Monday, 19 December 2011

aron wiesenfeld


loving these wonderfully narrative paintings by Aron Wiesenfeld. see more here.







pakayla biehn



as is evident in these sublimely beautiful paintings of double exposures, Pakayla Biehn is ridiculously talented. i can't even speak. so amazing. more here.



Friday, 16 December 2011

tree,line



wow, it's been almost two months since i've posted anything. let's get right to it then, shall we? i've a few marvelous things i'd like to draw your attention to today. let's begin with this extraordinary photography series by Zander Olsen, called 'Tree,Line' in which Zander reconstructs horizons by wrapping trees in white cloth. i could stare at these images for hours. you really must click on the images to see them larger. more here.


johannah o'donnell


Orlando artist Johannah O'Donnell's candy colour palets makes me drool, and i love the clean lines, layered backgrounds and fantastical subjects. see more of her work here.




Wednesday, 19 October 2011

hall of dames # 23 - tilly losch



Ottilie Ethel Leopoldine "Tilly" Losch, Countess of Carnarvon, was born in Vienna, Austria on the 15th of November, 1903. Tilly began studying ballet at the Vienna Opera as a child, later becoming an accomplished dancer and choreographer and eventually expanding her repertoire to include dramatic stage work.



Losch's stage success led to supporting roles in several Hollywood films, including The Garden of Allah (1936) with Marlene Dietrich. Tilly was best known for a composition entitled "The Hand Dance", which was featured in a short dance film by Norman Bel Geddes.




Losch was married twice, the first time to millionaire Edward James, a patron of the surrealist arts. Edward founded a ballet company specifically for Tilly which made performances in London and Paris. he would later file for divorce on the grounds that Losch had committed adultery with american hotel executive Prince Serge Obelensky, to which Losch launched a failed countersuit stating that Edward was a homosexual. at James' former estate, a permanent reminder of ms. Losch can be found woven into the carpet of his spiral staircase. as a token of his love for her, James had Tilly's wet footprints (left on the stairs after emerging from her bath) woven directly into the fibres of the rug. in the years following their divorce, Edward made a similar carpet from the footprints of his dog.



battling severe clinical depression, Tilly eventually abandoned dance entirely and spent time in a Swiss sanitarium. she married second husband Henry Herbert, 6th Earl of Carnarvon and began painting, first in water colours and then in oils. out of concern for her health and fear of the escalating danger of war era Europe, Herbet sent Tilly back to New York. there she had her first painting exhibition in 1944, which was well received. her work now hangs in London's Tate gallery, among others. Losch and Herbert divorced in 1947.


Tilly died of cancer in New York at the age of 72.

Tuesday, 20 September 2011

all the king's women # 31 - suzanna leigh


Suzanna Leigh was born on July 26, 1945 in Belgrave, England, where she later attended convent school. her first film gig was as an extra in Tom Thumb (1958), followed by a small role in Oscar Wilde (1960) with Robert Morley. in 1965, producer Hal Wallis saw some photos of Suzanna dressed as Madame Du Barry for a London costume ball which tickled his fancy, so he signed her to a contract. Leigh's first Hollywood role came in Boeing Boeing (1965), starring Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis.


Suzanna's next venture with Wallis would bring her to work with the king himself in one of my favourite of his films: Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1965). this is not one of Elvis' shining moments, to say the least, but there is a kitschy charm to this one that never fails to delight me.


the second of three king flicks filmed in Hawaii, there is little to no plot to follow as Elvis travels the country wooing wahinis and singing god-awful songs to children and dogs along the way. Suzanna plays Elvis' assistant Judy Hudson who pretends to be married to the king in order to help him ward off unwanted advances from lusty clients of their helicopter touring business :)


soon after working with Elvis, Suzanna returned to her movie career in England, appearring mostly in chillers, such as The Deadly Bees (1967) and Lust for a Vampire (1971).


in 1998, Suzanna published an autobiography entitled Paradise, Suzanna Style. [*snicker*]

Friday, 16 September 2011

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

sonya kozlova


click on these photos by 18 year old Sonya Kozlova to see them larger. check out her website for more lovely images.




Thursday, 1 September 2011

a bow tie affair

once again, i find myself apologizing for not having blogged in far too long - but this time i have a legitimate excuse: i've been preparing for my brother's wedding this coming saturday! he's the bow-tied brother on the right in the above photo and i'm to be the master of ceremonies at the event (*eek*). i still have much to do and the day is almost upon me, so i can't stay long. after this weekend, all comes floating back down to normal and i'll have much more time to spend here. in the meantime, enjoy your labour day weekend! xo

Monday, 22 August 2011

the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire


ever thought about what you'd take with you if your house was on fire? i figure, in a panic, my hands would be pretty full with cat and dog to carry anything else, but i've a few things in mind if i had time to prepare - mainly boxes of old journals and photographs. if you've ever wondered what other poor souls would gather in the event of such a disaster, go to theburninghouse.com (from whence came these photos), where people submit pictures of all the stuff they'd risk arm and leg for. it's interesting to see so many different representations.


Thursday, 18 August 2011

argh!


k, there's something wrong with blogger right now and all my sidebar stuff is moved to the bottom of my blog. don't have time to mess around with it right now 'cause i'm at work, but you can bet i'll be toiling away at it when i get home. likely time for an overhall anyway! xo