starting a new painting

This is the little multi-coloured tourmeline I'm painting right now. It doesn't look like much until I get my macro lens on it. Most of the specimens I'm using are around this size. 

house plants

for old time's sake

from here and ebay
remembering this

vintage minerals

vintage mineral prints from ebay

a nap and another letter

Grandpa Orie napping on the lawn. (he's the one in the foreground).

Here's one more excerpt from Orie to Caroline (Aug 2, 1938). And the one in my previous post has been replaced with a higher res version so it's easier to read now.

my ultimate fashion crush

spring 2010
spring 2010
resort 2010
resort 2010

fall 2009

ahhh... Christopher Bailey, Creative Director for Burberry. He is brilliant, adorable, so charming, modest and sweet (and not straight of course). Swoon.

painted colours

Near my house there is an alley behind Bloor Street that faces the subway tracks where they come above ground between Dundas West and Keele. It is COVERED in graffiti - a lot of really elaborate painterly compositions, simple tags, and everything in between. It's like a drive-through art gallery for the people looking out the window of the subway. I took a walk back there the other day and got sucked in to all of that colour. I didn't think I would take so many pictures - I find a lot of graffiti kind of tacky, and it can be a pretty cliche subject to photograph, but maybe it's all in the perspective and framing of the images? Mostly I focused on little details and juxtapositions of the graphic colours with the wild urban nature - that's where the beauty was for me.

The Courtship of Caroline Stencill

My Grandpa Orval (Orie) played banjo at the dances at the hall in Alice (a small town in the Ottawa Valley). My Grandma (Caroline) went to those dances and Orie would always get to skip out of playing one song with the band to have a dance with her. Along with the old photos of my Grandma's that we found at my Aunt Karen's house, we found a pile of old letters my Grandma had received from my Grandpa before they got married. They are unbelievably wonderful to read. Especially not ever having had the chance to meet my Grandfather. They show so much of his character and tell a big part of the story of how they got together - a courtship that lasted several years. I actually see a lot of my Dad's personality in these letters. I won't post much of them, because they are so personal, but here is an excerpt from May 31, 1938. *NEW HIGHER RES LETTER POSTED - IT'S MUCH EASIER TO READ NOW*

sunday walk

les belles fleurs

by Lyndie Dourthe from France. via Oh Joy!

obligatory NY Spring 2010 fantasy shopping post part 1

Richard Chai

Richard Chai

Chris Benz

Costello Tagliapietra

Viscount Alexandre-Isadore Leroy de Barde (1777-1828)

umm.... ya.