Be Back Soon!

Sorry all - I've been SUPER crazy busy this past week, not to mention I pulled my back on Friday night (which is seriously the pits - wah!). I'll explain all soon, promise!

xoxo
Kate

Artisan Spotlight: Harland Miller

"I'll never forget what I can't remember." 

-Harland Miller

The artist and writer Harland Miller is known for his large-scale, playful reworkings of Penguin book covers. Miller takes much-loved book jackets of classic works by Hemmingway, Fitzgerald, Edgar Allen Poe and others as his starting point. By rendering them in oils at poster size with quirky new titles, he transforms them into contemporary, often satirical commentaries on life and literature.

As with Californian artist, Ed Ruscha, it is words that set the tone in Miller's work. Whether ironic, nostalgic, or downright cheeky - "Dirty Northern Bastard," by DH Lawrence, or "I'm so Fucking Hard," by Hemmingway - the titles demythologise and amuse in equal measure.

Although a dedicated wordsmith, Miller is an irrepressibly painterly artist too: the bands of orange, or blue or green either side of the book's title that make a Penguin cover so instantly recognisable, become emotive, textural colour fields here. With their dripping paint and smudgy blurring, they have more in common with the aesthetic of Rothko than the uniformity of a mass-produced paperback.

Miller is attracted to books as objects - the more battered, stained and lived in the better. "I remember my parents' Penguin books. For me, they are about nostalgia for a by-gone era - that musty smell, those coffee-mug rings, the often heart-breaking inscriptions on the inside cover."

Miller has lived and worked in New York, Berlin and Paris. Born in the North of England in 1964, Miller's fondness for the drizzle and grimness of those northern towns remains a strong theme in his work. "I suppose mine is a very English sense of humour," he says.

In this rare display of his watercolours and drawings, Miller's Penguin covers are closer to still life studies, rather than two-dimensional posters. Experimenting with different paper sizes and angles, he occasionally shows their spines, and the shadows they cast. It is a celebration of books as treasured objects.

Many of Millers paintings can be found in his 2007 Rizzoli book:

What Caught My Eye This Past Weekend

1. Bread Basket

2. Jonathan Adler Giraffe Sconce

3. ChicWrap

4. Genevieve Gorder Rugs

5. Nate Slipper Chair

Pinterest Wednesday

Happy Pinterest Wednesday!! Although I found a ton of amazing pins this past week, here's what I picked for my  favorite pins:

What an awesome question to ask yourself...which also had me thinking for a few minutes on what exactly it was and when. So go ahead, ask yourself. And hey, if it's been awhile, every day is a new day for an adventure!

This gave me a case of the giggles...I'm definitely going to have to pull this on my sister one day, haha!

This lace dish is so beautiful that you'd never guess that the process is so simple...

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These totally adorable bracelets....as a set, these would make a super cute gift!

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I am going to tie ALL my packages like this from now on!

Gahhhh....this is SO smart! Thinking of this would have come in handy on all those trips with tangled earrings...

This is a future DIY project:

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What Caught My Eye This Past Weekend

Here are some of the fabulous things that I ame across this past weekend!

This gorgeous Artichoke Lamp

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Gold Leaf Coral art...so crisp and elegant.

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The Sfelt Table

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This awesome Tubular Burst Sculpture

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Hello, October :)

I love the month of October...it's the best month in the entire year. I wish this month would never end! I've never felt that fall really started until October. September in the mitten is still pretty warm, and you're still holding on to the last bits of summer...because the AC is still on. November is good too, but it marks the end of sunny days and a transition to the time of year when people hunker down and try to stay warm in their houses after work, and then pretty soon everyone starts getting busy with holiday stuff and disappears for awhile. October just started, and I refuse to let it go quietly!

Reasons why I <3 October:

1. It's my birthday month!! Hello to the big 26 on the 21st...eek!

2. The weather is absolutely gorgeous.

3. That fresh autumn chill in the air that brings around a certain smell…a cycle ending with beauty.

4. The colors of the changing leaves.

5. Halloween…duh!!!

6. Pumpkins…and pumpkin carving…and pumpkin pie... Which brings me to... 

7. Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Need I say more?! 

8. Boots make their first appearance out of my winter fashion storage closet....yessssss :D

9. Snuggling under the fluffy winter duvet with the bedroom windows cracked open.

10. Limitless options for outdoor festivals....Oktoberfest, anone? ;)

11. Hockey season begins... GO WINGS!

12. Carmel apples, warm apple cider & doughnuts