Looking for something a bit retro and a bit different to be inspired by this Christmas? Then it's definitely worth checking our Froggyboggler's flickr set, Merry Xmas.
I found this Galaxy Science Fiction magazine cover from 1951 seriously strange, particularly the alien sitting at Santa's table gazing wistfully at the big man in red. I think it's true love.
There are a series of pulp fiction covers in the set called A Corpse for Christmas and various Astounding Science Fiction covers worth checking out too, along with more traditional mid-century Christmas imagery.
Go see Froggyboggler's flickr set, Merry Xmas.

Labels: 1950s, alien, Christmas, flickr, froggyboggler, illustration, retro, science fiction, vintage

I first saw Maya and Michael's apartment on Apartment Therapy earlier this year. I kept that wonderful rich pea-green in mind for my place (as you know, I have a lot of reds, oranges and teak wood) but was keen to see it again; it's a bold choice, wanted to make sure I really liked it...
Last week I stumbled across Maya and Michael's apartment again as part of the Apartment Therapy Fall Colours 2008 competition. I think it's meant to be as I am on holidays from work for two weeks and this week my goal is to paint my living room and kitchen.
I really do love that colour, thanks Maya and Michael for sharing and inspiring me to paint!
Want to see more? Go vote for them at AT, see more images of their loft apartment on flikr, browse their prints and coasters on Etsy, read what their up to on their blog or check out the Visualingual website.

Labels: Apartment Therapy, Etsy, flickr, green, painting, retro, Visualingual

Apparently beer isn't just fun to drink, not only inspires art, but can actually be used in it's production too, who knew? Kevin Hayes of Lovely MPLS did the experiments and came up with the following conclusion:

beer + paint + skill + inspiration (see also beer) = ART

There is even an LED light thrown in for good measure.
Did I even mention how great the poster is? A collage of beer labels in black and white screen printed on the German paper (mostly also made from beer!) and with a spot varnish finish, looks awesome.
Kevin, I think this work needs to be the first of a series. I'll be watching out for more!
Check out the Lovely MPLS Etsy page for a description of how Drunk Lightning was made and go to the Lovely MPLS Flikr page to see photos.

Labels: art, beer, black and white, brown, Etsy, flickr, Lovely MLPS, screen printing

Idée have developed this amazing little contraption for searching flickr by colour. You can select up to 10 colours from the panel and those colours will be in the set of images that come up. I don't know about practical application but it sure is fun to play with.
Check out Idée Multicolr Search Lab and go crazy!

Labels: colour, flickr, grey, idée, orange, website

Through my usual weird searches for inspiration on flickr, (I think I was searching for world globes) I stumbled across Amyla174's set, Collections. Antique dolls furniture meets old photos, butterflies, globes, nests and beautifully selected junk in artful compositions.
It wasn't until I delved a little further that I discovered that I was looking at the work of Amy Gross, a mixed media artist with work that seems inspired by nature, and which took my breath away.
Check out Amy's flickr set, Collections and the be sure to see her mixed media artwork.

Labels: Amy Gross, butterfly, chair, flickr, green, photography

Cypherone has shared the most amazing images of an abandoned holiday resort in Sanjhih on the north coast of Taiwan. She says:

"I don't know why it was abandoned.
"Some people do believe that it was abandoned because haunted. In some version of story, someone died in an accident, then it became a haunted building.
But there is an another version of the the story.
"Some people believe it is because the government disallow building a bathing beaches in this area. It became a holiday resort on the coast that can't play on the beach, and soon it was abandoned.
"I don't know which story is true.

I like the ghost version of the story and if you look carefully at Cypherone's flickr set, you can see them in the reflections.

Labels: architecture, flickr, ghost, photography, red, retro, taiwan

I stumbled across this flickr set put together by Splorp when looking for retro red phones.
There are some great images in here but as a collection, they look fantastic. A colour theme is a great way to collect seemingly random images. I would love to see these images printed and filling a wall.
Thanks for sharing it Splorp!
Check it out.

Labels: flickr, photography, red, retro

The flickr photo pool called Eye Candy - trippy hippy kid's books from the 60's and 70's is definitely worth checking out. Some of the images submitted would seriously make you wonder if it were for kids or for spaced out 60's teenagers, ger-roovy!
This example is probably one of the less strange but I love the overprint look, strong limited use of colour and you just know that it would feel a bit scratchy and smell like an old library.
At first it made me think about the cold war and Russia v USA at this period and perhaps this happy little penguin was a slim disguise for some pro-communist propaganda, but on closer inspection (and to show my naivety) it's Greek writing, not Russian, so perhaps even Greek penguins think about reaching the moon one day?
It would certainly be a welcome addition on my bookshelf!
Check out the Eye Candy.

Labels: art, books, flickr, illustration, penguin, space

I love the idea of having a set of classic mid-century chairs all lined up as interactive art sculpture pieces and Joel Pirela has done exactly that. Check out the rest of his inspirational modern retro interior design on his flickr page. Great stuff!

Labels: art, decor, flickr, interior, sculpture