Archive for the ‘Guest Blogger’ Category
Summertime Clothes by Brooke Reidt
Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes (Dam-Funk Remix) (you can dance around to this in your summertime clothes)
Still working on the painting for my friend Durek and too shy to share details yet, soon soon promise!
But here’s something you can lay your eyes on now, either here in this post or in real life, on your body all summer long!
Element Eden’s Summer collection is currently available and there’s four pieces I created in this line. I wanted to share the details on how these things travel from my imagination into your hands.
I also think it’s a little serendipitous that the designers traveled to India last year and said a lot of the inspiration for the summer collection came from the textiles, colors and prints they saw on their trip. Almost simultaneously, I was in Indonesia for a few months where I was inspired by the colors and textiles there. I drew all of these drawings during my stay and even painted one on the side of a friend’s cafe. Now they are available for you to wear on super soft oversized organic tees.
First I take my imagination to paper. I use tracing paper so I can redraw parts a million times over and over until it’s super perfect just like us virgo’s like it. I use colored pencils to keep track of updated sketches.
Finally I re draw everything one more time and then finish them in ink so the lines are clean and clear. Then I scan these drawings and either color them digitally or send them over for Esther (the graphics wizard) at Element Eden to color up and place on Tee’s.
Seriously did I say wizard? Esther Kim is my favorite graphic designer that I’ve ever worked with! This is my favorite part when she sends me back this magical stuff! She works closely with me doing revisions on color and layout to help my imagination + mixed with her awesome visions = come ALIVE. Aren’t these collaborations the best? I think so! XOXOXOXOXOXO I LOVE YOU ESTHER KIM YOU ARE SOoooooo SUPER AMAZING!!!!! XOXOXOXOXO Even just doing this post I get so excited at this point in the process, more than the actual tee’s.
And then elves in a workshop mix up some potions and VOILA! Super soft organic Tee’s for you to live and dance in all summer long!
Click here to go get some now!
Planted like angelic seeds in my life I love watching them grow by Brooke Reidt
Element Eden asked me who I surround myself with and what draws me to those people. I thought I would introduce you to some of my friends who inspire me. Somewhere along the way they were planted like angelic seeds in my life and I love watching them grow! So many of my close friends are artists, constantly creating their own art and living out their dreams. There’s too many people like this in my life that I simply adore and are hugely inspiring to name here, so consider this a sliver. (A big sliver since I didn’t post yesterday.)
Meet Ixchel, such a small girl filled with so much magic! Ixchel is named after a Mayan goddess and she seems like she’s from another universe or perhaps a whole universe exists within her. She creates photographic images that you want to climb inside of and make a new life for yourself without boundaries. Just looking at her photographs takes you on a trip to places you can’t find on any atlas. All shot with film and no photoshopping! Look!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ixchelara/
This is Niki. I met her on a porch of a house called “The Legion of Doom” in Ohio when I was hitchhiking across the country at 17. She very much seems a part of me. Living on opposite coasts I still feel like I grew up right beside her. She’s a genius the way she moves color around on canvas, wood or paper. You know that story about the boy who turned everything he touched to chocolate? Well this is the girl who turns everything she touches to beguiling beauties. Niki and her art are a spellbinding sea yours eyes need to swim around in. http://planticandwingishscenery.blogspot.com/
Mariqueen is a mermaid. No seriously, you’ve heard the lore of singing sirens that make ships wreck? This is her! Her voice gives you shivers and it does kind of kill you in a way. She’s a mother, lover and singer of the supernatural descent. Currently hypnotising, mesmerising and making waves in her band How to Destroy Angels drown your ears. http://howtodestroyangels.com/
Steve is cosmic. If Picasso came back to life as a hunter of life his name would be Steve. Steve is a magician of the arts, he dances to the beat of his dreams. From sculpture, mosaics & installations, to abstract paintings erupting in color he manifests a world of love you can live inside of. His art is not only a life of dedication but a life celebration. http://stevefawley.com/
This is Chris. I think you can see just from this picture that the energy of this being is extraterrestrial. Yep this picture was taken from one of his performances somewhere on a moon orbiting in the outerest parts of outer space. I know I wish was there too! The energy this alien invests into the music he makes can take you there! Listen to his project Free the Robots it will take you on that universal voyage you’ve been dreaming of. Chris is also one of the owners of a really impressive restaurant here on earth who is celebrating their 4th anniversary this weekend, The Crosby go! http://www.myspace.com/freetherobots
June June she’s sucha swoon you just want to spoon her forever! Aside from being sweet like a pile of puppies, she’s made of crystal prisms that cast rainbows of light on everything in her path. You know that Rolling Stone’s song “She’s a Rainbow”, that’s June. June is an artist, designer, blogger, film maker and snowboarder. She’s kind of a mystic sometimes she disappears and then resurfaces with some new zesty project or film that captivates your heart. http://blog.boatpeopleboutique.com/ http://www.peepshowfilms.com/
Finally there’s Paul who is one of my oldest friends. He divides his time between New York and traveling to the edge of earth. Right when he’s teetering so close to the edge you wonder if he’s fallen off and disappeared forever, he propels himself back to the present dimension sharing stories of people through photographic artifacts. His photographs transport you into intimate introductions with people and places that are so alternative to the nature you know, you wonder if it’s a dream. Paul has dedicated his life to exposing these hidden treasures through portraits you can see here.
http://www.paulnemirahcollins.com/
Get a Glimpse by Brooke Reidt
While I’m beginning the painting to auction for my friend Durek, let me share a glimpse of some other things going on in my studio right now….
I wish I was sharing travel photos of amazing adventures but this week looks more like uncombed hair, coffee stains on my desk, dishes in the sink and stacks of stuff around the studio.
MORE ON DUREK’S STORY HERE AND HOW TO HELP
http://www.indiegogo.com/Operation-Get-Shaman-Durek-A-Kidney
Can My Art Help Heal? by Brooke Reidt
WOW it has been nearly a decade as an eden advocate, life really moves at light speed sometimes.
Posting here is a good way to stop and reflect. Being an eden advocate has really allowed me so many opportunities to grow and share my art with people globally I’m so blessed and feel so grateful, it’s difficult to move forward without meditating on that for a minute.
Let’s face it I love painting, drawing and creating and feel so blessed that I am able to wake up and mostly do just that everyday! I want to share the process of creating with you! When asked to guest blog I got really excited and decided I wanted to spread out sharing the process of creating from start to finish (amongst other things.) I intend to start and finish one painting while I guest blog!
The first step in my process of creating is the initial inspiration. I’m inspired by so many things, people, places I visit, stories I hear, music, experiences, pretty much everything that impacts my life. Some inspirations really pervade me day after day until I create something or paint it out. Right now this inspiration is invested in a friend who has dedicated his life to heal, only to really need some healing himself. His story has been haunting me. My friend Durek Verrett who is a Shaman needs another operation stemming from many in the last few years. Durek really needs a kidney transplant to continue his battle to live. There’s a lot of details, some are very positive and others I can’t wrap my head or heart around but the fact is, he’s been fighting just to live for almost as long as I’ve been an advocate!
I’m going to paint this painting for Durek. Next week I’ll open an auction and see if this painting can make any small contribution towards helping heal this beautiful being.
Meanwhile he has an online campaign closing this week. Sooooooo so close to meeting his goal!
Have you ever met someone who you felt was so stunningly beautiful inside and out? Who just being in their presence feels healing and so spiritually refreshing? This is Durek. Being in his presence surrounds you with love and light that words cannot define.
I could go on and on about Durek, his story and what a beautiful spirit he is but here’s a link to a video and extensive details of his condition, please share this!
Please read his full story and help him move down this path of healing.
http://www.indiegogo.com/Operation-Get-Shaman-Durek-A-Kidney
“Remember you are beautiful in creation as creation is beautiful in you and being that you are one and the same may all your beauty be shared” – Shaman Durek
Guest Blogger Brooke Reidt!!
As many know, Element Eden was born with the mission to inspire girls along their own path, confident in their personal style and passionate to seek a different perspective from the old standard. To fulfill this mission, we created the Advocate program over a decade ago, with the Artist Brooke Reidt as the first woman’s Advocate.
Through these years, the Advocate program now 16 women strong, Brooke has not only developed her personal career as a fine artist, selling art across the globe, but grown and adapted her relations with the Element family as well. Each season Brooke works closely with our team of designers, sharing inspirations, visions and ideas to create this beautiful melding of art and fashion, with a personality and story behind each piece.
While we’re always keeping you in the loop on Brooke’s latest work, we’re excited to announce that she, herself, will actually be Guest Blogging this week… sharing her personal account on projects, inspirations, ideas and everything in between!!
As a little teaser, we did a quick Q&A with Brooke to start things off:
Us: What projects do you have going on for summer is there one you’re most excited about and why?
BR: There’s so many projects and more are bound to pop up, people always ask but you know I’m superstitious talking about things before they’re complete. I’m most excited for summer, I love summer! Summer love! The Element Summer collection? I’m wearing the Cabo skirt and the Avalon tank right now, falling in love, pretending it’s summer!
Us: Bring on the sunshine baby!
Us: Where do you most enjoy traveling to seek inspiration and why?
BR: Anywhere! Traveling is about exploration and introducing your eyes to new things. I’m a visual person I want to see all the beautiful parts of the world, things people make, plants that don’t exist where I live, creatures under the sea. The last couple of years I’ve traveled to Bali.
Bali is like a divine gift in the form of an island for artists. It’s everywhere my eyes look. It reawakens all the ideas that are living inside me and gives birth to new one’s that didn’t exist before. It rattles me up and shows me the true definition of art.
It’s so humbling watching women spend all day handcrafting offerings in gratitude of their gods, such a selfless activity that they probably don’t even identify as art. I want to live and create like that.
I really want to travel to sacred places. Have you heard about the floating islands of Uros at Lake Titicaca? I need to go there!
Us: What?! Floating islands?? Count us in… When do we leave? haha
Us: You have amazing personal style!! Where do you seek inspiration for the looks you put together?
BR: It surprises me that you say this because I feel like I wear the same 4 things piled on bedroom floor. Maybe it’s because I switch them around to make them look different?
Us: Ya girl!! We love that type of creativity!!
Us: Have you always been interested in fashion as well as art?
BR: Sometimes I think they go hand in hand. I’ve always loved both it’s like pizza I can’t remember ever not liking it.
Us: We couldn’t agree more… hence why we love working with you
Let the new years resolutions begin!
I don’t think I have ever been more stoked to welcome in the new years! It may or may not have something to do with coming up with a better new years resolution than the ones I have had in the past…like to shut the garage door every day, or put the milk back in the fridge… I have realized that those are ridiculously impossible resolutions to keep and I have landed on one that I KNOW can happen.
Here at the Paint Box Cafe we were able to reach our goal this Christmas of raising enough money to build a well in another country. Not only do we get to have the honor of being able to provide water for people in need but we actually get the privilege to build it. We were stoked to say the least. I couldn’t believe it was that easy. After being involved with this Christmas tradition after so many years I couldn’t believe that I had not thought of the idea earlier to continue giving to Living Water International year round! The season of giving should be every season! not just around Christmas.
After lots of brainstorming and I am excited to announce my new years resolution… Don’t worry, I am not asking you to help me to remember to close the garage door… BUT, I will need your help, pretty please! For the year 2012, it is my goal to raise enough money to build a well in another country; a goal I am dubbing “In Living Waters”. A portion of proceeds from the sale of my art will go towards the rebuilding of a water source in a third world country and therefore the gift of new life! Here are some of the first pieces created with this goal in mind!
Stay tuned to find out more on what’s to come and how you too can give!
Traveling Journal …
Growing up I was blessed to have such great women in my life that have shaped me into who I am today. It was a little fear of all of ours that when it was time for all of us to leave the nest that life would happen and we might drift. It has been so amazing to see that over the past years nothing close to that has happened, in fact, in some cases I feel we are closer than ever.
After we all spread out over America we thought it would be neat to start a sisterhood traveling journal. The rules were set, (due to the procrastination in all of us, rules were very necessary) each girl was to decorate and write on her page/pages in one week, you must send it in the right order, and no peeking if you see the journal out of turn!!
My mom and I started a journal three and a half years ago and are still going strong. It has been the most amazing thing to look back over the pages and see dreams and hopes of all of ours become realities. It is so easy to loose touch and just let “life” happen to you. We get so caught up in our day to day business that we loose touch with the relationships that mean most to us. Im not talking about sending an e mail or text message here and there, thats easy. But being intentional with the ones around you is what makes the difference. We are so easily sucked into technology that we forget how to really communicate face to face and we forget what pages of a real book feel like in our fingertips. I cant tell you how stoked I am when I see that packaged journal on my door step!
Take time to be intentional with those around you. Its those relationships and acts of selflessness that bring so much joy and encouragement into your life and others.
EDEN ANIMATIONS
This December 1st, Element Eden will be releasing a self titled short film, “Eden” The Story of Element Eden, which aims to capture the story of the brand, its family, and vision. In creating this project, I co-directed the film with my husband and filmmaker, Kirk Dianda. Together, we documented the spectrum of personalities, products, and stories, which will be set to an original soundtrack that we co-directed with Loren Humphrey.
To string the story along, I created a set of handmade stop-motion animations that not only help tell the story of Eden, but also present the brand’s quirky personality. The painstakingly hand-made paper cutouts, pieced together, are a perfect compliment to a story, detailing creativity and fashion.
My Blogger Inspiration by Guest Blogger Erica of City Meets the Shore
I wanted to end my guest blogging this week with a post on why I became a blogger and what inspired me. Ever since I came across Mandy Shadforth’s blog Oracle Fox about a year ago, I became completely engulfed in the content of her posts and her impeccable eye for style. She is the main reason I decided to start a fashion blog and it’s been great to see her become such a noteworthy fashion blogger. Mandy’s creative talents shine right through on her website and has had the opportunity to get involved in many different areas of the fashion industry. An Australian native, her laid back surfer girl lifestyle with a passion for creativity and an amazing eye for style is what has made her such an influence on me and continues to be.
Pumpkin Ale Cupcakes by Guest Blogger Erica of City Meets the Shore
If there is one thing you should know about me, it’s that I loved baked goods and I love anything pumpkin flavored. The other night I came across this recipe for pumpkin ale cupcakes and I just had to make them. In honor of the holiday and of Thanksgiving, I wanted to share this recipe with you guys! It’s a twist on a normal chocolate cupcake and even the buttercream is infused with pumpkin. They were absolutely d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s. Enjoy!
What You’ll Need: (Makes about 24 Cupcakes)
For the Cupcakes
1 (12-ounce) bottle Pumpkin Ale
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
For the Buttercream
4 sticks unsalted butter; room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 pounds confectioners’ sugar
6 tablespoons pumpkin ale
For the Cupcakes
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric mixer combine the pumpkin ale, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add in sour cream, mix until fully incorporated.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda.
4. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined (batter will be thin).
5. Evenly divide batter amongst the prepared muffin wells.
6. Bake 25 minutes, until risen and set in the middle but still soft and tender. Remove pan to wire rack. Cool completely before turning out of the tins.
For the Buttercream
1. Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the vanilla extract, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
2. Slowly begin adding the confectioners’ sugar, mixing well after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, add in the pumpkin ale and mix until light and fluffy. Beat on high speed for about two minutes. If frosting is too thick, gradually add in a little more pumpkin ale (1 teaspoon at a time) until you reach the desired consistency. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes. If desired, garnish with festive sprinkles.
Recipe via My Baking Addiction