Seven cloudy days.

Not entirely sure how it is that I've never heard of Francesca Woodman until today, but I've just spent part of the morning feeling simultaneously inspired and desperately alone after looking at her photographs in a coworker's book. Haunting and heartbreaking.

Sunny

Love this print by Souvenirs from Wonderland.

What do you need?

Undefinable Need turns 9 months today! Please go visit, and tell the Internet what you need right now. It's easy. And fun. Kind of. And if you need more that 1 thing, feel free to enter as many as you like. Anyway, it lives here. Go on, now.

Life's a great balancing act.

Yesterday would have been Dr. Seuss's birthday--106 years old. I'm a bit obsessed with the man's work, both the words and the art, because being a writer and artist myself, I am in absolute awe of his ability to make nonsense so very meaningful. Today's title is from Oh, the Places You'll Go! which, aside from being a fairly common graduation gift, is a lovely and (oh God, I'm going to say the i-word) inspiring poem that makes me feel hopeful despite the bleakest bleak sky through my window right now.

Such great heights.

Luke Beard is creating artwork based on a song lyric, every day for a year. Him: brilliant. Me: jealous. Found via Hot Child in the City.

Haunting.

This gives me chills.

Clever.

Trixie Delicious is full of lovely, ladylike plates and teacups that have been modified with decidedly un-ladylike statements. This falls into the category of "things I wish I had thought of."

Get out the map.

As evidenced by the image in the sidebar, I am participating in National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo. I'm writing a mystery, because writing a mystery novel is a blast and I recommend it to everyone I know. Hey, you: try writing a mystery novel. Too much fun, I tell you. Anyway, my mystery is once again set in Brooklyn, always a favorite place of mine to visit. No matter how many times I visit, though, I still occasionally need to refer to a map so that my orientation of neighborhoods is correct. I usually just Google "map of Brooklyn neighborhoods" and use the first result that pops up, until I found this animal. So cute and suitable for framing that I might just need to buy it and put it on the wall instead of relying on Google Maps for my authentication purposes.

Well, hello there.

I want to share this lovely image, which I find hopeful and compelling. By Jocelyn Nevel, whom Claire & I met last night at a Wild Goose wine tasting.

But anyway: I'm not all that thrilled about the way 2009 has turned out. There, I said it. But, it's now November and after a month or so of sulking about recent loss of job and other displeasing life circumstances, I'm determined to eek out the rest of the year with as much positivity as I can muster. And to that end, out of my half-lit apartment and back to observing the world.

Blog love.

red nails; wrong city is the most breathtakingly gorgeous photo blog ever.

The city.

I'm blogging from New York City at the moment, just to say I did. The above photo is from a different city--Rome. Check out Study for more gorgeous experimental images (this one's from a Lomo Diana.)

Silver lining included.

I just love these. Everything at Roll & Tumble Press is pretty sharp--vintage-inspired, but still clever. I have a giant apartment with precious little artwork for the walls--tragic, I know. And if I had an unlimited budget, I would certainly have me some of these posters.

In other news, you should visit a friend's project here and read an interview I helped proof-read, given that I am an obsessive grammar wizard (and proud of it.)

Robot love.

In honor of the robot-related GeekFest at Wild Goose Creative, which I did not attend but wished I had, behold. Handknit robot sweater, designed by Good Egg, who must be some kind of genius. Here is a brilliant quote from her Etsy shop: "i think about the knit stitch as a pixel. look for an intersection of modern and traditional motifs and displays of dense colorwork."

This is a work of art. And it just so happens to be done in the best color combination in the world. Check out her shop for more astonishingly clever knits.

Unrelated: thanks to anyone who checked out my web project, Undefinable Need. If you looked at it early on (Wednesday or Thursday of this week), you might want to have another look because it absolutely exploded with activity. And, if you can think of anyone who might appreciate the concept, please do pass it along.

A project.

A new project of mine, documenting the un-define-able concept of "need." It lives on the internet, here. Go visit. Tell people. I would appreciate it very much!

Write this down.

I love the idea of this calendar for keeping track of birthdays. It's a "perpetual calendar": no years or specific days of the week, just dates. And the floral illustrations + offbeat lettering style for the months just makes me so, so happy. From Amy Marcella.

Breaking & entering.

Found via the Perfect Binge. This is from A Softer World, where everything is brilliant and wonderful. Go here for more photo-comics. They're not funny. Not that kind of comic.

I love the blissful expressions on these darling kitties. And yes, I like my cat more than I like a lot of people--what about it? More lovely illustrations at The Dancing Cat.

map of the world.

Okay, so a map of the country. Anyway, I'm not sure how I got signed up for this guy's email list but I did, and it turns out I'm glad. Because Dolan Geiman has some of the neatest paper prints and I have many a bare wall that could use adorning.

shake it like a polaroid picture.

Polaroid cameras rock, let's face it. In light of this rock-ness, it's pretty sad that digital photography has taken over the photo world; Kodak ceased production of all Polaroid film production as of last year. How long will it take to deplete the global stockpile of instant-film supplies? We may not have to worry about it, thanks to the brilliant folks at The Impossible Project, an independent organization "re-inventing"the technology behind Polaroids. Science + art = swoon.