shorpy

Walker Evans, Tourist Cabins, 1936

Thanks to my husband's obsession with this blog, he found his way to Shorpy: a fantastic collection of vintage photographs linked to one Juniper Gallery in Alabama. The images are sorted by subject, artist, decade, place—all standard practice, yes. But the best part: You can buy incredibly affordable prints by the likes of Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Lewis Hine. Most are black and white, but there are some great Kodachromes. Just beware the creepy portraits of cats and dogs in weird poses and formal clothing.

1908 electric ore hoist in good old Buffalo, NY

Doesn't she look like Drew Barrymore? circa 1900

Beauty Contest, 1922

DC corner store, 1942

Vera of Vera Scarves in her Fifth Avenue store, 1952

Catskills barn, 1943

checking in

RP and I have been fighting over where to hang this. He wants it in his office.
(We both love Tessa's animal art too much.)

This is just a list of a few things on my mind lately. I've definitely had to take an active part in looking for inspiration; it's not just falling on me. Plus it's getting to that time of the summer when I desperately need a change of scene and pace. Lucky for me (very lucky for me) we're going here and here in a few weeks. I sort of can't believe it.

More black and white: cute stylized mouse poster

Karin Hagen's work (orchestral instruments and other things);
Jessica, I think I found this via one of your pins?

This table setting: My next house will have a big dining room with space for a long rustic wooden farmhouse table. With Emeco chairs. (The image is from Francis Mallmann's great cookbook, by the way.)

I know these boots are *everywhere* but I'm starting to really really dig them.
And though I've done the knee-high boot for years, I just started dabbling in ankle boots again. These look perfect.

Before Italy, I'm taking my daughter to see this in NYC next week. Because we love us some lions around here.
(Also, we'll stay with one of my oldest and best friends and one of the only people I know remaining in Manhattan.)

monday thoughts: summer slow-down

It's about to get all sporadic up in here. Tessa is grooving along at her day camp, but Charlie just finished his second adventurous stint of the summer and is about to slow things down with some afternoon-only art camp. So that means it's all me all morning; I see lots of hikes and pool visits—and a lot fewer blog posts—in my future.

judy gelles portraits

These portraits, of fourth graders by Judy Gelles, were featured on Design Mom yesterday. I wasn't going to re-post—but I can't stop thinking about them. I'm sometimes wary of words in art, but these kids' words are so earnest and moving—non sequiturs and all. And the rear view makes them both fragile and universal. 

just a snippet: window view

From Clare Vivier tumblr

It's all connected, at least in my head.

Henri Matisse, The Open Window

Pierre Bonnard, The Open Window

a little home improvement: some lighting options

Ikea daisy pendant

It's too late for spring cleaning, but I've been doing a little summer refreshing around the house. It's amazing what you don't notice when you've lived with it for years, especially in rooms like the guestroom where you don't really linger. Some of our lighting fixtures are dated, ugly—just plain not our style. One of these, from Ikea and way beyond pricewise, might make an appearance soon. (Who am I kidding—it's likely to be Ikea all the way. Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Lindsay Adelman chandelier

Serena & Lily chandelier

West Elm pendant

be wild and free on etsy

Camel print

I'm a sucker for anything floral and delicate–with an edge. It's all about the balance, the contrast—whatever you want to call it. Carly Deblock's Etsy shop gets the mix just right.

Teeny tiny heart painting

Narwhal painting

Lowercase a print

Succulents print

my brother's birthday present

From David Pollack vintage poster shop

I'm looking for a vintage (real, not fakey reproduction) travel poster for my brother's birthday. He's turning 40 and already has everything, really. But he loves to travel, and his home office could use a little something something, to go with his photos of Santorini and Tangier. So I'm thinking a vintage poster could work. I'm leaning toward the simpler, more mod-ish ones, as opposed to the Art Deco types you see all over the place. These all look a bit cooler and less familiar—and less like something you'd find in a cafe bathroom.

Hawaii from Abe Books

Japan from Abe Books

Africa from Abe Books

Brochure cover from International Poster Gallery

Australia from David Pollack

lisa hochstein

Something about Lisa Hochstein's paper art is really working for me. Her deceptively simple compositions remind me, in the best possible way, of these spectacular quilts. (Which are worthy of a post themselves, but that's for another day.) 

bluemics on etsy

Kimiko Kotouge makes these pretty ceramic pieces in Okayama, Japan. They're inspired by traditional styles, and made completely by hand, and they definitely have a modern vibe. And the dark blue with cool white is a perfect combination. You could group them on a shelf (or wall), but I think they're too pretty not to use.

monday thoughts: black and white

Robert Motherwell was a major American painter. Huge scale, bold shapes, gutsy movement, provocative titles: his work is stunning, full stop. He was a member of the New York School and is often classified as an abstract expressionist, but he was also his own thing—more than a single label or school, I mean. He studied at to Harvard to please his father, became friends with Jackson Pollock, taught with Cy Twombly and Robert Rauschenberg, and married Helen Frankenthaler. (And he was unusually articulate when talking about his work; his writing is definitely worth a look.) I grew up looking at and admiring one of his Elegy to the Spanish Republic series. The stark but complicated black and white scheme is inspiring me all over the place right now. (My Pinterest boards are full of color, but if I'm being honest my real life is mostly black, navy, and gray.) I would add some self-deprecating line about how silly it is that an icon of modern American art is affecting what shirt I wear. But art is where you find it, and so is inspiration.

Alternative apparel raglan

Emerson Fry top

Seahorse print

Old Boston terrier

Detail from a sketch

Frame with an owl

I hadn't worn these since college.