Oh man. Some more greatness via Julia Rothman’s Book By Its Cover: Yelena Bryksenkova’s sketchbooks. As an avid and perfectionistic sketchbooker myself, I relate very much to this quite from Yelena:

Despite warnings not to, I have always treated my sketchbooks as precious objects rather than a place for unfinished ideas. I suppose this can be limiting, but I can’t help it! The beauty of certain objects, places, people, and moments fills me a frustrated kind of awe and drawing them – carefully, so completely absorbed that I sometimes dip my paintbrush in my tea – helps me make peace with that feeling.

Yes! Do yourself a favor and check out her portfolio and sketchbook archives. I know it inspired me.

Oh, Iceland. It’s truly a magical place. I’ve long dreamt about living there, but that won’t be a reality anytime too soon! Of course, vacations can go a long ways to salve such long-term desires, and this recent trip more than fit the bill. Ben and I spent a couple of weeks circumnavigating the island counter-clockwise, continually being blown away by the changing landscape. Somewhere around Mývatn, we were informed that we were driving the wrong way around, clockwise being the general rule, but that trajectory now seems quite difficult to imagine. Now that Ben has the photos up, check out our journey via the complete set on his Flickr… or merely take a quick gander at the edited set, put to music, on Vimeo.

We spent some time last weekend in the Upper Peninsula. Cell signals, traffic (foot and automobile), billboards, and general commotion were nearly non-existent. Here are an assortment of rocks – chromatically arranged by yours truly – that we plucked from the shores of Grand Marais during a slow, lazy morning of meandering.

Check out Benja Harney’s brilliant papercraft and get to know a bit more about his process via this interview at The Design Files.

Holy wonderful. I’ve been wanting to post about these birdhouses by Jeff Canham and Luke Bartels for some time. See the Curiosity Shoppe for a few more glimpses at their handiwork. Check My Love for You… for some context via interview.

Loving Simon Page’s astronomical prints! Simply perfect.

I don’t know much about them yet, but I am loving the two Warpaint songs I’ve heard tonight. This video in particular gives me chills. It reminds me of sisterhood, dreams, and random forest expeditions from days gone by. Beautiful.

Heartbreaking and beautiful. Sigur Rós’ Sæglopur.

Gidon Bing (sculptor) and Katie Lockhart (stylist) for Karen Walker Paints.

Words cannot express how much I love this work by Ana Serrano!

A couple months ago I came across the soon-to-be-launched Uppercase Magazine. The cover immediately drew me in; it was credited to an illustrator by the name of Blanca Gómez. This promptly led me to her blog and etsy shop for more.

I couldn’t resist ordering a set of her prints. Can’t wait to get these hung up. She has such a wonderfully honed aesthetic and her work is simply delightful. I don’t think I ever actually say that word in real life, but it’s so fitting in this case. Delightful! And incidentally, Uppercase looks like it will be amazing – anxiously awaiting the first copy!

Ahhh, this. It’s beautiful and you should watch it. It’s about childhood and balloons and Paris and colors and more. Directed by Albert Lamorisse in 1965. According to imdb, the only short film to win a non-short film Oscar, ever (it won Best Original Screenplay).