This week we’re lucky to have friend and creative collaborator of Poppies & Posies, Janelle Sing, around to share a few of her favorite things. Janelle is honestly one if not the most talented people we’ve ever known, so we’re happy to be able to share her favorite things with you today. I won’t give away too much but make sure to check her out here and here for more about her work!

Take it away Janelle…

My interest in figurative painting brought me to Italy, to a school whose philosophy resonated with my own.  “Skill is a proof of sincerity,” writes the director of the program.  During my time there, I fell in love with leather craftsmanship, peeping in on bespoke shoe makers and marveling at well-dressed men carrying their briefcases around Florence.  Since then I’ve made it my mission to understand the construction and craftsmanship of leather products.  For me, it’s another creative channel on top of printmaking, drawing obsessively, and lettering.  I love collaborating with people as passionate about design as I am, which is why I’m so fortunate to work with Sierra and Juliet.

 Old Luggage

 Maybe it’s the history that lives in an old suitcase, or the romance that I attach to traveling and the things that I bring with me.  When I was in Italy, I packed an old hard-sided suitcase full of drawing supplies and headed to Venice for a few days.  I drew the hell out of that city.  It was one of the most idyllic travel experiences I’ve had, and the best drawings I’ve made to show for it.  Now I design bags for an old American luggage company.  It just makes sense.

 Thunderstorms

 There’s nothing more humbling than when the skies open up and unleash terrible amounts of rain and noise.  Last summer a friend and I got caught in an amazing downpour as we sat down to watch an outdoor movie in Red Hook.  The clouds came in so fast that we barely got back on our bikes before the rain came down.  Our clothes were plastered to our bodies, our picnic dinner was all over the road after I skidded through a puddle and fell off my bike — but we laughed through the rain and fought our way home (and then rented the same movie).

 Eggs Rothko

 This is the brunch I crave when I leave Brooklyn.  Eggs Rothko (at Egg, in Williamsburg) is the best version of the egg-in-the-hole bread that my mom used to make for me growing up.  It’s a perfectly runny egg in a thick slice of Amy’s broiche, smothered in a layer of Grafton Cheddar and paired with a side of broiled tomatoes.  Order kale and candied bacon and we’re talking.  Add french press.  Invite me.