Mysterious Shrimp, Angry Fairies.

For aspiring artists, young and old: storybooks from Paris, awaiting illustration. Extraterrestrials on skis, fuming fairies, homicidal shrimp - who could be bored with prompts like these? Break out the crayons and paint, the glitter glue and the googly eyes. Go wild.

See more at Supereditions. Available for purchase in the U.S., here. Happy Monday!

POV: Happiness.

POV ("point of view") is a series that addresses many of the same themes covered in my Equals Record column: growing up, saying yes to adventure, learning to embrace a quarter-life crisis. Each POV entry will include a photograph and a short reflection based on what’s pictured. While my previous column focused largely on ideas, POV will focus on moments - glimpses, glances, tiny stories.

  

“I don’t have anything to write about,” I told a friend earlier this week. We were in a coffee shop in Greenpoint. I should have been working. Instead, I flipped through a copy of Time Out.

“I’m out of ideas,” I continued, pausing on a photo of kielbasa. “Do you think it’s because I’m happy?”

4748 and Counting.

Jeff Harris has taken a self-portrait every day for fourteen years, a project the photographer claims has been life-changing - and life-affirming. "I didn't want 365 images of me sitting on the couch each day," he says. "This project has inspired me to get out there and seek out interesting things." 

I had the pleasure of watching Jeff's video (pasted below) at this year's Photoville event in Brooklyn, and his story stayed with me. I particularly love the many photos of him jumping into water, a theme he addresses in the film. There are ups and downs - and a cancer diagnosis - along the way; still, fourteen years down the road, he's still taking portraits, still taking leaps.

Fittingly, Jeff's website features this quote from the always-inspirational Andrew W.K.: "We can't pretend like this is just another day! This is THE day! We have never been given today before!"

Indeed. See more at Jeff Harris's site, here.

Catling Collages.

What else is there to say about Guy Catling's work other than that it's exceptionally, unequivocally cool? I love his use of color and pattern; the floral helmets and helicopters; those giant apples. And the forests-as-faces? Brilliant.

See more at Guy Catling's blog, here, and Flickr page, here.

PS: Speaking of the suspiciously summery weather we've been having here in New York this week,  this line from a 1937 letter by Zelda Fitzgerald caught my eye today: "Life has puffed and blown itself into a summer day, and clouds and spring billow over the heavens as if calendars were a listing of mathematical errors."

Yes. Enjoy the day!

Hot/Cold.

These hand-painted prints and patterns by California artist Kindah Khalidy capture both the sunny cheer of summer and the many changing colors of fall - which seems fitting for this time of year, when the weather can't seem to make up its mind. (It's 80 degrees in Brooklyn today, perfect for the ice cream cones on Kindah's clutch, festooned with sprinkles, below.)

Summery weather aside, however, it's now October. Ways to commemorate the new month:
-Cover yourself in leaves.
-Make marshmallows.
-Star-gaze.
-Sleep.

Happy October, wherever you may be.