THOUGHT PATTERNS

Snippets of the Neighborhood

On my way to the shop this morning, I took some shots of the neighborhood...

  

It's a street!

 

Flowers at a local florist, lovely...

 

Roses, even lovelier!

 

The unflinching, ever present white cat at our corner store. Striking.

  

My favorite quirky and whimsical antiques/curiosities shop ARIA. The owner spends half a year digging up treasures in Europe and brings back the most curious, weird and wonderful things. 

Don't be taken aback by this very peculiar couple of drivers in their most unusual vehicle. They are good natured and welcoming.

 

I'm not sure about the deer foot, though.

 

More Aria shots - I have my eye on that mannequin and this charming dog.

 

Great box, wouldn't you say? Happy 4th of July!

xoxoxo

Home Alone

We are looking after the neighbors' cats while they are away. Baron and Nellie, as in Baron Davis (the ex Warrior, but we want him back) and Don Nelson (the coach). So I guess our neighbors are big Warriors fans?

 

The cats are very shy, it seems. Which is too bad, because I want to pet and I want a cuddle and I want to play. But no. They prefer hiding. I've sneaked a peak at Baron, a black and white cat...

 

 

(this is not cat Baron, for the record, but it looks exactly like him)

 

... but I have yet too see Nellie. I thought she was an imaginary cat until I saw her little brown spotty face peeking at me through the window. I guess they must realize that I am the food provider as the food magically appears every time I show up, or do they?

 

I owned a cat for a long time and never could figure him out. Don't take cats for granted and don't think you figured them out because you'll end up with scars. That's what my cat taught me. Anyway, it would be kind of interesting to get into a mind of a cat. And especially a cat home alone. Hmmm...

 

 

 

xoxoxo

 

{photos via photochiel, LLKML}

Some of my favorite Marilyn photos...

It seems like every so often I have to do a Marilyn post. I can't help myself, she was so lovely.

 

These are one of my favorite photos of her, she seems happy, content and serene.

 

 

Adorable in a peasant skirt and clogs. Photo by Milton Greene.

 

 

Adjusting stockings. Sexy even when dressed plainly. Photo Milton Greene

 

 

This must be one of my all time favorites. I wonder what she is saying and who she is saying it to (who's got the dog's attention?) Photo?

 

           

New York. Photo Ed Feingersh

 

 

Looking forward to a hot-dog. Photo Sam Shaw

 

 

Beautiful face of a woman in love. Photo Sam Shaw

 

xoxoxo

 

{photos via pics-now 5609, shadees, bballchico, newsha111990}

Picasso, Sylvette and Bardot

Picasso first asked the model, Sylvette David, to pose for him in 1954. 

  

Within a month, he had created a series of 40 paintings and drawings with her as the subject. 

  

(love the ponytail)

When word got out about Picasso's new “muse“, popular magazine Paris Match published an article with photographs of Sylvette David, which was read by French film director Roger Vadim and his first wife Brigitte Bardot. 

Picasso refused to paint Bardot, but Vadim was so impressed with Sylvette David's look that he had Bardot dye her brunette hair blonde and wear it in a high ponytail with espadrilles and matador pants, sparking the birth of a new fashion throughout Europe and the US. 

Brigitte Bardot watches Pablo Picasso at work in his studio in Vallauris during the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.

 

I wonder why he refused to paint her.

          

If only I could know what was on his mind. Did Brigitte not inspire him? Was she too two-dimensional for him? She managed to inspire the rest of the world! What did he see in Sylvette that made him create a series of 40 paintings based on her? What makes a muse? So many questions. 

The mind of an artist. Most intriguing. :)

xoxoxo

{photos and info via the west, life, a man out of time, have some tea, paris match, podol}

Tent City

A girl peeks out from a makeshift home in the Lahore slums in Pakistan.

         

"More than half of Pakistan's population lives below the poverty line of two U.S. dollars a day, according to the Associated Press, and recent inflation has worsened the problem."

But, still, she manages to smile and find happiness and beauty in life. I should learn.

{photo and text National Geographic}

New Papercut - Cinderella (#2 in my Fairy Tale Series)

I've completed my second fairy tale papercut several days ago, but I've been so unbelievably busy that I forgot to blog about it. I've also been neglecting all of my favorite blogs. Hopefully I will be able to catch up soon!

So here is Cinderella...

         

Available in my shop.

         

Cinderella, framed - different framing options are available in my shop.

And here is the first fairy tale papercut I did, Peter Pan...

         

More fairy tale papercuts coming soon to the shop!

xoxoxo

Soothing Blue

What a great photo of Sophia Loren this is...

 

    

 

I wouldn't mind having a tub filled with cool water in the garden to dip into right now. It's so hot in San Francisco today. Again I state that we are not used to the heat! I feel utterly lifeless, exhausted and lethargic. And I have some papercuts to cut. Boo hoo. The cool blue of this picture soothes. And the curves, my, the curves inspire my papercutting. :)

 

Sophia is such a beautiful woman.

 

"She has sung duets with Noel Coward, dined with Queen Elizabeth and shooed President Tito of Yugoslavia out of her kitchen for sticking his finger in her spaghetti sauce...she has beaten Taylor, Burton and another friend, Peter O'Toole at both Scrabble and poker".
- Rex Reed. From Life's "Legends" 

 

{photo and quote via MsBlueSky}

So Much Depends On You...

I got reminded of fantastic David Fullarton by a post on one of my favorite blogs - What Possessed Me. Having worked in offices since she was fifteen, P. was smitten by David's Sisyphus Office series where (to quote her) "he creates his masterpieces out of the office supplies and intersperses them with real memos from management".

 

     

 

See her post {here}. I, on the other hand am totaly amused by this piece...

 

 

Hilarious.

 

See more of David Fullarton work {here}

 

xoxoxo

Contemplating Life

       

"Life moves on, whether we act as cowards or heroes. Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such."

~ Henry Miller ~

xoxoxo

{photo Anton Corbijn}

Reclaiming the Closet

I've had big organizing plans with my closet for a while now. It's a walk in (I'm very fortunate, I know), but because of our lack of storage space, or because of our laziness to go down to the basement too often, it ends up being a storage for almost anything. Empty software boxes, stacks of envelopes and packing material for my shop, a huge roll of bubble wrap, stacks and stacks of Terry's old manuscripts and old drafts, old clothes which we swear to get rid of every time we enter the closet, dirty laundry, an extra bed, extra bed linen, old cd's, old VHS tapes, frames, paper, cartridges.... it's endless! And my clothes, they kind of just hang there. My shoes? They kind of just sit there. 

So, I've had plans to reorganize my closet (I like to call it mine, I have dreams of it being completely mine! but I know I will always have to share with a box or two), I've had plans to clear it up. As mentioned, we do have a basement too where we store bigger quantities of boxes and packing material, old computers and monitors which we are sorry to get rid of, old furniture that is too old and ugly to be given away, etc... I keep hoping that I will find some courage and will take most of the (so called) not completely unwanted and not completely unuseful, still barely needed stuff from my closet to the basement. But, alas, my laziness always manages to find an additional excuse not to go down there. Lately I've been convinced there is a family of giant vicious hairy spiders hanging around in one of the dark corners. Hungry spiders. There, I'm already getting this spine chilling warning feeling which is utterly unpleasant. But, if I want my closet space to expand, I will have to do it! Armed with my... ? Hmmm... What does one use to battle giant, hairy, vicious spiders, that are hungry?

Anyway, I also dream of doing something totally unconventional with my closet (rather than just simply color coordinate my clothes:), which I am tempted to do). I adore a bit of a mess (but still somehow managing to maintain some order),

         

an explosion of color, beads hanging from everywhere, a feather boa or two... some underwear wall display?

Make it a theatre dressing room. So, when I enter it every morning I will feel like I'm getting ready for performance:).

 

If I could also somehow throw in a half dozen dancers legs to model my stockings and shoes for me, my closet life would be perfect...

 

Space! More space! Darling! I think I will be needing that dressing room after all!

xoxoxo

{photos via fffound, the selby}