At the Nickelodeon: Santa Claus (1898) by G.A. Smith

At the Nickelodeon: Skeleton Frolic (1937) by Ub Iwerks

At the Nickelodeon: The Danse Macabre Filmstrip

This is a 1970s film strip that was shown in many elementary schools (including mine) featuring the "tone poem" Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns (1874). The illustrations are by Harold Dexter Hoopes. Let the bones dance!

NEW Earrings in the SHOP! All priced under $60 with elegant and dramatic styles for Autumn!

Shades of Autumn

With Autumn only a few days away...the shop has received a lovely design update featuring new photos in rich and slightly darker hues...

At the Nickelodeon: Mrs. Blandings Chooses Paint Colors

One of Myrna Loy's best scenes ever from "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House". Far more entertaining than anything you'll ever watch on HGTV - I promise.

At the Nickelodeon: The X-Rays (1897) by Georges Méliès

At the Nickelodeon: La Joie De Vivre (1934)

A nod to Loïe Fuller, touch of Cinderella, butterflies that become bouquets, skinny dipping, and a bicycle that flies... this French Surrealist film celebrates it all. The Joy of Life indeed...

Fantasy and beauty: Ulrika Kestere

I am truly captivated by the photography of Ulrika Kestere.  I could get lost in daydreams spawned by these images for hours. Here are a few photos from her 7 horses series.

and a few from her stories series:

Be sure to check out the very talented Ulrika's work on Facebook, Tumblr or her lovely Blog and take a trip to spaces in your imagination you never knew existed...

How to Attain Happiness...

a six page pamphlet. apparently attaining happiness is as easy as a wink.

At the Nickelodeon: Hatching a Car

Turns out cars...just like babies...are brought to us by birds!

Longwood Gardens: Bruce Munro - Light

Plotting the best time to visit Longwood Gardens for the magical Bruce Munro light installation...I hope the weather changes soon...I'd like to experience this in crisp Autumn air before it closes on September 29th. Also hoping to spy a pixie or two cavorting amongst the lights

Get Busy

inspirational vintage postcard... hanging over my work area

Some new pretties have been added to the shop!

At the Nickelodeon: Le Ballet Mécanique

George Antheil (the self-proclaimed "Bad Boy of Music") composed this modernist musical piece to accompany a film made by Fernand Léger & Dudley Murphy. The soundtrack and film were not united until the 1990s...but are finally united in this video. George Antheil was quite an American character. In addition to his pioneering musical compositions, he was an advice columnist, an expert of female endocrinology, and an inventor (along with Hedy Lamarr!!!) of a frequency-hopping torpedo guidance system that later served as a basis for modern communication technology such as COFDM used in wi-fi connections, and CDMA transmission protocol for cellular telephones!

The Wounded Angel

One of my favorite paintings is "The Wounded Angel" by Finnish Symbolist artist Hugo Simberg:

Doing a wee bit of internet sleuthing led me to this short film (after the jump), a re-imagining of the painting by Jennifer Bardsley:

At the Nickelodeon: Silly Symphonies - Flowers & Trees

If only animation remained as imaginative as it was back in 1932... The first animated short in full technicolor: "Flowers & Trees" courtesy of Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies series...

Flower Portraits

The majority of these gorgeous postcards are the art work of Thor E. Gyger. The postcards were printed in Switzerland during the 1940s and I am completely infatuated with them...
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Cornflower

Perennial Daisy

China Aster

Cornflower (part deux)

Alpine Soldanella

Strongly-veined Knap-weed

(the most unfortunate name for such a pretty flower)

Cactus Flower

Garden Anemones

Edelweiss

Columbine

and lastly... The Rose

At the Nickelodeon: Prohibition & Legos

I can't decide what the best aspect of this short B&W film is...the fact that a few guys took the time to tell a truncated story of Prohibition with stop action animation featuring Legos... or that two of the bootleggers are Spiderman & a Viking....

Odilon Redon

Ophelia Among the Flowers c. 1905

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Bouquet of Anemones c. 1910

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Flowers in a Vase 

 

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Vase of Flowers c. 1910

 

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Anemones and Lilac in a Blue Vase c. 1912