When it's cold outside, stay in and (window) shop

Jenna Rose Handmade, Gray Ships Tea Towel and large Ships Zipper Tote Bag
I'm pretty smitten. And she's in Hamilton! One of my old hometowns. It IS my birthday this month...

Flying Bird Botanicals, Vanilla Rose Cacao Lip Bliss
Oh my. Yes please!

OhKuol - Natural Soft Druzy Necklace Agate Geode

Bug Under Glass - all so pretty

Karla Wheeler Design, Fireworks ring

Labradorite rings. I can't get enough of these! I love that they are cut
to sparkle too, I haven't seen (ie noticed) that before.
Top: Indigo Silver Studio, Midnight - Dark and Flashy
Middle: MoodiChic, Rustic Sterling Labradorite Ring
Bottom: Little Bug Jewelry, Labradorite Solitaire Stacking Ring

Anna See, Barn Owl Lino Cut Print

Plume Natural Perfumes - especially interested in Medici Cocoa,
Gingerbread & Fir, and Coffee & Cedar. This Vanilla/Anise lip balm looks nice too. 

Jennifer Baughan, Articulated Paper Dolls 

Woodstorming, Crochet Snowflakes Decoration

Revisions, Antique Silver Spoon Ring - Meadowbrook 1936

Lolide, Fingerless Gloves - extra long

MaryJill, Valentine Foxes

Papering your walls

Three days a week I work at a desk, facing a monitor. I like to think of it as an opportunity to attend a very small showing of artwork/photography. Needless to say, I click on my "shortcut to desktop" icon frequently to gaze at whatever's on display at the moment, to take tiny mental breaks from my work and take off on flights of imaginative fancy. Here are a few that have been on rotation this summer:

Photo is from Dark Nostalgia by Eva Hagberg, source

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Seagrass, by Benjamin Lacombe

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Venice, Decorology blog

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Hobbiton, and A Hobbit Dwelling by John Howe

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Diplodocus, NHM in London, by Antonio Torres Ochoa 

 

 

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Lacock Abbey, by Brian Negus, which appeared in a couple of the Harry Potter films

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The Storm at Sea and House Roller (from Burning Man) by Trey Ratcliff of Stuck In Customs

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Amy Merrick (from her flickr)

Shiny things caught in my net

Starry Night Over the Rhone

 A little round-up of some of the neatest stuff I've come across lately:

(via heartbeets/aka Sweet Anthem's tumblr)
Serena Malyon uses the magic of tilt-shift to transform Van Gogh's works into 3D. I think they're stunning.

View of Saintes-Maries, 1888 (detail)

Wheat Field with Rising Sun, 1889 (detail)

Mountains at Saint-Remy, 1889 (detail)

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Camping in the Cotswolds: Junkaholique blog
A gorgeous blog to follow in general, but these photos of their recent camping trip are especially lovely.

Photo: Artemis Russell

Photo: Artemis Russell

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Jen Campbell of This Is Not the Six Word Novel writes about Weird Things Customers Say at Ripping Yarns, the London bookshop where she works. It is hilarious, especially if you work with the public and most especially if you work with the public and with books. Start with the first entry and work forwards to the most current, which is #7. She's just announced that she will be collecting them for a book! Huzzah!

Customer: Hi, do you have any new books?
Me: We're an antiquarian bookshop - our stock is out of print books.
Customer: So other people have touched them?
Me: Presumably, yes.
Customer: I don't think I'll bother, thanks.
Me: OK.

(from #2)


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Susannah Conway recommended this sweet peppermint lip balm by Oakmoss and well... it's lip balm! So I had to try it! It came a couple of days ago and I've been using it ever since. It's lovely. I ordered some samples of soaps and perfume oil too and everything was beautifully gift wrapped. Peace is a wonderfully spicy scent, and my fave of the bunch.

Photo from the etsy shop

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Lucy Knisley is a talented comic-maker and I am a tiny bit giddy over her take on a certain beloved series of books. OMGryffindor!!! They're funny, so full of nerdy detail and do a great job of capturing some of the... (ahem) magic of the series. If you love them too, the good news is that you can download all eight posters from her website! The bad news is that due to legal trickiness she really can't charge for all the hard work that went into them and so is simply asking for a donation. I think they're totally worth it.
And look: she and her studio/roommate have re-created the Black Family Tree! Neato!

Book Four. Click to see the glorious detail! Or, better yet, check them all out on Lucy's site.

A selection of lovely work I've come across lately:

Becca Stadtlander

Dark Florals

Tree Snake

House on Loon Lake

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Jen Corace

blog banner: think think, stare stare... our finest hour

Down, Down, Down

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Jon Klassen 

artwork for Coraline

artwork for Coraline

for the RBC Blue Water Project

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Lee White

Midnight Ride

Waiting

Art Therapy

I have files on my computer, heavy with pigment. Folders full of photographs, paintings, illustrations and digital renderings. I seek them out, almost compulsively and then I collect them, hoard them, stash them away. I use them as my desktop wallpaper and sigh each time I close a window. When I feel low, or when I just want to see something nice I pore over the images and find a balm for the ugliness that can, at times, threaten to overwhelm.

The above two photos are by Tim of that's just it photo

Concept artwork for the film Coraline, by Chris Turnham

Flight 3 Cover, by Kazu Kibuishi

 

Santa Monica Pier by Alice Stevenson

Portrait with Black Bunny, Leaving the Orphanage and Three Springtime Gals by Emily Martin (aka The Black Apple)

Full Body Tattoo, In the Gallery and Birthday by Jen Wang

Oyster Catcher, Bear Mountain (detail) and Anarctic Waters by Diana Sudyka

 



Tangled, Knee Deep, Shark Bite and (I think this is the name) Molt by Stasia Burrington

I'm so taken with Stasia's work that I actually own all of these images in some form or another in real life, not just in files on my computer (her shop is full of beautiful things). I am checking my mailbox this week, for Molt as a pendant. That's actually not the finished piece; the completed version can be seen here, and it is breath-taking, but I really love this stage of the drawing for some reason. I even kind of like the fact that it's not finished.