Real talk: Creative direction, branding & design are things I don’t talk much about but are actually a huge part of what sustains fonder studio. Here’s one example.
Working on art direction and building partnership with indie ambient record label @echoesblue has been an absolute adventure, from listening to the unmastered tracks of these incredible musicians, all the way to creating artwork that speaks to the essence of their art.
Thank you for a wonderful year of releases! Reaching higher heights together.
Artists: @wedreamofeden@deargravitymusic@norvikmusic@marshallusinger@antarcticwastelands@narrowskiesmusic@anita_tatlow@saltofthesound 🤍🌟
——
#artwork #albumart #albumcovers #albumcoverart #albumcoverdesign #creativehustlershk #ambientmusic #lofimusic #digitalmusic #creativedirection #graphicdesigndaily
Friends, I feel so excited to be back with great news! We moved into a new studio we’ve called @c.nterspace two months ago and are still somewhat settling in, busy with opening activities.
Here are three of my archival pieces photographed on the floor of the new studio. Which one is your favorite? 💚😌🌟
.
.
.
.
#inkonpapers #contemporaryink #inkartist #inkartwork #sumikkogurashi #sumiink #sumie #simplicity #artminimalist #sustainableart #sustainableartist #mindfulpractice #arttherapylife
Now that it’s not raining as much, I wake up every morning to moments like this.
Sunlight streams in through the cracks, spilling over paintings left to dry overnight.
Morning greets me with a warm hello, lingering if only for another moment.
I close my eyes.
The shadows lean over me as I blink them back open, awakened to reality.
This is the moment. This is our time.
Arise.
Let us awaken.
Hello to the morning.
———
#holyground #SacredMemories #sumie #sumiink #sunlight_art #meditationpractice #mindfullife #poetryofinstagram #mindfulnesspractice #contemporaryartwork #independentartists
Hello, new and old friends! My name is Joy (@thejoylee ) and I’m the womxn behind this creative+branding studio.
I’ma introduce myself real quick… I started this studio officially in the middle of the pandemic last year. It wasn’t easy, because I had an accident and was in and out of the hospital for 9 mo. I was also working 3 jobs and writing a thesis.
There are three clear chapters I can point to in my life where I’m like — oh yeah, that definitely was hell. Whether it was depression, an existential crisis, or trauma, I would go through these moments where 1. My life was running a million miles an hour, and 2. My mental/emotional state was chaos.
Those moments have come back to me time and time again. Not because I choose to, they sometimes just happen (eg. Getting sick, health issues, family issues, etc).
I have learned that, for me, the thing that gets me through those seasons is this: Stillness. Mindfulness. Being. Breathing. Meditation.
In creating spaces for stillness, I become still. And that is what gets me through the times when everything is chaos.
Every client I work with, every campaign I strategize, every art piece I create, even my most recent #SacredMemoriesBook, has the value of Stillness weaved into the work. No matter what.
It may be in my approach, it may be through writing, it may simply be through creating boundaries at work; stillness is my key to creating work that is generative, healing, reconciling, and that flourishes in dark times.
So I’m grateful you’re stopping by. I hope that the work you see brings stillness to wherever you are at, in life, in this world. And remember — that you are always held in the arms of Love. ✨🖤
——
#mindfulness #mindsetmatters #stillnesswithin #meditationpractice #meditationspace #motivationalquotes #inspirationdaily
When I set out to create this book, I decided that this one thing was essential: Space.
Space to Breathe.
Space to heal.
Space to return to yourself. To the Divine.
Space to let go of judgement and criticism.
Space to wonder, to ask questions.
Space to be curious and be playful.
Space to Feel. To truly Feel the deep pain and sadness and longing and gladness… All at the same time.
Space to return to the Sacred.
———
SACRED MEMORIES is available for Pre-Order starting this Friday, August 20, until August 31.
Shipping across the world.
150 never before seen paintings by @thejoylee meditating on the human condition. Buy it as a gift, or just for yourself.
#SacredMemoriesBook #preorder #artistjourney #meditativeart #creativejournaling
Fonder Fingerprints are over every single art piece that I create for every patron. More than the original artworks themselves these little doodles are what make each piece one of a kind. I also love how transient they are too, as they are drawn on washi tape; this is a reminder that everything passes, even what we think is unique and special.
At the end, I share a few handwritten notes that I include in each purchase. Thank yous, care notes, disclaimers… I think about these things often! Do you?
When you think about choosing artwork for your space, what is important to you—the artwork, the creator, the craft, or the stories behind the maker/artwork? #fonderlove
——
#reflections #meditationspace #creatorslane #makersofinstagram #etsyhandmade #handmadehk #handcrafted #etsypackaging
👉🏽 Swipe right to the end for the final artwork! I wanted to share some lovely flowers first 🥰
I was so delighted and eager to create this painting, that this piece was commissioned and painted within one day.
As a friend and I were discussing the importance of patience in the process of growth, the topic of seeds came up.
Here’s the quote this painting is inspired by:
“And so you make the farm, and so you disappear into your days, your days into the ground. Before you start each day, the place is as it is, and at the day's end, it is as it is, a little changed by work, but still itself, having included you and everything you've done. And it is who you are, and you are what it is. You will work many days no one will ever see; their record is the place. This way you come to know that something moves in time that time does not contain. For by this timely work you keep yourself alive as you came into time, and as you'll leave: God's dust, God's breath, a little Light.”
——
BRB, I’m going to cry. #fonderlove #gardeninglife #mindfulliving #meditationquotes #meditationpractice
👉🏽 Swipe for the full painting! Today, I’m starting off the week with my all time favorite color: blue. This was a Commissioned piece for The Garden Counselling & Restorative Services.
Blue has always spoken to me. Picasso’s blue series. The Ocean Blue. The sky blue. The dark blue of Night.
Blue, for me, signifies mystery, melancholy, and a hint of wistful nostalgia.
Blue signifies the openness of possibility. The depth of blues means that there is a sense of eternity behind each hue. Each shade a layer of meaning. In that blue, I wonder.
And wonder is endless; curiosity is infinite; the blue is eternal.
💙 Comment with blue hearts if you feel this mood 💙
——
#mondaymeditations #mindfullife #mindfulpainting #fonderlove #meditativeart #arttherapylife #wondermore
This week’s inspiration dump, here goes! 🌱🪴 A delicate, budding purple-ish flower. A fully grown purple-ish flower. The philodendron leaf. A warning cone knocked over in the middle of a field.
Moments. Memories. Meditation. What do these three have in common? Impermanence.
For me, this week I’m thinking about how impermanence is so embedded in the very nature of nature itself. There’s something about finitude I find so beautiful and wondrous.
I used to be afraid of how a moment won’t last forever. But now I realise that this is the sweetness of the bitter.
——
#mindfulnesspractice #inhaleexhale #mindfulnessmeditation #mindfulnessmatters #breathe #calmness #creativejournal #growth
⚠️ BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT: Happy August, friends! Here’s what we’ve been working on: Sacred Memories, a book filled with 150 meditative abstract ink paintings. Each painting is based on each of the 150 chapters in the book of Psalms, which is included in the Tanakh & Christian Bible.
👉🏽 Swipe RIGHT to see a sneak peek of the inside!
I’m soooo excited to announce that this book — Sacred Memories — will be available for pre-order starting August 20. Yes, we’re going physical: there are only 200 signed copies in this run.
Yes, this means ONLY 200 copies in the world…
… Packaged, by hand, by yours truly.
… Signed, with dedications.
… Shipped off with handwritten thank you notes.
If you want more information, please DM me. Website for Sacred Memories will be up soon.
Comment DIBS below if you want first dibs on pre-order form. Or you can wait until Aug 20… #fonderlove
——
#meditativepainting #mindfulnesspractice #psalms #abstractpainting #sumie #sumiepainting #mindfulliving #meditationpractice #inkpainting
👉🏽 Swipe to the END to see the cutest kid read the painting out loud! 🤩
Sharing this piece today as a part of my creative process — this was a verse in Psalm 139. Commissioned piece for N’s husband’s birthday gift.
I’ve learned to let go of my own expectations in my work recently. This includes the type of work I will take on. This approach to work isn’t prescriptive at all—it’s just a matter of where I’m at right now. I have this reminder on my desk that says: trust the process not just the outcome. Live with hands and arms open freely to God’s invitations.
For me, this looks like allowing and giving myself permission to take on lettering projects. For a long time, I put it off because it just “wasn’t my style” anymore. But after saying no to work, coming back to this process has been a beautiful reconciliation of the abstract and the literal.
I used to letter using pens and sharpies. Now, my lettering process includes using Chinese brushes and ink sticks. All I can say is that it is incredibly freeing ✨☺️ #fonderlove
——
#mindfulnessmeditation #mindfulnesspractice #handletteringpractice #letteringart #letteringdaily #chinesepainting #sumieart
Sometimes I just need a cold glass of coffee along with a stream of conscious breathing 🧘🏻
I haven’t been able to post all last week because I was prioritising people and presence over getting everything done.
That’s sometimes what happens, and I’m grateful for the kind of work where I can give myself permission to focus on one moment and person at a time.
So this past weekend, I found myself with a pocket of time before my next commitment. One full hour of space unplanned. Time to breathe.
I ordered a rose infused cold brew (because that’s a thing these days), and found a seat in the back, tucked between two magazine shelves.
Oof! I exhaled, sinking my shoulders into the wooden framed chair. ‘What do I need right now?’ I asked myself.
Silence. Solitude. Breath.
I brought out two books that slow me down (Tao Te Ching & The Book of Tea), and turned to a page of poetry.
Every breath is a miracle, I think to myself and close my eyes…
/ inhale / exhale \
Within what felt like 10 minutes of silence and conscious breathing, I felt a current of air brush past me. Beat. Two minutes later, I opened my eyes.
And there was my coffee — sitting perfectly, quietly, condensing slowly into the table, awaiting my grip, and beholding my own presence.
When we are waiting in line for something, waiting for our coffee, waiting at the supermarket, waiting for the bus, we have a few ways to respond. We can respond exasperated, out of breath. In a hurry and frustrated with the person in front of us. Roll our eyes at how long it takes. Or distract ourselves by scrolling mindlessly through our phone feeds.
However, moments like these — being in the waiting — are also always, like everything else, an invitation to be present, an invitation to arrive to the moment, an invitation to be still. And to wait for the sake of waiting.
(That being said, I am still that person who impatiently waits. I’m constantly learning to simply be, and to simply be still.)
——
#mindfulmoments #fonderlove #mindfulliving #inthewaiting #coldbrewcoffee #hkcoffee
