Brian de Graft says his artworks are “celebrations of life.” Think colourful, spontaneous scribbles of flowers, fruits, dogs and bumble bees. Helen Frankenthaler, Cy Twombly and Henri Matisse are all influences on this young German artist’s work. I’m a sucker for blue and white, but this vibrant bunch of blooms in a vase is pretty darn perfect.
An English country house the colour of freshly churned butter.
Lucie Howson’s colourful nudes.
Swiss artist, Max Bill‘s concrete sculpture, “Kontinuität” (Continuity).
A vintage oven the colour of pea soup –– sign me up. Ever since my first boyfriend made me pea soup –– I’m sure there was more to the supper, but that’s all I remember –– I’ve held a tiny place in my heart for it. Mushy peas are comforting and familiar. In Greece, we eat “Arakas” with fresh dill, scallions and olive oil. The Brits serve mushy peas with pretty much everything. This pea soup, complete with tarragon and yoghurt (a dollop of feta would work) sounds delicious.
There’s a rather rancid smell in the air at this time of year, the smell of Ginkgo. Toronto is filled with Ginkgo trees and the females produce large numbers of fruit that lay buried under piles of leaves through the month of November. I once thought I’d stumbled upon vomit in Queen’s Park and was baffled to see an elderly couple scooping it up into bags. Weeks later, when I learned about the Gingko fruit, I realized the couple was foraging for fruit. It’s a beautiful tree the Gingko tree, and oddly, I’ve grown accustomed to the pungent scent of its fruit. These leaves were photographed by the great Irving Penn in 1990.
I love the salmon pink of these walls. So much of my love for specific colours loops back to childhood. My grandparent’s rented a cottage in Bermuda that was just this shade of salmon. The roof and windows were painted a chalky white, and the house was surrounded by luscious shades of green. We loved that house, and spent many happy days there. They later rented a house that was more of a sherbet pink, and then an apartment in town that was stark white. None were as charming as the little salmon cottage. I learned to ride a bike there, and I picked baby bananas off trees.
Textile designer, Molly Mahon’s exuberant Sussex cottage.
Cushions that look like Licorice Allsorts.
Saint George Monastery in Jericho.
A boardwalk in Rio de Janeiro, photographed by René Burri, 1958.
For the moments when we need reminding of just how tiny we are in this big and beautiful world, here, a woman in the 1950s admires the enormous size of a Sequoia tree. I find this image humbling, inspiring and overwhelming, all at once. It really puts you in your place.
There isn’t a single one of Moira Frith‘s paintings that I don’t love. With a background in zoology and ecology, nature is a central theme in this young British artist’s work. There’s an elephant with a pomegranate on her back, a dancing cheetah, and snails, ladybugs and grasshoppers all loosely sketched in watercolour, gouache, pencils, oil pastels, ink and crayons. Folk and medieval art are influences, too. “I try not to take my paintings too seriously, so I hope that’s reflected in the work and that they make people smile.”
There’s an irreverence to Nina Godfrey’s ceramics that I very much enjoy. Her lumpy vases and candelabras look like they’re exceptionally fun to make. There’s nothing fastidious or fussy about the work, which I for one, find freeing. My seven-year-old makes vases like Godfrey’s –– playful, joyful and spontaneous –– which in my book is a compliment. It means the work has pure imagination and raw talent pulsating through it.
New York street photographer, Godlis’ fabulous 70s snapshots of Jewish retirees in Miami Beach.
Hand blocked blouses over at Alix of Bohemia.
The colour rich, abstract paintings of Indigenous Australian artist, Naomi Hobson.
A rose tinted collection from Atlantique Ascoli.
Saul Leiter‘s, ‘Blue Umbrella.’ Spain,1959.
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