration 9587 © christine matthäi
Blue Bliss: Water Inspiration 9592 © christine matthäi
Blue Bliss: Water Inspiration 8908 © christine matthäi
If you are interested in prints for your home or office, write to the artist at christinematthai (at) mac (dot) com and note the image number in the caption.
Or take a look at all Christine Matthäi’s gorgeous contemporary portfolios by clicking here.
I am fortunate to call Christine a friend, and am posting this because I admire her incredible talent and brilliant work. As with all things I enthuse about here, it’s simply because I enjoy it and like to make the world a brighter place by sharing the good stuff!
That said, I DO have a vested interest in my husband’s printing company—Freeport Advertising & Printing—a Grand Bahama-owned full service printing and graphic design business here since 1973. If you would like to win a big beautiful 24″ x 36″ inch, fomecore-mounted print of one of Christine Matthai’s images (your choice of the ones shown above), just click here to subscribe to their free Printer At Work newsletter. You can see a sample issue by clicking on the Printer At Work button on the bottom left side of the screen. The newsletter is a quick read, with great tips on marketing, design, technology, and ways to save money and increase business sales. It comes out every two weeks, so you won’t be getting tons of email or anything. There are even a couple fun cartoons in each edition. (And of course, your email address is safe with us and will be kept private.)
Okay, that’s it. If you’re already a subscriber or have an account at FreeportAdvertising.com, you’re already entered and eligible to win. Subscribe by January 1, 2011 to be eligible to win the print. A random entry will be drawn by over-caffeinated gerbils, or some objective technological wizardry, and the winner announced the following week.
If you want to leave a comment here letting me know you’ve subscribed, or which print is your favorite, or just to jump in and say the water’s fine, that would be wonderful, but is completely up to you.
And if you need some last-minute Christmas cards printed, or little notepads with people’s names on them as thoughtful gifts, I know just the place! (that was the last commercial plug–but aren’t imprinted personal things so cool?—okay that was it, really … I get on a roll and can think up all kinds of fun goodies to print!)
Enjoy the blue bliss of water that surrounds our wonder-filled island and makes us all fortunate in business … in beauty … in life … each and every day. In gratitude for the time and tides—Paula.
It's about the water. It's always about the water. Southern shore of Grand Bahama Island.
From Boots to Banana Bay in One Beautiful Day
December 9, 2010You only get a handful of occasions to really justify wearing winter boots on Grand Bahama Island.
Yesterday was one of those days.
Unseasonably low temps in the upper 30s kicked off the day. Clear and a couple degrees warmer than our U.S. neighbor, Florida, (just 68 miles to the west), but still nippy for those of us more accustomed to the kind of warmth and humidity that keeps air conditioners running all through the summer and early fall.
But by mid-afternoon, the thermostat had buoyed up to what I like to call “Goldilocks” weather … not too hot, not too cold …. it’s juuuust right.
I picked up my daughter and her friends from school and decided we would savor this sumptuous high-blue sky, silky-sunshine, and flat-calm, low tide afternoon at a casual beachfront restaurant called Banana Bay. It’s a laidback, delightful place where boots are seldom seen, and shoes in general are quite optional …
We claimed a spot overlooking the wide beach, put in an order for some burgers and salads that the attentive staff cooked while the kiddos explored the eddies and sandbars that emerge at low tide …
… all sorts of shells and sea patterns, sea weed and driftwood glisten …
… a sturdy hammock slung between two palms becomes an imaginary high-seas swaying ship with some help from youthful imaginations …
and then the magic of the low-slanting rays of late afternoon sun start to glow …
bathing everything in a golden winter warmth …
glowing everywhere …
with a dazzling finale!
If you’re reading this from somewhere that’s seen more than your fair share of snow already … I do heartily apologize.
But I just had to capture the soft enchantment of this best-of-both-worlds kind of day. Boots and Beach. A taste of two winter paradises in one.
And if you are in the midst of a snowy winter wonderland type of paradise, please make a snow angel for me. I love snow angels. They’re best friends with the sand angels and mermaid angels that live here by the sea.
Enjoy the wonders of wherever you are. Tra-la.
Invent Your World
August 27, 2010
Love this quote by artist and author Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy, also known as SARK. Eat Mangos Naked, Succulent Wild Woman, Change Your Life Without Getting Out of Bed, Prosperity Pie, Glad No Matter What — you just gotta love anybody who writes books with titles like that — I do!
It’s About Time
August 19, 2010I found this quote artfully created on a calendar frame …
Having a marvelous summer stretch and wishing you the same!
A Different Kind of Conch
May 31, 2010This isn’t about the kind of conch (pronounced “konk”) we find all around The Bahamas. This is not about that staple of island life (and a staple that’s so popular—but not necessarily so prevalent these days—that it may well need some common sense seasonal protection to bring it back to a state of plentifulness, but that’s another story!). No, this is not about the beautiful pink-lipped mild conch that lives in the grassy sea banks of The Bahamas and tastes great in conch salad, fritters, or pounded thin, battered and fried into cracked conch (can you tell it’s around lunchtime as I type this?) …
This is about conch as a verb. Something I just discovered thanks to The Art of Eating Magazine.
This amazing independent print magazine (that celebrates all the best in food and wine with in-depth articles about the people, places, traditions, growers, and artisans who produce the freshest and most flavorful fare) introduced me to the term “conch” as it applies to the the fine art of making chocolate ….
Yes. Chocolate! And not just any chocolate. Some of the finest chocolate produced anywhere: Taza Chocolate (where a debate on whether to conch or not conch the chocolate is appropos and just a normal part of chocolate-making lingo!).
What I learned reading the Art of Eating article in Salon.com (click here) is that in chocolate-making “conching” refers to a process by which chocolate’s texture can be smoothed. The original conching machine (developed in 1874) was used to give creamy smoothness to the gritty raw chocolate beans, tempering it for taste and texture. The original chocolate conching machine was shaped like a seashell, and the name still refers to the chocolate mixture smoothing process that happens in the final stages of any chocolate making.
In the true artistry of chocolate purists who craft from bean to bar, Taza Chocolate is unique because they do not conch. They roast, winnow, grind, temper, and mold their chocolate by hand. And they use only authentic Oaxacan stone mills (instead of steel machine mills) to grind their organic cacao beans on a slightly imperfect surface, which allows small small particles of unrefined cacao to pop with intense uncompromised flavor in the finished chocolate, and to give their bars a distinct granular texture.
Chocolate. I love it all. Conched or not conched. And I’m so happy to know that Taza Chocolate exists, and to learn that something sea-inspired is a part of chocolate making history.
And as is the case with all the good things I blog about here, I’m not selling anything—I’m just having fun sharing some of the inspiring stuff that makes life a little more full of wonder and joy—and handcrafted all organic-ingredient chocolate is right up there near the top of that Sweet Life list.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go in search of my copy of one of my most favorite all-time movies: Chocolat! (I’m wondering if there’s a conching machine or grinder anywhere in the background that I didn’t notice before … and even if there isn’t, I just love Johnny Depp in this, don’t you?!)
Indulge! (And share a note about your favorite chocolate-lovin’ treats!)
The Royal Poinciana Annual Red Dress Ball
May 31, 2010I just adore this time of year on Grand Bahama Island. Everywhere you turn there are bright bursts of flame red flowers atop wide canopied treetops dotting the landscape — so regally red and naturally elegant — it’s the annual blossoming of the Royal Poinciana trees, and it’s spectacular, even amidst a landscape known for its lush and dazzling tropical flora!
Passion-red petals abound at every turn …
… fancy-dressed arbors everywhere …
This splendid annual show starts somewhere around the middle of May and continues for a good month or more. It’s at its peak right now.
This gorgeous annual Royal Poinciana Red Dress Ball — free and open for all to enjoy — is a May/June extravaganza that twirls the landscape with delight as nature shows off some of its more flamboyant stuff.
Just makes the garden of your heart dance, doesn’t it?! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy …
