Gadgets for your iPhone

I try not to get sucked into the tech-gadget vortex, but I'll admit it takes a lot of self-restraint.  Here are a few new favorites that are sure to excite any iPhone fanatic. 

The iPhone SLR mount is a case-adapter that allows you to mount a Canon or Nikon lens onto your iPhone. It's crazy, brilliant, and I want it!  I can see this gadget being a sure-fire hit with avid iphoneographers who want more control of depth of field in their images. 

The cdock by local Portland design team Hatchet Goods is a sleek and modern looking case that displays your iPhone while charging it.  The desktop accessory can showcase your phone as a clock, a picture frame, or even a mini TV screen.  I love it when function meets great design!

So, this next gadget doesn't really have much to do with home design or photography, but it does make me feel like I'm in a spy movie [and I like spy movies].  Lockitron is a device that allows you to control the lock on your door with your smartphone.  And best of all, you can text the code to friends and family so that they can check on the family pet while you're away.

The olloclip is a lens that you can mount on your iPhone in seconds.  Sounds easy to use and portable- two things I love about modern gizmos.   You can choose from three effects- fisheye, wide-angle and macro. 

The cost of these gadgets range from $55 - $295, and, like many new iPhone accessories, they are exclusive to the iPhone 4G.  Seeing that I still have an iPhone 3G, I'll just have to admire these tech wares from a distance . . . at least for now.   

Free wallpaper designs for your desktop

[image source: shannamurray.typepad.com]

Each month, artist Shanna Murray teams up with another creative talent to design a new desktop calendar.  Shown above is the recently released May wallpaper design by Murray and photographer friend Rachel Saldaña.  I love how the dates look like they've been embroidered, and the display of the May saying is so sweet. 

To download your very own copy of the May calendar, just click here and choose the appropriate file size for your desktop.  Here's a look at Murray's other collaborative wallpaper designs in 2011. 

I'm a huge fan of Portland-based Pattern People, and on their website, they have an amazing collection of downloadable patterns. These are just a few of my favorites. 

The designs can be used as desktop wallpaper, wrapping paper, gift tags, or whatever your heart desires! Check out this fabulous succulent design:

[image source: www.patternpeople.com]

Claudia Brown of Pattern People writes,

"One of the things I love about living in the Pacific Northwest is all the succulent plants that grow so well here.  Front yards everywhere sprout plump, pulpy hens and chicks, jades, and ground sedums.  Mosses grow on rocks, steps, trees, and roofs.  Every shade of green dazzles the eye on just your average neighborhood walk. I guess these are the benefits of living under so much rain. When the sun comes out, it’s almost too much color! So I dedicate this succulent design to my lovely home city, Portland."

Beautiful description and beautiful design.  It makes me appreciate my hometown even more.

Creating art from found materials

Whether it's worn clothes, old magazine clippings, discarded security envelops, or yellowed book pages, I seem to come across a lot more found and reclaimed objects in art nowadays.  I'm a huge proponent of resourceful living.  So, needless to say, I love the idea of giving used materials a new purpose in art.  Here are a few of my favorite recent finds. 

Lesley Bricknell

Michelle Thompson

Sarah Nicole Phillips

Blondebeard

Different color palettes of art

My daughters are polar opposites, even when it comes to ice cream.  One loves chocolate flavors while the other prefers fruity blends.  When it comes to art, I wouldn't be surprised if one preferred a darker, monotone palette, and the other, a fusion of bright rainbow colors.  This week, I happened to come across a few artists who created works in both of these palettes.  I work in a wide spectrum of colors myself, so I love both color groups.  Maybe this is why I like a double scoop of ice cream!

Betsy Walton, Riverbank, acrylic gouache.

Two Teas, gouache on paper.

Kristin Brenneman Eno, Just One Pod, monoprint.

Cells, oil.

Tony Wuman, Herring Chandelier, plastic and brass. 

Herring Pendant, plastic.

Alex Beeching, The Constellation of the Elephant.

 Dolce, digital photography.

Water towers and the urban landscape

Michele Maule, Water Towers, oil

Old green water towers are classic features of the Portland landscape.  We actually live just two blocks away from one and can see from our home another water tower less than a mile away.  So, I guess you can say that I like water towers because they remind me of home. 

I recently found these amazing oil paintings of water towers from Portland artist Michele Maule.  I love how the water towers are painted in dark, neutral tones and with painterly strokes. It's industrial, but not too linear.   The softened edges in the works, plus the muted colors in the background, also add a dream-like quality.  What beautiful art! 

Michele Maule, Glisan Street Water Tower

Michele Maule, Chown Water Tower

Here is some more great art that I found featuring water towers. 

Renee Press, a crow caws in brooklyn, watercolor.

Crystal Powell, digital art, 2006.

Victoria Plummer,  Water Tower, linocut print.

View from our home of one of the water towers nearby.  It was a glorious spring sunset.

Aili Schmeltz' mixed media art, an harmonious display of nature's beauty

I love how Aili uses so many different mediums in her work and manages to make all of the varying elements in one piece come together beautifully.  The wall collage, Geode, is one of my favorites.  It would be so striking on a bedroom wall above a bed.  (Wishful thinking on my part.)

Geode.  Mixed media and collage on paper.  16' x 53".  2007.  

Santa Anna Print 1.  Digital print, waterless lithography, gouache and ink paper.  22" x 15".  2009.

Untitled.  Mixed media on paper mounted on panel.  20" x 17".  2008.

Goucher Glacier. Nails, string, wood.  2008.

Fractal art, not your mama's color-by-number

A couple of years ago, a fellow Willamette University alum introduced me to Professor Junpei Sekino's mathematical art.  Sekino, the son of a famous Japanese printmaker, uses mathematical equations to create computer-generated images called fractal art.

For the last 25 years, Sekino has been writing programs and creating images of fractal art.  When he first started working on this digital art form, it would take up to a day to generate a fractal image.  Today, it's only a matter of minutes.

Sekino's computer art is a dazzling display of brilliant colors and intricate patterns.  Many of his works, particularly landscape renditions, are reminiscent of Asian art.  To see more of his beautiful digital creations, visit his online gallery here. 

images: Sekino's Fractal Gallery