KERI SMITH
{please visit Keri Smith here}
Oh, my. It appears today’s feature was tailored made especially for me, Miss K. Well, I guess for you, too, if you are a rule following perfectionist who gasps at the sight of messy handwriting, torn books, and unwashed hair. (Tsk tsk, Robert Pattinson.) Award winning illustrator Keri Smith is here to break out those of us who live in the box. She promises it won’t hurt, and might actually be–wait for it– fun.
Keri Smith has been inspiring people for years with her blog, Wish Jar, a seven-year compilation of daily inspiration for her and her tens of thousands of readers. In that time, Smith has also proven what limitless, out of the box thinking can produce. The freelance illustrator has worked most recently for Random House, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Ford Motor Co., the Boston Globe, Galison/Mudpuppy Press, and Hallmark all on her own terms. When she isn’t illustrating for top tier publications, she is penning best selling books, including How to be an Explorer of the World, and Wreck This Journal, one of the inspiring books Smith is offering today to our readers. (For a complete collection of her books, click here.) Although each book has its own purpose and message, consistent throughout Smith’s work is the challenge to tear down, deconstruct, and down right destroy preconceived notions of art and process all in the name of creativity. Consider me sold–but not on the dirty hair. That’s nonnegotiable for me, Robert.
Keri Smith is giving away three books to one winner. The books are: Wreck This Journal, The Non-Planner Date Book, and This is Not a Book. In order to win, here is the question you need to answer by Wednesday, January 20, 2010:
Look around you right where you are sitting. What do you see that you did not notice when you sat down?
Please start checking the winner’s box on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 to see if you won. Good Luck!
I see the way the light is throwing shadows across the wall, changed by the dining room chair in its path.
I did not consciously notice the pile of papers that mark items that must be attended to….or rather that should have been cleared up weeks ago.
The way the light and the tree branches from my window form a intricate design. :)
GASP! A cobweb!
A PINK SAPPHIRE! I just found a stray pink sapphire gemstone on the floor that I must have dropped from the necklace I designed, made and gave to a dear friend yesterday who is celebrating 10 years free of breast cancer. Yay Rita!
My son’s toy airoplane loaded with some interesting passengers… a crocodile, blue bug and lion. Oh and there is a firetruck at the front with it’s ladder reaching up to the cockpit. I wonder what he was thinking when he put this little display together.
A picture from 10 years ago, of me with my siblings on top of the Empire State Building. Directly between us are the twin towers of the World Trade Center, way off in the distance. We weren’t trying to get them in the picture, they just ended up there. And I didn’t ever notice them until after 9/11, when going back through old photos.
The cat toys scattered around the apartment floor – I usually just ignore them!
that we forgot to hang the curtains back up after we painted the living room 6 months ago. I guess the Christmas tree hid the fact that the windows were bare.
A Dan Zanes CD
I noticed I need a pedi.
Crap. I’m in the dark. No seriously, I couldn’t sleep and I pulled out my laptop from beside my bed.
What I didn’t notice before I opened my computer, however, was that I’m starting to trust myself again – be honest and let the words come right out of my mouth, like this, totally free and easy and honest.
When I turn my head to my right, my pink clock is directly in my line of vision with a photo of me and my friends when we were still in the same school. Ah memories.
Well a big bug on the window! Yuck!
my to-do list.
..great.
ha
I have a piece of popcorn on the floor of my cube…I should probably pick that up…..
a stain on the wall that kinda looks like mister potatoe head.
I did not see that my hair straightener is under my desk on the floor until I kicked it with my foot. Ouch.
My cat curled up under a table using a coaster that fell on the floor as a pillow.
My minature bottle of Sailor Jerry has toppled over and landed on the clay mould of my best friends teeth from when she was 14 and got her first brace. I love those teeth. x
a curled up broken rubberband behind my garbage can under my desk.
Hmm… woah! All the pictures I hung next to my desk at the beginning of the year are curling in on themselves, away from the wall, as if they were bored with being just images. Must be the humidity.
Before I sat down, I had already noticed that the little space in my room (about 8 square meters) combined with the large amount of books, dvd’s and clothing have led to an indescribable mess on the floor. But now I also notice that even this mess is structured, and that there’s a pathway from the door to my bed.
I see mankind. It’s raining and most of the people outside are sorrowful, but one guy is smiling. I notice that nobody should look down.
What I didn’t notice before I sat down here on my couch is that the lamp on my husband’s desk is teetering precariously on the edge – our kittens have been up to no good, obviously.
I notice the random imperfections of the painted concrete wall that is just to my right.
I didn’t notice one of the patches of sunlight on the right side of me; I only saw the one of my left side. Thank goodness for today’s sunshine.
I noticed me. (there’s a small mirror tucked between my computer and my phone) I usually don’t pay attention to the reflection, but today I did. :)
the painting on the wall my son painted is askew
I noticed the two cups, one for change, one for tea, both holding back a legion of work schedules from toppling onto me from my shelf. I am thankful ..
An empty ring box (just like the ones people use to “propose”). Inside it says cultured pearl, but that’s all. there’s not many cultured pearls in my house, I guess. then there’s a Gershwin cd, I need to listen to those. And a bubblegum! Also, I noticed a while ago that my seat is wet. Strange. Interesting.
and I just noticed I really like statements. I do.
My knitted angel fingerpuppet!
behind the stand of my iMac there was the MAC lipgloss that i’ve been looking for since 3 months. :-) i guess i have to clean my office.
a tea ring on the desk, and a red lightsaber ds stylus :)
The way my quilt on my bed scrunches up. It looks likes someone is sleeping under there!
A seagull feather on the table that my kids have picked up somewhere
between the pillar and the divider panel in front of my desk, i can see a slice of the poster of snow-covered mountains on my co-worker’s bulletin board.
that my desk gnome fell over ;o(
How muddy my shoes are.
I did not notice the unbelievably large amount of dust and dirt at this work station, as well as how dirty the keyboard is. :S
I now see that the dust actually documents things that i’ve touched and objects that i’ve moved.
I see two small nail holes in the wall in front of me, through the hutch of my desk, that look like a small creature staring at me… with a grin made from the texture of the years and years and YEARS of old paint. Hope that’s not lead paint, this is an old rent house in what used to be an old Air Force Base community.
I notice that I forgot to turn the lights on and its getting dark…
Been sitting here – bit too long… :P
The gold hook in my office ceiling that has been here since I moved in but I never notice on a daily basis – I think I need to come up with something to hang from it — not a plant — maybe a faux, decorative bird cage or some other decorative object with no purpose other than to look good hanging from the ceiling.
a thin long-legged spider in the wall swaying with the wind, je.
my cat nibbled at some adresslists on the desk, unfortunately, some phonenumbers are missing now.
(and, yes, I know that he has this habit, I always forget to put things away…)
I LOVE MY CAT! :)
4 things that are orange….including an orange.
(nothing rhymes with orange!)
I noticed my sleeping (snoring) toddler at the foot of my bed. Kinda hard to notice anything else with sleeping beauty in the room. :)
ÄhÄm, I did not notice that the top of the bin is broken and that is why it smells in here (writing this hiding in the bathroom cause my son is sleeping in my bed again and the internet is bad in all the other rooms)
a cat perching on a hard drive, a glass of iced lemon ginger tea, sunlight pouring in through the trees, my journal, and my computer…..