We’ve been getting emails from friends who are on their way down to the ramp supper in Helvetia, West Virginia – ramps being the pungent wild leek that grows throughout the Appalachian and Catskill mountains. We wrote about the supper this time last year, when we were headed to Helvetia ourselves, to the feast served…
Read MoreDIY Leather Cabinet Pulls (via Holton Rower)
For years, we’ve been amazed at the clever and imaginative solutions our friend Holton Rower has come up for his various spaces – both at home and work. Take the chic leather cabinet pulls we’ve been seeing around at high-end housewares stores, for $20 + a piece. Holton starting making leather pulls twenty years ago…
Read Morefog -> the opposite of fog
…found at Raised on Sandwiches with these words: “the smell of fog juice in action… reminds me of chicago’s most talented folks”. We looked at that fog, and thought again about unformed ideas coursing around, in confusion… the seeming impossibility of finding answers and then – clarity, illumination, understanding as the fog clears. This…
Read Moremax lamb wants you to know how he does it so you can too
We fell HARD for artist Max Lamb‘s work after we sat on a Lamb stool owned by our friend A.S.C. (Sandy) Rower, President of the Calder Foundation (more on that big adventure soon). The stool was beautiful and comfortable and made by an ancient process of sand casting: Lamb goes to the beach and makes…
Read Moreconceptual birthday cake + card
Betty Blake Churchill alerted us to this inspired conceptual birthday card by artist/designer Heather Tompkins. It’s the perfect thing for when you need to give a little gift. It seems Tompkins made it for a friend, and is not selling it commercially. Too bad. We just might use our color printer to printing it out on…
Read Morethe possibilian explores time
Lately, we’ve been hearing a lot of people complaining about how little time they have, how stressed they are by all there is so do, being hyper-scheduled and unable to get off the strange treadmill they have found themselves on, trying to keep everything going. We’ve been mulling this very thing for quite a while…
Read Morenewly emerged
Our friend Peggy Markel sent us this image of newly hatched barnswallows she happened on in Colorado. H-mm. This is kind of what a new idea looks like… …and our own emerging selves…
Read Morecanal house cooking vol 6: crax & butter for dinner!!!
One of the reasons that we so look forward to the latest issue of Canal House Cooking, the ongoing cookbook series by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton, is that the recipes resonate so deeply with the way we live. In other words, they completely cut the $#*!@, providing us with ideas and recipes that are of…
Read Morea little something for while we’re away: Beatles live, early days
…we stumbled on this and couldn’t resist…good for watching OR just listening…(Video link here.)
Read More…we’ll be back on tuesday
….we’re taking a day off… …see you Tuesday! Photo via Eth-Bibliotek
Read Morewishing you a happy easter, passover… spring
We’re wishing you a wondrous weekend celebrating Easter, Passover, or just….Spring. Our plan is to totally chill, take Monday OFF, sleep late and then eat some perfect soft-boiled eggs for breakfast, in honor of the season’s great ancient symbol of new life – and ideas- emerging… via Anonymous Works Related posts: d-i-y egg cups + recipe…
Read Moremusic sometimes opens the way
This clip from an animated Krazy Kat cartoon drawn by Charles Mintz Studio’s the 1930’s reminded us how music often opens the way in the creative process…
Read Morekraftwerk mixtape + their new music generating app
Radioaktiv – Kraftwerk 1973-2000 by Djmq on Mixcloud Dangerous Minds posted this free hour-long mix of the now defunct band Kraftwerk’s pioneering electronic music. (It seemed revolutionary when it first appeared. Curiously, we read that they were heavily influenced by the Beach Boys, in addition to the German composer Stockhausen). It’s an example of what’s…
Read Moremovie break: harpo’s artful improvisation
(Video link here.) We’ve always loved this astonishing, hilarious and beautiful scene from A Day at the Races, when Harpo buys time while being chased by the chic hotel’s security. In sublime improvisational mode, he is a true artist at work. “When life hands you lemons (a piano and a bunch of cops), make……………..!”
Read More‘changing thoughts, changing future’ (nannucci)
We stumbled on this great sign by artist Maurizio Nannucci in a post on Brilliant Interiors’ blog about the late great art collector Peggy Guggenheim‘s property in Venice, now the which houses her collection, as well as newer pieces. Nannucci is known for his luminous neon writings. Check out the mind-altering digital companion piece to the work…
Read Moreellen silverman shot gwyneth paltrow !!! (w recipe)
Our dear friend Ellen Silverman, resident photographer at ‘the improvised life’, did all the photos for Gwyneth Paltrow‘s new cookbook My Father’s Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness. To quote Heather Horn of The Atlantic Online “the book is an eyeful”, no doubt due to Ellen’s sensual and luminous images. Here’s a sampling of…
Read Moreinsta-perspective (the scale of the universe)
Every once in a while, when we need a little perspective, we check into the Scale of the Universe website, created by Cary and Michael Huang. Move the slider from left to right and back to be reminded where you stand in the scheme of things, and of just what mysteries are out/in here. Here it…
Read Morehow to dye easter eggs with food-based dyes (easy!)
Easter is next Sunday, and we’re planning on dyeing Easter Eggs, the holiday’s totally fun, messy activity that invariably yields charming results. Eggs become our blank canvas on which to improvise all sorts of gorgeous colors and designs. We love Ambatalia’s post on making your own plant-derived egg dyes out of ordinary foods, like onion skin for…
Read Moreimprovising as listening pt.2
One week after we posted Anni Albers words about “listening to the materials”, we found this quote by sculptor Ulrich Rückriemon on the great art blog Rolu: “my basic principle is: i start from an idea and from the material. it is not fixed which of the two comes in the first place. for me,…
Read Morepossibility in the realm of vespa
…nuff said! via Brilliant Interiors
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