Okay, show of hands... How many of you used sheets to make indoor tents as a child? I did and I would use anything to secure them from shutting corners in dresser drawers to using my father's shoes to hold them in place. But my tents never, ever looked this amazing...

That's why when I saw these photos (above) from artist Timothy J. Karpinski in Portland, Oregon, I smiled big. He built this crochet technicolor dream tent for a milepost 5 show. I loved making tent houses and have fond memories of spending time beneath them, especially at night, with a flashlight reading Sweet Valley High books or those Choose Your Own Adventure titles - and to think that my adventure of reading started all because I wanted the kittens poster from those school book flyers that came out a few times a year. Do you remember those? If you ordered a certain number of books you could choose your free gift, which was almost always an animal poster? ha! What a flashback!

Timothy isn't known only for his groovy lounge areas though, he is known for his art which is quite sweet and his recent work can even be described as childlike innocence in a pastel wonderland of characters and sweet emotion. You can purchase some of Timothy's works here.

“From a young age I’ve always been making things. Building forts turned into building skate ramps which lead to building art installations. I love the art making process, from the initial spark of the ‘idea’, the creation to the finished product. Art for me is very personal and everything i make is a direct reflection on my feelings about this world and my struggle and fascination with trying to understand it and find my purpose within it.”

Psst: If you are in the Seattle area visit This Feels Right, a showing by GNU’s Art Director Timothy Karpinski - now until the end of June. "Timothy Karpinski features his signature themes of love, friendship and kindness rendered in compositions of cut paper, pastel colors and detailed graphite drawing. In his world the viewers sense of wonder and innocence are set free as friends share a pot of tea on a rainy day, hot air balloons elevate lovers to new heights and float upon clouds on a moonlit night."

(images: timothy karpinski)