going west

The lovely litte film was created for the New Zealand Book Council. Watch it.

 

http://www.youtube.com/v/F_jyXJTlrH0&hl=en_US&fs=1&

j’adore

I am absolutely smitten with the idea of using easels as stands for flat screen televisions.

Check it:

via gizmodo.fr

We have not (yet) got a flat screen, but the mister keeps threatening to get one and the idea of trying to mount one on our 160 year old plaster walls gives me the heebie jeebies. This looks like a perfect solution.

But look what others are doing with the idea:

via dsaslaw’s flickr set.

So swanky, but this is more my pace:

via stylenorth via Metropolitan Home and House Beautiful respectively. 

Now I’m wishing I hadn’t given away the big brass easel I had three lifetimes ago.

Story Time

I don’t know why I never thought to look this up on youtube before today, but there it was, in all it’s po-mo glory; Silverstein’s The Missing Piece Meets the Big O.  It’s one my all time favourite children’s books and even after doing a Lacanian reading and analysis of it, it’s not ruined for me.  Now I can share it with you:

drip

Haven’t been around much as my silly computron as been down with this crap stomach thing that’s been going around, I’m sure.  It has been somewhat liberating and I’m getting a lot more real world stuff done like helping friends move, cleaning the kitchen and sleeping, but I do feel like part of my soul has been ripped away.  The mister is currently working on getting my baby up and running again so we’ll see.

This week has brought us a small reprieve from the minus holy shit weather we experienced through January but came by way of upsy downiness and lots of snow then freezing, then melting and more snow then freezing again bringing us to this day which is pleasantly mild & drippy yet still wintery with an atmosphere that only comes on days like today.  It’s so very different than the catch as catch can impromptu visits and catching up of spring, summer and fall.  We’re all a little more insular in our snow globe homes.  All the business of our main drag location just seems to happen around us but we can be cosy & well kept in our little worlds which look all samey in their abundant beigy/bluey/whiteness but there are so many wonderful little bits of eye candy and signs of life in our back/front/side yards.

It’s fun that our neighbours have their own take on enjoying this weather too.  They built this lovely snow & ice sculpture in their front yard.

And then there are all of the sculptures and vignettes nature leaves our little urban landscape.

And then there’s life imitating nature in its patterning and design.

Even the chiffon is reflective of winter.

And the pièce de resistance at the moment is this handsome snowman some other neighbours-friends built in our backyard.  Isn’t he a dandy?

I’m glad to live in a neighbourhood of imagination & play.  Life is afoot.

blog crush

I could read Andrea’s blog for the eye candy alone.  She’s an amazing artist and gifted writer.  I love her language of colour and composition but I totally crush on it because of posts like this one.

How cool (and brave) of her to post about her process?  I’m a complete chickenshit when it comes to sharing anything unfinished, which is why it all stays nicely hidden in my studio behind a closed door.  The thought of playing mentor to the masses boggles my mind, but she’s gracious enough to do it.  Go check her out.

yay! they’re here!

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who gets excited about it either.  I always look forward to National Geographic’s
Best Science Images of the year.  The one above amuses me to no end.  Go check them out.

and the hippos were boiled in their tanks

The work has been published and I’m a conflicted soul.  Kerouac and Burroughs both felt the work to be sub-par and unworthy of publication but can’t very well argue from the grave now, can they?  We selfish, living folk decided to go against the wills of two of the 20th century’s greatest creative minds and plublished their work posthumously.  We trusted their judgement then, what happened?  Pandora’s box has been opened and I feel that in owning this work I puts the blood on my hands, but in not owning it I would be missing out on that feeling of connectedness with something really special.  The feeling I got sitting by Louisa May Alcott’s grave and experiencing the weight of history & utter loneliness bearing down on me whilst exploring West Kennet and its surrounding moors while chasing my Heathcliff.  So do I put it on my wish list or do I honour their wishes and leave well enough alone?  What’s a girl to do?

Oh, and if you’re interested you should check out what the always lovely Jaime The Nonist (RIP) has to say about it.  He’s far more eloquent than yours truly.  I have a huge nerdgirl crush on him.

creepy babies and candle holders

Susan Kniffin Davidson blows my mind.  All of the above are on my Christmas list so don’t buy them.

it’s rockabilly for your eyes

Most of my inner circle knows that I harbour secret fantasies of being a cowgirl and have a penchant for anything with a tripped out country aesthetic…it’s why I’ve had a crush on Carl McCoy for so long.  So it’s no wonder I couldn’t tear myself away from the second issue of Refueled after I came across it in some blog in my reader this morning.  I’ve been poring over it for over an hour, reading every single word of every single article, soaking up all the slick and crunchy imagery.  I’m in ‘zine lust.  It is so super sexy I just want to live in its pages amongst all of those grungy and meticulously curated things.

You can read it at issuu here.

Or you can download it (in PDF format) here.

genuinely happy

I bought Kelly Rae Roberts’ book, Taking Flight, as a gift from me to me with love a couple of months ago.  I don’t usually go for the self-help/warm fuzzy/new agey diy type books this one seemed to be but something made me want it so I toddled on down to Titles to order it and I’m glad I did.  Although there is a lot of self-help/warm fuzzy/new agey diying in it there’s also a lot of practical information on the techniques she uses as well as the inspiration she draws from to make her art happen.  She also goes off (but not too far off) on a decidedly journalistic bent in getting the stories, techniques and sources of inspiration from 7 other artists and wends everything back to the source in a true feat of storytelling.  I don’t know if her editor is super-human or if Kelly herself is just that good but at the end of the day she has produced a wonderful little book about creating around what one knows and how to go about doing it.  I’m genuinely happy I have it.