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INSPIRATION: GETTING AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER
By: Emily McDowell

Like a lot of people, I spend way too much time staring at my computer screen. Sometimes, when I’m done working, I’ll go over to Pinterest or any one of a zillion blogs and start looking around for inspiration. Fast-forward two hours, and my back hurts, my eyes are tired, and I end up getting distracted by cute dresses and/or cocktail recipes and yes even Facebook!!! It’s times like these when I remember that getting out into the non-digital world is really my favorite way to get inspired.

I’ve lived all over the country: Boston, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Sun Valley, Tampa, and now Los Angeles. One of the reasons I love LA is that there are so many things here that give me ideas: the plants, the light, the people, the architecture, the colors. This afternoon, I did one of my favorite things: I walked down the street in East LA and took pictures of hand-painted typography and illustrations.

Hand-painted signs are an art form in the eastern parts of Los Angeles, and you’ll see them everywhere.

I stopped for my favorite tacos ever at Los Cinco Puntos, and on the way, I spotted some great color combinations that I’m sure will show up at some point in my work. Looking at this one just makes me feel happy – and awake.

I get so inspired looking at the letterforms people come up with. Many of the signs aren’t copying a particular font, but instead making up their own.

There are two bike shops near each other on Cesar Chavez Avenue, where I was walking, and I took photos of them both.

I love the little bike illustrations on both of these signs. Many stores paint pictures on their exteriors to advertise what they sell. I have two favorite examples of these: one is a vacuum store in Hollywood where the outside of the store is covered with carefully painted renditions of each model of vacuum they carry. My other favorite is a bodega in Echo Park, whose exterior walls are decorated with painted bottles of detergent, A-1 sauce, cans of Budweiser, and carrots…

On my walk today, I saw this furniture store, which made me happy.

I also saw this amazing mural on a butcher’s storefront.

One of the last things I came across was this great reminder that sometimes things don’t work out as planned, and it’s OK. I love this happy accident.

On the way home, I was on the freeway, admiring the Santa Monica Mountains, when I was passed by an elderly woman on a dirt bike. She must have been going 80 miles an hour. That’s another reason I love getting out into the world: it’s full of surprises. May your August be the most inspired one yet!

Until next time…Emily

Written by: Emily McDowell

Be sure to check out some of my work in my Etsy shop or you can keep up with my latest designs on my site, Twitter, or Facebook page!