To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival.  -Wendell Berry

The Hunting Island State Park adventure continue with a lighthouse tour. I love the stark black & white paint of this lighthouse. Inside continued the theme with black stairs & white walls. It was all quite graphic. Because it was such a clear day you could see for miles, which is always interesting. How does the mind really comprehend that much distance? Rationally I can know that something is 10 miles away, but it may look like it is only 500 yards or it may look like its 50 miles? Regardless, it was fun to learn about this lighthouse. Happy Thursday Y'all! 

I came across this quote while looking at a fun book of Antoni Gaudís' architectural achievements. Each page presented a new architectural marvel paired with a quote, my kind of book. The ceiling on the left was paired with this quote. I love how it looks like cut paper. Imagine being able to form a ceiling like this? It makes me excited for today's discoveries. Happy Wednesday Y'all! 

In thinking about the 36 years it took Diana Nyad to achieve her #XtremeDream I started thinking about other projects I admire that took a long time to come to fruition. A major one that comes to mind is The Gates project by Christo & Jeanne-Claude. It took 24 years of dealing with buracracy & funding to make The Gates happen, but they persevered. In the end it was a called "a gift to the city." The following year The New Yorker even ran the art pictured at the right. It makes me think about the possibilities of large scale projects, but then I consider the logistics (which take so much time away from the actual work) & I happily return to my desk to continue painting on 7"x10". 

Diana Nyad has this amazing dream: To swim from Cuba to Florida. This weekend, in her fifth attempt, at the age of 64, she is doing it! She chose a goal that is in her words "almost unobtainable." As someone that loves the water I get really excited by what she is doing, but more than that how she hasn't given up. This fierce, almost crazy determination is what I find admirable. So may the currents be with you Diana! 

This past Friday I had the opportunity to visit The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, New York. They currently have a lovely collection of Georgia O'Keeffe's work from the time she spent at Lake George, which is close by. I was very encouraged by her professional trajectory & the curators interpretations of her work. There were numerous pieces I had never seen before, which is always exciting, particularly when you have culled through vast tomes on a specific artist. If you are in the area or even passing by I would strongly encourage you to visit this collection. The show is open until September 15. 

Maira Kalman. I love her work so much it makes it difficult to write about. The riot of color, the casual, serious nature of it. It's friendliness. Her obsession with cake & pie, bobby pins & hats, packages & politics. It's all so endearing. She wrote two amazing blogs for the NYTimes. I love The Principles of Uncertainty. Be warned that if you have not read/ seen her work hours will pass without your knowing. It is just that wonderful! Enjoy! 

I am admittedly particular about my clothing. Not just how it looks, but also how it feels. In the interest of cutting down decisions for 5 years I only wore black & white. In the past two years I have begun incorporating hot pink. You cannot live in the south and only wear black & white. People literally stare at you with sympathetic condescending looks because they believe you have just come from a funeral. My rules for an article of clothing would be:
1. Comfort: soft, no biting seams
2. Simplicity: simultaneously an interesting detail or twist
3. No garish logos: it is almost impossible to find unmarked clothes
4. Fit: well proportioned
While this hoodie is perhaps not the most flattering and certainly too casual for a fair number of activities it is my current favorite and has been since the moment I put it on. Some of the details that make this garment superior are documented below. What's your current favorite?

Here's the deal: I know I need to learn how to code. Back in the day I dabbled with the code on myspace personal page and while I didn't know really what I was doing I managed to take others templates and change them so they met my aesthetic standards. Now I use Weebly for my website hosting & design and I can accomplish minor changes, but nothing really significant. And I know it is time, I need to learn how to code. TED is telling me. Jessica Hische is telling me & she even made a beautiful website to show me how! There is even a Code.org website with Bill Gates & Mark Zukerberg telling me to learn code so that one day I can be an industry titan like them. So there really is no excuse. I am not promising a new site, but saying maybe there will be some changes.

P.S. You really should check out all of Jessica Hisches' sites! She has a great sense of humor & provides a lot of info/research on her pages. They are an education in & of themselves. Prepare to spend hours in her corner of the internet.