{welcome 2009}

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I've been thinking and thinking what would be the best for my first entry to this blog in 2009. I was re-arranging my graphic site too this morning, so I came to see this quote by Cate Blanchett that I put on the 'about me' page. I like this saying, it rings really true to me. I like it I like it, so much. So why don't I gather some dreams for 2009, and a little bit of re-introduction perhaps?



First when I made this blog, I wanted to use this to post updates on my graphic site, Amreta's Graphics. But then I use it to post just about anything that I had in mind. I'm a dreamer and love to get inspired by what I see and meet on travels (and often it means 'armchair travel' through books, magazines and the internet), which I think is necessary as I live in a hectic, crowded big city like Jakarta, with a schedule that goes from full time job, to practicing the violin, playing with the amateur chamber music ensemble, drawing graphics, crafting, hunting for second hand magazines, fabrics and papers, to attending cultural activities, family gatherings, going to book stores, etc etc...so much to do, so little time! But I heard loving all that you're doing is a sign of an exciting life so I have no complain :o)



There are times I got so lucky that I have the chance to travel (real travel) and it is my favorite time to get inspired. Back to Cate Blanchett's words: my first trip was at age 9 to Bali, joining my dad's art class in a study tour, discovering the work and life of Balinese artists. My first time abroad was as an exchange student for a year in France, living with a french family, 'forced' to speak french, went to high school, simply lived like the french. Those first experiences really set my idea about travels. And somehow the next thing I know, similar 'arrangements' just fall into place with the other trips. I love it. There has been a big number of synchronicities playing around. In 2009 I wish that it will continue :o)



My dream? Traveling to Bhutan. It's intriguing. I heard about their Gross National Happiness concept. I saw articles about traveling to Bhutan, with focus on the art and design such as in Elle and Vogue, on the culture in National Geographic, and on the well-being in Yoga Journal and Yoga Plus.



Oh yes, they are some of my favorite magazines. Let me tell you about my another 'hobby' when it comes to magazine. Imported magazines are quite expensive in Jakarta, so I opt for buying second hand magazines. Old magazines, sometimes only a few months old, but recently I found Elle Decor that dates back in 1996! And much to my surprise it doesn't look old at all. And for some new ones, I subscribe to digital magazine through Zinio. It's worth it, good price and I can 'bring' the magazine everywhere in my laptop, very practical especially when traveling.



And though I live in a big city, I love the countryside and country style. Country Living has been my favorite magazine ever since I knew about it. My host families in France and Sweden all live either in a very small town or in the countryside, in their lovely homes surrounded by beautiful nature. And during my stays with these families I learned for the first time about decorating and entertaining 'the country style'.



And you know what? I love decorating 'the country style', though in practice what I do is 'decorating with what you have'. But I think, that's also what country style or junk-market style is all about. Currently I attempt to reorganize and redecorate my 3x3m2 bedroom cum work room. It was a necessity so I decided to blog about it, to be able to track the progress - and to motivate myself. I found the internet and my collection of decorating magazines to be very useful. Inspiration is everywhere!



When it comes to photography, I'm mad about taking pictures of flowers. I'm not a pro and am only armed with my 6.1 MP Kodak digital camera, but I have had so much fun with it.



The violin has been my passion since I was 13 year old, when I saw on TV Maestro Henryk Szerying play the Beethoven violin concerto, and then locked myself in the bathroom until my parents agreed to buy me a (cheap) violin and to send me to a violin teacher :o) I've been listening to classical music since far longer than I can remember, but am also really drawn into folk music recently. So don't be surprised if there are some posts about music as well.



I'm also a fan of flea markets and traditional markets. And hey, I'm an Indonesian and still deeply impressed by my Javanese childhood. When I have the chance I would also like to post entries about folksy things from Indonesia. Folksy things make me feel at home somehow. And it reminds me of the cultural richness of the world we live in.



So, basically, this blog is about my artwork, hobbies and things that inspire me. I love getting inspired. I hope you, too. Thank you for visiting and reading my blog, I've been enjoying putting together my thoughts in my entries and I appreciate all your comments and support. Let's hope for the better in 2009 :o)

[.small.room.decorating.]

Times’s up. No more excuses. This weekend, too, will be a very busy one. A trip to prepare, projects to finish, but first of all, a room to rearrange and redecorate.

Yesterday my magazine collection has found a happy solution through Benita’s blog :-) Now it’s so great that Domino Magazine has some pretty ideas that may work well for my icy-blue painted little room. Let’s see these:

The two pictures below are from Lili Diallo’s loft, I love the comfortably creative style, I love the mix of colors. And I love it that there are a lot of books and magazines inside, too :-)






Steven Gambrell’s desk below is just perfect to illustrate mine when done with the rearrangement. The same wall paint color, the same vernished wooden desk located on the right corner of the room. Perfect.



All pictures above from Domino Magazine

[.a.busy.week.]

Yay, busy-busy week at work. So much to do and to be done before my departure to Sweden next week. And there are new graphics to be uploaded this weekend. Oh, where does time fly?

Mom is also coming to Jakarta in a few days. She always loves doing the 'shopping part' in the preparation when I'm going traveling. Good for me and it makes her happy, too ;-) But well, suddenly I was thinking that I'd better not imagine what she'd say about all those magazines stacked in my room. A lot of them. A magazine junkie like me. "I need them for inspiration mom, I draw graphics, remember" should I say that? She already knows it, I guess. All I need to do is to make the magazine piles look pretty. Is it possible?

Hmm. Doesn't one say "Luck favors the prepared mind?" Yippii. I visited Benita's blog {chez larsson} today and I'd like to thank her for posting an entry about how she organized her magazine collection!! Exactly what I needed! And she presented it very nicely, too. Read her post here





pictures above from {chez larsson}

[.on.Zinio.and.the.most.beautiful.flower.]

Guess what, I'm featured on Zinio's latest email newsletter :-) As you might know I'm an avid magazine reader and I'm so glad I found Zinio - from whom I can subscribe various magazines in digital format (view my entry about it here). They also have a great collection of literary classics, digitized and you can read them online. For me it's really convenient!

Anyway I've been sick these past few days. I don't know why it's always like that when I finally take a rest after done with a big project at work. The newbies are on the way, I still need to check this and that (for example, I just found out that the font "Tropicana" I used to decorate the book of quotes is not 'acceptable' when I transfered the InDesign file into .pdf). But I thought of giving a small preview on the weekly planner, the cover and the first two pages. If you see only days and weeks, no dates, it is intentional. The other book will have only dates, no days or week. Let me know what you think when they are uploaded this coming week.







And euh, talking about my favorite quote (notice that on the weekly planner preview... and some other pages in this blog :-)) - "The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all" - it is from this inspiring movie "Mulan", the words by the Emperor of China toward the end of the film - and somehow, while leafing one of my favorite magazines, Asian Geographic issue 3/2007, I saw this photography by Masako Imaoka "Portrait of Courage". And I was moved by this particular picture taken in Nahrin, Afghanistan in 2002. Don't you think, this perfectly illustrates the Emperor's words above? I cut and clipped the picture onto my inspiration board on my desk - along with the quote. They give me extra strength and courage :-)

[.going.digital.]

I should have written about this a few months ago when by chance I discovered Zinio while looking for info about international subscribtion to some not-easy-to-get-in-Jakarta magazines.

Now a few months later I already downloaded a few editions of Elle Decor and Country Living in digital format, and I have nothing to complain. Very practical and I can save some space on my book shelves for other magazines I could find here :-)

All I had to do to be able to view the magazine was downloading and installing the Zinio Reader which is available from the site. Now as long as I have my computer with me I can open the magazines and read them, easily, since I can zoom or reduce to size of the images to fit the screen.

It looks like these:

Image from Elle Decor - Dec 2007:




Images from Country Living - Dec 2007: