a thing of beauty…

thelonious sphere monk

Archisponge (re 11) by Yves Klein

Not so long ago, in my favorite coffee place, I heard that some were revisiting Monk. Not that they shouldn’t, but it felt somehow strange. And I realized then how much I loved Thelonious Monk.

I only listen to Monk alone.

Trinkle Trinkle, Meet Me tonight In Dreamland & Nice Work If You Can Get It are from Thelonious Monk the London Collection Vol.1 (1971).
You Took The Words Right Out Of My Heart from Thelonious Alone In San Francisco (1959).
MP3 player plugin WPaudio by Todd Iceton.
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helen mirren by lord snowdon

Helen Mirren by Lord Snowdon, 1995 for Vanity Fair

So the other day Alexandre, my sweetest neighbour Alexandre, lent me the first 2 “seasons” of Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren. I had seen some of the episodes on French television a few years ago and my recollection of the series was that it was quite good but mostly it was worth watching for the female detective played by Helen Mirren.

And sure enough, the thing is a bit dated now, but then there’s her.

Helen Mirren.

I love her. Totally. Absolutely.

I looked for a picture of her to post here, at first couldn’t find anything with a mention of the photographer – because who cares, right – until I stumbled on this article by photographer Amber Rima on her blog Sprinkled In Pink.

This portrait by Lord Snowdon was featured in the exhibition that took place at The National Portrait Gallery in London from February to May 2008 entitled “Vanity Fair Portraits / Photographs 1913 – 2008″. (The exhibition is about to open in Canada. It will be at the Royal Ontario Museum from September 26, 2009 to January 3, 2010.)

But back to the Mirren/Snowdon picture. Something funny happened and browsing the web I found myself living my own little version of “Blow-Up”, for I found on the site of the Chris Beetles Gallery a version of the photograph with a different “framing”. Also the coloring is quite different. It seems much more orange. See below :

Helen Mirren, 1995 by Snowdon.

It is not unusual for the press to cut into the pictures, to reframe them, so Vanity Fair kept the square format but zoomed in on Helen Mirren. My guess as to the different color tone, is that their version being less yellowy feels a bit more modern.

(There has been a retrospective of Snowdon at the National Portrait Gallery in 2000 and you can see the photo of Helen Mirren with the same warm tone and framing as the one @ the Chris Beetles Gallery.)

Now the funny thing about all this, is that I found a different photo of the same shooting on this article at the Daily Mail Online and she’s actually smiling :

Helen in her dressing room, 1995, by Lord Snowdon.

Photograph of Helen Mirren © Snowdon.
Snowdon @ the Chris Beetles Gallery.
Vanity Fair
You can buy the book Vanity Fair: The Portraits: A Century of Iconic Images @ the Vanity Fair Store.
&
96 images from the book are available for purchase as gallery-quality custom prints here.

mary osmundsen

blue organisms with red tips by Mary Osmundsen.

This is an original drawing. In fact, Mary Osmundsen only sells originals in her shop at the moment and for that reason alone hers is a rare place @ Etsy.

I stumbled upon those fascinating drawings about a week ago and I immediately knew I wanted to post about them. They have this strange compelling beauty which seems to emanate as much from their “alien” nature as from their extraordinary beautiful color palette – I am so in love with that muted earthy palette! I find myself constanty returning to them and truly they are much more complex than they may seem at first.

organism with coiled neck, original drawing.

Here is a biological world, a world of “organisms”, “cells”, “pods”, etc. but – and here lies the magic of it – you may well see just what you want in them. I see extraterrestrial organisms, life at work in the Universe…

You can read Mary Osmundsen’s artist statement @ The Drawing Center’s Viewing Program. (You have to enter her name to reach her portfolio, statement and bio).
See her complete portfolio on her Flickr.
She will also be selling her art @ mash handmade, a “brick and mortar” shop in Kansas City.

fourreau noir by serge lutens

Georgia O’Keeffe, Jack-in-the-Pulpit No. IV, 1930

Yesterday I received an invitation from the Salons du Palais Royal for the launching of the latest Serge Lutens perfume Fourreau Noir (there’s promise of champagne…) and since I have been obsessed with Georgia O’Keeffe for the last couple of days I immediately thought of this stunning painting by her.

Fourreau Noir will be a Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido exclusive so I guess my favorite non-blonde will have to rely on samples to test it. Or else make another trip to Paris…

However, there was another release this year which is not an exclusive  : Fille En Aiguilles. (Other reviews in French here and here and in English here @ Perfume Shrine.)

I am quite curious about those two but not in such a hurry to test them for my wishlist of Lutens perfumes is already very long and includes such gems as Borneo 1834, Fumerie Turque and Vétiver Oriental, the great MKK being on top.

I currently wear Daim Blond.

Serge Lutens @ the Non-Blonde, @ Nathan Branch and @ Perfume Shrine.

The painting of Georgia O’Keeffe, Jack-in-the-Pulpit No. IV belongs to the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

the colored crocheted jewelry of studiokarma

Yellow Brown Necklace With Large Crocheted Rings (detail) by StudioKarma.

I am always amazed by the beauty of felt or crocheted jewelry. There are a few extraordinary shops @ Etsy – you regularly find their items on the front page – and StudioKarma is one of those. Her necklaces are simply gorgeous.

They are OOAK, but you can ask for custom items anyway. I found this one below in the sold section, and it is one of my favorites :

Multicolored Nacklace With Various Crocheted Rings.

myra and the sasquatch by cate anevski

Myra and the Sasquatch by Cate Anevski.

Haven’t you always wanted your own pet sasquatch?

This is a print of an original artwork.

© 2007 Cate Anevski

my point ears by the maple ridge

my point ears by The Maple Ridge.

This is an original watercolor and pencil drawing. Just love the description :

is this a Halloween costume or just his favorite pair of pajamas? either way i think he looks great in them. pointy ear-sleeves and stripy arms and legs. is he yelling “trick-or-treat” to his neighborhood cat-lady that lives across the street or whining because he doesn’t want to go to bed without having a cookie as wide as his arms are spread? whatever the case may be i bet i know what you’re thinking. you’re thinking how much you want to squeeze him ’til he poops.

I also love this one a lot :

love me (detail).

The Maple Ridge.

vogue sponge by frost indri

Vogue Sponge by Frost Indri.

This is probably one the most extraordinary things I have seen these last months and I keep coming back to it fascinated by its strange beauty. I also love the description given by Frost Indri (which I don’t think I had read before) :

This sponge is Proud of its long thin legs, and has no doubt in (what passes for) it’s mind that it is >sexy< !

Now about the fantastic texture, she goes on explaining how it is obtained :

By sitting there and poking at the clay with a variety of poking tools. Each and every single hole. Alas, there is no real way to do this any faster. Not with the same results anyhow.

Be sure to check on her deviantART for she has a lot more great sculptural works there for you to enjoy. Besides other evolving sponges – with great funny titles – I love this Vampire Cloak.

Frost Indri is also a member of the Etsy Mud Team.

eloise ghioni

Third Skin paper by Eloise Ghioni.

The word “minimalist” is bound to be a great star on a blog focused on “white” so it is with no surprise that we welcome its appearance on our very first post : the art of Eloise Ghioni is minimalist. She calls it “conceptual minimalist” and she is the better judge of that but what comes to mind really is how extremely sensual it is. She works with white paper and produces reliefs on it. You will perhaps appreciate the sensuality of her work more with the postcards she also has on sale in her Etsy shop.

This is what she writes as an introduction :

My art is conceptual minimalist, and describes the experiences of life.
THIRD SKIN, is the title of my recent work, the paintings are made on two different media: wood and paper.
The engravings, represent the scars: indelible alterations of human life.
My paintings are totally white to better express the essence of the message.
Each painting is a fragment of myself.

Postcard Third Skin paper.

Eloise Ghioni

felicia nilson’s creatures made of clay

Brown bear bowl : Grumpy Bear by MaidOfClay @ Etsy.

Felicia Nilson had sent me a very nice message through the contact page just after my post 100 great artists @ etsy you might want to visit…. She wanted to bring to my attention as she wrote it three other artists I might enjoy. And although two of these artists were quite interesting, I was actually much more attracted by Felicia’s “MaidOfClay” creatures and even fell deeply for a couple of them !

At the time, the Grumpy Bear above had not yet been sold and it was the first item I really noticed in her shop. I just love this bear ! It reminds me of that rabbit with an “attitude” I have written about here and there I realize I might particularly be fond of creatures with an “attitude” even though there’s also this extremely cute bear that only sold recently that I have been watching regularly ever so often ! Here it is :

Happy Bear.

How cute is that ? Can you resist that face ? And notice the “little white toenails” ? Aren’t they just great ?

Now here’s what Felicia writes about these hand sculpted ceramic bears :

The thing I love most about the bear bowls (…)
is the little white toenails – don’t ask me why :-)

Well, those bears with their little white toenails are terrific all right but I think some of MaidOfClay’s other sculptures are quite amazing too like this Goth Kitty Girl :

Goth Kitty Girl – Miniature hand sculpted porcelain bust.

Felicia Nilson deals with many different styles and some are not exactly to my taste but you should know that she has a lot of “cat related” stuff and – once again – I like the sculptures best. She is a member of the Etsy Mud Team.