What I Wore: The Galaxy Never Dies Edition

I can't give it up, you guys. No matter how hard I try, I just can't do it. The galaxy trend can never die! I will take it to the grave with me! Am I obsessed with galaxy print? Yes, obviously. But can you blame me, really? Space is just cool. Period.

Anyway, I got this party dress on Modcloth recently and I haven't worn it much because part of me thinks it's too young looking for me and another part just thinks it's too much. Now that the holiday season is creeping up on us, my goal is to turn it into a perfect party dress.

Photo Friday: Where Word Nerds and Design Nerds Meet

Word nerds and design nerds rejoice! I think I found the point where you two meet. I stumbled across this amazing collection on Brain Pickings today of unusual and rarely used words turned into bold graphics and the literature major in me swooned. Obscure words and pretty graphics make up most of my life.

Photo Friday: It's Spring, Right?

I'm writing this today on the third official day of spring under three blankets. Why? Because it is 30 degrees in Chicago. Happy Spring! I feel like I don't even remember what it's like to be warm anymore.  Although I'm tired of the winter and the snow and the cold, these amazing cinemagraphs capture Lake Michigan beautifully.

Photo Friday: Let's Find Momo!

This is probably the cutest photo project I've seen in a while. Have you found Momo yet? Sometimes it's easier than other to spot him, but I love looking anyway. I wasted more time than I should have looking for him when I first ran across the site.

Photo Friday: Walking on Clouds

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to walk through a cloud? Or did you dream of actually having clouds floating above your head as you drifted off to sleep in your bedroom? Well, apparently so did Berndnaut Smilde. Except he did more than just dream, he made it happen.

Photo Friday: Darkened Cities

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2013. Good news is, I'm not dead. Bad news is, I still feel like death. It's been a rough start for me in 2013 since it seems like I've caught the plague and have had to maintain blogging silence for a bit. I hope no one noticed or missed me too much. ;)

Now I'm that I'm recuperating, it's back to business as usual. So what do you say we start of 2013 with some pretty pictures of the world's biggest cities without any electricity?

Photo Friday: Rainbow Strings

I would be oh-so-thankful that it's Friday, but I decided to leave all my Christmas shopping for this weekend. Why? Because I'm a crazy person. So before I go into all out frenzied panic mode, I pulled some pretty colors from the internet.

Photo Friday: Two for One

I am in love with every single one of these prints by artist Tang Yau Hoong. Every single one. I've always been a fan of art that masterfully plays with perception and negative space, but these are also kitschy, fun, and whimsical. I love the idea of playing with all of the space visually instead of leaving some empty. It always gives your eye two different world to look at. Anyway, hope you're having a happy Friday!

Monday Design: Dreamy Tree Houses

Don't hate me for saying it, but summer is coming to an end. Yup, it's inevitable, especially here in the the great Midwest. I've already even caught hints of orange in the leaves around some of the trees here. I have mixed emotions about this because fall quickly brings winter and I hate winter with all my being.  However, fall brings with it cozy sweaters, hot chocolate, and cool evenings watching movies under warm blankets - all things that I am a fan of.

For now, I'm feeling a little nostalgic about summer. It seems to go by faster and faster every year. Don't you remember summer really feeling three months long in grade school? You were sure you'd forget everything you learned the year before by the time you got back to school. Thinking about it also got me thinking about all those fun summer activities as a kid - camping, swimming, climbing trees. Maybe it was more of a tomboy thing, but I always wanted my own treehouse. Did you too? I could never convince my dad to build one for me though and I thought it was mean of him not to at the time. Now I realize that we never really had a tree that could support the weight of my scrawny 10 year old self, let alone a whole tree house. So today, to satisfy my childhood dream, I've pulled some of the coolest looking tree houses around. Enjoy!

source

Photo Friday: Tiny Crafts

I have no idea why this is true, but it is: Ever since I was little I've loved miniatures. Regular sized things made tiny have just always fascinated me and I can't, to this day, figure out why. I've always loved all that tiny doll house furniture and when I was in France I made sure to stop by the miniatures museum in Lyon. Now THAT was some talent. Whole rooms were created in excruciating detail all in miniature form. I loved it!

At this age I think the fascination is the sheer mind blowing realization that making this tiny thing, whatever it may be, took tons of time, effort, and patience (that I don't nor will ever have). I saw this collection by Anastassia Elias a while ago, but I realized that I had yet to share it with you all. These are all amazing little worlds created on the inside of toilet paper rolls. She cuts these tiny layered scenes from paper that's the same color as the toilet paper roll and then carefully arranges them inside the tubes. The hope is to create and effect like the tiny world is coming up out of the roll and she does it masterfully.

Sunday Moment of Zen: The Little Slide Dress

Okay, this is maybe a little less zen and a little more awesome, but I had to share it with you guys! It's was kind of exploding all over the internet last week so you may have already seen it, but I think this Little Slide Dress is just the coolest thing! It speaks to the photography nerd and the fashion nerd in me. Do you have some photographic memories you want to show off? What better way than in this glowing slide dress? Think about it.

Hope you're having a great weekend! 

Photo Friday: Neon and Nature

The following is going to be a very weird sentence: I love that I love these. Does that even make sense? Probably not. But I do because they seem to scream to me in such an obvious and simple way. Obviously because they are very literally neon words, so yes these photos are speaking to you, but also because of this very stark opposition and integration between technology and nature. Art always pits man vs. beast and these neon word installations do just that while very literally speaking to the man. I'm getting too academic her, I can feel it. Sorry all. Obviously, I love this.

The installations were done and photographed by Jung Lee of Seoul, South Korea. I kind of want to know the details behind the logistics of installing neon words into the snowy ground, but I guess that's a project for a different day (yes, my DIY wheels are spinning). For now, enjoy! And I'd love to know what you think of these!

 I adore this one. Not for it's obvious sentimental value, but because I'm wondering who Jung is talking to. This is the English major nerd coming out in me, but I see this photo and I wonder who the speaker is. Is it nature speaking to the viewer? Welcome to my head people, it can get a little intense in here.

Do you love these neon text pictures as much as I do? (It's ok if you don't ;)

Photo Friday: Blurry Carousels and Fuzzy Trees

So, it's been kind of a rough week. Crazy, sad, busy, emotional, and just straight stressful. I found myself daydreaming a lot this week. Good things and bad things. My head has pretty much just been a whirlwind among other things. So I have to honestly tell you that when I found Pep Ventosa it was like a visual representation of what had been going on in my head and in my life over the past week. Pep Ventosa is a very talented photographer that deconstructs a single moment by combining several images of it to recreate something entirely new and unique. The pictures are fractured and broken yet you can still clearly make out the complete images. It's a really clever way to create artistic photographs that look almost like paintings at a quick glance. All images.

It was hard choosing just a fraction of his collection of art photos to share with you guys so you'll really have to check out the whole thing when you get a chance, but I picked out my favorites for you to see. The carousel photos were the ones that caught my eyes first because they were busy and spinning and a blur, but you can clearly make out that they are carousels. I am also a fan of the lamps and trees even though many of them resemble abstract paintings, not photographs. However, I'm pretty positive they drew me in because I like taking pictures of street lamps and trees. Don't ask me why, I won't have an answer for you.

I hope you enjoyed these pictures as much as I did and I'd love to hear which ones were your favorite!

Have a great weekend,

Maggie

Photo Friday: Who is Julien Pacaud?

If you already know the answer, I envy you. I can't remember where I first stumbled across Julien Pacaud, but I have to say that his site drew me in immediately. I love the retro imagery that he infuses into his collage-like pieces. There is something very wonderful and kind of hilarious about these distinct images fused together to function as one. Each photo tells a story without saying a word, which is why I completely understand that a lot of his work has been for political publications and for literary editorials. Somehow, his use of those very kitschy vintage images from the 60s and 70s does not seem awkward at all or ill-fitting at all.

 

Long story short, I'm a complete fan of Julien Pacaud and would love to have a one of these prints hanging up in my apartment. How cool would this Copernicus print in your living room?  

Anyway, enjoy the awesome art of Pacaud and have a great weekend! 

Photo Friday: What to do with Old Floppy Disks

How creepy/cool are these paintings by Nick Gentry? That circle from the back side of floppy disks is used at the pupil. That paired with the eerie pale tones Gentry decided to use as the skin tones gives these painted faces a look that only Twilight fans can appreciate. Some look particularly more vampire-esque than others, but staring into those flat floppy disk eyes sends a chill down my spine. Luckily, I'm a big fan of horror movies and enjoy chills down my spine so I thought I'd share this with all of you! Hope I didn't spook you ;)

I'd love to see these paintings up close, although it's apparent from some of the close ups that Gentry purposefully integrated some of the original floppy-disk colors into the works. I like that some of the labels are peeking through as well. Very interesting pieces. I mean, what else are you going to do with all those floppy disks?

Nick Gentry is a London-based artist and is best known for these floppy-disk paintings. You can find more information on him here. 

Have a great weekend!

Photo Friday: Screw Art!

When I saw this installation piece by Andrew Myers I was stunned. It takes such amazing talent to pull something like this off and I am knock-down-on-the-floor impressed. Can you believe that screws drilled into the wall could make such expressive and detailed portraits? Andrew Myers drills in screws at different depths to create a surprisingly detailed 3D image on a wall. Once the image is visible, Myers paints each screw by hand to make the portraits even more life-like.

I can't even imagine the amount of time and planning that goes into creating one of these 3D screw art images. I'd love to see one in person and be able to touch the different hills and valleys created by the screws that make up the images.

What do you think? Awesome or eh?