Bill Cunningham

"You see if you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do kid."

William J. Cunningham (born March 13, 1929) is a street Fashion photographer.  He has been obsessed with snapping quick shots of crazy New York folks whizzing around for decades.  It's his passion, it's his love.  See some of what he has come up with...

 Bill is not only incredible at what he does, he seems to be a delightful, humble and good person too.

Check out Bill's NY Times blurb online here.

Claire-Anne O'Brien and the Herd of Stools

 Look what I discovered today!  Aren't these charming and delightful?

From her website:

Originally from Co.Cork, Ireland, Claire-Anne O’Brien is a textile designer based in East London. 

After graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2006 with a BA in Textiles, Claire-Anne went on to gain an MA in Knitted Textiles at the Royal College of Art in 2010. 

With a sculptural approach to textiles, Claire-Anne explores form, construction and scale through the unique properties of knitted fabrics.

Look how cute they are all huddled together, like sheep in a herd.  But really, how cool would these be as accent pieces in a home?

I am in love with the exaggerated knitting and how the glob sits atop spindly legs.  They resemble animals so, it's almost like they are alive!

 Claire-Anne O'Brien sitting on and holding her babies.

One last little lovely.

Ek Thongprasert

K so maybe many have heard of Ek Thongprasert before... But I just discovered this lovely stuff the other day, and I fell, fast.

I was so struck by these adornments.  So unlike any I've seen in everyday life.  

Try to tell me they are not cool.  Just try.  Well, John did.  He thought  my discovery was no big deal.

But to me it was earth-shattering and inspiring! 

These seem to have a similar attitude to what I feel about the art I make:  A little crazy, not the norm, but made approachable by playfulness and engagingly sophisticated (hopefully) at the same time.

Getting Down with Santa Fe

 While John tested out the local skate park, I examined the street art that covered the landscape.

To many this may appear to be a mass of nastiness, and it is, if you read closely, but I found some beauty in it.

John don't care, he just want to ride...

I love the layering in street art.  If you peeled back each layer you would see something totally original, and together the layers form a disparate collaboration.  The dude who made that chicken raptor thing didn't know that the sea foam and grey crazy hyphenated lettering would be placed over top.  I like it.

I like this guy.  He is the ultimate New Mexican warrior.

I like the fizzed out orange boarder against the duller, smaller scripts.  Speaking of script and fonts and things: these artists come up with some really cool designs.  Letters intertwining, transitioning colors, etc.  It's kind of ironic that they often become so intricate and ornate that they are unreadable.  I know that is part of the point, I just like imagining these hard gangsters making pretty pictures.

I also enjoy thinking about the amount of preparation that goes into the design.  I bet the artist sketches all of the time and even if they don't specifically plan the design out sometimes, there has to be a certain amount of practice to get to this point.

Obviously I have never talked to a street artist before.  I don't know why, but we generally don't run in the same circles.

Street art is just so alive, so here and now.  I don't know if this was done 3 years ago, or 3 months ago.

Fluid black and white.

Chu-ching!

I like this affect and the color choice.  The washed out strokes in the back and the matte outline.

In what other style is it okay to just put a few money signs here and there?

How long does it take someone to do this?

This "Waste" one is cool, especially next to that crappy "PRP" one.

Seriously, where do they come up with this stuff?

Don't Follow Me

Summer Music Playlist

1.  Little Numbers-BOY

2. Keep You-Wild Belle

3. Ticky Ticky-Owlle

4. Taro-Alt-J

5. Airfield-Javelin

6. Hail Bop-Django Django

7. Wildest Moments-Jessie Ware

8. Hat Trick-Empress Of

9. Recover-Chvrches

10. Don't Move-Phantogram

11. The Theory of Relativity (Diamond Rings Remix)-STARS

12. Sleep Alone (BeatauCue  Remix)-Two Door Cinema Club

Free Music on this Site

Chvrches-Recover

adobe abode.

Getting used to our new place.  So far Santa Fe is exactly the opposite of Chicago. Dry, quiet, small (but geographically expansive,) slow and hot.

Of Course We Crash Before New Mexico.

Okay okay, so it wasn't really that big of a deal, this crash.  We are very lucky it wasn't worse.  Anyone who has driven on Lake Shore Drive, and more particularly, the "S" curves around the Gold Coast/Streeterville area, knows how dangerous it can actually be.

We were on our way home from a lovely outing with some of my coworkers on Devon St.  We had eaten delicious Indian food, snacked on bite-sized Indian desserts, gawked at the majesty and detail in tradition Indian costume and even mixed with the locals at an Indian market.  It was delightful to get out and see a smidgin of what Chicago has to offer.




As we drove home we planned the naps and homework our afternoon would bring us.  We came to a stop at about 1000 N on Lake Shore Drive in the right center lane and were chit-chatting when a black SUV came careening into the driver's side of the car, ripping our side mirror from its roots, scraping the body of our little civic, then moving on to the Mitsubishi Eclipse in front of us.  The Eclipse got some pretty good body damage on the back left portion.

We all pulled over to a side road.  I called 311, the "non-emergency" number.  The operator told me that as long as everyone was okay with it, we could just exchange our insurance information and license plate numbers then file a report at a police station on our own time.  The driver of the Eclipse called the police though, so we all waited around.
Then it started pouring rain.

A police man showed up eventually and did all of the paperwork in about 30 minutes.  We got home 2 hours after we left Devon St, a 25 minute drive.

We are very glad no one got hurt, especially because John and I suspect that the 17-18 year-old offender was possibly texting, though he wouldn't admit to as much.

This comes at a not so awesome time though.  We are driving almost cross-country to Santa Fe, New Mexico in less than two weeks.  We will need to get our car fixed and everything taken care of in the meantime.  Wish us luck.

The good news of yesterday is that we actually found a place to live in Santa Fe!  Yay!  After much searching, calling around, shocking rental quotes, etc. we found a home to rent in a quiet family neighborhood. It has recently been renovated and has a green backyard with large trees.  We will not be saving any money on rent this Summer however.  Santa Fe in the Summer is apparently is somehow just as much as downtown Chicago.  At least, in our case.

I am excited to explore what Santa Fe has to offer. I have learned that there is a world-renowned opera there, a Spanish Festival in July, and of course, the Georgia O'Keefe Museum.

It's That Time of Year. It's That Time of Life.

A few text message conversations and thank you cards later, I'm doing one of those "how did my life get here, and where is it going?" reality checks.

I knew this was coming, it always does, ends of school years, beginnings of Summer plans.  I kind of just thought that it would get easier by now.  Why is it so hard to say goodbye to the past and hello to the present?  To let cherished friendships sleep as you take a step toward a friendless place?  And why, why why why why why, can't I seem to figure out what to do with my life?

For years I thought of myself as this hopeless romantic.  Not about men, or women;) but about art.  I would see pictures and hear stories about artists that would die for their cause and I thought: "that is SO me."  I never saw myself as doing anything other than art.  Nothing would stop me.  Not even a horrific car accident that would render me bedridden.

So now that I am almost 27, married and it's been 5 years since I graduated with my BFA, you would think I'd have it figured out by now.  Well, no, I don't. I wish I did, but I don't.  Where do I fit in in this thang called life?

I still long to be creative. Though much of my "nothing's gonna stop me" attitude has been stifled, the need to create is still there. I feel a surge of it every now and then, especially after I spend too much time watching Project Runway, Ace of Cakes or Property Brothers.  And I want to.  I want to be creative.  But the trifles of how to get there have been my stumbling block.  How does anyone get to do what they love?  Or maybe I should be asking, why is it that certain people get where they want to be?  What is it about them? 

I have come to one conclusion over the years:  Being born rich does not hurt.  

When I was a senior in high school I was a top ten contestant statewide for the Deseret News Sterling Scholar award for Visual Arts.  No doubt I worked my butt off when it came to art, I gave back to my community, blah blah blah.  But I'll never forget what if felt like to learn that the little lady who was chosen as the state Sterling Scholar was just a little bit rich.  And that her father was a successful artist to top it off, and she had shown at his gallery by then already. Barf.

Another conclusion, and heck, I just realized this the other day: I am too afraid.

For some reason I am so worried about everything! I can't get myself to go for things because I'm so tewibwy wowwied somefing bad wiw happen.  Should I go in and try to talk to the manager?  What if they don't like me? What if no one likes me? WHAT IF I FAIL??

I obsess and worry till there is no point, the cons outweigh the pros. I cripple myself.

Last conclusion: I am too busy waiting around for nothing to happen.

I keep thinking, "Welp, I just gotta wait for someone to somehow discover my undiscoverable talents and I'll be set."  This point was particularly rubbed in the other day when I stumbled upon (and by stumbled upon I mean I googled this person) the website of a college classmate.  She is an artist living it up in NY.  Her work is advanced, interesting and she is showing.  Like, actively living the life of an artist.  Right after undergrad she went to grad school, made amazing connections and used her artistic talents, as well as her sweet, charismatic attitude, to move forward with life.  This is one of her pieces:

Well my friends, I still have hope. It can still happen, it's just going to take a little more work than I thought.  There is also the comforting fact that it's more important to be a good person than a successful person.  A good person IS a successful person.  My life's work may not consist of epic paintings and pretty cakes, but hopefully it will be filled with lives bettered because of me.