Jon Klassen

I'm completely in love with the illustration work of Jon Klassen, whose recent work includes visual development for the movie Coraline (haven't seen it yet, but the more I hear about it the more I really want to--the list of talented artists involved in it continues to amaze me!). Prints of the above image are available here, and I just might have to get one myself.

F I C T I O N Sale

Four Autumnal prints are on sale in the shop! Clad in scarves or carrying umbrellas, the little monsters on these prints are quite a bit cuter than the rainy, cold, and blustery weather outside my window right now, so pick one of these guys up at their discounted price and bring home something cheery to combat the November wet and dark.
Sale prints will be available until November 30.

Slice

Jaq Belcher's paper works--delicate and beautiful.

I Heart You, Streethearts

In the spite of the fact (or perhaps because of it) that I have almost zero fashion "daring" and wear jeans, a simple top, and a cardi just about every day, I love looking at fashion street-style blogs, and the most recent one that's caught my eye is the cutely named Streethearts.

Cedric Bihr

I'm loving Cedric Bihr's dreamy, hazy photographs. His landscapes, portraits, fashion photography: all fantastic.

Weekend Pairing - When will it stop raining?

Tried some delicious fish fritters and (strong) mojitos.
Devoured yet another good book--I've been the biggest bookworm ever this Fall!
Saw a fantastically terrible movie--Roland Emmerich, your films are always good for a laugh.
Started planning the menu for a little pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner--can't wait!

Classic Class

Another gorgeous Sartorialist lady. She looks just perfect.

The September Issue

Question: How awesome is this documentary?
Answer: Pretty darn awesome.
I finally got to see it, and though it may be focused on Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, senior stylist Grace Coddington steals the show. I hope I'm that feisty and creative and amazing when I'm almost 70.

Sophie Blackall - Phoenix with Crutches

I first heard about Sophie Blackall's adorably quirky Missed Connection series from Mallory on Where the Lovely Things Are, and I just had to pass it along here as well. It's such a great idea--as Sophie says of the project on her blog, "Messages in bottles, smoke signals, letters written in the sand; the modern equivalents are the funny, sad, beautiful, hopeful, hopeless, poetic posts on Missed Connections websites. Every day hundreds of strangers reach out to other strangers on the strength of a glance, a smile or a blue hat. Their messages have the lifespan of a butterfly. I'm trying to pin a few of them down." They're also now for sale! This one's my favorite: it's kind of mysterious, and I don't quite get it, but the illustration is just so gorgeous.

Mid-Week Break

Yesterday was a nice day off (thank you Veterans!). My diet, in celebration of Fall, sleeping in, and not having to go to work, was comprised entirely of delicious baked goods: scones made by my mother and dropped off the day before for brunch (served with this unbelievably delicious creamed honey), a cranberry-orange cupcake from Cupcake Royale (should I be proud or embarrassed that I've now tried all the flavors from their Cupcake Harvest Festival?), homemade spinach and mushroom calzones from one of the Moosewood cookbooks, and cranberry-pecan tart for dessert. It's cold outside, so I suppose this is my attempt to put on some extra pounds before I go into winter hibernation, black bear style.

Fleas and Swallows

Lovely bandanas over at Box & Flea. The swallow one is my favorite--I love all the colors it comes in! I don't normally wear bandanas, but these are so great I just might have to branch out.
Found via Simply Photo.

Videos x3

Image via taleeroe. Anyone know the original source?

Feet of Courage is my favorite song off Nancy Elizabeth's new album Wrought Iron, and now Bafta award-winning filmmakers Esther May Campbell and John Milton have made a trippy video to go along with it.

How adorable and creative is this advertisement? I want one of those crazy colored bunnies for a pet.

And last but not least, in a cute (and slightly strange) promotional short, Canada introduces the 2010 Olympic mascots to the world. Mukmuk is totally the best.

100 Abandoned Houses

I wish I lived in Detroit and could go around and visit the sites of the 100 Abandonded Houses project. I love how the buildings look so sad and lonely, but strangely beautiful at the same time. The artist statement about the state of the city and its housing problem is really sensitive and great as well.

Too much J.M. Barrie?

I think I must have Peter Pan on the brain, because here's another room that totally rings true with my mental picture of the Darling's nursery! The blue chair, cheerful yellow ceramics on the cute little dresser, the charming wallpaper, and the slanting light coming in from a window just out of sight? Peter Pan all the way. Apparently the styling is supposed to be inspired by Virginia Woolf's room, but it looks a little too lush and little kiddish to me for that.
via Ratlion's Den, Homebug.

At once Scathing & Complimentary

I managed to get downtown for First Thursday this past week to check out the Seattle Art Museum's new displays. I have a love/hate (mostly hate) relationship with SAM. As the largest art museum in Seattle, I always feel like I should keep up to date on what they are showing and take advantage of the chance to see fine art in person (one of my favorite things in the world!). In my opinion, however, SAM is really a rather terrible museum. The exhibits seem to be arranged in ways that never display the work to full advantage, and the write-ups accompanying the pieces are sometimes laughably bad. They also have a ridiculous marketing scheme: huge, catchy posters all over the city making their latest exhibits seem radical and exciting and enormous, and then you arrive at the museum and realize that the exhibit is actually comprised of six, negligible sketches, for example (as in the case of the Michelangelo exhibit currently on display. One of the pieces was a grocery list on which the great artist had doodled a teeny loaf of bread. Really, SAM?).
It's very frustrating.
The exhibit Alexander Calder: A Balancing Act, however, was really pretty fantastic. The exhibit was satisfyingly large, included a variety of different kinds of work, and was lit with harsh spotlighting (which would normally have been distracting) that dropped delicate patterns of shadows off each twirling mobile. In the end, I really fell in love with some of Calder's pieces, and I had a greater appreciation for the man as an artist: exactly what a good art museum display should facilitate.
See SAM? I just can't quit you.
The exhibit will be running until April 11, 2010. I'm definitely going to have to get back to see it again.

Weekend Pairing

-This pairing isn't a very accurate visual for the weekend--it was taken in the very brief break between the grey skies and drizzly rain that comprised most of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
-Watched this movie. I was surprised by how much I loved it. How gorgeous is Maya Rudolph?
-Made another batch of celery root soup (I know I go on about this book but it is fantastic and I am a soup fanatic lately!). This time I froze the leftovers. Knowing that I have tons of homemade soup in the freezer makes me feel very rich.
-Finished this book. I devoured it in three days--couldn't put it down!