Flights of Fancy

I am fascinated by the Starn twins. They are twin artists who have worked together for over 20 years. I love their aesthetic but I think it is the fact that they are twins that makes them so intriguing. M is a twin and he and his twin couldn’t be more different if they tried. I can’t imagine them collaborating on anything, let alone work this beautiful. The above images are from one of my favorite of their series, Attracted to Light.

This is my grandmother, Estelle.  Chelsea suggested posting stylie grandma vintage photos in this post on A Cup of Jo.  So far I have only posted men and was inspired to give the ladies some love. 

I love photobooths and love that I have several photobooth photos of my grandma.  (Apparently it’s in the genes.)  This was taken in the 20’s when she was a teenager.  (1925ish?)  I absolutely love her hair in this picture and her top and scarf would totally look good today.  She would be about 98 if she were still alive.   

I have a huge addiction to beauty products and toiletries in general.  So this selection of toiletries from Basic French makes me swoon.  I especially love the simple and lovely packaging of these.

This is my great great grandfather, Horace. He looks like fun, doesn’t he?

I would like to go to France and stay here please. Pretty please?

Via Oh Joy!

Happy Friday!

I am slowly starting to get back into an art practice. This involves getting up at 3am so it is slow going. (Imagine that!) It has been a challenge to fit it in with work and family. It’s not that I haven’t made anything, it’s just that it has been sporadic at best and there is no cohesion.

I hope to have some works in progress to post in the near future. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with some old work (from when I was a relatively productive artist). I hope you enjoy.

*Excuse the scans. I didn’t realize how dusty my scanner is.

I just came across this beautiful wallpaper on Poppytalk.  I am a huge fan of Kiki Smith’s work.  I love how she uses so many different mediums, yet all of her work has a cohesive feel.  I also find it exciting when artists are able to cross over into design projects while maintaining their status in contemporary art. 

She is an interesting woman as well.  She is featured in an art:21.  It is well worth a watch. 

The wallpaper is available here.

I have a lot of collections. My favorite collection is my collection of vintage photographs. What makes them so special is that all of the photos are family photos. I have photos of several generations of my ancestors. Many photos are around a hundred yeas old. I grew up with these photos and though most of the people in them passed on long before I was born, I feel like I know them. My mother used to say, “You poor girl, you’re surrounded by ghosts.” I am in the process of scanning my collection and would love to share them from time to time.

The baby in the photo above is my grandfather, Gustav. This photo was taken around 1913 - probably in Menlo Park, California. I have never heard anyone call him Gustav. He mostly went by Gus. He was named after a Swedish king. He used to play his guitar and sing “Rhinestone Cowboy” to me. He passed away when I was seven.

I have more stories and more photos.

The last week has not been my own. This blog is my happy place and I don’t like certain realities (i.e. day job) to seep in. I will say that I was in a very intense training for work - 10 hour days, seven days in a row. It was a good experience and I am happy to be back to life as usual. I have had yesterday and today off and have been catching up on sleep and family time. Now as Pip naps, I am catching up on my favorite blogs. Ah, life - I missed you.