Weekend Pairing - Mid January Already?

This weekend was essentially the weekend of "The Kitty" (as my boyfriend calls her) or of "Burbler" (as I call her, because of the adorable burble-chirp noise she usually makes instead of meowing). I found myself making excuses to lounge around on the sofa doing nothing specifically so that Echo, our new 11 week old, black & white kitten could fall asleep on me.
I did stand up enough to make some cranberry syrup for our Saturday morning pancakes, however, along with a pear & almond tart for my Mum's visit tomorrow.

Catia Cheng

I had a pretty impressive collection of children's books when I was young. My parents kept me well stocked with books by "the greats": Barbara Cooney, Chris Van Allsburg, Audrey and Don wood, etc. and I spent hours pouring over them.
I'm pretty sure that if I'd had books as a child with Catia Cheng's illustrations in them, I wouldn't have been able to put them down.

Folk Folk

Lately I've been on a big folk music kick. And I'm not talking about folk music-lite, like Iron and Wine and Fleet Foxes (though I love them too). No, I'm talking about folk music: the more traditional, sometimes very dark ballads and story-songs, full of betrayal, deaths, and star-crossed lovers. Heavy stuff, I know, but also beautiful and haunting in a deeply Romantic way. Rachel Unthank & The Winterset and Jackie Oates are two bands that are interpreting these old songs and putting amazing and intense spins on them. I've been sipping tea and listening to these albums on repeat--highly recommended.

Swytak's Still-Lives

Beautiful still-lives by Laura Swytak. I saw the first image in person a few months ago at a group show and it was by far my favorite piece in the show. It reminded me of some of John Singer Sargent's work (I immediately thought of this painting) and I imagined Laura's piece as the breakfast scene instead of the evening birthday on the table in Sargent's painting!

Coniferae II

Carving some pinecone stamps--can't get this motif out of my head recently.

Lizzie McQuade

Unique "head accessories" (for lack of better words, since they're not really hats but are clearly more than just hair ties) by Lizzie McQuade, made from hand-dyed and vintage fabrics.

Call of the Cuckoo

If I had an extra £220 (I'm not even going to translate that for myself into US dollars) to buy a limited edition silkscreen print by Sanna Annukka, I would frame this beauty up nice and find for it the most fantastic place of honor in my apartment ever.

An Assortment

Image by me, taken at the always amazing Volunteer Park Conservatory

Making me smile today:
Art in My Coffee
Any Occassion Greeting Card
An Open Letter to James Cameron From Papyrus
Emiliana Torrini's Sunny Road music video
XX by XX

Coniferae

I had some fun this weekend playing with a few things I brought back from a recent hike. Stippling these pinecones took a long time, but the process is meditative and restful.

Weekend Pairing - First of 2010

Baking bread, listening to Steeleye Span, drawing, drinking tea, reorganizing the apartment--all small things that added up to make the weekend lovely.
On Saturday we made all the necessary preparations and purchases for a super exciting something coming up this week...the boy and I are adopting a kitten! I cannot wait to bring her home.

Lovely Letters

How fantastic is this Organic font? I wish it was available for download, I'd use it in everything!

Fashionable Food

Hilarious photographs by Katrin Schacke where all of the meals are made out of perfectly positioned clothes and accessories. Who would have thought that a purse, gloves, and some beads could look so much like food?

Ann Petty

I was blown away when I saw these huge (8'x6') paintings by Ann Petty at her MFA show last spring. While admiring them, I kept doing the classic museum-goer dance step: running up close to peer at the buttery brush strokes and paint daubs, then stepping slowly back to take in the painting as a whole, then moving up close again--you get the idea. Clearly she's been busy--Sandpoint Gallery is showing an exhibit of new works by both her and fellow MFA graduate Hugo Shi until January 24.

Folkloric 2009 Best Of - Books

My list of favorites isn't books that were published in 2009, but rather books that I read in 2009 and enjoyed the most. I included The History of Love even though everyone and their cousin has already read it simply because it was just that good, and I also threw Tad Williams' really fun fantasty epic in to balance out the sad and serious nature of the rest of the books on the list.
Again, not ranked in any particular order:

Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker
Resistance by Owen Sheers
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett*
Shadowmarch by Tad Williams

*I love Ann Patchett, and have read almost all of her books. I don't think, however, that I have ever like or been satisfied by any of her books' endings. Some of them make me downright mad, like the ending of this book did. I think it's a testament of how good her writing is that her book can make my list regardless, and that she can suck me in again and again.

Folkloric 2009 Best Of - Music

Ranked in no particular order, save for Alela Diane, who is my undisputed #1 of the year:

Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
Bruce Peninsula - A Mountain Is a Mouth
Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
Alela Diane - To Be Still
Mark Knopfler - Get Lucky
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
Alasdair Roberts - Spoils
Nancy Elizabeth - Wrought Iron

What were your favorites this year? I'm always on the lookout for new good music!

Holiday Hike

Hope everyone's 2010 has gotten off to a start as peaceful and refreshing as these woods--hiking through them certainly helped me get my head on straight right before the new year.