lovely logos

Speaking of bird illustrations, how good are these logos by Bulgarian graphic designer Stephan Kanchev? I think I'd like to see him illustrate the zodiac. Do you think he would, if I asked him??

via animalarium

Florentijn Hofman's Giant Rubber Duck

If you live in town, you already know all about this but, if not, guess what?! Florentijn Hofman's giant rubber duck is in Pittsburgh! He set sail from the Roberto Clemente Bridge last Friday, kicking off the International Festival of Firsts. After bobbing briefly down the Allegheny, he landed at Point State Park, where he'll remain moored through October. A thing I'm learning about Pittsburgh is that almost everyone has a two year old, so you can imagine the kind of reception this installation has received. Last sunday, hoping to spy him from afar--and with a mind to avoid downtown parking--we headed up Mount Washington, my new, second-favorite spot in town.

We got some great views of the city; I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking out on Pittsburgh! Luckily, we are also able to catch our first glimpses of the ducky himself. He looked like a toy from so far away!

That's like, five times as crowded as I've ever seen Point State Park (though I've never seen it on the fourth of july). It was still bustling when we went to see the you-know-what in person, earlier this morning. 

I really can't say enough about Point State Park--it's perfect! So grand, so dynamic, so perfect for picnicking. Its sweeping lawns and little wooded areas are perfect for Felix to run about in, and of course, there's that fountain! But what he loves most of all is to play cars along the long stone stairs that face the river. And let's not forget, the duck certainly didn't disappoint! He's just so jolly, after all. 

It's hard to show how big he is in person, so its easier to tell you that he's 40 feet tall--smaller than usual, in fact; the design had to be modified so he could fit under the bridges. He's been all over the world, you know! Sydney, Hong Kong, Amsterdam... read about him in Wired, even! Along with the people, there were a bunch of ducks and geese gathered all around, too, which made me smile. It was like a spin on Ten Little Rubber Ducks, the based-on-a-true story by Eric Carle, which I checked out from the library last week in order to generate some buzz, as it were, before the main attraction. It's a really sweet story, and I highly recommend it--Felix loves the surprise at the end, and I love Carle's bird illustraions, always. 

photos by me (and chase); collage illustrations by eric carle

the most perfect

Feast your eyes on these, my favorite looks from my so-far favorite collection this year of all time: Chloé, Spring 2014. What can I say--I'm Flabbergasted!  

It's got that slouchy nomadic look I love, and in the billowiest, most alluring fabrics. The crêpe georgette, the geometric lace--so sophisticated! The shoes are just right, and I love the colors: muted and earthy, with just enough blue and white to make it magical. I'd wear these clothes while scanning a desert horizon at sunset, or navigating the narrow streets of some ancient tropical city, or just about anywhere warm enough to wear them... I guess that's why they call it ready-to-wear!

images via style.com

color story

I wish I had something slightly more juicy to report to you, dear readers, than the fact that I happen to have a favorite color these days. Oh well! Lately, we've been making some real strides towards getting our apartment all set-up cozy-like, for the winter. And all of the sudden, the color pink seems to be everywhere. Like, not all over everything, but you can see it here and there, everywhere you turn. I'm even drinking pink wine right now, you guys! It's dry and greek and goes great with a pizza pie, just so you know. All year long, I've had this thing about pink, where I just can't seem to avoid it. It has a funny knack for setting the kind of mood I like around the house. The kind of pink I'm talking about isn't girlish or garish; its creamy and dreamy and rosy and cozy, like seashells and clay and strawberry milkshakes. It all started (again) a few weeks back, as I found myself daydreaming about Claude Monet's house at Giverny. Remember?

Pink brick--what could be better? I would live in that house for the rest of my days. I wanted to see if Monet had ever painted the house itself, because how beautiful would that be? As far as I can tell, he didn't--he wasn't too concerned with architecture, after all. But while searching I did stumble across this painting by Kenneth Eugene Peters

which I find very captivating, namely largely due to the colors he's used. It calls to mind, firstly, Solange Knowles outside that erstwhile pink park slope brownstone for the "Locked in Closets" mini-video she did with Refinery29 back in May:

and also and more obviously, the work of Wayne Theibaud, clearly (I assume) a major influence of Peters', whose confectionary paintings in particular feature just my kind of sugary, sea-shell pinks:

So tasty! These, in turn, are exactly the same pinks you see "Pink Lady," this editorial starring Cara Delevingne, featured in the September issue of British Vogue

Which calls to mind this other recent Lab Magazine editorial, Nykhor in Bloom, for obvious reasons

See? So edgy, so moody. I know that its tempting to designate pink a certain limited realm of application. But the more you think about it the more you like it, in my experience. Pink is truly intriguing! Especially when you think of it as light red. Long-time readers and people generally in the know will recall that, prior to the 20th century, pink, a lighter version of red, the color of blood and war and power, was for baby boys, while blue, the color of the virgin mary, was for girls. And why those two colors, I often wonder? It could've been pink and green or blue and yellow, anything. It's one of those arbitrary dichotomies, like chocolate and vanilla: efforts in marketing have lead us to consider them "opposites" when, if you think about it, there's really no justification for it. Can't everyone just eat and wear whatever color they like without being forced to choose sides? Why do I have to have a favorite color, at all?

images via here, here, here, here and here