Anahata Katkin

I Heart Burlwood

One of my favorite stops going to the coast on Redwood Highway is always the Burlwood Gallery.  An old school relic that grows every year.  New tree houses, new sculptures, new craziness! A collective of artists and free spirits no doubt have been building this place up for 30 years! Really UP!  I'm afraid to climb into their highest tree house. It reminds me of my roots in Alaska as a kid.  Where renegade buildings, cabins and crafts of the 70's lived side-by-side with their eccentric owners.If you make it to that highway make sure you stop for an enchanted snoop around the Burlwood property!

Attn Designers:

PAPAYA! is growing and fast.  We're looking for creative candidates right here.  We're proud of our brand and company vision, benefits and direction. We are looking for a new (downright fabulous) designer to join our creative team.
We're also searching for some key individuals to fill the roles of Web Maestro, Wholesale Sales Associate, as well as Retail Sales in our Brick-n-Mortar location.  Click here for our career listings. Please don't hestitate to share your work and interest with us!

Field Trip

We decided last minute to take a little field trip a couple hours from home.  The California, Oregon border was a nice break from the norm for spring break start up. A little bit of coast and a little bit of Redwoods made a couple days full of fresh air, treasure hunting and connecting. Jedediah State Park along Smith River. We came home with buckets of smooth rocks for painting on!  All of us had rock fever. And mad clover fever!  We searched tirelessly for four leaf clovers.

Other adventures included tree houses, real lions, tigers and leopards on the Redwood Highway, questionable dining, and even a show-n-tell from a talented Burlwood artist at the Burlwood Gallery.  (More on that later) All in all a great reminder that exploring in your own neck of the woods is worth the effort.  Especially around here.  All work and no play had made us bonified Netflix freaks!Happy Spring Break mommies!

I Won?

At Christmas time I ordered some prints from Blaine Fontana.  (Cuz I'm big nerdy fan of all his creations of course.)  Last week this arrived on my porch.  No note, just a signature, Blaine Fontana bird house that I assume was used as part of his extensive installations he does at events.  Anyhoo.  Turns out I WON this little guy from their site.  Go figure!  My first real win is on an arts site. How nice!  The moral of this story?  Buying art is good!

LEELAH : underway

Our wonderful new project is underway at PAPAYA!.  Our new brand, LEELAH clothing is an integration of artists, designers and master screen printers.  All working together, under one roof to create the LEELAH perspective.
 With an emphasis on feel and flow, LEELAH clothing is wearable inspiration. Our proof is in the pudding.  Bringing together a team of dynamic creatives for a fresh expression of wearable goods with the same artists you've come to appreciate through PAPAYA!  Made with love and printed by hand in the USA.
 Our first designs are going to be hitting stores across the country starting this week. We are working to get them online just as soon as possible!  We'll keep you posted as we progress. "like" us on FB to keep informed.

 

 

Pattern People:

I've been playing around this week learning to make repeating patterns and the like.  I've also been scouring pattern inspiration and trying to get my loosely organized brain to think in alignment.  So when I stumpled on this over at Melanie Royals (the queen of pattern herself) blog post I was delighted!  Cecelia Paredes has painted herself into these wallpaper scenes!  Incredible!  I'm just as delighted by the frou frou floral designs as I am the content.  I've been wondering how to supress my own flower power lately but seeing this reminds me, "what the hell for". Yep I'll be unable to ween myself out of floral mania and am quite certain it will be a lifelong obsession.

Fireweed

Reinterpreting some of last years paintings into new pieces...xoxox.

Vietnam: By Freepeople

I am an avid traveler.  But at this moment I'm clinging to my home and my domestic bliss, trying not to go anywhere while life moves around me.  So this mornings view of FreePeople's travelogue was a warm way to vicariously see Vietnam from my cozy home office. The log is filled with wonderful photo's but my favorite are the little video clips inside the montages.  My hats off to their team for a very inspiring and festive view of a faraway Vietnam.  This kind of thing gets all my juices flowing.  Hooray for creative companies reinterpreting the world through artistic eye's.