Christmas Pins & Holiday Art

This set of Commodore candle holder angels is one of my favorite

finds this season. 

Since becoming a regular on Pinterest, I no longer feel the need to 

own everything that charms me, but I did see a similar set in Jen's Closet on Etsy. 

hmmm

The worried angel on the left is so sweet and I love their varied expressions. 

The one next to her is like, what's wrong? pull it together, 

while the one next to her is like, huh, when do we sing? 

and the angel far right appears to be checking out some fella!

Holt Howard Reindeer candle holder 1950s

I thought I'd share some of the cute Christmas images from my

Pinterest Holiday board

They're mostly vintage, hard to resist the cute & the kitsch,

especially at the holidays.

Okay, this tree and room look hideous, but I'm sure someone once thought it was stunning. 

Oh, Jane.

Frosty Balls! Great stocking stuffer

This is Hatcher Pass in Alaska, beautiful.

Pinterest is packed with pins of cute animals. Still, this guy managed to stand out.

bottle brush snowman 1950s

Lefton snow baby figurine, looking demonic. Perfect for the holidays.

Not Christmas-y, just love them!

I adore this illustration and most of the old Holiday covers. 

As a magazine fan, I was surprised I'd never

seen Holiday before stumbling across these covers on Pinterest.

It was published from 1946-1977 and ran mostly long form travel pieces.

I just found a blog devoted to Holiday Magazine by 

Josh Lieberman and this is an interesting piece he wrote for The Paris Review 

here's a tiny excerpt -

"The most puzzling thing about the lost history of Holiday is that the magazine published so many famous writers: Joseph Heller, Irwin Shaw, Arthur C. Clarke, E. B. White, Arthur Miller, Gay Talese, Paul Bowles, Steinbeck, Saroyan, Kerouac, Cheever, O’Hara, Bellow, Thurber, Faulkner. 

It was in Holiday that Truman Capote declared that he lived in Brooklyn—by choice!"

Greetings from Brooklyn

I did a little window shopping in the West Village last week and

came upon two cool shops, Sockerbit , meaning sugar cube in English,

specializing in Scandinavian candies :)

I stopped for their sweet window display, showcasing

super cute matchbox mice by the Danish company, Maileg 

Next door is Shalva. The nicest salesgirl (in window) was giving out samples. 

I tried their hand scrub, with minerals from the Dead Sea. It felt fabulous and left a 

trace of oil, making my hands feel softer than they've been in years! 

I will definitely return to buy myself a luxurious gift or two :)

This unusual vintage card with dog face is by John Hovenstine

He's made several cute & funny cards like this, available at 

J.Hovenstine Studios on Etsy. Wish I had bought the double pug card for a friend.

Bob Staake from "Look Another Book"

I'm happy to report that I finally made it up to The Original Art Show at 

Society of Illustrators

Maira Kalman from "Looking at Lincoln"

There was a lot of terrific work! 

Unfortunately, I took the worst photos of some of my personal favorites.

Here are just a few of the pictures I can share. 

Dan Santat from "Bawk and Roll"

It's fun to see the originals plus read the names of the art directors,

editors and publishers that collaborate to make children's books the works of art 

they're capable of becoming.

Copies of the published books were included so you could compare the 

original to the reproductions and see the full stories. 

Several kids were there enjoying the exhibit and a few others, like me, 

were busy taking notes and studying details.

Jessie Hartland from "How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum"

I envy these illustrators, of course, but it's inspiring to see exhibits like this 

and to get a close-up view of the level of work being made.

Chris Van Dusen from "Randy Riley's Really Big Hit"

There seems to be an equal amount of old school painting and digital processes 

at work, as well as some nice combinations of the two. 

There was also an elaborate cut-paper piece by Giles Laroche 

Back to holidays

Have a lovely Christmas

Thanks for stopping by :)

xo, A