Merry and Bright

As my husband and I say goodbye to the new fallen snow here in the Heartland and head to warmer climates to visit extended family I’ll post a vintage Christmas postcard in honor of the Season...Have a Merry Christmas and a Bright New Year!

Christmas Wishes

Camilla Engman’s work is fabulous all around. Her sweet and singular (but often imitated) illustration style carries over perfectly into three dimensions with these little creatures she crochets by hand. The colors she uses, the little details and quiet sense of make-believe make them irresistable and signature Engman. So my Christmas wish is that the talented Ms. Engman would make more of these way-too-adorable little guys (since every one she’s made so far has long since been snagged by admirers from Istanbul to L.A.).

Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre

I’m really not sure what these images are for other than to entertain and be lovely and funny (in a kinda dark way). Which is more than purpose enough! More at Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre (thank you, ffffound).

Principles of Uncertainty

A compendium of Maira Kalman’s illustrated column “The Principles of Uncertainty” for the New York Times is out and I had no idea. Her illustrations are so—I don’t know—unselfconscious and naive? In a good way. And her sense of color is anything but naive. I’m such a fan. I have her edition of Strunk & White’s “The Elements of Style” that is soooo great. She somehow managed to make grammar a little bit cool, so I can’t wait to take a gander at “Principles.”

Daily Coyote

I realize that this post isn’t exactly design or arts related, but the blog, Daily Coyote, has nonetheless captured me. It’s a blog by a woman who rescued a coyote pup named Charlie after his parents were killed. The photos are so sweet. I wanna coyote! (Props to Beach Bungalow 8 for posting a link, which is how I happened upon this heart-tweaking little gem).

Style Envy

I’ve been a fan of designer Sharilyn Wright (of Lovely Design) ever since I spotted her wonderful little found paper address file (below) about 5 years ago. And now after visiting Happy Cavalier, I’ve found out she has a blog! Happy Cavalier posted a few photos (which I’ve shamelessly lifted and posted) of Sharilyn’s studio and I’m in loooooove. It gives me a severe case of style envy. *Sigh*

Natural Beauty

I’ve just discovered the amazing scientific drawings of biologist Ernst Haeckel (1843-1919). I was browsing books and found Art Forms in Nature and immediately had to do a search on his work and found I’m practically the last to know. Rightfully so. It’s so intricately beautiful and mysterious looking. It has me itching for someone to do Ernst Haeckel wallpaper...

Atonement

I saw Joe Wright’s (Pride & Prejudice) new film Atonement this weekend and was swept away by the gorgeousness of it. The stills above don’t even begin to do it justice. The sets, styling and the way the scenes are composed are breathtaking from start to finish. There were some flaws (it’s a tragic love story that should have induced tears but I left dry-eyed) but the art direction isn’t one of them. Even the battlefield scenes were beautiful. Seriously beautiful. Crazy.

Gina Triplett

I’ve been a fan of Illustrator Gina Triplett for a while and thought I’d do a quick tribute to her work. I apologize for being so inconsistent about posts lately. My husband and I just bought a house and are in the throes of moving/home improvement chaos. (It’s amazing how it can completely dominate...). So I’m going to officially take a month long hiatus and hit the ground running around Thanksgiving! Happy Halloween!

Stunning Stones

So...it’s been a while since I’ve done a post...but the second I saw these gorgeous little hand painted stones posted on Julia Likes (via Dear Ada) I knew I had to scoop them up into the pile o’ pretty things. They’re making me seriously question my belief that it’s impossible to improve upon nature.

Pretty Pop Up

Even though I joke and call it “Needless Markup” along with everyone else, there are things about Neiman Marcus that I can’t help but love—for instance their wonderful promotional pieces like “the book” — and now they’ve just done a 100 year anniversary commemorative pop-up book collaborating with amazing photographer Geof Kern. From concept to final photography, it took him two years and 400 photos! There’s just a little more info on their site, but you can only get it in-store. Tricky.

Farfar

Farfar means “grandfather,” or more specifically “father’s father,” in Swedish. This post is dedicated to my soft-spoken, tender-hearted grandfather who passed away this morning. He was the kind of grandpa who would slip us grandkids a piece of candy or a quarter with a wink when we were little, and would always well up during goodbyes. Even though he didn’t talk much about his Swedish roots, his English had a Swedish lilt to it and on occasion, if we were lucky, he’d say grace before meals in Swedish. It was this quiet sense of heritage that drew me to the book above—a beautifully worn vintage reference about the provinces of Sweden—the page in the center of the photo features Skåne, where both my grandparents’ families emigrated from. It reminds me of my sweet Grandpa and makes me happy.

Brooklyn Butterfly

These pieces by Brooklyn Butterfly are so gorgeously simple I can't stop looking at them. And the way they are photographed against those amazing vintage journal pages is really wonderful. Ugh.

New York Beautification Project

I’ve been patiently waiting for my book “New York Beautification Project” to arrive, and now that it’s here I’m soooo taken with the work of Ellen Harvey. She’s an artist and the book is all about her project (of the same name) where she painted a series of 40 small, gorgeous, oval oil paintings throughout New York City as graffiti, often incorporating them into existing graffiti. The photos of the paintings are amazing, but all I can think is how it would feel to walk down the street and spy one of these precious little paintings, in person, on a fire hydrant or a crumbling brick wall. The whole thing is such a wonderful thought provoking concept.

Mimi Haddon Blog!

One of my very favorite photographers, the talented Ms. Mimi Haddon has started a blog and I’m so thrilled to be able to see even more of her work. Her sense of composition, color and styling is exquisite. Her portfolio of magnificent work is also a must see. I’m such an admirer.

Before Soup Cans

Pre-soup cans and studio 52 Andy Warhol was an illustrator who did insanely gorgeous work for magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Mademoiselle and I’m so taken with all of it. Plus I think it’s ironic (and then again maybe not ironic at all) that he got his start doing commercial art before he went on to do fine art about commerce and pop culture. Either way, his fashion illustrations are absolutely beautiful. In fact there’s a sweet little book dedicated to them that’s better than Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup on a rainy day.

Swedish For “Fabulous”

That would be Olle Eksell. A (very) talented graphic designer from beautiful “Sverige.” I happened upon the wonderful, whimsical work of Eksell when I was looking for a Valentine’s gift for my husband last year and found a book cataloging his work on Rare Device (still available on British Amazon.com). Even though Eksell passed away last spring he left behind a legacy of gorgeous, illustration-driven design work. And despite the fact that his most recognized work was done decades ago it has a truly timeless quality about it. Most of his stuff still looks as modern and relevent as the year it was created. The sign of a true talent.

Bookworm Beauty

Books are intrinsically gorgeous just because they are books. And so it figures that wrapping a book with images of books with classically beautiful dust jackets is divine. Especially when it’s done by Kate Spade. They have downloads available at their most fabulous site (thank you for the tip off , Oh Joy!).

Stereographs as Art...

About ten years ago my grandma gave me her stereoscope and a whole basket of stereographs — her childhood equivalent to my plastic red viewmaster and little circular slide disks. I immediately fell in love with their sense of history and old world design. I’ve continued to pick up a few of my own at flea markets here and there, to add to the collection she handed down to me. They’re so captivating I’ve started to think of them as little compositions unto themselves, completely worthy of a frame and a place on my wall...

The Sartorialist

A favorite of mine. The Sartorialist is as much a fashion blog (filled with nicely composed shots of stylish fashionisti found walking the streets of various couture capitals of the world) as it is the next best thing to sitting in a coffee shop and people watching. But not just any kind of people watching. I’m talking people with style. From dapper to chic to bohemian to purely crazy style. Where else will you find a bloke in his sixties who can rock a beefeater coat with pipe and a platinum razored faux-hawk on a stunningly beautiful Asian woman in one sitting?