the creep of imagery

I've become one of those people. Constantly fiddling with my iPhone, my soft addiction. All day, every day. Ever since I upgraded to the 4s, and gained access to all the best apps, you know, those that didn't stoop to the iPhone 3's level, the addiction's been growing. I used to tease Toby about constantly fiddling with some silly casual game on his phone... but now I should talk. He gives me The Look ("really? again with the phone?") now.

And, trust me, this bugs! I hate this. One of my top peeves is that post-modern inability to be in the moment, just put the phone down, stop checking, start seeing. Ugh. Not too long ago, I was that person who wouldn't know it if I had a text or vmail for hours: I just wouldn't check my phone that often, it would be stashed away in my purse, all sound muffled. I used to not check email all weekend. Now I'm never far from my phone and the checking is habitual. Like a trained animal looking for a cookie, I have my three favorite icons to tap, in this order: Instagram, Pinterest and email (so old skool). Maybe I'll cycle through them a couple of times. Tap, snap, comment, "like", giggle, scroll.

It kind of makes me sick and I should really be resolving to curb this new addiction. But, I'll be honest, I'm just not there yet. And, you know what? I'm really loving so much about the random streams of imagery and words that come my way each time I check and re-check. The quiet moments of someone's else's life, food pics that instantly determine what's for lunch... and simply inspiring images.

All the fiddling almost seems OK when a couple of visuals come through my feed together, from totally separate sources... but together they stop me in my tracks. Yesterday, two beauties danced down my screen, one after the other.

I had a flash in my mind... something's there. Something's percolating.  Wings... that blue... inky... flattened... symmetrical. Hmmm.


This is how I work, letting little snippets of shape and color seep in and find some space in the back of my mind. If I'm lucky, something new emerges in time. It's a process, and iPhone be cursed or not, I'm liking it.

The Blue Bird roosts on my Work Inspiration board, via dear Tori, originally from Bird & Banner;
The kimono graces my fashion board, via Alice Q, originally from Triple Gemini on Etsy.