art inspiration : zso a.k.a. sara blake

It's been awhile since I have posted an artist inspiration post. I just haven't found anything that I have liked recently, and I found that a lot of artists that I had been looking at all pretty much has the same illustrative style. But check this New York City illustrator's style....

It's vivid yet it boasts of soft and dreamy strokes, her freestyle drawings start off with pencil and paper then she messes around with digital airbrushing and enhancements. 

I love it. It's colourful, loud, and wonderfully detailed. Her portrait's emotions are exposed and open, mixed in perfectly with her abstracted details. 

And oh my, her typography. 

I wish I would post all her work up here but instead have a look at her page. 

You will get reeled right into her 'digital playground' and not want to leave.

today

               s.u.n.d.a.y.  =  sunshine. coffee. Cameron. football practice.. rain. unravelling.
                                         sunset. red wine. soft lights. family. tired
                                                   body. tired eyes. deep sleep....

coffee, sunshine and peggy lee.

Peggy Lee - Fever.

It's that kind of morning.

dreams that never passed by

" We were full of the stuff that every dream rested
  As if floating on a lumpy pillow sky
Caught up in the whole illusion
That dreams never pass us by
Came to a tattoed conclusion
That the big one was knocking on the door
What started as a mass delusion
Would take me far from the place I adore ..... "

There was once a time where New York called my name. Its bright shiny lights

flickered with compelling notions, luring me with its fire. Its busy streets hummed

with a silenced noise, a constant drum of motion that beat through me, ricocheted

through me. The city grasped me into its splendour, its charm; it captivated me with

its secret potion.

I think I would have lived in a loft. I would have had facebrick exposed walls and

rustic wood floor paneling, uneven and unfinished. I would have had extra large

windows willowing with white sheer curtains and a fire escape outside where I

could have sat and watched the city's buzz ignite below me. Perhaps I would have

had mismatched vintage furniture that I would have rummaged through in one

of Brooklyn's flea markets. I would have had my easel set up in one corner by one

of my very large windows. And maybe I could have also had a reading corner

by the heating, with sunshine pouring into my living room as the winter blew its

freezing wind.

Perhaps I would have had this all. But I didn't.

So this is all a dream that I still dream of, a dream that I still hold in the palm of

my hands, a dream that I know I almost had. 

But it's okay. I like to dream, even if they never pass me by.

     

Photos courtesy of desire to inspire.

Bon Iver - Skinny Love

i see you smiling at me

 

I see you.

I know you are looking at me. I know you are waiting to be finished.

I can feel your unfinished face looking at me, quietly whispering in my ear, pleading to shade in your forehead, shade in your hair.

But see, for some reason, I can't get there. Not yet that is. For some reason I started you and left you incomplete. 

But in time, you will have that forehead and you will have your hair. In time, you will be framed and many more of you will surface.

Just give me time.

you are two today

you are two today.

and when i close my eyes i can still feel you fit comfortably in the nook of my arms,

i can still smell your newborn scent, i can still hear your little cries; so small.

your arrival into our world brings me gratitude in every possible way and every day 

i am grateful for the love you bring into my life. 

✩ i love your curious mind. you amaze me with your intelligence and your quick grasp on knowledge. 

✩ i love your beautiful gapped teeth smiles. your little dimples make my heart melt in all directions.

✩ i love our bedtime stories. i always find it hard to be away at these times.

✩ i love the way you smell in the morning. it is my favourite scent in the whole world.

✩ i love the way your little hand fits into mine. one day they will be bigger than mine but i will 

    always  remember the way they feel in mine now. 

✩ i love your little hugs and kisses. they light up my day. i especially love that you hold my face 

    tightly when you give kisses.

✩ i love how you run to me when you are hurt. i love that you believe that my kisses take the pain away

    and that you know my arms always comfort you.

 

✩ i love the way that you love me. it’s unconditional, perfect and larger than anything i have ever known.  

✩ i love that no matter how bad my day was, coming home to you takes it all away.

✩ i love how you make me soul happy. i am grateful for this happiness you bring into my life. 

✩ i love who you are. your big personality overcomes your little body. 

✩ i love that you are my son. i cannot begin to imagine my life without you.

so to you, my boy, on your second birthday.

.sucker for sun spots and sun flares.

 

sunshine beats through glass panes.

red flares dance through the heavy air.

bursts of light explode while shadows dance around.

 eyes close.

traces of light; white circles, dotting the blackness behind my lids .

                                                             the silence, it echoes.

                                          in my mind, in my head.

                                                              

    the light.  it glares.

the heat. it blazes.

a suntrap in my space. 

rlr.'10

           

.taking time out.

                                                                                    

I have neglected this space.

But the ocean was calling my name. The clouds reflected onto the silver waters; grey, misty and cold. The wind whisked me away from reality onto an island that brought tropical rainstorms and sombre, moody skies.

Momentarily on a quiet Friday morning while my friends were still sleeping, I walked miles down a somewhat deserted beach. I watched the toned woman practicing her morning yoga, meditating and breathing within the oceans reach. I watched the mother and child collect shells along the shore. I watched couples stroll hand in hand. And while I watched life pass by around me, I breathed in my moment. I let the crisp air kiss my skin as my shutter clicked away and rejuvenated my mind as I wrote words that freely filled the pages of my journal.

So yes, this space was neglected. But just know that I have not disappeared. I just took a little time out for a little bit of discovery, unravelling and adventure.