Put me in, Coach

↑ Kirsten Owen in 'Sportswear', Marie Claire Germany Nov. 1993 (via)

 

Who says you need to wear "exercise clothes" to work out? Theoretically, if you're exercising in something it then becomes exercise clothes? I really like this outfit because it's got the appropriate stuffeddoggie 2/3 ratio; two things one way, one thing the other. In this case,  you've raided a huge football player's duffel, stolen his underwear and track bottoms, and replaced them with your own skirt and stockings. He will be so surprised when he goes to get dressed for practice. You can watch his reaction via military binoculars from a mossy hillside .4 km away.

Maine Hockey

I went up to Black Bears hockey game at UMaine last week.
We lost to University Of Vermont. 

I love the smell of hockey rings - to me, the ice has a large soft fragrance that chills your cheeks and sticks in your clothes. Up close, you can smell the boys' hockey pads. In person, the game feels so different. I love the loud ting of a puck hitting the post. When a shot rockets into the wall, you can feel the resounding crack all through the arena.

Leo and Diane Dillon

These are two of the most impressionable book covers from my youth. The artwork of Leo and Diane Dillon is really fantastic. I love how certain aspects of these designs echo Japanese paintings illuminated like ancient European manuscripts. Through Leo and Diane's powers of illustration, you are preemptively thrilled by Lirael and Sabriel's strange and ambiguous danger. I was so eager to explore these worlds as a little girl. Maybe someday I'll pick these books up again. Also, how cool are those tunics and bandolier?

↑ 1995 (via)

↑ 2001 (via)

C'mere

Adelaïde Hall - Creole Love Call, with Duke Ellington and his orchestra (1927).
What a lady. I love this song for Adelaïde's lilt and lustful churning. Ai ya.

No Flex Zone

Wintertime is setting in. I dance for exercise - keep the heat at 58°F. My houseplants typically go into a state of dormancy due to brief daylight hours, low temps, and lack of humidity. Some whitefly came in with the colocasia (aka black magic elephant's ear, pictured right) and I've been treating the outbreak with Safer Soap. If you love the smell of powdered doughnuts and hate toxic chemicals, Safer Soap is the organic plant pest treatment for you.

Up-Yours

The X-Ray Spex performing Oh Bondage! Up Yours! in the documentary "Punk in London" (1977).

Poly Styrene in 1977.

Some Woodstacks

Fall is here, and you know what that means... Big bonfires started with gasoline and leafblowers! Time for outings with friends! Frosts in the night, insulating the house, the neighbor's woodpile, and HOCKEY SEASON!

Café Table

Here's a recent project of mine! It's a set of three 5-layer stencils of bad-ass ladies. Here they are installed on a Café table. It was really rewarding to get back into spray-paint. I love the process of thinking in reverse when cutting the stencils. There are so many ways you can represent ideas with layers of precise shapes - and you can further stylize with the application of the paint itself. One of my favorite areas is the lace fringe on the end of the Pirate's cloak, which is covered by the coffee creamers in this photo. The Café had requested a design done in the style of Banksy. I wanted to twist this aesthetic slightly to riff on Japanese Manga line work.

I started with a treatment of gesso to the raw fiber-board table, then used a concrete colored paint for the base (about two cans). Each figure had a golden focal-point representing their powers.

The whole project was completed in around 60 hours this past summer. I ate at the Café the other night and finally saw it in action.

Photographer/ Martin Parr

↑ Mother and Daughter, Wales 1988

↑ from "The Last Resort", New Brighton 1985

↑ from "The Last Resort", New Brighton 1985

↑ from "The Last Resort", New Brighton 1985

Plein Sud, 1997

↑ Milla Jovovich photographed by Stephane Sendaoui for Plein Sud, 1997 / via

Passion

I loved this documentary about how ballet shoes are crafted. The industrious shoemaker Pat demonstrates such incredible diligence and passion. I feel so romantic about this idea that in searching for an industry to participate in, it is possible that you could somehow stumble on one so apt and dignified. I want to excel at my work and take great pride in the things that I do. This is what I am looking for.

Pairs [no. 2]

Time for another installment of Pairs! This ongoing piece is an exploration of how I consume and process associative media. This project is representative of the way I mentally archive and enjoy images. It's like playing a matching game with myself - I get really excited when I find an image that resembles one I know I've seen before... somewhere... so I go off and track it down, and then put them together. [Pairs no.1]

SOURCES:

Tatooine

↑ Carrie Fisher with her Stunt Double on the set of Empire Strikes Back (1980) / via