Mr Fortune's Maggot.

I was reading a blog- post about the author Sylvia Townsend Warner. She wrote a book called "Mr. Fortune's Maggot". I learnt that a maggot is a "a whimsical or perverse fancy". This made me laugh out loud and I thought I would share it.

Red.

I would love red hair.

Flame-haired Siren.

Lucian Love.

I love Lucian Freud - I've posted on him a few times. I could blog solely about him such is my love but that might get repetitive and dull for the rest of you.

In this month's US Vogue, his daughter Susie Boyt, writes about growing up in a excerpt from her upcoming memoir "My Judy Garland Life" which comes out in April. I can't wait to get my hands on it. I read the article last night while lying on the couch - two pieces made me hoot with laughter. I have needed some hoots this week.

"I was born into a family that takes making people feel better very seriously. My great-grandfather invented psychoanalysis."

and...

"I'm usually careful in what I say. My father once stopped speaking to some-one because he used the word mish-mash."

Swoon. Sigh.

Pfoff Knits!

It's pouring with rain in LA - and it's freezing. Proper cold. Luckily I have a pair of these handy fingerless gloves that enable typing and working but keep my little man-hands nice and warm.

This picture doesn't really do them justice. Looky at this etsy page for more - my friend Trashy makes them and they are just delicious. She also does custom orders in your favourite colours.

Ryan McGuiness
Works
$55

Lucian Freud on Paper

Lucian Freud on Paper.
$85

Who knew Lucian Freud did illustrations for novels and poetry? Not me.

These were executed in 1944 for The Glass Tower by Nicholas Moore.

Steven Meisel?

Doesn't Steven Meisel look a teensy bit like Victoria-Posh-Spice-Beckham in this photo?

If In Doubt.

If in doubt, think, "What would Luella do?".

Sea of Poppies.

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh.

I'm reading this at the moment. It's the first part of a trilogy but the other 2 aren't out yet. I'm worried I'm going to finish and be frantic for the next one. It will be like Harry Potter - except instead of pining for witches, wizards and evil lords - I will be pining for Indian slave-traders, giants and mem-sahibs.

Hump.

Sharlene is a spectacular photographer. I was at her house on Thursday night hanging fairy lights and afterwards I flicked through a photo book she has compiled. The camel was one of my favourites and because Sharlene is lovely, she gave it to me. I love the way the dark tuft of the hump is exactly in line with slope of the sand dune behind it. 

I have decided to name this camel. The name I have chosen is Hemal.

Barnbrook Bible.

Branbrook Bible: The Graphic Design of Jonathan Barnbrook.
$75

Sprouse & Klimt

Stephen Sprouse's illustrations remind me of Klimt.

Stephen Sprouse

Stephen Sprouse by Roger Padilha & Mauricio Padilha
$65

The long-awaited Stephen Sprouse book arrived today (it's been out since Jan 9 2009 - but surprisingly I am not at the top of the book distributors' list - hmmm). It is printed on marvellous paper. It comes in a variety of luminous colours - I got hot pink ones and all the page ends are hot pink too - this is one of my favourite colours. My friend Marisol has a hot pink pashmina from India and I often plot to knock her over the head with a pan and steal it.

Sprouse's fashion illustrations are out of this world. I heart them.

Now Is Then - Part Two

Now Is Then: Snapshots from The Maresca Collection
$29.95

"ca. 1910s. Photo postcard. BACK: Dear Aunt Myra, How are you now. I thought I would send you my dining table. Your Newphew, Vernon. You see I got through Atlantic ave. all right. Don't worry."

I had a Welsh Uncle Vernon - he was very funny. One day he fell out of bed and died.

Now Is Then - Part One.

Now Is Then: Snapshots from The Marcesa Collection
$29.95

"Snapshots are complex and willful little pictures. Only because they are so small, so frequently and easily made, do we think of them as innocent. But snapshots are mostly premeditated, fussed over, and even predetermined."

I am not a photographer - but I am a snap-shotter which looks a bit like shot-putter but I am definitely not one of them (although when I lived in San Francisco I started to look like one by mistake). I know my snap-shotting to be a very annoying habit - at social gatherings I plague my friends by snapping at them. I just got one of the re-issued Diana F+ cameras - it's a film camera and it's funny to realize how dependent I have become on instant digital gratification. My brain has difficulty computing that I may have to actually wait for the film to be developed.

House Dress.

House Dress: A Story of Eroticism and Fashion by Elda Danese
$19.95

This book is tiny but full of beautiful images of women in house dresses. I think I ordered it because I love the cover image of Sophia Loren.

Wisconsin Quilts

I'm having a bit of a quilt moment - well, I always sort of am - what with me being a lunatic quilter and possibly the only one under the age of 800 years of age.

This is an insane quilt from the late 1800s.