Charley Harper

Every year around December I go on the hunt for a new planner for the coming year. I am quite particular about the qualities it must possess: it has to show a week at a time; it cannot be spiral bound-these get all bent up and wonky; it has to have a ribbon bookmark; it has to be small enough to fit in my purse, but large enough for me to put travel documents in and other important papers as necessary; it has to meet my design standards of cool graphics, at least on the cover; animal or nature themes preferred; and graphics inside are desirable, but not required. Imagine my delight when purusing Barnes and Noble two weeks before Christmas and finding this:


I am not sure if a more perfect planner exists for me. At first because I saw the planner was by TeNeus, I thought this must be some sort of English artist and happened to be on a jaunt in America when he painted this Baltimore Oriole. But no, Charley Harper is American and lived worked for many years in Cincinnati. If his style looks vaguely familiar, he illustrated the Golden Book of Biology from the 1960s. I just love how he captures the essence of birds in his bright, bold, geometric style. Using just minimal shapes and colors, you can immediately recognize what type of bird it is. He liked to say that Audubon counted the feathers on a bird while he counted the wings. Sadly, he recently passed away, but the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati has a whole page devoted to him. You can buy his giclee prints or originals (someday!) at his personal site. And I found this store Heliotrope in Decatur, GA that even has dishes with his designs. Maybe this is a cheapening of art, but his art is so cheerful and inspiring, wouldn't you want to surround yourself with it?