Discover The Art You Love

Millie checking out Donald Judd's aluminum boxes in Marfa...

I have this memory, from when I was about Millie's age, of sitting on the porch of an old grocery store turned home in Louisiana with my parents and their friends the artists Dickie Landry and Tina Girouard. We were there hanging out for the day, and bored with grown-up chatter, I started making mischief. Poking around inside (there were countless treasures inside), I found a rubber stamp and some ink. I made my way back out to the porch where I sidled up to Tina and used the stamp and ink to create an elaborate pattern on the full length of her leg.

She didn't flinch. Just keep chatting and sipping her drink. Then, after about 15 minutes, she looked down at my "creation", looked up at me, and said simply, "that's art."

I'm fairly certain it wasn't anywhere near art. Rather, it was a bored five-year-old kid being naughty (I know this for a fact actually, as said kid was me), but her statement changed me nonetheless. It instilled in me this idea that art was approachable, that it wasn't this elusive, far off, intimidating thing. It was (not to be cliche) all around us.

A collection of art books at Oil and Cotton...

I've tried to cement this idea in my own girls by infusing their lives with as many artful moments as possible. We go to museums and galleries, make art pilgrimages to far off cities, read books about artists, talk about art, and create our own art as much as possible. Through this process I want them to suss out what they like and why they like it, and I want them to feel comfortable, natural having a conversation about it. I want them to feel as at ease with art as they do with food. To view it as necessary and nourishing, an essential, unquestionable part of their day-to-day lives.

Art still intimidates me, I'm not going to lie, but over the years, through this nonstop looking, I've figured out what I love. What turns me inside out when I lay eyes on it. What I want to look at over and over...

Image of the Mine gallery in Dallas via Hilary Inspired.


Recently for art.com's addictive Art Circles app for iPad, I pulled together a gallery of some of these works that, for me, represent the idea of "Slow."

Most elusive, it seems, is the ability to truly unplug. Ever-present technology, while providing flexibility and convenience, leaves little opportunity to dream, to let the imagination run wild. These pieces feel like quiet moments to me. Deliberate scenes and figures that evoke a sense of slow calm.

Pieces like Paul Klee's Fruchte Auf Rot...

And his House on The Water.

Oh and Picasso's Blue Nude too.


These are the some of the works I get lost in.

What works do you love?

*This is my second post in a series about my relationship with art sponsored by art.com.

Loving...On A Wednesday

Emmanuelle Alt in all her pared back, all black, French chic glory. She is, for me, the epitome. (Via, appropriately, All Things Stylish.)

The seemingly awesome new Minneapolis shop The Foundry (billed as, "simple, useful, and beautiful objects for the home") via the exceedingly awesome Minneapolis ladies Dull Diamond ladies.

But I especially love this from The Foundry's site:

"The Foundry supports a life-long relationship with well-made and thoughtfully curated goods, while encouraging a non-disposable lifestyle with fewer and better home things."

"A non-disposable lifestyle with fewer and better home things"... Yes please.

And speaking of beautiful things...Lauren's books. Always.

Stunning, soulful Meg's (on left) take on a "cleanse." I am feeling out of sorts in the worst possible way today. I needed this Meg. Thank you.

Marissa Webb's rings and flowers...

And her easy white shirt, laid back beauty, oh and that can of Coke. She is supremely cool...She just personifies this line via Keep it Chic:

"So unfussy, she made almost everyone else look overdone."

Don't you think?

Jamie's backyard wildflowers book. At last.

MF Miller's handmade brass knot cuff. Had I not skipped my jewelry class this week (see: feeling out of sorts) I might be on the road to making something like this myself... Someday.

Some Scenes From The Weekend

The cadence of our weekends are so different since I started my new job. It used to be that my weekdays were largely spent holed up in an office in the suburbs of Dallas or frantically working at home. Come week's end, I was itching to break free, craving creative human contact in the worst way. We'd pick the girlies up from school Friday afternoon and head out to a restaurant or have friends over for dinner. Then the roster-o-inspiring activities would kick in... the museum, some vintage shops, a day trip to Ft. Worth. I just wanted to do, see, soak in.

Nonstop.

Now I do, see, soak in all week long. I'm constantly absorbing, flexing (or at least attempting to flex) my creative muscles. By the weekend I want to watch a sitcom and eat fast food. (Just kidding!!) But I do want to hunker down at home and regroup. I've officially become a "weekend domestic arts specialist." How do you like that title? I rearrange little vignettes around the house, cook, water plants, spruce, sweep, do laundry. (Heck, yesterday I even ironed, and I never iron.) If I do venture out, it's to hit the grocery or make goodwill runs. This weekend I literally didn't leave the house (at all) until 5:00 yesterday afternoon when Millie and I joined a group of her buddies for a mother/daughter dinner date.

I'm not gonna lie, after two days of partaking in the domestic arts, I feel a little pent up, but then all of the sudden it's Monday and I get to go, go, go again.

I love it when things just sort of work out like that. It's a good thing. I am grateful.

My Labor of Love

Friends after months and months of exciting/exhausting/exhilarating work, there is, wait for it... a real life magazine sitting on my desk. A magazine that, alongside a team of incredibly awesome, ridiculously talented, amazingly creative people (namely creative director extraordinaire Jamie Laubhan-Oliver), I made.

It's a little surreal really, I'm not going to lie. It was a true labor of love and by far the coolest thing I've ever done from a work perspective. You can see some of the stories online here (there's also a blog, a Facebook page, and Pinterest -- all the requisite social media action), but I have to say, there's really nothing like holding that baby in my hands, flipping through the pages, sniffing the paper (yes, I actually sniffed the paper...several times).

The idea behind D Moms is to nourish mothers, inspiring them to live their best lives, in turn inspiring their children to live theirs. It's focuses on culture and music and good food and giving back and inspiring spaces and wellness and, yes, beautiful lasting things (oh and pretty clothes, because you know I had to include pretty clothes) -- all things that help create a more soulful, interesting day-to-day for women and their families.

In many ways, the magazine is the product of all the conversations we've had here on the blog about living a more meaningful, simple, thoughtful life. So for that, I thank you friends for inspiring me and encouraging me along the way. I wish I could send every single one of you a copy.

Happy weekend!

Loving...On A Wednesday

Spartan's small but essential selection of books and magazines via Kinfolk. I stand by it, someone in Dallas needs to open a fantastic book/hard-to-get magazine establishment stat.

Canoe's collaboration with Fail. I love the minimal brass and leather pieces they've conjured together.

These dreamy mash-up of sheer drapes and orchids and ethereal, light via grijs.

Perfect chic simplicity in a sea of fashion week excessive. Nina...sigh. (Via my lovely Molly and Sally.)

Hermine's beautiful graduation book...

How I'm feeling of late about my crew of amazing, supportive, lovely, inspiring ladies (you know who you are) via Jen's Pinterest.

Imke Klee's styling. She just gets it right every. single. time.

Some Scenes From The Weekend (Exactly Two...)

I'm a day late on this one friends, but better late than never, yes? Part of the delay has to do with the fact that sweet Millie is fighting some sort of cold/flu/general crud action that she can't seem to shake. Think hacking cough, fever, malaise...the whole enchilada. It's not pretty.

There was an upside to the sad state of my sweet girl though -- it forced us to slow to a crawl for the entire weekend. I left the house exactly twice: to procure provisions from the Whole Foods and to scare up something to wear to the D Moms launch party tonight (more on that later). Otherwise it was two days of reading, watching movies, and cooking restorative, fallish meals like my beloved Alice Waters carrot soup. Topped with a dollop of crème fraîche and served with a salad and some crusty bread and for a minute all was right with the world. It's that good.

Hope you had a splendid weekend.

On Feeling (A Little Bit) Like A Badass

My work in progress...

Christine getting ready to make things happen.

I am not what you would consider, well...tough.

I've never changed a tire. I'm not particularly athletic (I don't snow ski black diamonds or even greens or whatever the color coding system is, and I water-skied for the first time when I was 22). I only run when chased. Heck, I didn't even own a pair of tennis shoes until about three years ago.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly wimpy either, I like to camp, particularly the sleeping outside part. I've been known to wear the same outfit for three days straight, I once worked for three months as a baker at a remote camp in Canada where I baked 300 loaves of bread a day and didn't wear a stitch of makeup. (But at the end of the summer, when my camp colleagues asked me to join them on a wilderness expedition that involved spending a night in the wild...by myself...I politely declined.)

So let's just say that I'm somewhere between tough and wimpy, but most definitely not a badass.

Until now. Now I feel a little bit like a badass...I'm not gonna lie.

The impetus behind this new state of being is a jewelry fabrication class I started last week with Christine. Said class required me to raid Bryan's tools in order to obtain a saw, files, various pliers and hammers, and other sundry things that posses functions I've yet to discover (they look fierce though). I also have, wait for it...a toolbox. In my first class alone, I wielded a torch, blazed copper until it reached a menacing shade of cherry, and then beat the heck out of it with a hammer against an anvil, which produced a sound both agonizing and oddly satisfying.

And friends, I can honestly say that after three hours of this action I felt a degree of calm the likes of which no amount of yoga has ever produced.

I'm not sure what this says about me, but I'm going with it.

Loving...On A Wednesday

Two insanely lovely ladies at a magical garden party.

Egg Collective... Everything. All of it. Just genius. And what's better than three women making smart, interesting, gorgeous things together.

This copper pencil holder from Ferm Living that's currently sitting at the top of my wish list (at the very tippy top of the top even).

Insane green goodness via Erin...

DwellStudio's Snake Chain fabric. I hate snakes. HATE. But I love this fabric in a way that doesn't make sense even to me. In fact, I love it so much that it almost bumped that copper pencil holder from the tippy, tippy top of my wish list...almost.

A big, lacy, wild, romantic bouquet by Ashley from The Byrd Collective for Camille Style's flower school. (Photo by Paige Newton Photography.)

Abbey's house (made even more beautiful by Jenny) via Joanna. And really Abbey + Jenny + Joanna = a trifecta of awesome, yes??

Scenes From The Weekend...

We had a decidedly kid-centric weekend.

Saturday alone involved a ballet class for Millie, Audrey's first volleyball game, and Nutcracker auditions, while Sunday was an extravaganza-o-American Girl courtesy of Bryan's mom. Not that I don't love spending my weekends watching kid sports and driving around to sundry kid commitments and shopping for dolls prior to noshing on kabobs strung with star-shaped pieces of melon. I do, truly. I adore my girlies. I'm happy to partake in hours of pretty much anything as long as it involves being with them.

BUT...I was also really grateful for the rather stellar date night that Bryan and I managed to eek out on Saturday night -- a date that, in the midst of all the kiddo fun, felt especially grown up. We partook in a looong cocktail hour followed by a leisurely dinner with our friends Sara and Todd at Bolsa. Then we hit  a party at Lucia and Pete's house where we chatted outside into the very late hours of the blissfully cool (finally) evening. We got home at 2:00 am. 2:00 am friends! I haven't stayed out that late since college. Suffice to say the whole enterprise had me feeling very "rock star."

Watch out.