charley harper

All images here

RP gave me the lovely Charley Harper coffee table book for Mother's Day a few weeks back. I really like Harper's organic, graphic style—and his incredibly sweet life story, which is inspiring in its quiet, modest, hardworking way. Judging from Todd Oldham's admiring introduction and interview, Harper—who died in 2007—was a delightful, talented, and kind man. Equally devoted to his work and to his family, self-deprecating and quick to laugh, he was the kind of guy who wiped his paintbrushes on his pants—this way you always have a rag handy! Harper called his style "minimal realism." Whatever: it's full of life and beauty, paring images to their basic lines and shapes, with fantastic color.

Harper's wife and son, incidentally, create pretty, appealing artwork themselves:

"Turnips" by Edie Harper

"October Gatherings" serigraph by Brett Harper

little blue dress

Image from here

Cute little embroidered Mexican-y minidress from Fossil.

wednesday evening

Last night was hot and clear, and the light in the backyard was so pretty. My kids entertained themselves making mud (which I didn't photograph; you can imagine how it looked). I started to freak out about the mess, then remembered this post on simplelovely. I love Joslyn's quotes from Anna Quindlen—and from Tracey Stewart, founder of the fantastic New York cafe/kid space/family art school Moomah—as well as Joslyn's own great insights about "mellow parenting." 

OK, one photo of mud

I promise she was happier than she looks here

 

So I relaxed. My kids were having so much fun *together*, which is rare enough these days. What's not good about dirt and a garden hose? I smelled my peach roses and let the mud fly, knowing it was nothing a good shower and washing machine couldn't clean.

perla anne on etsy

Check out these charming, Hugo Guinness-style prints from Perla Anne on etsy. You could do a bunch of birds (see the peacock and small owl above), go oceany with the jelllyfish and nautilus, or even indulge your love of midcentury furniture:

All images from here

What really kills me? Like so much great work on etsy, these lovely, simple, carefully rendered prints are $20. $20!

good luck

An actual four-leaf clover, found by Charlie in the backyard, 10:30 am, Saturday, May 21.

nadja mueller on etsy

Image here

First of all, the girl's got a great first name. And her work, sold on etsy, is so my style: clean lines, bright or soothing cool colors, simple organic shapes. I'd love that circle print for my bedroom (which we'll get around to decorating one of these days). She also makes fantastic pillows:

Image here

I always go for slightly abstracted or stylized animal artwork...

Image here

but these bubbles are pretty great too.

boy builder

Charlie loves Legos more than anything. (And it doesn't get any better than Lego Star Wars.) Today we discovered a new thing: nanoblock. The "world's smallest toy building blocks" come in a few architectural landmarks (Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal) and ridiculously cute animals (panda, giraffe, frog). We took on the Taj Mahal, which turned out adorable and was much less of a commitment—financial and temporal—than the Lego version. 

beach dress

Image from roxy.com

Wish I were wearing this, staying in Mayakoba. Until I get there, I'll be happy with the neighborhood pool.

beastie boys

This interview on Fresh Air is great: I love how the Beastie Boys (now well into their forties and settled down, more or less) talk about their past. They own up to—and are amused by—their crazy frat-boy "Fight for Your Right" stage (unintended, it turns out) but aren't above apologizing for it. They also speak very sweetly about their own artistic upbringing in 1970s and 80s New York, with engaged, creative parents.

So I tried watching this

but it just seems self-indulgent and overly long. (Elijah Wood cracks me up: Frodo as Ad-Rock. It kind of works.) Looks like they had a blast filming it, though.

Piero Ventura

Image from amazon.com

I saw Piero Venetura's Book of Cities at the National Gallery children's bookshop on Saturday (which is a great source for beautiful and creative kids' toys, books, and other gifts). It's a fantastic reissue in the vein of Miroslav Sasek's "This Is" city series: color drawings with tons of personality and charm.

holly farrell

All images from hollyfarrell.com

Spotted these paintings on designmom. I love the careful detail and pretty colors given to everyday household objects. Wayne Thiebaud-ish, maybe?

crazy peonies

These sprouted up in our garden over the weekend. We've been watching the ants crawl over them for weeks.

white wedding

It's been almost 14 (!) years since my wedding. Maybe it's all the Kate Middleton talk, but I found myself looking at the website for BHLDN, the—annoyingly named but beautifully styled and much blogged about—wedding line from Anthropologie. If I were, say, advising a friend who was about to get married, maybe in a casual and unconventional setting, I'd tell her to choose this little number:

"Spun Sugar" shift by Beth Bowley at bhldn.com

And how great are these peep toes? Normally I go for a super-high heel, but these mid-height ones look much more comfortable. And the bows in back are way cute.

"Flouncy" peep toes, also from bhldn.com

That dress's high neck needs no embellishment, so for jewelry I'd finish it off with these earrings:

Katie Diamond "moonflower drops" at bhldn.com

girl time

I spent the morning co-oping at Tessa's preschool, then spent the afternoon with her making a lasagna, shucking corn, and drawing handmade cards for teacher appreciation day. It's been lovely mother-daughter time; we're going to have more, all weekend in fact, when the boys go to New York. And now I would like to drink a mojito

image from istockphoto.com

and go shoe shopping with a grown-up girlfriend.

DV by Dolce Vita sandals via piperlime.com