The Swelle Life

Cupcake Monday! Maisie Fantasie's Floral Beauties

Maisie Fantaisie must have the most gorgeous collection of wedding cakes, they are so ridiculously pretty without being overdone, the epitome of edible loveliness. And I love that their photos are beautiful, accessorised with the pastel patterned wallpapers and charming cake stands. To quote an adorable, small and always smiling Italian man who used to do deliveries for us at the production studio I worked at in Canada years ago,  "'preciate." That's how he said "appreciate" which was his way of saying 'Thank you." (Do you know how many bad photos of pretty cakes I see? Far more than good ones - what a waste and so frustrating!)

Here are just a few of Maisie Fantaisie's floral designs, and I'm glad Im already married because I would never be able to choose! (Well I guess there are other reasons, too.)

Each design has a suggested flavour, although you can have your pick of their many options which are as gorgeous as their cakes.  The cake on the bottom left, Romantic Rose, is described as:

Madagascar vanilla bean cake, Amedei Chuao chocolate buttercream, grosgrain ribbon, satab
ribbon, handmade sugar roses, sugar pipework.

Enjoy drooling!

Photos: Maisie Fantaisie

Artist Series: Pop Fantastic's Susan Canaday Henry

Late last year I received a scrumptious surprise package containing two beautiful art prints from New York-based multi-media graphic artist Susan Canaday Henry. She knew just what to send - one was a lovely pastel-hued scene with a rendering in her own style of Marie Antoinette languishing on a chaise longue. I love the shades of blues, pinks and purples she used and would be happy to live forever in this room. (Especially if I had Ladies in Waiting as seen in the shadows. Oh wait, that would be weird, wouldn't it? I like to get dressed by myself. Maybe one to bring me tea and macarons every afternoon, that would work.)

The other is the Empress Wu Zetian, the only woman in Chinese history to rule as emperor.  The composition is gorgeously coloured in saturated blush, flame hues and crimson. Susan has outfitted her in long, dramatic stripes and an intriguing headdress. Her commanding presence against a backdrop of hazy dawn-lit mountains creates a portrait of power and serenity.

What  struck me first about Susan's works was the harmony of the beautiful colours in each, and what looked to be delicately hand drawn detail and watercolour layering in Marie Antoinette and painterly brushstrokes in  I didn't want Susan to give away any secrets but was curious how she created these images, and lucky for us she was willing to talk about it!

"The drawings all start as pencil/watercolor and then are oomphed digitally--- I think that's what gives them a sort of dreamy look.

"I get a lot of feedback that the colors in my illustrations are very bright, yet nuanced. I don't want to give secrets, but I think the watercolor base gives a weird glow to anything digital, and I aim to make sure you can still see the hand drawn beginnings of my illustrations. I think so much today is too digitized, too clean. I approach Photoshop like makeup: not too heavy, but enough to add distinction. And layer, layer, layer! Add to that a background in traditional animation (I studied a lot of Golden Age Disney, UPA & Warner Brothers at Pratt Institute) and numerous visits to the Metropolitan to gaze at classics... mix it all together, and these are the results. It took a long time to get comfortable with my style because there's a natural inclination to want to produce what is popular, but I've also found that this is what makes me unique, and have learned better to embrace it.

"The Marie Antoinette print really helped me with that. So many people responded to it, that I finally made it available as a print, and it's my best selling image. Marie Antoinette is my favorite, but so is the Empress Wu Zetian. Like many powerful female leaders, she has such a fascinating (and ruthless) story behind her rise. I am hoping to continue the portrait series of Empresses and Queens in the new year."

Susan is such a faceted, talented creative - and she's fun, too! - so  I'll be featuring more of her work on Swelle and talking to her about it.

If you can't wait - and you shouldn't! - see Susan's website Pop Fantastic which showcases her illustration and animation work. I just love her And, Darling...conversations films. Zing!

To see the range of Susan's art prints including Marie Antoinette and Empress Wu Zetian, you can visit her shop on Society 6

Marie Antoinette art print detail by Susan Canaday Henry

Empress Wu Zetian art print by Susan Canaday Henry

Cupcake Monday! Wintery Snow Cakes

 
A red velvet snow cake with snowman macarons! From Raspberri Cupcakes

(I'm back up and running after my laptop was incapacitated - again - last week. A severed cable and now even keys are falling off.  If this continues, reading my posts is going to be like playing Wheel of Fortune without the fabulous prizes.)

We haven't had any snow here at the coast this winter, unless you count one day in early December where it fell in huge, fluffy clusters and mostly all melted as soon as it hit the ground, and then got warm in the afternoon and made a lot of excited kids really crabby. After some freakishly warm days it's been properly chilly this past weekend if you consider -1° cold. The English seem to think because I'm Canadian that -1° is like spring to me. No way, cold is cold! Especially by the sea, it gets in your bones and apparently makes you really whiny. Except for the guys wearing shorts and a t-shirt, you know, because the sun is shining.

This morning there was frost on the grass and since that's the closest thing to snow right now, how about some snow cakes?

An Evergreen winter scene cake by Frances at Joules

Pearlized Snow Berry Fake Wedding Cake - just for show!

Pink Cake Box' Winter Wonderland Snowflake Cake

A Tiffany blue wedding cake topped with 'snowballs'! From The Twisted Sifter

And it turns out there's a movie called Snow Cake - who knew?  Possibly everyone but me. It's Canadian (so probably not, then) and stars Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman. I would be very disappointed if I watched it and there was no cake to be found. 

Here are some interesting keywords I found on Cinematic Intelligence Agency that are associated with it:

Film Canada winter Ontario autistic car accident death relationship friendship drama snow OCD lumber

What? Lumber yes, cake no?!

Cupcake Monday! Limoncello Pipettes & Torched Pear Chips

Cupcake Monday is back after an unscheduled hiatus (ie. I didn't realise it was Monday, I guess holidays easily confuse me). I wanted to kick off the new year with a Swelle favourite, Arthur & Aleksandra and their inventive and wicked cakes.

Let's get right into it because this is torture! Above and below is the "moist orange & lemon sponge, drizzled with orange & lemon syrup. Topped with an indulgent cream cheese frosting and an almond wafer. Served with a pipette of Limoncello." I love lemon. I must have this some day. (I always wonder if Aleksandra eats the smashed ones. If not, I am not above receiving a box of cupcake remains in the post. )

This one just looks so good (not that this differentiates it from the others!). The baked pear chip is so neat and pretty, decorated with edible gold.  It's a sticky toffee sponge, topped with a pear-liqueur-infused, cream-cheese frosting. Drizzled with toffee sauce and served with a pipette of pear liqueur. It's best warm. Oooohhhhhh..........

Photos: Arthur & Aleksandra

CREATIVE LIFE: WINNER LAUREN ART DIRECTS WITH FOTOCRUSH

In conjunction with The Swelle Life, Foto Crush recently ran its “Be An Art Director” contest, where the winner gets to co-create a photo stationery collection with a Foto Crush Art Director - a very cool prize. The lucky December winner was Lauren and we're about to look at how their collaboration produced concepts that were developed to create beautiful artwork that means something. I had the opportunity to do one myself, and we're working on it right now. I'm so intrigued and impressed with the Foto Crush team's creative process, it's so well considered and collaborative, and it allows for a choice of three wonderful options in different directions, capturing various significant elements of the subject's personality and loves. I would have been thrilled to develop any of my three and it was very tough to choose, but I made my decision and am very excited for the next step. (It's like they really know you!)

 

Creative Life is a series of blog posts by Foto Crush that follows each winner’s journey, illustrating their creative progress, and ultimately seeing how each person’s artistry shines. Taken as exerpts from the Creative Life series, here is Lauren's 'Creative Life' from the beginning to the final artwork.

LAUREN’S JOURNEY, PART 1

 

"Right away, we could tell that Lauren was a whimsical, curious mix of wonderfulness. She teaches at an alternative high school, and is an amazing artist in her own right. The first step in the process was for Lauren to take our creativity personality quiz. The goal: To understand what inspires her, then use that to inform the 3 creative concepts for her to choose from. What we discovered was a woman of great faith, who adores her husband, with unforgettable memories of their perfect honeymoon in Italy. She has an eclectic range of music, a few of her favorite songs being Awolnation’s Sail, Toccata & Fugue in D’Minor, and Hysteria by Muse. And she has a real playful side, even back from when she was a little girl who loved her cat, peanut butter and naps most of all! So it was no surprise that Lauren added her own personal touch to our quiz (see colorful border), which gave us more insights into her bright & sassy personality."

 

LAUREN'S JOURNEY, PART 2: THREE CONCEPTS

 

"It’s great to think of these concepts as creative mash-ups of Lauren’s personality. Prior to creating a card design, we first put together a “mood board” of sorts. These boards communicate a certain feeling in color, font and mood -- with some hint towards the design aesthetic. We also aspire to provide variety between the three design directions. Lauren inspired the following 3 concepts: Love’s Kooky Light, Ever Present Love & Faith, and Most Beloved."

 

 

 

 

If you were Lauren, which concept would you have chosen? Take the poll here!

LAUREN'S CREATIVE LIFE: THE WINNING CONCEPT

 

"Given the holidays, and our "love" theme, Lauren selected.... Concept 2!  Ever Present Love & Faith.

"Now that we had the concept, our next step in the creative process is design. Lauren collaborated with our FC Art Director, Melissa, to interpret the concept into several design options. 

Together, they created these 3 designs. Design 1 and Design 2 (a variation of 1) are inspired by the idea of, if you could travel back and sit amongst the wisemen (Lauren's answer to the time machine survey question), what would you wear? Yes, a whimsical thought (hey, it's fashion!), but it was challenging too, being a mix of humbleness, gratefulness, and regal bearing. The 3rd Design is based on the more traditional idea of that very holy night. Here, to balance the awe-inspiring art, we added an element of delight with the little lambs -- integrating Lauren's own artwork.

 

 

 

"Ahhh, the happy ending to Lauren's creative adventure! After mulling over her choices, Lauren chose the kingly BLING to represent her Collection, Ever Present Love & Faith -- a gorgeous blend of etherial whites, pinks, bronzes & glistening stars -- and a very spiritual and romantic representation of love. And since her little lambs were too cute to deny, we also created a photo card from the 3rd option, called The Wisemen. (Did Lauren pick your favorite?)"

A collection based on Lauren's beautiful artwork was created by Foto Crush for the holidays and has been adapted for Valentine's Day, which is perfect for its romantic and dreamy feel. You can purchase it from their two shops: Foto Crush Etsy or Big Cartel.

 

Would you like to be Foto Crush's next Art Director? To participate in their next contest, email yum@fotocrush.com  with “I want to be an Art Director” in the subject line. The next drawing is this month. Good luck!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! FIREWORKS FROM LONDON

Click to view the show on BBC

This is the spectacular display that is surely responsible for hundreds of small animals in and around London having heart attacks last night. Every New Year's Eve the BBC presents this world-class fireworks show put on by the City of London which you can watch by clicking the image. If you want to skip past the audience chat and get right to it - I highly recommend doing this - forward to about the 3:00 mark for the countdown.

Happy New Year! I for one am looking forward to a 2012 that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the last half of 2011. Onward we go!

 

SWELLE REVIEW: GREY JERSEY SKATER DRESS

I was given a £40 voucher by Zalando.co.uk to spend on anything in the shop and I chose the Nümph Amalie dress. I know what you're thinking - with all of the pretty dresses out there, why something so plain? Well, here's why. Jersey is comfortable, grey is easy and classic, and the skater style accommodates holiday gluttony very well. (That is an essential at the moment). It can be accessorised with just about anything you've got in your drawer and you can wear it over and over without getting sick of it. (I have and it washes very well, no pilling!) 

I also had my eye on some maxi dresses at Zalando but those will have to wait until my life is a bit more glamorous. (I have May 17 marked in my diary as the big day where everything turns sparkly, we'll see if it pans out.)

Does this dress, and the idea of wearing it over and over, remind anyone else of that Seinfeld episode where the girl Jerry's dating wears the same black and white skater dress every time he sees her? He's intrigued as to whether it's the same dress or she has a whole wardrobe of them, or that he just keeps seeing her when she's done laundry, like it's the first outfit in the rotation. (You can always tell when a (straight) man writes about women's things, like we have set days for certain clothes. "Yay! It's cranberry tunic with skinny jeans Monday!")

 

So they go back to hers so she can change, and while she's in her room Jerry can't resist the urge to peak in her closets and gets caught. She tells him the night is over and later he calls to see her again (so he can decipher the mystery, of course) and here's what happens:

Fashion in the North: The Spring Fashion Show 2012

I was invited to an event today that I'm not able to attend and thought I'd pass on the details to fashion-minded friends in the UK -  I have a soft spot for things Northern. The Spring Fashion Show is an annual fashion event in Manchester showcasing the work of emerging fashion designers and young creatives and it's happening in February. They don't have a date fixed just yet but I imagine the announcement is imminent!

There's a networking party preceding it on 5th January for anyone working or interested in working in fashion. It's 7pm-10pm at Baa Bar Deansgate in Manchester and you can purchase tickets for £5 here.

If you want to be involved in the show, they're looking for everything including designers, models, PR people, makeup and hair, photographers and filmmakers - you can apply here.

Merry Christmas from Swelle!

This is our table display with a mini gingerbread house, Wedgwood teacup ornament and Hediard matryoshka doll with mini dolls inside, of course. The coloured design is a part of the chocolate which is dark and to die for. Behind the 'mum' is dreamy artwork that Susan Canaday Henry sent me - more on that soon!

Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating today! This was our first with just the three of us and hopefully the last without family, but it's been a great time which comes down to having a little one  whose excitement was so intense I think I saw some twitching.

I've got a turkey cooking for its last hour, it's a "Spiced Roasted" from Sweet Paul's Winter issue and I have a feeling it's going to top last year's. I have many more hours in the kitchen today and it's almost 7pm here in England. And the weight I lost recently, well, I found it!

Happy Holidays to everyone! ♥♥♥

Nick Knight and the Death of Photography

One year ago, Nick Knight proclaimed, "I think photography is dead"  when he self-referenced during a livestreamed interview for the series Fashion Pioneers with The Business of Fashion. Taken out of context, it's a stunning statement considering he's tirelessly and fearlessly pushing the boundaries of what his chosen medium can be, and his unrivaled online creative home, Showstudio, is arguably the most groundbreaking and prolific showcase of fashion imagery and the processes behind it, a marriage of photography and film, much of it in collaboration with in-house filmmaker Ruth Hogben and guest favourites (Alice Hawkins is always a massive treat). To that he added, “Film died some years ago. I don’t miss it. None of my children read magazines. Fashion will be shaped by the internet.” 

Watching the whole interview - it's 4o+ minutes and well worth the time - is crucial to understanding the context of his statements which you want to do because it's better than reading excerpts and thinking someone you admire is hopelessly arrogant. He's not; rather he has the kind of humility only those who achieve great things acquire. His message, drawn out by the quietly astute Imran Amed, is that the way to move fashion forward is to create new, dynamic and groundbreaking fashion experiences that use our available technology to offer access to everyone who wants it (eg. watching Alexander McQueen's Plato's Atlantis on our mobiles), and therefore media such as photography and film must evolve beyond what traditional means can accommodate. Knight observes that, in this sense, photography "has become something else" altogether (hence "photography is dead"), and he's leading the revolution in taking fashion to this open place, beyond the fashion elite. (I've always thought fashion was wasted on a good number of the privileged insiders - bored faces at Chanel haute couture shows are as sure a sight as Lesage embellished boucle.)

At the time of this interview, no other image maker was following Knight's lead or cutting their own path in any meaningful way. The vision wasn't there. Has that changed in the past year? I can't think of anyone.

The images here are Knight's contribution to the January issue of W magazine. They are blowing me away. They are like photography, illustration and film all in one - I believe he directed a film and took stills to create the series which is drawn from the work of Erté, Aubrey Beardsley, Lillian Bassman and Irina Ionesco "to explore the future-fantastic visions of Spring/Summer 2012" for W. I think the imagery trumps the subject which is the clothes. Yet in 30 years of creating fashion imagery, Knight has never lost focus of why he's there, and I find that fascinating.

You can see all of the images, both published and previously unpublished, at Showstudio.

 

Photos: Showstudio