Artist Robert Dolan intended to make a tee shirt for a young man with leukemia who is now in remission. He made a history of his creative process for a grammar school art class to show the twists, turns, and often messy failures that he went through to arrive at…Plan B. Not a tee shirt,…
Read MoreThese charming little structures got us thinking about beach shelters. Of late we’ve seen some pretty chic, pricey ones, like Sombrilla Beach Tent for $189. It’s based on a simple, classic structure, one of many you can make yourself.
Read MoreWe came across another good idea from the portfolio of journalist and photographer Amandine & Jules that seems to be something of a trend: NOT painting moldings and doors a separate color but rather the same color as the walls, to make a uniform, less busy and, depending on the color, more contemporary look.
Read MoreEagle eyed Susan Dworski spotted this polka dot wall and floor in the portfolio of the write/stylie + photographer couple Amandine and Jules. We love the idea of a graphic element flowing from one to the other, softening angles, and make the space seem more…fluid. Here’s another example of using paint to define a space in…
Read MoreI’m betting that one thing we all could use is a Get Out Of Jail card to help us learn how to love our bodies – just as they are. I’m also wagering you may be asking yourself, as I did: why is this woman on the right smiling? What’s wrong with her?
Read MoreI’ve always struggled with Mother’s Day. Too pink, too saccharine, too much forced happiness when the reality so often cloaks a good deal of ambivalence, sadness, and hidden anger. That all changed when I opened our Little Free Library on the front fence yesterday and discovered Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, Marjane Satrapi’s extraordinary graphic memoir of…
Read MoreFrequent contributor Susan Dworski passed on this photo and commentary from her brother, who lives on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala: West side neighbor’s guardian’s solution to lack of long enough wood piece for a hand rail along the camino publico…….. While not entirely w/out a certain rustic charm……. Flip side of well orchestrated indigenous handicraft……… Cockamamie for…
Read More(Watch video HERE.) Watch this video with the sound off and you’d swear it was special effects made by Dreamworks or Hollywood. In fact, it was filmed in Norway, Finland and Sweden during autumn, winter and spring, the three seasons those countries have darkness. The “silent storms” referred to are the geomagnetic storms which takes place…
Read MoreStunned by sight of a scarlet phaleonopsis, I actually BOUGHT this PLASTIC orchid for $5.99 at TJ Max when I was shopping one day. Sure, it’s flat-out fake, but it radiates unfailing good cheer every day, winter or summer, day or night. And it serves as an essential reminder.
Read MoreThe big glass picture window door looks great at first, affording an expansive view of the garden. But think of the arc of that door as it opens — a good 5 feet at least! You couldn’t have any furniture or planters in the way, because a door needs unobstructed space to open. The door then dictates…
Read More(View video HERE.) Susan Dworski sent this as an antidote to “Blues”. Hamburg-based classical quartet Salut Salon perform “instrumental acrobatics” that push the limits of what violin, cello and piano are SUPPOSED to do. The inherent question that each new unexpected use of an instrument asks: WHY NOT?
Read MoreWe know a lot of people who are in big changes in their lives. Susan Dworski recently reminded us of a poem that contains simple wisdom about the very complex subject of becoming.
Read MoreThis video called Crazy furniture reminded us that EXPLODING an idea — dismantling it and reconfiguring it in various ways — can really help to refresh the creative process. And it’s an especially good practice for re-envisioning a space.
Read MoreWe’ve written about the little free library movement before and continue to be delighted at where the idea is popping up. Here, a pay phone booth is repurposed as a tiny “take a book, leave a book” library in Houston, Texas, outside local coffee house Black Hole, with a laundromat next door. Perfect. It reminds us…
Read MoreConverse All Stars and other sneakers make great instant rubber stamps for floors and walls, not to mention wrapping paper.
Read MoreSome unusual Post-It notes written by kid’s express heartening views and strategies about living.
Read MoreI was intrigued by the Double Chocolate Rye/spelt muffins touted on Green Kitchen. Chocolate and rye!!!. Rye flour in the US is associated with heavy, gummy, serious breads––certainly not pastries. Doubters warned that they could be “brown rocks,” given the weightiness of the ingredients. But it seems that chocolate and rye are much loved taste combo in Denmark. And Green Kitchen said they were delish, so I decided to try them.
Read More(Video link HERE.) We just found this note from Susan Dworski: when you need a touch of the celestial to offset some practical DIY. music’s a tad OTT, I’d turn it off, but the visuals are superb.
Read More(Video link HERE.) Mickey Smith is a surf photographer from Cornwall, England whose six minute video of wave riding in the ominous North Sea is a stunning, nail biting, vicarious experience for urbanistas and land-locked couch potatoes. But diving beyond the hair-raising visuals, listening to Smith’s philosophy of life is what makes this clip intriguing. Smith says, “I never…
Read MoreThe record snowfalls across the country have brought with them hardship and heartening creativity. Here’s a small collection of spontaneous snow creations made in joyous defiance.
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