Dispatch 01 - An Endless Summer

Behind the Moodboard: Capturing the Spirit of a Slower Season

Welcome to DISPATCH.

Every month, I build a handmade moodboard as a way to explore an idea, a creative rhythm that helps me zoom in on what’s been shaping my eye. In each Dispatch, I expand on the theme and share a collection of visuals, reads, clips, and objects that tie into the mood. It’s part journal, part inspiration board, a way to trace what’s resonating and why.

If you could live in a different world, a different time, where would you go?

For me, it’s the 1970s on the Australian coast.
A cabin by the sea. Surf when you can. Work with your hands. A quiet life shaped by the sun and the surf. The local pub, a morning coffee, maybe a book under your arm. No tourists. No tech. Just salt air and silence.

There’s a character I’ve imagined living there. He’s part carpenter, part romantic, a family man. He’s not rushing anywhere. That version of life, free, grounded, and simple, has always stuck with me.

This Dispatch is dedicated to that feeling. A kind of An Endless Summer.
A nostalgic return to something slower, smaller, more human.
Maybe even a reminder to disconnect from the noise, from the scroll, from the race.

The Ritual of Moodboarding

Moodboards have become my way of making sense of the world. The hunt for reference points, in photography, fashion, architecture, film, is a quiet creative ritual. A way to build a unique language for what I’m feeling. trying to find points that are different from what you find on Pinterest or Instagram. Maybe you do the same. I went back to creating by hand, scrapbooking if you will, like I was a teen again, cutting pages out of my magazines and sticking them to my wall. A process that was equally creative and therapeutic.

Summer is probably my most nostalgic season. I think it has something to do with that my birthday falls in mid-December, which, in Australia, marks the beginning of summer and the holidays. No matter where I am at tho, if its summer, my mind always goes to the same place. That time of year always had this beautiful build-up: my birthday, Christmas, and then our annual family trip to the caravan park up the coast with my grandparents. I learned to ride a bike there. I remember getting so excited when Mr Whippy (the ice cream truck) came into the park, I remember playing Monopoly with my grandpop, and him taking money and cards under the table, and then denying that he was cheating. Those memories feel etched into my DNA.

As I got older, summer started to feel different. The long days slowed down even more. The sunsets got warmer, the ocean more grounding. I began to appreciate the rhythm of the coastal lifestyle in a deeper way.

Now I live in Austin, Texas, far from the ocean, but I keep that feeling alive through memory, moodboards, and references that remind me of where I came from. That connection still matters.

The moodboard above is my attempt to bottle that feeling, the rhythm of a slower summer, the romance of a life by the sea, the beauty in building something with your hands.

It’s not about nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake, that says a lot coming from me because I do love nostalgia, but it’s about memory as material.

And maybe, just maybe, it’s an invitation to carve out a bit more of that life, wherever we are.

To help live in this Endless Summer, even if it’s just a state of mind, I’ve linked a few pieces that capture that spirit: Books to read, videos to watch.

Bob McTavish - Prolific Surfboard Shaper

To talk about Australian surf culture without mentioning Bob McTavish is like leaving the sun out of the sky. His boards carried the energy of the counterculture, the simplicity of coastal living, and the boldness of someone who saw surfing as more than sport, it was a way of life. He’s part philosopher, part craftsman, and entirely devoted to the sea.

Barbarian Days

Currently reading:
I always find myself drawn to memoirs, there’s something about stepping into someone else’s story that makes the world feel a little wider.

If you’ve ever been obsessed with something, surfing, music, art, anything, you’ll find a piece of yourself in “Barbarian Days.” It’s a story about growing up, growing older, and growing through the things you love. Finnegan’s relationship with surfing isn’t just a hobby; it’s a lens he sees the world through, and that makes his story all the more universal.

Surf is where you find it - Gerry Lopez

Art Brewer

Thanks for being here.