amanda briggs at dear ada

sensory overload.

I can get a bit overwhelmed at a farmer's market. Plenty, is the word that comes to mind, over and over. So much plenty. Color, vegetables, flowers, textures, fruits, flavors, plants, scents. Baskets and crates, filled to the brim with fresh tomatoes, in 10 different colors and sizes. Tables piled high with potatoes, bell peppers, jalepenos, string beans, watermelons. Neat turquoise and purple boxes filled with dark burgundy cherries, dusty red raspberries, enormous huckleberries. And buckets full of dahlias, sunflowers, zinneas, hydrangea and lillies, line the aisles. It's a place of sensory overload. It's also a reminder of all that we have available to us. I walk away from the farmer's market, every time, full of awe and gratitude. Sounds corny, but it's true.

more vintage pattern love.

Fun, fun, fun. Found more vintage prints to fall in love with today. The top one is on a great sleeveless top that buttons down the back and hits about hip length. Great for over jeans. The bottom one is a sleeveless dress that gathers in the front but not the back. Perfect for hot summer days or over jeans when it's a little cooler. Gotta love that vintage spice added to the perfect uniform!

more art, everyday.

There was a great article in the july/august issue of domino magazine, featuring more one-piece-of-art-a-day blogs and websites. News to me, but there seem to be many artists doing the same kind of thing that the fabulous site, a collage a day is up to. Wonderful art, created everyday, for sale, at reasonable prices. It's really cool to watch the process of an artist working through ideas and technique. I imagine the work might become less precious by doing it this way. Like exercising a muscle or practicing a skill.

There's a bit of a tension in purchasing art this way. When you find a piece you want, you have to bid fast to get it. Paying attention and acting quickly is key in this little corner of the art world. But it's definitely worth the effort. Who says you can't have wonderful, original art on a budget, while supporting an artist who is most probably on a budget themselves? And at this price, it's like DPK says: "get two, they're small".

Some of my favorite sites are:
nicolas jainschigg

jeremiah palecek

justin clayton

more train graffiti adventures.

I'll be back from vacation soon so there will be less time available for this particular obsession. Luckily, we had to go to the dump today (which wasn't the lucky part), so I got at least one more hit in before I'm back at work next week. Today was fabulous! The trains were on the track closest to the road, so it was easy to get better shots than ever before. Unfortunately this one was between two trains but even so, I think it's my favorite particular train graffiti to date. But then again, I also like this one a lot too...

florence broadhurst pattern.

Many thanks to Shannon at strange fragments for bringing the amazing work of Florence Broadhurst to my attention. Oh be still my heart. How much do I love her pattern designs? It's amazing how fresh and relevant her work is. The fabulous, silhouette motifed wallpaper and textile designs fit right in to all the flat pattern we're in love with today. And the geometrics are so perfect for the sassy, hollywood regency thing some of us are particularly enamored with at the moment. So very cool!

In doing some more exploration I discovered the book Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret and Extraordinary Lives, as well as the 2005 documentary Unfolding Florence: the Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst. Here's an excerpt from rotten tomatoes review of the film: "in 1977, when the flamboyant designer Florence Broadhurst was found murdered in her studio, few people claimed to know the real Florence. Florence's career culminated with her recognition as a world-renowned wallpaper designer, whose signature use of color and shapes is as popular today as when she was in her prime. But then, invention and reinvention were the keys to Florence's existence. Born in the Outback of Australia, she became a singer in Shanghai, proprietor of a fashion boutique in London, and an Australian painter. She was also a socialite, lover, wife, and mother with just a few name and identity changes in between." I can't wait to see the film and get the book. In the meantime, I'll just have to enjoy these fabulous patterns.

first plums.

We have an ancient, old plum tree in the backyard. The tree has two grafted plum varieties, one an italian plum, the other, we don't know. The unknown plum branch seems to be on it's last leg but the italian plums are producing with a vengeance. I'm always amazed at how blue they are. So pretty and tasty too.

pod head.

These are the seed pods from the amaryllis bulb that bloomed last month in the outdoor planter. Love them against the new green wall in the kitchen.

hollywood regency predecessors?

A day doesn't go by that I don't get 2 or 3 google search hits on my hollywood regency or is it post. Weird. And god knows, I'm no expert, so sorry to all those people searching for something definitive or academic. It's just one person blathering on about an interior style I personally think is interesting and fun.

But given all the misguided popularity of my meaningless point of view on the subject, why stop now? Since I wrote that post a few months ago, I've learned a little bit more about hollywood regency. One kind reader pointed out that actually David Hick's owes some props to the glamorous interior designs of Dorothy Draper. I looked into her work both on the internet and in the big, coffee table book In the Pink: Dorothy Draper, America's Most Fabulous Decorator. I definitely see her influences on aspects of the contemporary work of the designers like Kelly Wearstler (who sings her praises by the way) among others, in terms of the graphic expression of architectural embellishments and features through the use of color contrast (especially the use of white against dark or vibrant colors). As I see it, the interiors of Draper were all about high glamour and drama, focusing on spectacle and show rather than comfort and intimacy.

One of the key places Draper's signature work diverges from the hollywood regency style I'm enamored with, is in her use of floral chintz prints for pattern. She used them big time and not in a way I personally love. It's the simple, geometric, latticework pattern juxtaposed against the grooviness of tufted leather couches, asian iconography, chrome finishes and detailing, maximal, over the top smoking chairs along with simple and streamlined furniture, that makes hollywood regency feel so contemporary despite it's long history. For me, no chintzy florals in that mix, thank you very much.

Another possible predecessor to contemporary hollywood regency design that I've recently discovered, thanks to the utne reader, is the interior designer William Haines. Originally Mr. Haines was a true leading man, starring in over 20 films with some of the 20's and 30's most famous actors and actresses. But "as Haines' film career faded, his self-taught skills as a decorator flourished and many of his costars became his first clients." What's great about his work is the confident mix of streamlined mid-century furniture silhouettes with strong, graphic, architectural detailing called out in black or white, mixed with dripping chandeliers and asian iconography. Shag rugs, groovy modern furniture he designed, white Louis XIV chairs upholstered in black leather or zebra skin prints were also some of his signature touches. To see more of Haines' wonderful work, I'd highly recommend the terrific book Class Act.

But I'm no expert, so take this for what it's worth.

something I made on my summer vacation.

I'm nearing the end of my extended summer vacation and as I look back, I'm pretty happy with my time off. Lot's of making of things, small adventures, time to relax and most importantly for me, to think without deadline or expectation. It is pretty rare to have concentrated time to step out of the day to day of a busy life and job, to be able to reflect and ponder and imagine. And it's been fun to see what has bubbled up as the days and weeks have passed. Something this luxury of time has allowed me to noodle, is the recurring (and obscure) question as to whether there is a difference between making vs. doing. I've come to no steadfast conclusions about this, so there is no doctoral dissertation in the offing at this point. I do know that soon I'll be back at work and inevitably people will ask, "did you go anywhere on your vacation?" I don't know if it's the people I know or the times we live in, but it always feels to me, that "going somewhere" (eg. doing), is what people think of first when they think of fun or vacation. What I imagined before my time off, and what I now know for a fact after it, is that for me, fun is making stuff vs. doing (as in going on a long trip for example). Traveling is ok, but it's certainly not the first thing that comes to mind when I'm making my personal fun list.

Which brings me to the questions that have kept rattling through my head these past few weeks. Are there people who are more makers and others, doers, like some people are extroverts, others introverts? Is it a personality thing? Do some people feel more happy and whole if they are having big adventures, collecting experiences, traveling, in motion? Are others more themselves if they are closer to home, making stuff, building something from nothing, creating objects? And then again, maybe, it isn't really about travel as much as it is about motion. Stillness to make, motion to experience. But no, that's not right either because making stuff is an adventure and experience and doing things like travel can be creative and produce things. For some people motion and adventure are the source of their making. For others, stillness is the impetus for doing.

Obviously, I haven't really figured it out. And probably, I'm all wet anyway. Maybe, all this is just a product of having lot's of delicious time on my hands, which has allowed my mind to meander and float...taking me nicely to a...deadend. Maybe, there really isn't any difference between making and doing. Maybe, the truth is that we all just do both things at different times in our day and life.

Who knows. Regardless of the real answer, it's sure been fun to wonder.

sweet offering.

I love the new york times. Today in the style section was a feature on great "guest gifts". One of the suggestions for a swell gift possibility was pottery from Vancouver BC artist, Laura McKibbon at cul de sac. Makes me want to have a party in the hope that one of these sweet items shows up with a groovy guest.