Blue in the Bahamas

Our short trip to the Bahamas was fantastic. The blues and blue-greens of the Caribbean were simply gorgeous. Here are a few of my favorite images from the trip highlighting all the beautiful shades of blue.

Vacation

I’ll be on a short hiatus for the remainder of the week and early next week. I’m heading here:

 

Image of the Bahamas courtesy of RossLife.com

 

…and plan to be completely disconnected. No internet, email, Twitter, nothing. See you next week.

Art & Magazines

In an interview with Meg Mateo Ilasco, creative director for Anthology, she shared the reasons for the illustrated cover of the magazine’s yet-to-be released premiere issue (due out in October):

“As for the magazine cover, there’s definitely a throwback quality to it. There was a time when most magazine covers weren’t seducing you with catchy headlines or top 10 lists, rather they were pieces of art, something that could be framed. Vintage Harpers Bazaar and Vogue covers are so inspiring and a testament to how illustrations can be just as powerful and moving as photographs. It’s shame that we don’t see more illustrated magazine covers”

So true. I couldn’t agree more. I wish we saw a piece of art in place of catchy headlines more often like the New Yorker has done for decades. (New Yorker prints are available for purchase at the New Yorker store.)

Do you Rue?

Why yes I do. This past week, the much-anticipated Rue magazine launched online.

The 261-page  premiere issue was gorgeous. The photography was beautiful, and the variety of homes that was featured offered something for every style and aesthetic. This editorial team certainly has a lot to be proud of. My favorites of the bunch were the homes of sfgirlbybay’s Victoria Smith (I love that brass dachshund!) and Rue’s editor-in-chief Crystal Gentilello. I’m definitely looking forward to the next issue!

Lonny’s Blogger Bios

Lonny magazine recently debuted the redesign of their Web site, and the changes are definitely an improvement. They’ve added a database of images divided by room (love that they have one particularly for bookshelves), a gorgeous blog, and now they offer the option to buy a hard copy. I really like the upgrades, but some of my most favorite additions are the blogger bio collages. They are beautifully photographed, and I love that each gives a glimpse into the personality, taste, and aesthetic of each member of the staff. Here’s a handful of them. Robert Leleux’s comments about New Orleans, a city I know well, made my day. He’s totally right, of course.

For the Love of London

London is one of my favorite cities in the world. Actually, it’s probably my favorite. I love the people, the city, the theater, the sensibility…I could go on and on. In that theme, I’ve gathered some art from across the Web celebrating this wonderful city.

The Lure of the Underground available from Scarlet Beautiful:

London Routemaster Bus from CB78:

London by hediun:

Scooterworks UK by CoffeeShop:

Big Ben by twoems:

London Town Houses by Lynsey Hunter:

Anthology & Kris Atomic

Did you happen to see this on Twitter this morning?

Anthology is a new quaterly shelter/lifestyle magazine. Exciting! I’m so happy to see a new publication that is actually being printed instead of living exclusively online. Don’t get me wrong, I love Web-based magazines, but nothing tops having an actual printed hard copy. And based on the sneak preview (available on Anthology‘s site), it looks fantastic!

Image from Anthology

One thing I particularly love (so far) is the cover created by Kris Atomic. It’s bright and fun and girly. She is clearly an übertalented gal, and while perusing her blog, I fell in love with many of her drawings. She’s had a few posts detailing the process that goes into creating her colorful artwork. (See a few of those here, here, and here.) I love getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the process artists use to create their work. It’s always fascinating to see how a piece of art came to be from an initial sketch or idea.

Here are some of my other favorites from Kris Atomic, including the four initial sketches she did for Anthology’s cover:

I love the cat on the leash in the image below! That just makes me smile.

Etsy Find: Leah Giberson

I am so in love with the work of Leah Giberson. Her paintings of suburbia are simple, clean, and uncluttered, and I love her use of light and shadow.

Avion (one)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Her art statement found in her etsy shop provides a beautiful explanation of her work:

“My current body of work falls somewhere between the worlds of photography, painting and collage. I begin with photographs of seemingly ordinary and mundane scenes, which I then paint directly upon to distill and reveal the visually poignant moments that exist all around us, but are often overlooked.

“There is a quiet anxiety and loneliness in these images of isolated houses, empty chairs, abandoned pools and vacant streets.”

Here are a handful of my favorites. (I really had a hard time narrowing them down.)

Rear View

Land Yacht (two)

Little Traveler

Ariba Familia

Calumet Slant

Calumet Series (three)

House Tour: My Bathroom

Had I been thinking, I wouldn’t have finished the tour with the smallest and least interesting room in my home. But clearly I wasn’t, so here it is. The wall color is Behr’s Scottish Isle in flat, which I still love as much as the day I painted it.

That’s it. You’ve pretty much seen it all. I hope you enjoyed it!

John Adams

John Adams, the HBO miniseries based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning book by David McCullough, is absolutely superb. The seven-part series has a stellar cast: Paul Giametti as John Adams, Laura Linney as Abigail Adams, Tom Wilkinson as Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Dillane as Thomas Jefferson, and David Morse as George Washington.

This film gives you the inside scoop on this country’s second president. John Adams played a monumental role in the founding of our nation but he doesn’t often get credit or due recognition for his (and his family’s) many contributions and sacrifices, just as he predicted would happen. This film takes you from his start as a young lawyer defending the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre in 1770 until his death at the age of 90 on July 4, 1826—exactly 50 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed—and includes all the major moments in between.

While they do take some artistic liberties with historical accuracy, I knew that going in and enjoyed it for everything else it had to offer.

I particularly loved the attention to detail in the film. Unlike other historical movies, John Adams gives you a vivid sense of what the people and living conditions were actually like—ink stains on their fingers, black teeth, dirty streets, sun spots, the isolation and physical demands of the time, what it’s like when someone is actually tarred and feathered. The costumes, set, cinematography—basically everything—about it is spot on.

George Washington's inauguration—HBO/Kent Eanes

I whole-heartedly recommend it.