(Inside A Black Apple)

Black Apples for Me

Curiously enough, I received two black apples made just for me in this last week's mail. In light of the strange (and thoughtful!) coincidence, I thought I should share them!

The first is this beautiful miniature painting from Justin, who sent it out of the blue, and enclosed the kindest note.

Thank you so much, Justin! It is just lovely. I am going to have it framed up beautifully in a nice vintage-looking frame as soon as I get a chance, and hang it in a cluster amongst other beloved two dimensional curiosities. 

And this little gal arrived yesterday, from Heidi, and you know the timing couldn't have been more perfect:

See? She's a little plush "black apple"-head!
The photo doesn't do her cuteness justice, but trust me that her little embroidered smile brought me a big one, also.  Heidi, as Wesley Willis might say,  is my buddy in a mix. So is this new applehead.
And that little gocco'ed baker's box she showed up in? Pretty great, too. I'm saving it...I just don't know yet for what.

Here's to a good week coming up!
I want to be mostly making, and listening, and reading and writing. And then traveling.
But first, the other four.

xoxo

It's the Little (mostly red) Things...

I thought I'd post about a few recent purchases of little things that are making me very, very happy.
And when I started thinking about it, many of them seem to be red (or reddish)...so we've got kind of a theme going here:

Beautiful poppy pin from the graceful Etsy shop, Foundling (the equally beautiful image is the seller's own). Very excited about these...I've been eying them for quite a while.

These insanely sweet and Black Apple-ish hairpins from Anthro that I had also been eying for a while.

Also from Anthro, this teacup I had been crazy for, and finally ordered.

Pretty scatter-pins (the least red of the bunch, I'm noticing now) from this quirky-cute Etsy shop.

And this gocco print, which I find terribly romantic, from the always-right-on Julianna Swaney. I can't keep my dollars in my pocket when I go to her Etsy shop!

Here's to little treasures that make it all so much better!
xoxo

Ghosts in the other room

I am really in love with these two vintage photos right now. The one on the left was sent to me by my pal Anja of the lovely Etsy shop Clever Nettle. She noticed that the little girl was clearly an applet, and sent her to me as a surprise!
I'm so crazy for the children's expressions...I think I'm going to do a painting inspired by the one on the right. ;)

A Squirrel On A String

I finished work on another new painting last night:

Squirrel on String     11"x14"x1"    Acrylic on canvas

I've been poring over all these old (and mostly out-of-print) books on 18th and 19th century folk portraiture this summer. I love this stuff...and I know lots of other folks do too. It's one of my primary points of inspiration. The static poses, the beautiful strange visual quirks of the artists (many of whom are unknown, or historians are really unsure as to what work they are responsible for) manifesting themselves in these wonderful, bizarre, sometimes hilarious portraits.

One of my very favorites is this one, Portrait of Two Children (1760), which is attributed to a man named Joseph Badger.

This painting was found in an antique store in the 1950's in London, and the identities of the sitters is unknown. I loved the gesture and garments of the little boy (not that his little no-necked sister is without her charm), and decided to paint a black apple-ish version.

More frames on more walls

We picked up a big load of stuff that was finished at the framers yesterday, and I finally finished assembling the big wall o' art in the living room that I've had in the works. I couldn't be more pleased...

Beautiful photo from Light Leaks, an Adrian Tomine print, and a vintage furniture drawing in colored pencil that I really love.

An amazingly funny and lovely naive-ish vintage oil painting, tiny Nara print, and a  little drawing-on-napkin by my Sarah which I've dragged with me from place to place for the last 4 years.

A great vintage skate label (blown up and printed by the folks at Blab!), a little black fox print by John Golden, and this incredibly beautiful Ray Ceasar print (my all-time favorite image of his) with a frame that seems made for it.

...and a water-damaged, but very beloved, print by big-eye artist "Lee" (my favorite of the big-eye crowd, FYI), a beautiful John Clark piece, and a wee little tom-cat portrait by Sarah Hogren.

Also waiting for us at the framers is this VERY BELOVED BY ALL WHO LIVE HERE Tara Mcpherson poster for the Atlanta Comics Expo that my sweet peas Devlin and Robert scored for me:

I moved the Seonna Hong print that was there to the kitchen. That poster looks so great with the pink couch!

Whew. Sorry the photos aren't the best, the light in there is pretty crummy. 

Prettying up the walls some more

Lately I've been scouring Etsy and other places for more art for the apartment. Like everyone, I'm extremely particular, so it's a tough job (especially sorting through the Etsy art category!). I feel like it (more art) is the only thing that's missing...clusters and clusters of art.

So, I've got a bunch of pieces off at the framers, and some waiting for frames that I can handle (standard sized stuff), and I'm rearranging some of the work that was already in my home into new clusters. Over the couch, we have this new constellation:

From left to right, we have the most hilarious + wonderful shadowbox from Deadbird, a pretty E from a fancy vintage font book I acquired recently, one of my pal Ashley G's  pieces(an original painting!), a framed Yoshitomo Nara postcard (it looks so flippin' good in that frame...it just kills me), this beautiful ceramic plaque with a cast of teeth emerging from the center that I bought from a local artist at her exit show this past spring, the little oval jacket drawing by me, a Seonna Hong print that always catches my eye and makes me happy, and finally, a really pretty J from the aforementioned fancy font book.
   
 

Oh! And the winners of that last little postcard contest have been emailed,they are a trio of nice gals named Ann, Lorna, and Stephanie. Thank you SO much, everyone, for playing along! I have tons of new potential books, and feel very happy to hear books that I already love so much (Lolita, Mrs. Dalloway, Geek Love, Little, Big etc. as well as many of those great children's books get some props).

I hope that the week is wrapping up nicely for everyone! Happy Thursday!

The Waiting and the Wallpaper

I have been a painting fool this week, and have these pretty girls to show for it (as well as a couple of other pretties that will be showing up tomorrow, or as I finish them!).

AND I have decided that the next shop update will be Tuesday, around 6:30 pm (due to some requests from folks who can't buy at work). Will that work for everyone? Let me know if there is a large public outcry against the later time, and I will see what I can do!

Anyway, on to paintings:

The Pensive Wallpaper, 8"x10"x1"
This girl I am SO thrilled with. I mounted some beautiful tapestry-weight fabric onto the canvas and then gesso'd and and sanded the "girl" area for hours so her pretty face could be nice and smooth. I love the results. This one is definitely about 10 times more striking in person, because of the texture!

The Waiting, 11"x14"x1"
I love this little one, too. The image/clock/etc. are inspired by the rooms in a book that I own and love called The Swedish Room. I want to blog it someday, so I'll save my gushing about it for then.
You know when you just get on a roll and you are just loving what you are making with every iota of yourself? I'm in that zone right now. Well, mostly.

Anyway, I'm back to painting (and to working the mail-room for the day).
Happy Friday my dears!
And thanks again for all of the love over at my new clothes-blog!

Moth Wars

Picture-post time!

This new work from Julie Morstad is so flippin' gorgeous and elliptical and mysterious...

(My favorite):

(This one is a bit different in palette and tone...and reminds me a little of myself):

And also, Anthropologie is (at last) offering many different custom upholstery (and $$$ level) choices for their beautiful vintage-repro styles of sofas and chairs. Many are surprisingly reasonable, coming in at about 2 or 3 times the price of certain sweaters and jackets and dresses that have seen their day at ye olde shoppe.

This is my new chair, which will be coming to live with me soon. It is the "Astrid" style, which I have loved since they debuted it...but I hated all the upholstery choices until now. I just can't get behind huge florals or huge prints in general, or the yellow/citron color it was originally offered in. So now I can have my nice sweet grey twill version.
I seem to be collecting grey things right now...New grey kitten (who is currently playing with the big key around my neck as he sits on my lap at the computer)...new grey car...and new grey grown-up pretty armchair. I think it has pretty much given black the news to pack up and ship out, because it seems to be, quite obviously, my favorite neutral.

Happy Monday & Happy trails for the week ahead!

I like it

By popular demand (and because it's such a sweet image), Cold Toes, Warm Heart is now available as a postcard pack in the shop. A nice little addition to the current offerings, which I like...

More that I like:
Amazing show posters from Ratmusque: 
                                                                                                            

&

The new wallet collabo between my-pal-and-yours, AshleyG and the nicies Mike and Mona (who I have met and liked very much) over at Tinymeat:

PS: This little applet is also working with M&M on a wallet series!

&
Kirsten Anderson's glowing review of the new Mark Ryden show, complete with loads of photos of celebrities-to-me, a nice thorough description of the setup (for those of us who, boo hoo, don't live in LA), and a few glimpses of the work:

*sigh*
I wish I had a friend in Los Angeles that I desperately needed to visit.

&

Nara's  Dog-on-Wheels over at Rose and Radish:



&

(Obviously) this one:



Thank you so much for all of your suggestions and wisdom about Miette + "the box" and general kitten-ish tips! What a wealth of wisdom I have at my disposal...
I am happy to say he is using it like an old pro now, and all is very good.

Happy Sunday & wishes for a good week ahead! Now, back to my one-girl packaging party...

When you were small (and so was the chair)

So, Julie Morstad is pretty wonderful...I mean, her work is. I know lots of you applets are fans.
She did the beautiful drawings for Neko-my-love-Case's most recent record sleeve, and some sweet little bird tipped me off about the children's book she illustrated, called When You Were Small, which I now own and am in love with. It is a little-ish book with a little story about a boy named Henry (my most favorite boy-name, p.s.) who asks his father repeatedly "Tell me about when I was small". His dad seems to be a very creative sort with a wonderful imagination, and he regales Henry with tales of just how small he was.
It is simply one of the most quietly, perfectly-spare but lovely little picture books I have ever seen. The book's design is clean but sweet and library-like, and the drawings are charming and fragile-looking vignettes. The words are matter-of-fact in this wonderful, whimsical way.

 
Again, I'm smitten with the endpapers:

See how delicate and perfect?

At first I thought that the "thread" illustration was clearly my favorite...but now I think the "sleeping in a slipper" might be...

And, speaking of little things, in my studio right now is my new, blue, tiny chair:

I had been on the lookout for a tiny chair for quite a while and this one seemed like the one for me. Although, one can never have too many miniature chairs...

Happy Weekend, sweet peas.
Go nestle in a slipper
or
take a bath in a teapot.