amanda briggs at dear ada

angie lewin.

Thanks to my friend Jeff, who just turned me on to the extraordinary prints of angie lewin. I really love her design sensibility and skilled "simplification" of complex natural forms. Her work is reminiscent of charles harper's amazing birds. What a beautiful treat!

seeds.

There have been a bunch of books released lately, featuring beautifully photographed things from nature, both life size and micro-sized. The latest I've had the priviledge to flip through is the magnificant book, seeds, the time capsules of life. As a gardener and a designer, I couldn't be happier with this book. To see the incredible structures of some of my favorite plant's seeds is a real treat. And the forms themselves, are at once visually arresting and functionally perfect. Yes, I am easily persuaded, after seeing this book, that there is pattern to be found in everything in life. Beautiful!

antique fair finds.

We went to the antique fair and scored big time. Sometimes the fairs are not so great and other times they have "themes" based on what we find, like brooches or fabric. Well this one was just fabulous all around. I definitely overspent but I'm happy nonetheless. I found shells, pots, and a couple of necklaces, plus I took some pics of the great pattern everywhere. Nothing like an antique fair for inspiration overload. Check out these amazing textiles from the 1800's for example, which still feel so very modern.

laura bell.

I'm liking the paintings of laura bell. They're organic, illustrative, pretty yet also kind of unnerving. Very nice.

maple color.

We joined the japanese garden this fall and today was our first visit as new members. And oh what a day. Foggy in the morning, we arrived as the clouds were burning off and shafts of sunlight were streaming through the trees. We haven't had a big, wet storm yet so many of the maple trees still have their leaves, some green, some screaming yellow and red. There is nothing like a perfect fall day in a japanese garden.

girard doll inspired.

Not long ago I blogged about vitra's rerelease of the alexander girard wooden dolls from the 60's. I love them. Yesterday on lena corwin's wonderful blog, she featured these crocheted dolls by sian keegan, which can be purchased at lena's shop here. Perfect.

just thinking.

I love blogs.

I was thinking about it this morning. About the types of blogs out there. I have a couple of favorite types that I consistently return to. There are well written, idea driven, smart ones like russell davies, stephen johnson or culture by. And then there are the design, art, craft, "look at these wonderful things" type like design sponge, lena corwin and karin's style blog. I also love the deep dive, one subject focused ones too, like collage a day or ace jet 170. I love bouncing around between them all, satisfying different moods and interests while at the same time being pulled into the worlds of smart, observant and interesting people.

And I've learned stuff about myself, that I didn't know before. I knew that I've always been drawn to things. I love jewelry and art and furniture and fabric and, and, and. But heh, there are limits to all that you can or should own, and so dear ada has allowed me to collect stuff without having to actually own it. I feel pretty satisfied knowing that some of the stuff I love is accumulating daily, virtually. Blogging, it turns out, is good enough. And in the process of doing it, I've discovered that I'm pretty satisfied with things that are good enough. Not always, but more times than not. And that's something I didn't know before blogging.

So I've been blogging for a little over a year. I have 2 blogs, dear ada and aiming for grace. One is about things I love, things that I notice, things that make me happy. dear ada is like those "look at these wonderful things" type blogs I so love. The other blog, aiming for grace, is about living with diabetes and all the struggles and triumphs that come with chronic illness. It's more of the "one idea, deep dive" type. Simply put, one blog is about the joy of life and creativity and ideas, and the other is about one of the real challenges of life. And both combined, are a conscious act of seeking out more happiness and integration in my own life. Nothing particularly noble, but the process has certainly been wonderful for me.

by hand, in art.

I just took a stroll through the wonderful book, by hand, the use of craft in contemporary art. So good. The dolls above are by kiki smith and the piece below is by aya kakeda. Love it.

I'm judging this book by it's cover.

This is terrible but I haven't read this book, but I sure love it's cover, designed by Darren Wall from faber. So maybe in the spirit of judging a book by it's cover, I should pick it up, just to challenge what they always say.

the perfect sweater for 06.

You know there's always one piece you fall madly in love with for the season, but regrettably can not afford. Well at least not if you want to partake in such frivolous activities as eating. This sweater from pringle scotland is that item for me. I LOVE IT. And I can't own it. Oh well, I guess I'll be forced to admire it from a far. Ha-rumph.