Book Review

On my recent trip to Boston I got a few great new books: "Art Forms in Nature", a book of Illustrations by Ernst Haeckel, a 19th century scientist, and "Kaleidoscope", a book of projects edited by Suzanne Simanaitis. I actually didn't find these books at a bookstore, but at Anthropologie and Paper Source. I am continually inspired by nature, and I love the way "Art Forms in Nature" displays the complexity and beauty of creatures and plants. Even otherwise icky things look beautiful in Haeckel's renderings. I think one of my favorite pages was of sea slugs. The entire book reminded me of the glass flowers on display at of Harvard's Museum of Natural History. Kaleidoscope contains several projects and essays by artists, mostly collagists and zine artists. Although this isn't my normal media of expression, I found the book so inspiring that I had to put it down to trace the shadow of tree branches on the wall (onto paper, not the actual wall, we live in an apartment). Its also filled with beautiful artwork, and I love the perspectives and processes of other artists. Definitely have a notebook handy when you read this one.

One recent book which I didn't particularly like was Celine Dupuy's "Simple Sewing with a French Twist." The syling and photography were beautiful, however I feel that many of the projects should have included patterns, not just poorly drawn illustrations. Also, some projects required that you already own the item you are making (new umbrella or hammock).
Some beautiful litlle purple and white flowers have been popping up in the yard.

A fabric ATC I made awhile back. At first I had difficulty deciding what to do with this one, but I finally decided to use several squares of varying shades of blue. Similar to Josef Albers "Homage to the Square" pieces.