I'm in one hell of a mood. Be glad that I've not been around to comment for a couple of days, though I will be later today/tomorrow evening. Will restrain self from snarling. The thing is this mood goes from distracted moon-swoony to full-out tooth gnashing. Wah.
I've started to pay attention to my Pinterest boards, after a year or so. Nothing like the fear of spending money to get that going. (I just deleted about two grafs of semi-rant re: many images people pin over there. It's their thing, I'll let it go. Until comments here, if any.) If you'd like, you can request an invite on the site. It's not as exclusive as many designers/bloggers/etc would have you believe.
PS: Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday greetings in late September! (Paris photograph by Darien Chin)
"Poetic Illusions" Illustrations by Mats Gustafson. I saw an orchid at my neighborhood market that looked like this (if you squint). Yes, I'm goofing off more than usual.(Vogue China, December 2010) Via the Fashion Spot, on Vintage Rose Garden)
There's a total eclipse of the solstice moon overnight. The last time this happened, it was 1638. Wow. I could make much of this but I'll spare one & all. This very pretty Isabel Marant boutique window in Paris by Fan & Gab. (To be fair, I saw it on this Dreaming in White Pinterest board. But just like FB, it is having some sort of mini-breakdown today.)
Same as on Giulia Geranium tonight. No pudding recipe yet. Freezing cold here. Cannot decide how much I like the song...maybe it's the balloons & fireworks over London in the video. Actually, I put this up on both sites to say hi to a friend who is seriously downhearted. Cheers! (photograph via Vintage Rose Garden via Pinterest) Thursday Update - here's a link to video playable in Europe.
A lovely old friend from Strasbourg days sent me a teeny leetle Kodak camera, battery charger, & batteries (so thoughtful). He thought this might keep me from total madness until the real bigger deal comes along. A terrific photographer, he said, "I prefer film, always will...". I hear you, buddy. Already, I'm swearing up a storm. Many bisous, baci, & asstd xoxo to B & his kind wife Mary Lou in NY.
Julie the Cat is exceedingly annoyed because I keep moving her around to take a snap. Poor bunny. It's so cold & windy here that moving back into the bedroom (with The Dragon space heater) is necessary. On Netflix Instant (if you have it or the UK/Euro-zone equivalent) are, in no particular order: Hannah & Her Sisters, Manhattan, About A Boy, 84 Charing Cross Road (highly recommend), Charade, The September Issue. Vanessa in Berlin recommended Metropolitan & I hope to watch it tonight.
Liberty London Girl (aka Sasha Wilkins) is here in town for the TEDWomen conference. Highly recommend checking in on her blog. It's a terrific mix of the fun, stylish, & serious. And the seriously stylish.
The sun is sinking & so is the temperature--inside. Sometime soon I hope to regain energy to post on what's happening here. (One thing is that Patti Smith will be at the Portrait Gallery on Saturday--naturally, I have an ironclad commitment that afternoon. Bah.)(photograph via Rebecca Schley via Pinterest)
I already had the title last week & was going to show rose hips that I'd swiped. Too late, they're through the chipper. I decided to keep the title because I'm silly. I like this sewing tutorial idea/tutorial. I won't be wearing it anytime soon but I would have done, definitely, in the not too-distant past. And there would have been whispers of 'oh I wish I could do that but I don't have the nerve." That is not nerve. You know what nerve is? Wading into the deep waters of war & "conflict" zones. (My friend Susan has nerve.)
If you don't want to wear a big ol' bow around the waist, understood. Here's a cool way to jazz up your coat collar via genius Caitlin at Colette Patterns. It's quite clever & if I didn't already have something similar, I'd do it in a jiff. (OK, lots of swearing & a long day's journey into night). It's a reminder of stylish women who made do in eras past--& wow, they looked better than most of us today. I am convinced of this. In a rush this week & working on GG blog matters. I will definitely visit blogs (if I've not already, I think I did a fairly good job of it yesterday) this weekend.
I sifted through the fashion/beauty category on the Hasselblad site & there's not enough time & bandwith (I finally typed it - bandwith, grrrr) to see as much as I'd like. I did not espy a new Tim Walker (yet). Benedikt Ernst's newspaper lady reminded me of the paper tutu by talented Kelly Murry/Jolis Paon. The competition is open until 31 December. (There's an Up & Coming section, too, so don't count yourself out.) Here's the link to see the rules. Scroll all the way down to the very bottom of the page, the pertinent stuff is there. Hasselblad web-peeps, you should know better.
Can you tell I'm in a hurry? Oof. Need to wrap things up. I have an impatient cat & an impatient human on my hands. I'm outnumbered.
Many new bloggers have asked where/how to collect images if they don't have huge piles of magazines & books, etc. If you look at the beginnings of both blogs, you will see that I didn't know much. (OK, anything. It still looks clueless but lacking tech funds does not help.) The following is in no way all-inclusive. So many people I link to here & on Giulia Geranium (& on the back of blogger profile) are excellent resources.
Canadian illustrator Lori Langille's automatism blog is an excellent place to be inspired but also to see attribution etiquette in best practice mode. I turned to Lori in December 2008, a few months into Giulia Geranium, forpermission to use a personal vintage Marie Claire Maison scan. Lori is also the brains & talent behind the Benevolent Postcard Society, of which I am a proud if not very imaginative member. Sweetness and Light is a relatively new label on automatism. Lori kindly linked to bricolage a few weeks back. She did so through Pinterest (via Facebook). Before the usual outpouring of Facebook-hate, listen up. I'm not that active on Facebook & you don't need to be. Remember that about any social network. No one said you have to update constantly. In fact, unless you are hilarious (& it's not just your mother who thinks so), I beg you not to. Still, it's your right to do as you wish & I'll adjust my settings accordingly. I'm sure the few who follow me on Twitter are dismayed by my bummer re-tweets. C'est la guerre.
Tina Tarnoff's Thought Patterns is wonderful, just as you'd imagine any artist of her talent would be. Visit often. You'll see such a variety of images & Tina's thoughts about them, where she found them, etc. She's always helpful & generous.
I just realized as I was to hit 'publish' that there's an important category of photography/images that I use. That has to do with humanitarian, animal welfare, & other goody-two shoes stuff of which I am rightly accused. That will have to be another post because it's more complicated (of course it is, sigh, why wouldn't it be?) But if you need something right now go to IRIN (humanitarian news & analysis via UN) & register for fair-use photographs.
I'm in one hell of a mood. Be glad that I've not been around to comment for a couple of days, though I will be later today/tomorrow evening. Will restrain self from snarling. The thing is this mood goes from distracted moon-swoony to full-out tooth gnashing. Wah.
