patterned stones

I don't know why I am currently so in love art using stones, but I found these gorgeous stones covered with intricately patterned ink drawings by artist Yoran Morvant.

I want a whole pile of these bad boys.

My work references rocks and stones a lot, since they were the first thing I ever obsessively collected as a child. The juxtaposition of graphic elements with natural ones has been something I've always struggled with, but I couldn't think of a more elegant way to interpret that than adding graphic elements on a natural surface. Beautiful.

You can buy these at Ashes & Milk.

covered stones

Currently I'm obsessed with Resurrection Fern and her knit covered stones. So beautiful!

I made delicious hot browns for my family tonight. It'd been so long since I'd had one and I was seriously craving them. It's like bourbon balls or derby pie; something so Kentuckian, you simply have to love it if you're a native. It's so decadant but, I grew up on these and can't seem to ever turn them down.

Mine's pretty simple to make; toast, layered with turkey, ham, fresh tomato slices, my own version of a mornay sauce, melted cheese and bacon.

My mornay sauce starts with a simple roux (a few tablespoons of butter melted, mixed with a couple tablespoons of flour on low heat). I let the roux get nice and thick and bubbly, then add milk slowly and let it cook until it's a nice gravy thickness. Then, I add some shredded cheese or grated parmesan, salt, pepper and a little bit of garlic.

It's truly delicious.

I was just thinking that the schools on the top of my list are in Massachussets, and if I get in, it will be truly bizarre to be so far away from these southern things that just scream of home.

Waste Not

I just recently saw photos from an exhibit in the MoMA by Song Dong, which turned the contents of his childhood home in Beijing into an instillation. I fell in love. My recent drawings and prints are based upon my personal collections of found objects and miscellaneous odds and ends I can never part with, so this physical manifestation of highly organized hoarded items makes my heart flutter.

Lusting for fall

It's almost fall and I can start to feel the change in the air. The days are cooler, the nights are calmer and I'm just itching for it get here already.

At my house, the coming of fall means trips to the apple orchard and the pumpkin patch. Right now our kitchen is still filled with summer fruits and vegetables; we have more peaches and blackberries than we know what to do with and our tomato plants show no signs of slowing down. Summer squash and zucchini has been a staple.

Despite that, I'm ready for fall apples. I always pick a bushel or two to bring home and suddenly our house is overflowing with hot apple pies, fried apple fritters, apple crumbles and apple bread. Maybe it's my penchant for baking that causes my fall apple mania, but I'll just blame it on the romance of the season.

Our local orchard makes the best pressed apple cider and we always buy a couple gallons in milk jugs in hopes that we can make some of it last until Thanksgiving. The back roads leading to the orchard are always beautiful, with sprawling horse farms and giant oak trees.

Only 18 more days until the official first day of fall.

In the spirit of fall, check out these intricately carved pumpkins I found while messing around today

Makes me wish I could wield a knife without accidentally slicing myself open.

Camping

I'm a city girl by nature, but every now and then I really crave a camping trip. I think maybe it goes back to childhood; my family and I would go camping several times a year. When most families take vacations to Disney World, we would go on camping trips for several weeks at a time. Even though I would often miss the amenities of modern living I secretly loved coin-fed cold water showers, campfire cooking in crusty old dutch ovens and itchy flannel sleeping bags. The smell of smoke sparks cravings for sitting around a fire at night, staring into the flames. Daytime hikes lead into afternoons lying around the campsite, reading in the shade.

I've been desperately trying to get my family together for another one of these trips and I've planned out a few days in The Great Smoky Mountains. I have so many memories of this place as a child, splashing around in creeks and morning fog rolling through valleys.

So many beautiful places to visit, so many beautiful things to see. I am obsessing.

Artists love looking at artwork, it's just a part of who we are. There is work that you love and work that you covet, and then there is work that you see and makes you immediately want to go create your own. Usually my computer has a conglomeration of photos of spaces and peices that inspire me to go throw a pencil to paper and just go crazy.

Some things I love

Beautiful work by Michelle Moode. I can't tell you how inspiring her work is to me and how much I love it. I'm so drawn to things handmade, hand stitched and the incorporation of found objects (probably because that's how I work as well). When put into groups and collections, these peices become so warm and cozy.

Beginning stages of a linocut by Adrienne Miller

Anchor Graphics studio in Chicago. So beautiful!