More fire escapes

I took this photo on Sunday and I couldn't believe my luck! I've walked past this unassuming sign dozens of times and never noticed it. I've been walking around the city much, much more than I normally do. I must say: I'm beginning to understand what all the fuss is about in regards to walking. Walking has long gone hand in hand with meditation and I also remember reading somewhere that there are important energy meridians at the soles of our feet. Not to mention all the nerve endings. Makes sense then, that walking should feel so good and maybe it also explains why I hate wearing socks? No matter how awful my day, walking home always at the very least, brings me back to neutral and at the most makes me legitimately happy.

The fire escape obsession continues...

New tree collage, Australia-bound

I did a swap with Kylie and am months tardy on sending my side of the bargain. Though, I finally sent off my piece last week! (And really, I'm such a master procrastinator that it only got mailed because I asked an extra-helpful girl at work to do it for me.) It should arrive on her side of the world soonish. I blame part of my lateness on the piece itself: it hung up in my hallway for months begging to be finished but I just couldn't figure out what to do with it, despite it being mostly complete. In the end, I added little pink dots and cut the tree out of the paper, so that it was free from the confines of the paper edge. I hope she likes it: I remember her mentioning once about how much she loved trees.

I made this little tree out of random bits of paper I always have laying around. The trunk is made of amazing tin foil duct tape I found at Active Surplus, one of my favourite stores in Toronto for absurdity and practicality. Where else can one purchase yo-yos, dental equipment, hologram paper and mini light bulbs under one roof? Rarely do I leave there without a strange procurement that inevitably comes in handy in ways that I never imagine at at the time.

A brighter shot, mostly just to show off my nail colour.

Happy

Sagmeister on happiness and taking strategic time off. Needless to say, this made me smile happily.

source weareplural

New Zealand Book Council: Going West

I loved this incredibly haunting, well-thought, paper cut, stop/go short film. I hope you do, too.

source The Heart of Papercuts

I ♡ Ira Glass

"I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I've ever met." —Ira Glass

I adore Ira's view on being a beginner and dealing with, well, sucking hard. ♡
source lunele

Watertable

I experienced this piece tonight in a completely serendipitous way! (That's spiritual talk for unplanned.) It made the start of 2010 extra special for me. It's a permanent installation of LED lights beneath the Gardiner Expressway that illustrates what water levels looked like in Ontario many years ago. The flashing lights are accompanied by recordings of waves crashing on Lake Ontario's shore. It was a little piece of peace in the middle of condo zombie land. Magical, ambitious and clever: my favourite kind of art.


by Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak
photos via spacing

Resolve

Usually, I look down my nose at New Year's resolvers who clog up the machines at the gym and crowd the yoga studio. This year, I find myself at an exciting crossroad and am using the uncanny timing to reflect on the year past and look forward to my desired achievements for 2010 and beyond. I've done the requisite list-making and day dreaming, of course, and the main goal for the new decade is to live a connection between my heart and mind. I decided to make something that symbolizes how I want the aforementioned achievements and actions to feel like.

I started by creating a foundation: coating an old board in black, shiny acrylic paint. It's rough around the edges, because I do love my grit.

I found myself with lots of leftover pink paper that I cut into squares and rectangles, then folded them into little cones. Paper is so resilient: the little guys stay shaped like that on their own! (Update: I did end up using double-sided photo mounting tape on half of them.) I imagined I was rolling dozens of massive pink joints: for those of you who know me, I hope that makes you giggle as much as it I did while doing it. I digress...The pink is my heart: fun, playful and intuitive.

I painted a few symbols with black acrylic on white paper and again folded them into cones that illustrate strength and balance. (Lately, I've been viewing lots of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat.)


Then, I pasted all my paper cones on the board in a fluid way, drawing on the flow I'll continue to tap into. I'm not exactly sure what I've ended up with, but I do know that making this and having it around is going to help me stick to my resolve of uniting my mind and heart.

If you look closely, you'll see little squares of mirror rescued from a smashed disco ball I found in a dumpster (long story). These have been kicking around since the summer and I'm so excited that they finally found their place! I used them here because I think they represent the small doses of reflection that we all need to help make life a little more potent.

Happy twenty ten!

Subway Sign Marriage Proposal

Makes my cold heart melt. If it must happen, this is a rad way for it to unfold...

Toronto artist Posterchild recently took a break from installing art in NYC phone booths to propose to his girlfriend. He popped the the question by appropriating a sign reserved for ad space above a Manhattan subway stop. Posterchild writes:

She thought she was just helping me out with another street art project; I kept this covered until after it was installed and after the unveiling I was expecting some kind of reaction- but it took a little while to convince her that this was a proposal for real, and not just some art project!

And she said yes! Congrats!

source of my puddle-heart condition: urban prankster

Ingenius ways to save printed magazines

"There is no box."

outside the box from joseph Pelling on Vimeo.