phone photos from magic forest farm

i loved wwoofing here near albany this summer. my first time wwoofing in the us!  here are some photos from my phone...

it was a wonderful experience--watercoloring the wildflowers and animals I saw around (so many chipmunks and toads!), cooking in the chaotic kitchen and eating out on the deck by sunset, hoop-hoeing and eating the very first greens from the garden (this was in may). i really appreciated how (unlike many i've been to) the farm doesn't sell to the farmer's market, so the workers get to eat the best produce, as they should. i also loved talking to the tireless farmer, joan mahony.

four to remember

a painting of eve, and eve.

DIY: Birds on a Branch

Here's a fun little project that's infinitely adaptable--making your own tiny painted animals. I made a pigeon, sparrow, blue jay and robin, to sit on a branch I found in a Bed-Stuy gutter. (Why would you want to do this? I don't know, why wouldn't you??)

I've never been good at sculpting clay, but fortunately, you only need a roughly-correct shape for your little animals to come out gorgeously.

Things you need: Sculpey (I bought the "hazelnut" color because I liked the idea of little bits of brown poking through, but white might be easier to paint), armature wire (just for their little claws, if you want them to be able to grip the branch), and some acrylic paint (I bought four colors--white, red, yellow, blue). And a paintbrush. And an oven.

The process is very simple.

1. Form the shape of whatever animal you're sculpting--look up reference photos! Different birds have surprisingly different body shapes.

2. Bake them according to whatever type of Sculpey you bought (with my Sculpey III, I did 275 degrees F, 45 minutes).

3. And then the fun part--paint them. I painted mine in stages, with basic colors first and then little feather details on top. They really came to life with the paint. It was a very exciting experience.

as you can see, I didn't spend a ton of time perfecting the little clay bodies. which was fine!

the first layers of paint were rather loose and general.

all together! <3 <3 

i couldn't resist making a little clay suki as well...

I think she's into it!

PS Here's how to make a rubber stamp business card. And other DIY posts are here!

internet favorites for november: favorite things from instagram

My favorite instagram users, consistently, are the illustrator/designers Leah Reena Goren, Kaye Blegvad, Amelie Mancini, Louise Lockhart, and Phoebe Wahl. I also love the Swedish mother Erica (but her photos fill me with so much longing and delight I can barely look at them),  photographer Diana Markosian, and (for art project inspiration) Maya Climbs Trees, Kirsten Rickert's homeschooling account.

 But I follow something like 700 other accounts, and so here are some screenshots of favorite things I've seen on instagram (not all these accounts are consistently amazing, but some are--you be the judge)--inspiration for writing, painting, and photography.

1. Julia Rothman

2. Danielle Kroll

3. Maria Kozak

4. Louise Lockhart

5. Monika Forsberg

6. TimeSpacePlace

7. Hyperallergic

8. Sam Is Home

9. Esther Coxs Kiosk

PS Here are all the other Internet Favorites!

PPS Here is my instagram :)