Dancing.

Many thanks for all of your birthday wishes, both here and on Twitter. It was lovely to hear from all of you. I must apologize for my absence from the internet. A more detailed post is to come.

"the book of love is long and boring"

[click on photo for image source]

My birthday.

It is my birthday today, and I wanted to thank all of you wonderful darlings for reading my blog, chatting with me on Twitter, inspiring me with yor art and your words, and supporting me in times when such things were needed.

I am writing this post from my brand new, shiny and blue, beautiful laptop! It was a very generous gift from my family and now I have something to write my essays on in Chicago. On top of that, they threw me a big BBQ party yesterday and I had such a lovely time with all of my Toronto friends and family who have known me since I was a wee little baby.

[Painting by Gerhard Richter.]

A nervous labyrinth of desire.

Richter

Miro

Flying too close to the sun.

"The scorching rays of the nearer sun softened the fragrant wax which held his wings." -Ovid

During the last few months, I have allowed my creativity to evolve. I have let myself be inspired by other artists, let my imagination wander and fly away from me. While this has indeed been an exciting trip, at one point I encountered a fearful thought: I have traveled so far--will I be able to find my way home?


Reading through some of my favourite books--the Odyssey by Homer and Ovid's Metamorphoses--I was reminded of what Grecian Goldsmith truly stands for: eternal ancient Greece, filtered slightly through modernist poetics. It is time for me to go back to the beginning.

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enameling
...
-W. B. Yeats
quoted from memory

I'll treasure you forever.

Hello darlings! It's been a while since I've made a treasury, but I managed to snag one tonight! Check it out here:

The Sweetest Cruelty

To summarize its essence, I offer you this medley of words: Sigmund Freud, broken hearts, folk art, Romeo and Juliet, loneliness, blood, creative textiles, glorious darkness, birds, torn and tattered, tarnished beauty, forgotten. Below are some highlights for those of you who see this post after the treasury has already expired.

terichung

papermoth


laslopezhome

In the land of mythical creatures: blue mermaids and white horses.

Usually so pink, grecian goldsmith has taken a blue turn.

This jewelry is for mermaids only! ;)

Let me know what you think, my darlings.

Other news: I'm opening up a vintage shop! Shh... Still a secret. But oh, do I have some amazing goodies for you! And why am I doing this, you ask? Well, moving across the country in two months, I realized with tears in my eyes that not all of my darling possessions would be able to come along. Here is a tiny sneak peak. More info to come.

Secrets.

"Is it you standing among the olive trees
Beyond the courtyard? You in the sunlight
Waving me closer with one hand while the other

Shields your eyes from the brightness that turns
All that is not you dead white? Is it you
Around whom the leaves scatter like foam?

You in the murmuring night that is scented
With mint and lit by the distant wilderness
Of stars? Is it you? Is it really you

Rising from the script of waves, the length
Of your body casting a sudden shadow over my hand
So that I feel how cold it is as it moves

Over the page? You leaning down and putting
Your mouth against mine so I should know
That a kiss is only the beginning

Of what until now we could only imagine?
Is it you or the long compassionate wind
That whispers in my ear: alas, alas?"

-Mark Strand, Dark Harbor

Kiss me in a style Clark Gable would have admired. Make it classic.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of enjoying the opening night of "Public Enemies", starring the acutely talented Johhny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cottilard. It is rare for me to be enthralled with a film so much that I not only blog about it, but urge you to see it.

A film that looks as if it will be a (mere?) commercial success in the trailer, rises to unutterable artistic greatness in its entirety. The acting is superb,

the story, heartbreaking,

and the phenomenal direction of Michael Mann left me writing essays in my head.

"I want so badly to believe..."

[Painting: Ariadne in Naxos by Evelyn De Morgan]