Star Portraits

This is Christina Sealey, or more commonly known to us as Christie. I've been looking forward to featuring Christie here because I am consistently blown away by the amount of talent she possesses. Christie is one of the most sensitive and gentle souls I've ever met, and it really comes through in her work.




Christie is a painter (as well as being a successful musician) and her portraits, especially, are phenomenal. They are extremely evocative and usually, at least I find, full of warmth. And I think that's due in part to her delicate nature. She seems to have the innate ability to draw out a real softness from all of her subjects.

But, I'm not an expert on art so I don't know if that even makes sense. All I really know that is her work is effing gorgeous.

Christie is pretty awesome all-around. She brings cake to the beach. It's infectious when she gets excited about things. She's got a pretty rad collection of shoes. And she lends her friends beautiful paintings to hang in their homes and acts like they are doing her a favour!


Her studio on James North is pretty bare these days. A lot of her work is going into her latest solo show, Placing Within: Paintings by Christina Sealey, opening this Friday at Earl's Court Gallery at 215 Ottawa Street North. It runs until April 17th and I encourage you to check it out. Christie is exactly what all this Hamilton artistic renaissance buzz is all about.

Mew!

Anabela just got one of these cameras over at Fieldguided, and I had to repost immediately. The Shironeko Holga camera uses light and sound to attract the attention of cats so that you can take pictures of them. Amazing, right? It also comes in a cat can... so I don't really know how this could get any better.

I'm pretty sure this is going to be a necessary business expense once we get a store kitten.

Private Space

Last night I watched The Cove at work. Has anyone seen it? I had been wanting to watch it for a while, and now after winning Best Documentary on Sunday, I made it more of a priority.

It kind of left me speechless. I've always felt a strong connection to whales and dolphins, for some reason. I postered my neighbourhood when I was a kid with my sketches of a whale tale and a rainbow and the heading "Save the Whales!" I wasn't really into music; I played whale song CD's in my bedroom. Needless to say, this film really struck a chord with me. I don't know if one could see The Cove and not be totally affected by it.

The last 10 minutes will be among the most horrifying footage you will ever see. So, rent it. You must! Save the whales and dolphins!

Still In A Blue Period, Apparently

Hollie, I think we owe the Internet an apology. Our posting has been a little light this week. SORRY GUYS. The cottage trip combined with this amazing weather has made it a little difficult to get back into the swing of things.

Luckily, this bright and sunny day has inspired me to start looking for spring and summer dresses. I'll take pretty much every single one over at Ruche.

Transitions

Beautiful photo series of abandoned apartments in Dresden, Germany from Fredrik Marsh. Somebody buy me that book, stat.

Not a Dumb Fish

I am wearing shoes today with my skirt! NOT BOOTS! This is a momentous occasion. I have been waiting all winter to bring out the shoes. I think I will celebrate by drooling over every single pair of cute (and handmade!) flats over at SMARTFISH.

Ice Adventures

Well, we’re back.



This weekend was pretty incredible, as most cottage weekends tend to go. The drive up there was about four hours, and we got to go through towns named Gwillimbury and Coboconk. The weather was beautiful and sunny and warm, and the entire drive up I noticed that all the bodies of water we saw had thawed through.

As a result, when we got to our cottage, I was super surprised to find a frozen lake. Not only a frozen lake, but a frozen and snow covered lake with a super beautiful island within walking distance across the ice.


Now, let me just say right here and now, I hate ice. It scares the crap out of me more than most things I can think of. You can fall through that shit. You can get trapped under it. It can crack all around you.

We started to walk out on the ice, and the 6 inches of snow on top of it would sink and give way, and you would find your foot in a hole of snow filled with a few inches of water. TERRIFYING, RIGHT? I know. Hollie and I were having none of it, and turned back.



The rest of our group however, decided the ice was completely safe and sound, and decided to trek it to the island anyway. So there Hollie and I were, about halfway between the shore and the island, with the rest of our group leaving us there alone to fend for ourselves.

We were terrified, but we did it anyway. We made it to the island just before the sun started to set. Maybe that was not the smartest decision in retrospect, but throughout the rest of the weekend we saw many a snowmobiler and ice fisherman out on the ice, so I’m feeling pretty good about our decision.





See that cottage in the background? That’s where we were staying. It was more of mansion than a cottage. I miss it already.

Home on the Range

For the past four or so years, Jane and I along with some close friends, have been making a winter weekend cottage trip.

It started as a cottage weekend for Jane's birthday, but now it's really based around one thing: the Talent Show. Some number of years ago while away, we had an impromptu talent show after some drinks one night. The talents were on the spot and not well-developed, but impressive nonetheless. I think Jane did karate, our friend Crystal did a pirouette, her boyfriend Rob may have chugged a beer.

When the next year rolled around, we thought it would be fun to put a little more effort into it. Like, actually prepare talents beforehand. The results were hilarious. Jane and I performed "Who's On First", our friends Laura and Carl played guitar and keyboard and sang the title theme from "Once", Mike juggled while singing, and so on.

This weekend will be the fourth annual cottage talent show getaway. It's actually been more stressful this year than in the past, because I sincerely feel like I'm running low on talents. There are only so many things I can perform in front of a group of people. And the competition has only gotten more fierce. As you can see, last year involved tap dancing and balloon animals. I think I'm going to be in trouble.

So, happy weekend everyone! We'll be enjoying the great white north.

Number One Fan

Love this series of Stephen King movie posters from Nick Tassone.

Do-Over

1950s vintage velvet watercolors dress

My boyfriend's sister has asked me to help find her a vintage dress for her high school prom. This excites me so much, for a couple reasons. First, vintage dress shopping! I'm so excited to be able to pick out things I would normally love but have no reason to buy, or suggest someone should buy.

And secondly, my prom sucked. I left high school a year early to go to university, so I had to fly back in September to attend my prom. That meant I had to buy my dress pretty early, before I left for school, and before any of the prom dresses were really in stores. I hated my dress. Hated it. Looking back, I can't believe I bought it, or that anyone let me buy it for that matter. It did absolutely nothing for me.

vintage 1950's peach dream party dress

Since our prom was somewhere around September 19th, 2001, I was going to fly back on the 17th or 18th. Lucky for me, my uncle was a pilot and gave me a free ticket to fly back. Then September 11th happened, and all flights were cancelled and all free family tickets were cancelled indefinitely. New flights were impossible to come by, and if you could find one, expensive. In the wake of everything that had just happened, it seemed absolutely ridiculous to spend something like $700 just to fly back for a weekend, to go to a prom of a school I no longer attend.

1940s-1950s gorgeous floral chiffon formal dress

My parents bought me a ticket anyway, and I had to catch a 7 hour bus from my school to New Brunswick, sleep over at someone's house I barely knew, and then catch a flight that morning. By the time I got home I was just exhausted. Exhausted and grumpy, and really didn't feel like putting on a dress I hated. Then I got my hair done, and I don't know what that girl was thinking, but she basically GLUED all my hair to my head. It.was.unflattering.

vintage 1940s cream lace layer tier dress

All complaining aside, I often think about prom and wish I could have just done a couple things over. Everyone talks about what an unforgettable memory your prom is, and I wish I had more of that experience. Mostly I wish I had a better dress.

1940s vintage strapless sweetheart carmine pink party dress

I think that's half the reason I am so excited to help someone else pick out an awesome vintage dress. I wish the concept of vintage had even crossed my mind at 18. I've been spending the morning looking up dresses online, and here are just a handful of the options I would consider if I had do-over.

little miss shunshine vintage yellow party dress

Animal, Vegetable or Mineral

Ryan and I were watching TV last week and saw a special on these beautiful Crystal Caves in Naica, Mexico. I think those of you who are regular readers know that Hollie and I have a thing for geodes and minerals, but can you imagine getting to visit something like this? Awe inspiring.

What I Saw On My Walk to Work