moleskinerie

Detour Artist Profile: Douglas Kirkland

Douglas Kirkland (born 1934 in Toronto, Ontario) is a prominent photographer based in the United States. At age twenty-four, Kirkland was hired as a staff photographer for Look magazine and became famous for his 1961 photos of Marilyn Monroe taken for Look’s 25th anniversary issue. He later joined the staff of Life magazine.

A Who’s Who of notable persons have posed for Kirkland from the great photography innovator Man Ray and photographer/painter Jacques Henri Lartigue to Dr. Stephen Hawking. Entertainment world celebrities he has photographed include Mick Jagger, Sting, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Morgan Freeman, Orson Welles, Andy Warhol, Oliver Stone, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Leonardo DiCaprio, Coco Chanel, Marlene Dietrich, Brigitte Bardot, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren and Catherine Deneuve. Kirkland’s portrait of Charlie Chaplin is at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Kirkland is contracted for work around the world and has worked in the motion picture industry as a special photographer on more than one hundred films including 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Sound of Music, Sophie’s Choice, Out of Africa, The Pirate Movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Romancing the Stone, Titanic, and Moulin Rouge!. Some of his famous film shots include John Travolta in the dance sequence from Saturday Night Fever and a portrait of Judy Garland crying. In 1995 Kirkland received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American motion pictures Society of Operating Cameramen. His second wife Françoise was born in Paris, France and educated at the Sorbonne. She obtained degrees in Political Science and English. A publicist, she pursued a separate career but has worked with her husband as his agent and has been involved in his books projects including “Legends,” “Body Stories,” “Woza Africa,” “James Cameron’s Titanic,” “Make Up Your Life,” plus “An Evening With Marilyn,” among others.

Kirkland’s next book project titled “When We Were Young” is scheduled for release in 2006. “Titanic” was the first picture book to reach No.1 on the New York Times Best Seller list and did so on both the hardcover and paperback lists. Douglas Kirkland has lectured at the Smithsonian Institution, the American Film Institute in Hawaii and Los Angeles, the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena as well as the Kodak Centers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. Kirkland and his wife reside in Hollywood Hills, California.

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Learn more about the new Moleskine City Notebook.

Learn more about Detour Exhibitions.

Dealer List (.pdf)

Closing out a Journal

"I reached the final pages of a beloved moleskine today. Black, like all the others, with off-white pages and a little ribbon marker. This one, I decorated with a white Apple sticker and dubbed it my Mac Book Faux.

 

Somewhere along the line, I learned a little journalling tip...number the pages as you go, and then when you're done, save a page in the back. On that blank page, jot down page numbers and one line descriptions of memorable entries or events so you can find them at a moment's notice. In closing out this journal, I noted things like "p.11, financial miracle" and "p.27, prophetic word from Ed Hackett". If I never read them again - and that would be a tragedy - at least I enjoyed revisiting them as I catalogued them

 

Reading an old journal with the perspective of "if I knew then what I know now" is probably unavoidable. In some ways, I think it's healthy. In reading what has been written over the past few months, you see those times when destiny was winking at you...giving you a sideways glance, flirting with you, but never enough for you to be sure at the time if it was her or your own imagination..."

"Closing Out a Journal"
Randy Bohlender

Visit his blog, "stuff i think"

© 2006 RB

[Originally posted 6.28.06]

Discover and join our Moleskine communities on LiveJournal, MySpace,  Moleskinerie FLICKR, FACEBOOK and Meal Moles. Get out - have a life and write about it. See you on Monday.

"I reached the final pages of a beloved moleskine today. Black, like all the others, with off-white pages and a little ribbon marker. This one, I decorated with a white Apple sticker and dubbed it my Mac Book Faux.

 

Somewhere along the line, I learned a little journalling tip...number the pages as you go, and then when you're done, save a page in the back. On that blank page, jot down page numbers and one line descriptions of memorable entries or events so you can find them at a moment's notice. In closing out this journal, I noted things like "p.11, financial miracle" and "p.27, prophetic word from Ed Hackett". If I never read them again - and that would be a tragedy - at least I enjoyed revisiting them as I catalogued them

 

Reading an old journal with the perspective of "if I knew then what I know now" is probably unavoidable. In some ways, I think it's healthy. In reading what has been written over the past few months, you see those times when destiny was winking at you...giving you a sideways glance, flirting with you, but never enough for you to be sure at the time if it was her or your own imagination..."

"Closing Out a Journal"
Randy Bohlender

Visit his blog, "stuff i think"

© 2006 RB

[Originally posted 6.28.06]

Discover and join our Moleskine communities on LiveJournal, MySpace,  Moleskinerie FLICKR, FACEBOOK and Meal Moles. Get out - have a life and write about it. See you on Monday.

Gfeller Moleskine covers in pre-production

Steve Derricott of Gfeller Case Makers reports that his firm will be producing leather Moleskine covers after the success of a prototype created for Paul Saffo.

Yes, we are going to be making Moleskine covers. As soon as we have tooling costs in hand we will post prices and expected production schedule. We will start with a cover for the Large Notebook. We anticipate being able to offer this in our Natural Russet, Chocolate and Black calfskin. Other size Moleskine covers are in the planning stage at this time. Input from users of other sizes is actively solicited...your input is what inspires the design of successful products.

Our website will be updated to include Moleskine related info as soon as possible. Please check there for the latest news on this and our other fine leather products. We specialize in short run (25-500 units typically) production of high quality leather goods. If you or anyone you know has needs at this level, kindly forward our name to them. We appreciate all the help we can get.

Bob Corrigan
Details at his blog, ack/nak

From Sketch to Canvas

Luis Colan shows us his painting process. From this Moleskine sketch

to this finished painting.

" I must say there were times I doubted myself and this painting, and came very close to leaving it unfinished. But I decided to keep working on it and not let it beat me. Finally, after posting so many stages of the process I can say "this painting is done." A year and a half ago I had painted the very same image in a smaller scale. I was pleased with the result but not happy. At that moment I accepted the painting as it was since I had just started painting representationally for the first time after three years of abstraction. I felt it turned out cramped and decided to repaint it in a larger scale and give it more air. What I didn't realize, or admit to myself, was that the composition was not good. Everything was huddled up together and having a potato in back of the cabbage did not do anything flattering to the painting. I needed the viewer to read the painting from left to right and the size and placement of the potato was more of a block. In the end I painted over the potato thus eliminating it from the composition forever. ..."

Luis Colan
Painting Process 10
Visit his blog.

[Originally posted 7.28.06]

WIN FREE MOLESKINE! The 2007 Moleskinerie Summer Giveaways

Brought to you by Kikkerland Design Inc, NY

Luis Colan shows us his painting process. From this Moleskine sketch

to this finished painting.

" I must say there were times I doubted myself and this painting, and came very close to leaving it unfinished. But I decided to keep working on it and not let it beat me. Finally, after posting so many stages of the process I can say "this painting is done." A year and a half ago I had painted the very same image in a smaller scale. I was pleased with the result but not happy. At that moment I accepted the painting as it was since I had just started painting representationally for the first time after three years of abstraction. I felt it turned out cramped and decided to repaint it in a larger scale and give it more air. What I didn't realize, or admit to myself, was that the composition was not good. Everything was huddled up together and having a potato in back of the cabbage did not do anything flattering to the painting. I needed the viewer to read the painting from left to right and the size and placement of the potato was more of a block. In the end I painted over the potato thus eliminating it from the composition forever. ..."

Luis Colan
Painting Process 10
Visit his blog.

[Originally posted 7.28.06]

WIN FREE MOLESKINE! The 2007 Moleskinerie Summer Giveaways

Brought to you by Kikkerland Design Inc, NY

Pocket notebook sighting

From Robert Bresson's 1951 film Diary of a Country Priest (Journal d'un curé de campagne). Here the unnamed protagonist, the priest of Ambricourt (played by Claude Laydu), holds a pocket notebook. He is often shown writing with a dip pen in a larger journal.

The film is available, beautifully restored, from the Criterion Collection:

Diary of a Country Priest

[Thanks Michael!]

Lined Card Insert

I can't write straight without lines, and there are the times I need to. Especially when I am using a dip pen and shellac based ink. So I printed a card with lines that can be seen thru the moleskine journal page and keep it in the back, along with the blotter paper card.

molly1216 @ FLICKR

© All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Originally posted 9.30.06

I can't write straight without lines, and there are the times I need to. Especially when I am using a dip pen and shellac based ink. So I printed a card with lines that can be seen thru the moleskine journal page and keep it in the back, along with the blotter paper card.

molly1216 @ FLICKR

© All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Originally posted 9.30.06

Blackhawk Notebook Organizer

Here's a neat way to carry that black notebook - and pens. Great for a quick sketching trip.

By Slipsteam JC @ FLICKR

Available here.

[Thanks Joyce!]

Secret Moleskine

Brew'd Awakening, Lowell, @ lunch time, one of the baristas ducks into an alcove and starts writing in her Moleskine. Fortunately, my cappuccino was already made! I took this with my cellphone and I love the effect.

Captain Peleg @ Moleskinerie/FLICKR

© All rights reserved

WIN FREE MOLESKINE! The 2007 Moleskinerie Summer Giveaways

Brought to you by Kikkerland Design Inc, NY

Track Spending With A Moleskine Notebook

Bob Popken at The Consumerist with a tip for keeping track of your finances, simply.

One of the first steps to take in getting a handle on your budget is to start tracking your spending, and for those who like to do it analog, moleskine small ruled notebooks ($10.50) are awesome.

They fit in your pocket. They have a nice hard cover with a bit of pliancy. There's a folder in the back where you can hold receipts. There's a built in ribbon as a bookmark. An elastic strap keeps the whole book bound shut. It feels very legit and professional, yet personal.

Ok, so what's the point of all this fetishization? Won't a regular notebook or piece of paper do? Certainly.

Read the full post.

[via J. Godsey]

Moleskinerie @ FACEBOOK

The Moleskinerie Group at Facebook is now open.

See you there!

New Sketches by David Navas Garcia

These last months I worked a lot since I am having a show in Barcelona. I will send you some pictures of the paintings and drawings I will exhibit before I put them on the web.

Also I have been travelling and drawing a lot and I just finished a new moleskine. Check it out! :)

David Navas Garcia

Visit

Organizing Recipes

"Despite my affinity to the computer per se and as much as I appreciate the web as a vast inspirational resource, I simply cannot become friends with electronic recipe organization. Having tested various applications over the last years, not a single one managed to convince me to stick with it. Sure, the search functionalities are a huge plus, but the missing paper factor weighs much harder for me. Handwritten recipes develop their own personalities, may it be the aged paper from previous centuries, a beautiful handwriting (which I have not) or the stains and greasy marks, that tell a story of victory success (hopefully). .."

Delicious Days

Visit.

[Thanks to Rebecca Weeks]

Image: © 2007 DD All Rights Reserved

Carbon Cops - Transforming Energy Usage

"New Australian environmental show has "Carbon Cops" using Moleskine notebooks. (And Treos I see..)Sounds like a darn good show, too. About time."

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
LINK

[Thanks Stephen]

Greetings to our friends in Schoten, Mordialloc, Little Compton, RI, Calcutta, Thessaloniki, Kanie, Fort McMurray, Milano, Budapest, Hsinchuang, Tipp City, OH, Parow, Abidjan, Ipswich, Dhaka, Doha, Guanajuato, Virgin Islands, Novosibirsk, Vindinge, La Paz, Chile, Pago Pago, Tuzla and Campinas.

FREE MOLESKINE GIVEAWAY WINNERS for June 23

Thanks to the thousand plus (and growing) entries from around the world. Our winners for the second week are:

Neeraja B
Tamil Nadu
India

Damien Guard
Guernsey
UK

Jennifer Chan
Richmond, BC
Canada

Please check your email and reply to the notification so we can send your prizes soonest.

Good luck to the rest of the entrants. To those who haven't joined yet, the complete rules are here.

The next raffle draw will be held on June 30.

Thanks to the thousand plus (and growing) entries from around the world. Our winners for the second week are:

Neeraja B
Tamil Nadu
India

Damien Guard
Guernsey
UK

Jennifer Chan
Richmond, BC
Canada

Please check your email and reply to the notification so we can send your prizes soonest.

Good luck to the rest of the entrants. To those who haven't joined yet, the complete rules are here.

The next raffle draw will be held on June 30.

Moleskine Asia to sponsor Magical Spaces Project

The Magical Spaces Project is FFW Magazine's initiative to build a collective memory of Singapore's magical places;those loaded with memories and emotional treasures.

"We at Five Foot Way Magazine are proud to announce that Moleskine Asia is the Official Notebook Sponsor of our Magical Spaces Project. MOLESKINE notebooks are more than just notebooks but a special medium, perfect for the recording of these special memories that we have set ourselves out to collect.

For two centuries now Moleskine (mol-a-skeen’-a) has been the legendary notebook of artists, writers, intellectuals and travelers - from gifted artists Henri Matisse (1869–1954) and Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), to poet and leader of the surrealist movement André Breton (1896-1966), to Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) considered the most influential writer of the last century and to famous travel writer Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989). These notebooks have proven they can withstand the trials of travel and abuses that ensues from normal use. This is the one true trusted travel journal.

And now, we can count on these notebooks to hold the memories of Singapore’s architecture and its magical spaces."

LINK

Detour Artist Profile: Stefano Faravelli

Stefano Faravelli was born in Turin. After his studies at the Academy  of Fine Arts, he graduated from the University  of Turin. Since 1987, he has worked as stage designer and painter at Guido Ceronetti’s “Teatro dei Sensibili”.

He has also displayed his work at many exhibitions in Italy and abroad. In 2000 he presented “De Contrapuncto Triumphi” at the Galleria Jannone, for which Giorgio Soavi announced him best artist of 2000 (Il Giornale dell’Arte, January 2001). His works appear in a wide number of publications, and critical appreciations of his work have been written by Giovanni Arpino, Guido Ceronetti, Fabrizio Dentice, Nico Orengo, Massimo Rosci, Vittorio Sgarbi, Giorgio Soavi, Marco Vallora, Renata Pisu. He also took part in Detour London.

Learn more about the new Moleskine City Notebook.
Dealer List (.pdf)

Discover and join our Moleskine communities on LiveJournal, MySpace,  Moleskinerie FLICKR and Meal Moles. Get out - have a life and write about it. See you on Monday.

How to replace ribbons on a Moleskine

Watch on YouTube.
Learn more.

WIN FREE MOLESKINE! The 2007 Moleskinerie Summer Giveaways

Brought to you by Kikkerland Design Inc, NY

 

Dave Goes to Mongolia

From July 14 through July 30th I will be making a trip to Mongolia, where I will be dividing my time between Ulaanbaatar, the Gobi Desert, and a few villages in outer Mongolia. At present, I am doing my best to try to raise funds that will mean that I can buy enough film to get me through the trip and also make sure that my finances at home don’t totally disintegrate in my absence (ah, the life of an artist!). While the trip itself will certainly serve many purposes for pleasure and personal exploration, I will primarily be using this journey as a point of focus for producing new bodies of work, both photographic and written. My principal objectives are to produce a new series of fine art prints, an illustrated travelogue of sorts here on the web site, and a self-published hardcover book combining the primary written works with the final photographic images. Secondary focus will be given to producing several magazine submissions both in the form of photographic portfolios and travel articles.

I will be packing fairly light, checking only my tripod and a small suitcase with clothing on the plane, and taking my cameras, notebooks, and film bag with me as carryon. Capture will be split between digital and film, a large portion being done in B&W on medium format film equipment, which some might find surprising. Color work will be generally captured using a Canon digital SLR. The reason for the emphasis on film has to do with personal preference and nothing more. I love my digital equipment, but wonderful though it is, it isn’t necessarily the right tool for every job (at least not the whole thing).

David R. Munson
To learn more, visit his site.

First Day of Summer

"Summer Solstice"
By Laura Taylor Mark

5.25 x 8.50 moleskine sketchbook
watercolor, pitt pen, colored pencils

View Laura's works on FLICKR

Visit her website, "a tailored line"

Peak

"Peak is no fool. He knows when he's being used but he also recognizes the chance for the adventure of a lifetime – and the chance to get to know his dad.

So he begins his climb and starts to fill a pair of Moleskine notebooks with his story.

For readers it's an opportunity to revel in descriptions of climbing equipment and techniques, but also to face some of the harsh realities of the sport – everything from oxygen deprivation to belligerent Chinese border guards to the frozen corpses that litter the path. But it's also a chance to watch a teen grapple with questions about his own nature: Is he a driven loner like his dad or does he share some of the softer qualities of his mom?

The answer to that last question is never really in doubt but Peak's ascension to the top of Everest is anything but a certainty. His struggle en route might just keep that reluctant reader engaged till the end.

– Marjorie Kehe reviews 'Peak' by Roland Smith, three kids' books about mysteries, readers' picks of children's books, and kids' books for fall..."

The Christian Science Monitor

Read the full article

[Thanks Chris!]

Brasileiros : The voice and the face of Brazilians

São Paulo – Brave Brazilians telling stories about so many other brave Brazilians. This is the proposal of monthly magazine Brasileiros (Brazilians), by the publishing house that goes by the same name, to be launched on the 28th of June, all over Brazil. Hélio, Ricardo, Nirlando and team are going to show readers the stories of Faustinos, Franciscos, Walmores, Marílias, Déboras and Amélias. “We are going to bring great articles back to Brazilian magazine journalism,” stated Hélio Campos Mello, the newsroom director.

Brasileiros was born from an ancient idea by Campos Mello, those that you write, take note of in a Moleskine – the legendary notebook used, among others, by Picasso – and plan to execute one day. It arose when he was still working for magazine Isto É, published by Editora Três, where he spent 12 years as the newsroom director. “In a weekly magazine, many things have to be left out. It is a constant struggle for space, an exercise in guiding a funnel. So I thought: I want to make a more elaborate magazine, where subjects may be better worked," explained the journalist and photographer.

"The voice and the face of Brazilians"
By Cláudia Abreu
ANBA

Read the full article

[via Chris Meisenzahl]

Inside the Minds of Designers

"Its amazing that the Moleskine has manage to brand and associate themselves with the great talents of our time. Don’t get me wrong as I think this is a good thing, but I wonder if this branding aspect has been taken too far. Maybe its just me, but I find that the Moleskine brand promise to be very bi-polar. On one hand the brand makes me feel superior because by using my moleskin I can be associated with such pedigree of talents. On the other hand, it makes me feel inferior as I feel that I should only use my moleskin if I am able or about to reproduce that next design classic, otherwise I should just stay away!

Furthermore, for a sketch book to come in at such a high price point, it becomes almost too painful for me to make a mark on its pristine pages. This I find defeats the purpose of using a sketchbook in the first place as it is suppose to be a repository of quick, down and dirty ideas. The brand makes me keep on thinking that, is want I am about to write or draw something that, in years to come, people would want to see? This is probably why my moleskin still sits on my book shelf, and STILL in its wrapper. Sniff. I love this product so much but I just cant bare to use it..."

Design Sojourn
Read the full post

WIN FREE MOLESKINE! The 2007 Moleskinerie Summer Giveaways

Brought to you by Kikkerland Design Inc, NY

 

Ces and Her Drawings

Okay, so last weekend I was tired and the heat was scorching. My daughter wanted me to take her to the pool. I told her I would after I took a nap. So I took a nap and fell asleep for four hours. Her Dad took her. When they came back she asked me why I did not want to take her to the pool. That was not true. I was tired. She left me a note on my Moleskine. I went to her room and we talked and told each other stories. This weekend it was thundering and there was a lot of lightning. I did some chores and she read. She asked me to hang out with her. I laid on the bed with her then started drawing. She asked me to tell her what she was like when she was a little baby. I did. I love spending rainy and stormy afternoons like that.

"Splash" by Ces

Visit her blog, "Ces And Her Dishes"

View her Moleskine drawings

© 2007 CES All Rights Reseved

Places Traces

These moleskines are part of my Fine Art Degree show at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff. I have used a variety of media to create them including solvent transfers, screenprinting, collage, and sewing.

They are displayed on shelves with long mirrors behind allowing both sides of the book to be viewed at once. The top book has circular holes cut in it allowing random glimpses of the imagery on the other side depending on where one stands.

View on FLICKR

Watch the video

Visit our partner site
Notebookism.com

Zack Houston: Supermarket Poet

Zach Houston is a man after my own heart. He's a poet. But unlike most poets he believes in marketing.

"Need a poem written while you shop?" said Zach Houston.

Supermarketing.

"Poems with your groceries-need a poem?" said Houston.

On the spot, To order.

"What do you want a poem about?" asked Houston.

At a Supermarket near the Berkley Bowl,

There's both food for the body and for the soul.

"Need a poem written?" said Houston.

Groceries may be what your shopping's about but your poem will be ready by the time you check out.

"Poems while you shop? Need a poem written?" said Houston.

Poems about anything says Zach Houston's sign.

"Love and motorcycles? Oh man." said Houston.

"A poem about affordable housing in Berkeley." said a woman named Rose.

"Oh my. " said Houston.

And that motorbike poem was written indeed

The Osgood Files
Listen

Also on CBS Sunday

Make your own guidebook

I just picked up one of Moleskine’s new City Guides (Paris in my case). It’s a delightful little affair. It’s the usual small Moleskine notebook size with the trademark elastic strap and expanding note pocket in the back. But it has a lot of special features geared toward the active tourist:

• City maps in two different scales, with very refined and easy to read muted colors and gray shades. There’s also a street index. It’s not as comprehensive as a full city map (or a Paris Par Arrondissement or a London A-Z, for example), but good enough for most uses
• Sheets of tracing paper with adhesive at the top (like Post-It notes) to place over the maps so you can trace out an itinerary
• Metro/subway map
• Pages for planning Before Going and while-you-are-there itineraries
• Clothing size conversion charts
• Tabbed pages for noting restaurants, people, places, events etc. that you’ve experienced
• Additional blank tabbed pages that allow you to make your own categories

They also supply a couple of sheets for noting inaccuracies so that you can email Moleskine and let them know. And it has three separate cloth bookmark tags (in 3 shades of gray) to mark different pages. My only complaint, as is the case with most Moleskine books, is there’s no way to securely slot in a pen.

Adam Richardson
More at his blog.

FREE MOLESKINE GIVEAWAY WINNERS for June 16

Thanks to the thousand plus (and growing) entries from around the world. Our first three winners are:

Jan Kokles
Bratislava,
Slovak Republic

Louis Yong Chen Cherng
Penang, Malaysia

Jennifer Tillman
Beaufort, South Carolina
USA

Please check your email and reply to the notification so we can send your prizes soonest.

Good luck to the rest of the entrants. To those who haven't joined yet, the complete rules are here.

The next raffle draw will be held on June 23rd.

Guest Essay : Pay Yourself First

When I was growing up, my mother always earned money. In Korea, she taught piano to the local children, and in America, she worked alongside my father at their small wholesale jewelry shop in Manhattan. When I married my husband, I was a first year corporate lawyer and he was a junior salesman at a bank. I made more money than he did. Two years after lawyering, I quit to write fiction. He became the sole breadwinner. This was in 1995. We didn’t have much left over after we paid the mortgage on our tiny apartment, and my husband had to take lunch to work, and I refused to meet friends from my old job for a drink because I was too ashamed to admit that I couldn’t afford my share. It’s hardly a sad story, because it was a choice I made—to trade time for money. A year after I quit my job, I wrote a novel, but it didn’t sell. (Now that was a sad story.) I wrote other things thereafter: A few things got picked up, but for the most part, the writing life was scribbling in private. I filled a number of notebooks with bad writing and now and then there were a couple of inspired ideas. I’ve come to the realization that good writing is like making cheese—it takes about ten pounds of milk to make one pound of cheddar. Basically, you need this huge quantity of words—a ten to one ratio—to make this other thing: The story, essay, novel, what have you.

      Then in 1998, we had a baby. I still didn’t make any real money from writing, and we  had the same mortgage and now, Sam. I thought about my mother a lot who had managed to raise three kids, cooked meals, kept a marriage going, and earned a paycheck. I tried to do as much as I could, but I was having a hard time just getting dinner on the table. I always felt lousy because housework took real time, but it wasn’t paid. I kept putting my writing aside.

      Grown up life makes its necessary demands, and writing on spec (short for “speculative”, i.e., pages no one’s asked for) was expensive, because art takes time, but as every artist learns, time on art costs money or time on art takes attention away from real people (like children and spouses). About when Sam was two, I started this unspoken policy of paying myself first. I did the dishes, paid the bills, folded the laundry and cooked dinner, took care of our son, took care of our extended families, while my husband got the salary and our health insurance, but I made sure that I got an hour or two each day for my fiction. On Saturdays, my husband took our son out so I could get a few more hours. My payments to my writing life came sometimes early in the morning, more often, at night when everyone was asleep, but I noticed that if I didn’t get paid that bit of time to grow my novel—word by word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph—I felt poor inside. So I guess the currency was time, and the payor was me, but the payee was me, too. It took eleven years to sell my first novel, and twelve years to see it in a bookstore, but it got done, albeit on my steady and low rate. And it was quite something when I got to hand a copy to my mother.

      Min Jin Lee is the author of Free Food for Millionaires (Warner 2007).

 

New Works by Enrique Flores

About a month ago I went to the Bologna Childrens Book Fair and to Venice later on the same week. A short trip it was but I managed to fill one of the sketchbooks. The other one is from a five days trip to Lisbon to visit Eduardo Salavisa, the admin of the great site www.diariografico.com . Good talking and a lot of sketching as well. I'´m a bit pressed with time now so instead of making flash slideshows as usual I decided to film my own hands flipping the pages of the books and upload them to YouTube.

View on YouTube

Visit Enrique's website.

Greetings to our friends in Neosho, MI., Pleiku, Bogota, Reykjavk, Nanaimo, BC., Cambodia, Ittiri, Saint Petersburg, Aruba, Lima, Berlare, San Marino, Kosice, Uttar Pradesh, Zenibako, Mondercange, South Africa, Macau, Izmir, Kensington And Norwood, Bandar Seri Begawan, Ramezani, Wailuku, HI, Wuhan, Jakarta, Bahrain, Kiev, Deauville-les-Bains and Algiers.

Detour Artist Profile: Attilio Cassinelli

Attilio Cassinelli was born in Genoa where he now lives and works. He is a children’s book author/illustrator who lived for years in Milan, where he also studied painting and advertising. He began his career as an illustrator for children when, while working for a toy company, he started to draw puppets and rug animals. These drawings became widely recognized for their originality, and a publishing house commissioned him to create a series of dummies that were first considered “strange”. Facing lacklustre response, he then self-produced the first of 10 tales under the title “the house upon a tree”. The book was first introduced and presented at the Fair of the Book of Bologna in 1965 and in Frankfurt. New characters were noticed in the Bologna BookFair 1967 and his material began garnering significant interest. Giunti, a Florence-based publisher, in need of a distinct yet quality-driven series, went on to publish 12 sequels. Since then, Attilio has continued to create, write, and illustrate stories. Many of these have been translated into many languages, and Japan has collected large amounts of his drawings. Lately the book from which he wrote and illustrated “Animals in the proverbs” was awarded with the first prize at the International Hall of Bordighera. The biggest success was Pinocchio retitled “Once I was a piece of wood”. Moreover he has written and illustrated story books, creating educational games as well as collaborating with Publishing houses. Recent private and public commissions include a brand new publication, due out next year, featuring many of the old typical Attilio characters. 

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Learn more about the new Moleskine City Notebook.
Dealer List (.pdf)

 

WIN FREE MOLESKINE! The 2007 Moleskinerie Summer Giveaways

[THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO JOINED. SEE YOU IN DECEMBER FOR OUR HOLIDAY GIVEAWAYS]

Welcome to the 2007 Moleskinerie Summer Giveaways.

Here's how to join:

1.) Email your complete name and mailing address to: moleskinerie@gmail.com. Write:
" 2007 Moleskinerie Summer Giveaways" as subject. Do not write anything else. Multiple and blank entries (without mailing addresses) are automatically deleted.

2.)  We will pick 3 random winners each week. Each person may enter only once and may not win more than one prize. Non-winners automatically qualify for the next draw. Make sure you provide a valid email address. We will pick an alternate winner if we cannot contact you within 7 days from posting of the winners.

3.) There will be three (3) weekly drawings one on each of the following dates: June 16, 23,   30, July 7, 14, 21, 26, August 4, 11, 18, 25 and 31 for the following weekly prizes :

One (1) Large Moleskine Notebook (each week) Selections may vary.

- Only one (1) winner per email/physical address.

- Anybody, anywhere in the world age 18 years old or above may join.

- This contest closes on Friday, August 31, 2007 at 11 PM. CST.

Winners' packages will be mailed out within one week following each drawing (provided the winner has supplied their mailing address}. Sorry we cannot send out replacements in case of loss in transit.

Privacy Notice: Your email address will only be kept for this promo and deleted thereafter. It will not be used, sold or distributed for any other purpose. Promise.

Good luck and happy summer! Get out out! Have a life - and write about it!

Translation help is here and here.

For more information, email us.

Brought to you by Kikkerland Design Inc, NY

Discover and join our Moleskine communities on LiveJournal, MySpace,  Moleskinerie FLICKR and Meal Moles. Get out - have a life and write about it. See you on Monday.

[THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO JOINED. SEE YOU IN DECEMBER FOR OUR HOLIDAY GIVEAWAYS]

Pen holder for notebooks

Ever wonder where to put your favorite sketching pen so that you'll have it when you want to sketch? I know I always was! So I made this pen sleeve to hold my pens ON my Moleskine. This one holds one pen or pencil. It's on a black elastic band that you slip over the cover of your sketchbook (hard-cover books only, soft cover ones would bend under the elastic). Let me know the size of your book and I'll make an elastic band that fits it. For illustration purposes, the Moleskine in the picture (not included) is a "Large" size plain notebook, with a cover that is 5 by 8.25 inches. The pen shown in the holder is a Sakura Pigma Micron (not included).

The holder is 1 by 5.375 inches and is made from a double layer of quality cotton fabric with a strip interfacing reinforcing the pen clip area. The holder is on a piece of 0.5-inch wide black elastic (or 0.375-inch wide natural color elastic) that is not removable. The holder will slide up and down on the elastic. This fabric features Japanese floral designs on a brick-red background.

By zhinkadinkadoo @ Etsy

The Value of Journaling

"Writing stimulates creativity. Sometimes when I can't sleep, I'll come up with a silly sentence and write it in my journal. If I let myself relax, I can often elaborate on that sentence for a few paragraphs. It clears my mind and often I can go back to sleep after writing for a few minutes.

 

You are your best historian. I have two baby books, one for each child. The firstborn's book has a few items in it, but my poor second born's book is pathetically blank. The idea of digging out that book everytime something happened was more than this mom could bear. I did, however, chronicle many milestones in my journals. Even better, I wrote down some of the funniest things that happened to us during those baby days! When I look at my journals from that time, I am reminded of events I had forgotten and enjoy reliving them all over again. I would have never written about such minute things in a baby book. For example, when my son was three he ran in the house one day breathless and completely lit up and told me, "Mommy! I just raced the wind....and I WON!" Or the day my daughter, at 4 years old, took her turn on stage after the other children sang songs like "I'm a Little Teapot." At the top of her lungs and with all the "hand commotions" (That's what she called them. Isn't that precious?!) she belted out, "OOOOOOKlahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain!" She sang the whole song to a crowd of confused kids and slack-jawed moms. What a hoot!.."

Suzanne
Visit her blog, "Singing Like Myself"

[Originally posted September 29, 2006]

Visit our partner site
Notebookism.com

"Writing stimulates creativity. Sometimes when I can't sleep, I'll come up with a silly sentence and write it in my journal. If I let myself relax, I can often elaborate on that sentence for a few paragraphs. It clears my mind and often I can go back to sleep after writing for a few minutes.

 

You are your best historian. I have two baby books, one for each child. The firstborn's book has a few items in it, but my poor second born's book is pathetically blank. The idea of digging out that book everytime something happened was more than this mom could bear. I did, however, chronicle many milestones in my journals. Even better, I wrote down some of the funniest things that happened to us during those baby days! When I look at my journals from that time, I am reminded of events I had forgotten and enjoy reliving them all over again. I would have never written about such minute things in a baby book. For example, when my son was three he ran in the house one day breathless and completely lit up and told me, "Mommy! I just raced the wind....and I WON!" Or the day my daughter, at 4 years old, took her turn on stage after the other children sang songs like "I'm a Little Teapot." At the top of her lungs and with all the "hand commotions" (That's what she called them. Isn't that precious?!) she belted out, "OOOOOOKlahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain!" She sang the whole song to a crowd of confused kids and slack-jawed moms. What a hoot!.."

Suzanne
Visit her blog, "Singing Like Myself"

[Originally posted September 29, 2006]

Visit our partner site
Notebookism.com

Happy Anniversary to the Moleskine Russia Community at LiveJournal

One year ago I have create a community  at LiveJournal.

One year ago I can't imagine that the community idea would be so popular among russian speaking artists, and talanted people and all who use it throughout daily work or life. Today I can say that you were right when told me that's really a great journey. Journey with very interesting, talanted and nice people, journey full of inspiration, and totally new feelings and experience.

I have met so much people, we shared ideas and thoughts. One year ago it was just a dream, now it's cool community.

I appreciate all members for their effort and support. I think that they make this community happen and the result is not only popularity, but the deepness of feeelings people share. Because I think that as Dave Gray said: «Drawings are conversation».

This conversation is very beautiful.

Alisher Hasanov
Moscow
...........................................................

Поздравляю всех участников
сообщества Ru_Moleskine с годовщиной!

Sightings: Extras

From Orange Crate Art:

"A Moleskine sighting: In Extras (Season 1, Episode 4), Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) takes out a Pocket Reporter..."

Michael Leddy

Visit his blog.

WIN FREE MOLESKINE! The 2007 Moleskinerie Summer Giveaways

Brought to you by Kikkerland Design Inc, NY

Laser-engraved Moleskine

Joe Mansfield created a design using the blend tool in illustrator and laser engraved it on a 3.5x6.5" moleskin notebook.

View his works on FLICKR 1 2

Visit ENGRAVEYOURTECH.COM, his laser-engraving business site.

Cuteable

From a site appropriately called Cuteables, come these cahier creations:

Moleskine journals are a must-have for frequent travelers; I particularly like Jet Set, which includes a Moleskine cahier with 64 pages and area code notecards. All the printing is done with block printing for a worn look that encourages traveling without fear of getting them (slightly) scuffed up.

Visit

New York celebrates Moleskine

A gallery of photos from the Detour/MoleskineCity Exhibit in New York

View the photos at La Republica.

[Grazie Silvia!]

Greetings to our friends in Banksmeadow, NSW, Ribeiro Das Neves, Wilmington, DE., Amersfoort, Bangkok, Malaga, Ponsonby Bridge, Braeside, Tianjin, Cairo, Warsaw, Christchurch, Tel Yosef, Tomitaisshiki, Bio-Bio, Suva, Kampong Sera, Cayenne, New Delhi, Seoul, Parow, SA, Novate Milanese, Karachi, Moscow, Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Beirut, Lyon, Oslo and Rwanda. 

WIN FREE MOLESKINE! The 2007 Moleskinerie Summer Giveaways

[THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO JOINED. SEE YOU IN DECEMBER FOR OUR HOLIDAY GIVEAWAYS]

Welcome to the 2007 Moleskinerie Summer Giveaways.

Here's how to join:

1.) Email your complete name and mailing address to: moleskinerie@gmail.com. Write:
" 2007 Moleskinerie Summer Giveaways" as subject. Do not write anything else. Multiple and blank entries (without mailing addresses) are automatically deleted.

2.)  We will pick 3 random winners each week. Each person may enter only once and may not win more than one prize. Non-winners automatically qualify for the next draw. Make sure you provide a valid email address. We will pick an alternate winner if we cannot contact you within 7 days from posting of the winners.

3.) There will be three (3) weekly drawings one on each of the following dates: June 16, 23,   30, July 7, 14, 21, 26, August 4, 11, 18, 25 and 31 for the following weekly prizes :

One (1) Large Moleskine Notebook (each week) Selections may vary.

- Only one (1) winner per email/physical address.

- Anybody, anywhere in the world age 18 years old or above may join.

- This contest closes on Friday, August 31, 2007 at 11 PM. CST.

Winners' packages will be mailed out within one week following each drawing (provided the winner has supplied their mailing address}. Sorry we cannot send out replacements in case of loss in transit.

Privacy Notice: Your email address will only be kept for this promo and deleted thereafter. It will not be used, sold or distributed for any other purpose. Promise.

Good luck and happy summer! Get out out! Have a life - and write about it!

Translation help is here and here.

For more information, email us.

Brought to you by Kikkerland Design Inc, NY

[THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO JOINED. SEE YOU IN DECEMBER FOR OUR HOLIDAY GIVEAWAYS]
 

Moleskine both sides

I love my moleskine notebook. I write project notes front-back, turn it
upside down and personal note back-front.

awerg @ FLICKR
© All rights reserved

What other "space saving" techniques do you use on your notebooks?

DETOUR Artist Profile: Martina Meluzzi

Martina Meluzzi, architect, joined Sir Norman Foster's studio in 1999. After 6 years she has just set up her own studio Mai Architect and works as the Director with various commissions around the world.

Learn more about the new Moleskine City Notebook.
Dealer List (.pdf)

Discover and join our Moleskine communities on LiveJournal, MySpace,  Moleskinerie FLICKR and Meal Moles. Get out - have a life and write about it. See you on Monday.

Lifehacker Workspace Contest

Lifehacker is having a contest on the coolest workspaces. I'm partial to this one; with the Moleskine of course.

"I used environmentally sustainable products wherever possible. The paint is a low-VOC latex, the red oak (original to the room) floor sealant is from organically derived materials, the large carpet squares are from green flooring leader Flor, all bulbs are compact fluorescent, windows double pane, and the wood stove (it's New Hampshire, after all) is high-efficiency and has a catalytic converter."

Lenski

Main Contest Page @ Lifehacker
-------------------------------------------------------

Visit our partner site
Notebookism.com

And don't forget to join our Summer Giveways and Win FREE MOLESKINE Notebooks
Coming on Monday.

Brought to you by Kikkerland Design Inc, NY

Detour: the Parsons Connection

Artists from the Parsons School of Design are also contributing to the Detour experience. Moleskine had approached Steven Guarnaccia, chair of the Illustration Department at Parsons and Detour artist, asking whether he would be interested in teaming up on a special project for Detour. He agreed, and Moleskine provide a group of illustration students with a batch of Detour Opening - Parsons Studentspre-release New York City Notebooks. The students filled 20 notebooks with their own work and displayed them on the opening night of the Detour exhibit the Art Directors Club. Print magazine columnist and illustrator Peter Arkle audited Guarnaccia’s class that day, capturing a few moments of Moleskine’s interaction with the illustration students in this fantastic cartoon.

[via DETOUR/moleskinecity.com]

Moleskine (paired with Action Cards) @ Behance

We are (of course) huge fans of Moleskine at Behance. Our team helps creative professionals boost productivity.  We use Moleskine as our sketch/notebook along with a separate Action Card to capture the action steps that come up in meetings (because, if we write the action steps in the Moleskine, we tend to lose sight of them and lose productivity!).

So, we have started carrying Moleskine products in our online Outfitter, along with the "Action" cards and sheets that we have developed to pair with them (and put the Moleskine pocket to good use for further productivity!).

Action Method (the method behind our products)

Moleskine Selection @ Behance

Donna Auguste uses a Moleskine?

Here's a revelation from Eric Moritz:

"So I had the fortunate experience to meet Donna Auguste today. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but after googling her name, she has a very impressive history. Aside from that, I’d have to say one of her most famous contributions to technology would have to be being the key software engineering manager for the Apple Newton, the first PDA.

What really struck me was that she wasn’t using some uber fancy PDA today. She was using a Moleskine notebook. Now that’s ironic, the person responsible for leading the team to develop the first PDA ever, uses analog technology...."

Read the full post at "One More Blog"

Photo © Eric Moritz

Build upon Upstate Writing Gains

By Paul Fallavollita

The South Carolina Department of Education recently gave two Greenville County schools the Exemplary Writing Program award for their performance in teaching writing as a key part of their curriculum.  Not long after, the Center for Academic Integrity, an entity that fights plagiarism as part of its mission, announced it is moving to Clemson University from Duke.  These events invite our community to survey how we might cultivate its promising writerly landscape.

Greenville’s rising prominence in the writing world positions the Upstate for a spot in the “Conceptual Age economy” predicted by Dan Pink in his book, A Whole New Mind.  Pink asserts the economy of the future will be based upon activities that cannot be performed better by a computer or a foreign laborer.  This new reality will give an advantage to more creative and artistic occupations that do not emphasize linear, flowchart-style steps.  To compete in a global environment, the answer is to go local and to embrace the human touch.  It is easy to draw from Pink’s thesis that efforts which promote writing skills generate a creative niche that is not easily outsourced or automated.

Never miss a chance to impart excitement about writing—our livelihood may depend upon it.  Writing is not boring, especially if one tackles bold, unusual, or controversial themes.  As an English teacher of mine once observed about the beauty of the written format, you don’t have to be around when people read your material.  Sharing forbidden fruit carries a certain romantic aspect.

The boldness summoned through writing often yields to humility, however.  One of the criteria for the Exemplary Writing Program award is a curriculum that includes a place for revising student writing over time.  Many will recall the experience of writing something for a class or other project and then looking at it a year or so later with embarrassment, knowing one could have done better.  This makes a writer sensitive to an audience, and provides incentive to produce material worthy of being read.

Join our Summer Giveways and Win FREE MOLESKINE Notebooks

Coming on Monday.

www.moleskinerie.com

Brought to you by Kikkerland Design Inc, NY
 

What media do you use in your Moleskine sketchbook?

Hi - I am new to this group and to using moleskines. I have purchased a sketchbook and I really like the weight and texture of the pages. I had read before I purchased that the pages do not take watercolour too easliy, and I find this is the case, but I can get away with light washes.

I find watercolour pencils work well, provided I don't wet the paper too much. I am also using a Pitt artists pen which works well with no bleed through.

I am keen to try other mediums - gouache, acrylics, markers, so I am interested to know what med

Join JournalEYES in this ongoing discusiion @ Moleskinerie/FLICKR

Photo: "k" by mona liza overdrive
© All rights reserved

Everybody's Crazy for Moleskine

The name of Phyllis' pet howler monkey was "Monkey." Here, Monkey is trying to grab my notebook. It actually has teethmarks in it now.

Jürgen Fauth

View the original image at Moleskinerie/FLICKR