(Video link HERE.) This beautiful little video about the culture of chocolate in Mexico, will give you a view of the origins of the delicious sweet we love to eat, unaware how the making of it can be an act of resistance and spirituality, as is true with many endangered foods. In 4 minutes, we got a big view of culture, ecology, economic forces and memory that goes way beyond chocolate.
Read MoreContinueing our unplanned homage to ’70’s design: illustrator Tomi Ungerer‘s fab frolicing orgy created by combining rubber stamps of various body parts and shapes.
Read MoreBirds have been much on my mind since revisiting Anne Lamotts’ inspirational book, Bird by Bird, on Improvised Life, especially now that the New Year has come and gone, scattering in its wake a litter of broken resolutions. How is it possible that so many thoughtfully-strategized good intentions have fled my newly-reordered spiritual house already, and the year yet a month old?
Read MoreMatisse-inspirec cut paper collages can make for an instead change in a small or large space.
Read MoreI was tidying up my countertop of holiday clutter, but was unwilling to toss a sparkling, butterfly birthday card illustrated by Laurel Burch. Call it cheeseball commercial art or not, there’s something eternally endearing about flowers, butterflies and cats that manages to do an end run around even the most righteous, post-modernist’s, spartan aesthetic. Burch was an iconic, wildly…
Read MoreThe Dish recently posted an excerpt of Cayte Bosler’s study showing “the residual health benefits of having your mind blown”. The gist: experiencing awe makes you feel like you have MORE time, makes you LESS impatient and MORE willing to help other people. And our favorite: it makes you more strongly prefer experience to material…
Read More(Video link HERE.) From Susan Dworski: OK, it’s an ad. but it’s kinda fun. in a whacko way. It IS fun even more so WITHOUT the sound. It reminds us of the sometimes explosive process of improvising in the kitchen, with flavors, scents, association, all bursting forth unexpectedly as we taste, combine, try, free-associate. via The…
Read MoreOur friend Holton Rower sent us some screenshots of very imaginative snow creations that remind us just what a splendid, ephemeral FREE material snow is for spontaneous making, fashion inspiration, exercise equipment.
Read MoreA quote from our friend Maria Robledo captures the wondrous imperfections in the daily world that make them so completely perfect, as do her photographs…
Read MoreLong time massage therapist Dale Favier’s take on bodies will dispel any judgements you may have been carrying around about your ‘imperfect’ body.
Read MoreAs we look at ultra-minimalist home design publications, we totally get with New Yorker cartoonist Rick Stevens really apt commentary. And we know from experience, that less is not necessarily more. In a renovation, minimalist often costs way more than traditional styles. via Susan Dworski
Read MoreOn the cusp of Halloween, before the covens of tiny witches and goblins descended at dusk, I vowed to take the day to observe any signs and portents that, in the words of poet Dylan Thomas, ‘the weather had turned around‘ and Fall had finally arrived, despite what the thermometer read. Perched on the front door, peering through…
Read MorePeter Beard: A Wild Life is a lovely little film of photographer Peter Beard working on a collage at his studio on Montauk, Long Island. He is widely known for his photographs both of pop stars like Mick Jagger and Andy Warhol and of the tragic destruction of elephant herds in Africa. Here at age 75,…
Read More“Drink from your own well.” I take those words on board whenever I’m struggling to create. I believe they mean that each of us has to dig deeply into our authentic self as the wellspring for our best work. If we search outside ourselves we may neglect something that is essential to our art. Poet William Stafford‘s wrote this…
Read MoreRight after we posted Gene Davis’ Fab Striped Street’, Susan Dworski sent us this great before-and-after picture of a Rotterdam parking lot half painted with stripes. The with-and-without is quite an example of the possibilites for stipes in unlikely places. Then we found another: a brilliant striped car spotted in New York Magazine recent The Urbanist’s Warsaw:
Read More(Video link here.) An eagle fitted with a tiny GoPro Camera by his trainer, takes us along for the ride. Very cool….. if….it….is…….real? We came face to face our own jaded, suspicious selves, wondering if certain magic CAN happen. Our friend Susan Dworski hunted down the its origins. Apparently the remarkable, very viral video is a…
Read More“Trust me, some day we’ll need it and you’ll be sorry you threw it out.” That remark reverberated after viewing a segment on 60 Minutes about Todd Boll’s Little Free Library movement and the thousands of mini, hand-built libraries for book sharing that are proliferating worldwide. He was right. The wooden beer crate gathering…
Read MoreSusan Dworski spotted this cartoon a few minutes after we posted Annals of Bad Design: Uncomfortable Bathtub Surround. As usual, a New Yorker cartoon nails the zeitgeist! Thanks Susan! Related posts: xcultivating gardens real and imaginaryx xmadan kataria’s laughter yoga: laughing as a practicex
Read MoreIn many parts of the world that which is old and imperfect is more highly cherished and valued than that which is new. Brand new Turkish rugs are often abraded before selling, their colors softened by dealers eager to increase their price by having them appear imperfect, used, showing their history. In Persian, they call…
Read MoreFound among painter Richard Diebenkorn’s papers after he died in 1993: ‘Notes to myself on beginning a painting’ (with the original punctuation). We find many to be just right for beginning just about ANY creative pursuit or project (some are mysterious). Like Chuck Close’s Notes to Self, they prove to be good advice for living:…
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