style inspiration: catherine deneuve

catherine deneuve in folies d'avril: (1) wide leg denim trousers, (2) cream sweater, (3) black crew-neck tee, (4) navy keds, (5) gold, rope-chain necklace

knit + purl

my sister made me this beautiful cowl-neck scarf and hat for christmas. when i dig my nose in deep i can still smell a little bit of the farm. sometimes, i actually put it on the minute i get out of bed, to keep me cozy while i make coffee and check my e-mail. here are a few other wooly tubes from around the web. (1) chartreuse, (2) cream, (3) navy

(top photos: by ben + erin)

nesting

our living room is currently table-less so i’ve been scouring the internet for something to fill the void. nesting tables never really entered into thought, but i was at a friend’s apartment over the holidays and she had this adorable set of stackers. while we were watching a movie i had my feet up on one, a drink on the second, and pizza on the third. i was a table hog. now, it seems like a no-brainer. i need my own set. recently, i chickened out on these ebay beauties. i was way out of me league.

people watching

the subjects in most of hope gangloff's portraits are of her close friends. maybe that is why she is able to create each individual's ambiguous gestures and not-quite-readable expressions, giving us a tantalizing glimpse into their lives, or in a sense, her own life. like illustrated pages of her daily journal. after researching gangloff a little further, i was excited to find out that i own some of her artwork. she drew the boo and scout image on the built by wendy tee i bought almost 5 years ago, currently faded and folded on a closet shelf.

paid for delivery

i like looking through vintage u. s. stamps with the idea that someday i’ll be savvy enough to use them as postage on birthday and christmas cards. adding detail and character to an otherwise boring envelope. in my search, i came across these beautiful mineral stamps from bulgaria.

constructed with care

brooklyn-based designer kelly clark has just released the spring/summer collection of her clothing line, keller ny, which began in 2008. mixing feminine details with masculine shapes, clark creates clothes to “slip on, love, and wear unbothered.”

quiet cold

bryan schutmaat is a houston, texas based photographer/high school history teacher. his images of day-to-day objects, vacant terrain, aged interiors, and seemingly ordinary places question what is an acceptable figure of beauty. “western frieze” is a photo collection of abandoned landscapes and roadside culture that captures the history and nostalgia of the american highway.

healing potentiality

michael dumontier and neil farber were founding members of the winnipeg artists collective, royal art lodge, in 1996, and remained active members until the group disbanded in 2008. since then, the duo has continued to work together—finishing each painting where the other left off. their most recent collection, “homemade marriage certificate,” combines a patchwork of imaginative, brightly colored images with quick-witted text. the exhibition is currently showing at the richard heller gallery in santa monica, california.

whisper please

i love the way the library smells, walking down rows of musty pages and cracked leather spines. shhhhhhh. (1) navy school-boy blazer, (2) striped sweater, (3) scotch skirt, (4) lace-up boot, (5) graphic knee socks, (6) port-a-file, (7) rucksack, (8) sasha frames, (9) cuckoo necklace

specs appeal

i've had my current frames since 2004, but because i usually only wear them before i go to sleep or on a lazy weekend, i haven't felt the need to buy a new pair. while i was back in minnesota, ben and i stopped into a frame store and tried on a few hundred pairs, just for fun. big, dorky, colorful and colorless plastic glasses filled the shelves. surprisingly, the more i laughed at them before i tried them on, the more i actually liked them on my face. I couldn't decide which ones i loved more. the middle of these vintage specs remind me of the big green frames my sister wore in middle school. i wonder if her prescription has changed.

(top photo: garance dore)

luminescence

li shurui is one of beijing’s up-and-coming young artists. classically trained in oil painting, shurui has made a name for herself through her installation experiments and her paintings of abstract light shows on large-scale, air brushed canvases reaching over 7-feet wide. shurui’s latest work, “i love me,” continues to focus on her obsession with light and reflection, but on a much smaller scale. the 6.5 x 4 inch pieces are on display in the "santa's workshop shanghai" exhibit at the james cohan gallery in new york until the end of the month.

holiday pieces 01/11/2010

what was intended to be a one week blog break, turned into one month. i’ve been in denial about getting back to writing after the holiday and spent most of last week just staring at my computer screen. in december, we drove from cold to colder—michigan to minnesota—for visits with family and friends, lots of delicious food, late night movie viewing, and afternoon hikes in freezing temperatures. i love the snow, but hate the cold. negative degrees killed my adventurous spirit and our car. when we finally got home to ann arbor, the 20 degrees outside felt like a heat wave… sadly, that notion has passed.

(photos by: erin)