molly irwin

June by the elements

Sun, water and plants.

Those are my three focal points for this season. Sure, there are pictures I'm taking that don't fit in those categories, but they, as it turns out, are surprisingly few.  When I look at the collected places I've seen through my lens so far this summer I feel very blessed indeed.

June sun

 
 
June water

 

June plants

 

There are also plenty of photos with full-on smiley-faces (and all kinds of other expressions,) to be tucked inside my mini-book here and there in the evenings when I take some time to myself. 

Can you believe that's a wrap on June? Already?  If you celebrate our American Independence day, I hope you have a lovely holiday weekend. 

Here's a playlist to get in that July mood. 

What songs remind you of summer?

The elements of summer :: process

 

Here I am at the beach with a little book I'm calling The Elements of Summer, designed to remember this summer through the senses. 

I'm guest-posting at Ali's place today as part of her Stories of Summer series. You can see more of the journal there. Meanwhile, I want to talk today about the inspiration for this project.

 

We collect favorite quotes.

We gather lovely photos. We make inspiration boards.

What becomes of the collective references swirling through our minds?

When we take in things through the senses they become a part of our thought process in ways unimagined. The visual concept grew from collected images I've curated (largely to tumblr) over months. 

A few weeks ago my friend Lisa posted the Shakespeare quote on facebook. I instantly connected with it, remembering the "running brooks" of my childhood. At the time I was already formulating ideas for documenting summer and knew I wanted to include this.

Last summer my album was comprehensive and it was a lot of work. Parts of it are here.

This year I wanted to focus simply on the essence of the season in a thematic way. When it comes to the pure elements of summer, to my mind they are as straightforward as water, sun, and plants. For me, those are the fundamentals.

 

[L to R: page from Jamie at Home, Jamie Oliver, book cover for Joseph Grigley's St. Cecilia  Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Julia Rothman wallpaper for Hygge & West, mixed media piece by Heather Smith Jones, via Eye Buzz Gallery.]

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These works by some favorite artists use materials and form in such cheerful and compelling ways. There are so many bold yellows and watery teals on my radar lately. My goal was to combine bits of these techniques and colors irreverently -- not by purely copying any one in particular -- but the references, I think, are obvious. Especially in the cover art. I've been wanting to break out my watercolors for a while now.

The simple five-senses journaling cards were inspired by Abby's five senses Fridays. And I went with matt finish, textural photos as I enjoy the similar look and feel in Jamie Magazine. The rich cotton rag of the Arches produces a lush, elegant result.

[ a spread from my mini book in the 'water' category ]

So there you have it: my interpretation of a carefree summer book incorporating favorite mediums and concepts I've bookmarked and admired.

It's already filling up nicely with creek-side ice cream cones, sunsets over the bay, and chocolate peppermint from the garden.





 

a morning thought

 
[  top: posed; bottom: candid ]

This morning I'm embarrassed by the trivial silliness of my own desire to get a "really good" picture. Every moment, however visually imbalanced, is perfectly right all on its own. It requires no adjustment or enhancement. I need to appreciate daily things just as they are. I need to work at it less; engage in it more.

summer . night song

 

 

[ the last of Mom's peonies ]

The summer is rushing forward with a momentum all its own.

A weekend trip at Mom's, full of it's own happenings, merging seamlessly with a visit from my niece. Meanwhile I have yet to sift through school work folders or do anything with the piles of books and uniforms set aside that we won't be needing for months, if at all.

I've already layered suntan on top of a rookie-style burn from last week. These two trips to the local beach mark the weeks of the season accordingly. And in a fashion very unlike me, sunsets over the monuments and dinosaur skeletons remain captive on my memory card. Weeds are overtaking the produce in my garden. It's as busy a summer as I can remember, and we're loving each minute as it sweeps by.

One small thing we did on the weekend at Mom's was visit an old junk shop for it's going out of business sale where I found (among other things) some adorable children's books.

I'm in love with the vintage illustration and verse, and if considered vintage (and they are) then surely so am I as the publishing date happens to be my birth year.

 

Pictured are some of the pages featuring summer from 'Just Around the Corner' by Leland Jacobs, illustration by John E. Johnson. Click image to enlarge. 

Here's an excerpt:

Night Song

When the sun has set and night has come,

The insect chorus starts to hum.

And nothing else is there to hear,

but the insect voices soft and clear.

The insects hum in sweet delight,

singing their praises of the night.

I adore this book and its innocent poems about the changing seasons. I could write an entire post about how children's books have changed. For example, this was considered a text for 2nd graders, and while my own 2nd (now going on 3rd) grader might give it a curious glance, it would never win her attention over the fifth Harry Potter book. 

Clear and clever vintage children's books are such an inspiration to me lately. I'll see if I can share the other books soon.

 

summer goals

photo credits: beach cover-up from Toast, barnby Kyrie Mead, Sara's pie , lemonade by unruly things

"I look back upon a day spent in what the world would call idleness, and for which I myself can suggest no more appropriate epithet, but which nevertheless I cannot feel to have been spent amiss. True, it might be a sin and a shame in a world such as ours to spend a lifetime in this manner; but for a few summer weeks it is good to live as if this world were heaven."

-- Nathaniel Hawthorne

As of yesterday my kids are out of school, and -- beyond baking a cherry pie, making a killer gazpacho, and feeling the mist of Niagara Falls, I have yet to itemize a list of things I want to do this summer. I think I'll have to adopt Hawthorne's philosophy.

Here's a fun project visualizing summer goals on tumblr.

How about you? Any little things you'd like for the season?

 

 

when you were small :: an excerpt

  photo: Nikon N65, watching it sail, July 2002

 

Some expressions exist in our family purely because you put them there.

When you were small, of course, you said things in your own unique, adorable way. We find ourselves uttering those mispronunciations even now, years later, in everyday use; our own familiar colloquialisms.

Getting you up for school, it eases morning tension when I remind you of the way you used to avoid nap time. I could hear you through the monitor climbing out of the crib, affirming yourself through each step: "Up, up. Odor, odor. Down, down." 

This morning checking backpacks to make sure you girls had your water bottles I mentally repeated your old words: 'dado bado'. 

As parents, we were fascinated to witness the formation of thoughts into language, which came with a slightly bittersweet pang whenever the threshold of accurate phrasing was crossed. 

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Excerpt from current project: When you were small 

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I can not work on just one thing at a time. Bits come to me here and there and I need to jot them in that moment, or they're gone. I've decided to use the blog for some of these curiosities and collections. I never did a baby book, and this is my way of marking those thoughts in retrospect. It's inspired by this children's book.

There aren't photos to accompany each entry, but I'll add photos of her at the right age and time, AFTER the story is written.

Curiosities is a big word for me lately. A label I might have to move to that upper left sidebar as a descriptor for what a reader may expect to find here.

 

around here ...

 

Around here I'm making an easy, breezy documenting summer-on-the-go project. It's all about experiencing summer through the senses. I wanted it to be very tactile and textural, like the feeling of my favorite matt finish magazine, Jamie. I'm doing little water colors on Strathmore, and the photos will be printed on Canson ink-jet Arches. Favorite photos on a rich cotton-y rag ... I'm really excited about it.

  

Around here I'm cutting, considering, and customizing (from my own point of view) a yellow clutch purse. This is just what I have in mind with a gray dress for a summer wedding rehearsal dinner.

Around here the house has been scented with oregano as my interest in baking fresh things for the kids has been revived by our garden herbs. (a new post has the recipe at one good loaf.)

 

Around here we're counting down just 2.5 days left of the school year. They're quick to shed uniforms each evening for flip flops in the grass.

 

Around here we're tasting the flavors of summer: grilled lemon chicken, new potatoes, cole slaw, burgers, and roast asparagus. I do so love taking our meals outside as the day stretches out long into evening.

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If you want to mentally get away on summer holiday, I made a summer travel-themed play-list.