oh those red soles...

Christian Louboutin

as seen on parisbreakfasts

inspired by

this classic photo, i think

GIRLS IN THE WINDOWS

by Ormond Gigli

photographed in 1960

read more about it here

June 27, 2010

	MAIRA KALMAN Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World) By Ingrid Schaffner 144 pp. DelMonico/Prestel. $34.95. This monograph, the companion volume to a traveling exhibition of Kalman's work being presented by the University of Pennsylvania's Institute of Contemporary Art, features essays, drawings and paintings, including a portrait of the young Nabokov, 2006.

Everyone who reads this blog knows how much I admire Maira Kalman's work. So I was thinking of driving down to Philadelphia to see this exhibit. But then I discovered that the exhibit will travel to the Jewish Museum in NYC this summer. Better idea, visit the exhibit in NYC, then read the monograph in my backyard, while relaxing on the wicker swing in the shade with some sun tea.

To get in the groove - here is an article - click here

You may also enjoy this interesting interview on Maira Kalman - click here

This is where I go to recharge my batteries...

a walk with libby on a glorious summer day...

I march straight through the barn

and pop out again in the brilliant sunshine.

The grounds are decked out for the annual farm fete;

the catapult is set for action to entertain the guests

and the tractor and hay bales are ready for a ride around the farm.

But this is why I went to the farm:

a walk,

a sit,

and my weekly greens.

Why is it that we are drawn to heart shapes? Especially organically shaped hearts - that have grown directly from nature - like the heart tree above. I wonder about that. This tree does have a look of cutting shears, but maybe not. Could it be a gift of nature? Look at how the branches create the undulating top of the tree. Photo from MA BELLE.

But back to the reasons we are drawn to these lovely shapes: love love love, warmth, happiness, serendipity, chance, simplicity...

Everyday that I drove miss is to school (40 minutes away), mostly she took the bus or drove herself, but back to the story, I would see an island in the middle of the river as I crossed the Sikorsky Bridge. I called it the love island - it was uninhabited, just a spit of land covered in grasses - long, tall, waving to me as I drove by. And it was shaped like a heart. The only way to see the heart shape is from the car as I drive across the bridge - see above - a little dangerous trying to snap the picture from the moving vehicle while travelling 60 mph - this is the best shot of the island ... can you see the heart shape? It always makes me smile and think happy thoughts, no matter how difficult or traumatic my day has been.

Then there is the rock on my desk...one day it was just there...I have no idea when or where I found this rock, but I love it and it makes me smile.... When life is hard or troubling, it is soothing to look at the hard stone shaped in a heart. It gives me hope.

Imagine my surprise when I turned the rock over during my photo shoot! A little, magical inscription delighted me - from miss is at a tender age. I did not know this wonderful sentiment was inscribed until yesterday. Serendipity...to find this inscription as I write a post about love.

Seabeans, the wonderful shop in Wilton where I sell my frames and memento boards, has lots of heart shaped stones mounted on boards... picture to follow...

and my friend, jeanne over at nantucket mermaid, is always finding heart-shaped rocks and painting them for her studio - check it out here - and here, or better yet, visit her when you are on Nantucket.

and read this wonderful post from mackin ink about "the love of her life"...it is beautiful...words to remember...read it all the way through - click here

first day of summer

blue sky sparklin' day

Ambler Farm

If any of you readers have young children

you will love this cd:

blue sky sparklin' day by elizabeth mcmahon

One of the happiest group of songs

we listened to when miss is was a little girl

dads

A sweet candid shot of daughter and dad

(dh as he is known to me)

at miss is' graduation last week

and a "smile for the camera" shot

My father and some of his brood

daughters, granddaughters and one son-in-law

Here we are celebrating Dad's 81st birthday

after a tennis match

Granddaughter JM smashed the competition.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

—Seneca, Roman philosopher

9via swissmiss - via @cameron)

a little bit of this would be nice

but the right kind of fortune...

"the goddess fortuna

might bring good luck or bad,

could be represented as veiled and blind

and came to represent life's capriciousness" wikipedia

Peonies have been everywhere in the blogosphere lately,

so I decided to join the party.

And they are bloosoming everywhere in my neck of the woods these days.

An image from today: the Offinger's farm up the road.

I love having a party in June when I can buy bushels of peonies from the Offingers.

The effect is beautiful and the scent, delicious.

Just last week the Writer's Almanac posted this poem. Lovely

PEONIES

by Jeanne Lohmann

Grandma called them pineys, and I didn't know why.

They smelled so good, the full lush petals

crowded thick, the whole flower heavy on its stem,

the leaves dark and rich and green as shade in Chatauqua Woods

where each spring I hunted for violets. What could there be

to pine for on this earth? Now I think maybe it was Missouri

she missed, and maybe that was what somebody she knew

called peonies there, before she traveled to Ohio,

a sixteen-year-old bride whose children came on as fast

as field crops and housework. Her flowers saved her,

the way they came up year after year and with only a bit of care

lived tender and pretty, each kind surprising,

keeping its own sweet secret: lily-of-the-valley, iris,

the feathery-leaved cosmos, lilacs in their white and purple curls,

flamboyant sweet peas and zinnias, the bright four o'clocks

and delphinium, blue as her eyes, and the soft peony flowers

edged deep pink. In her next life I want my grandmother

to walk slowly through the gardens in England and Kyoto.

I want to be there when she recognizes the flowers

and smiles, when she kneels and takes the pineys in her hands.

DREAMS

by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow.

-------------------------

And to my dear miss is

on the day of your commencement

well done

we are so proud of you

xo m

off you go - enjoy the ride - we love you!

xo

My monogrammed frames have been SOOO popular.

This order was done on a rush basis

and funny that one of the monograms was

ASAP

Well I delivered - in less than 1 week.

This collection is going to a group of young ladies

who are graduating this weekend

from a top New England college

congrats!

and these to some graduating seniors at Holton Arms in Bethesda, Maryland

more for some seniors at Holy Child in Potomac, Maryland

and a group of 3 frames with "the beach"

maybe for a reunion.

I did another very special frame

but I can't show it yet

Would not want to spoil the surprise.

Stay tuned.

marnie in blue

marnie in fuschia

marnie in green

no, i have not turned into a total ego-maniac

even though some say that blogs are nothing

more than ego-centric puff pieces

marnie in yellow

marnie in mustard

it's just that this fabric was named after me...

imagine my surprise

and of course delight

especially because i have such a fabric fetish...

when I discovered that

Jennifer Paganelli of Sis Boom fame

named this fabric pattern after me!

a first...

Jennifer,

friend and designer extraordinare

thanks for the nod...

Check out Sis Boom's new line called "poodle"

click here to see more delicious colors and patterns.

And guess what? I have a fun and energetic 5 year old poodle too

named Libby.

She often sits with me in the studio

but more often sleeps.