Inspiration: Stephanie Johnson

Hello, darlings! Vicky Squid here. I get to kick off this month's celebration of women we find inspiring. You're all invited to join in -- just send an email to any of the team. In this traditionally hot and humid month (in the northern hemisphere anyway), when so many people take their holidays and few people feel all that energetic, we thought a brief tour of the women who delight our minds and replenish our inspiration would be a fantastic way to idle through the month.



I chose co-founder Stephanie Johnson as our first shining example, because she has exquisite taste -- of course -- but also because a whole slew of her art is newly available online. You can always visit her Repository of Visuals, but do yourself a favour and drop by Smoking Ant Records to see an orgy of delights that show just how varied her style can be. That nimbleness of mind proves to be a rare quality, but one SLJ has in abundance. You can see how each page suits the character of the band whether old school or new world jazz spunk or off-kilter power pop. Johnson's art has cheeky good humour and inventive dazzle. Every design makes you grin with pleasure.

And guess what? The music is terrific, too. Win-win! No surprise, I suppose -- why not surround yourself with the very finest people? Works for me.

More on the journal tomorrow, my dears. Must dash now.