Gehry

"That is so stupid looking, it's great." -Frank Gehry

I have a long standing relationship with Mr. Gehry and his architecture. Well a guess not that long. But as of 2006, I was officially a fan of this lovely eclectic architect. While some critics believe his work is merely an architectural spectacle, I can't help but disagree. I'm no critic nor an architecture aficionado but I definitely have a reaction to any space of his, that I am privileged to encounter. There's something so alive an energetic about his work. The way light is incorporated into his designs, and how they change as the day wears on and the seasons change. I'd wager, you'd rarely see the same "building" twice.

After living in Bilbao, and seeing the gorgeous Guggenheim Museum (picture on left) out of my window everyday, I truly became of fan of Mr. Gehry's work. Then in '08, Kori and I ran across another Gehry, at the DG Bank in Berlin, Germany (picture on right). His work never ceases to amaze and inspire me. The organic feel of his work, the texture, the depth and the perspective are all part of the creative genius that is Frank Gehry.

If you haven't already, rent Sketches of Frank Gehry. You'll learn a little about architecture, gain a better insight into what it takes to create these modern marvels, and you may just come away inspired.

xxbesos

j.leija

Beginnings

When I was a little girl, I wrote my first "book". It was 3 pages long and consisted of 8 words. I can still recite it from memory. "The first day. The second day. The end." Yeah, so maybe I wasn't the most loquacious 6 year old. But if you heard me talk about it, the pictures told the story.

At that age, I was more interested in drawing the pictures that illustrated my book, than in bothering with the words. Today, not much has changed. I'm still much better at the visual rather than the verbal. It's much easier for me to convey emotion, tone, and context with color, texture and design. This blog is an attempt, no matter how feeble, to conquer both.

Now to the meat of it, my goals for this blog {{dum dum dum}}. They're pretty simple and straight forward. I mainly just want to get my stuff out there, have my own voice, pave my own way on the interweb (30 Rock) express. What can you expect? Lots of scrapbooking, tons of photos, and perhaps a challenge or two.

Oh, and a word about the blog name. I hear its a song by the All American Rejects--never knew that before. There's also a movie of the same name coming soon to a theater near you--pure coincidence (although I'm totally interested in checking it out!!). I simply liked it because you can read it two ways: Paper Art and Paper Heart. I think you can get my intended inference.

Well, to shut down this inaugural post I'll leave you with a note about my story. I still have to defend that first stab at literary genius. Much to my own personal chagrin, my parents bring it up on a fairly regular basis. No joke, not knowing what I was doing, my dad just quoted "The first day. The second day. The end" to me about 5 minutes into this blog post. Seems like I'll never live that one down. I'll have to see if Mama Leija can dig it out of storage.

xxbesos

j.leija