Decorate the bus!: Italy's Amalfi Coast

 Amalfi Coast, Italy

Bravo's floor tile took me to letterpress journals, to floating scarves, to books of frabric samples, takes me back to - floor tiles.

I was lucky enough a few years back to study philosophy in Italy for a few weeks (what up Lacan!), even luckier was when it was all over I still had parts of my brain intact and a couple of extra weeks to do all those things of the body that philosophy seems to discredit (or at the very least ignore). Eating and sleeping my way across the Italian countryside, I got off a regional train on the side of the road outside of the coastal town of Amalfi, walked down seven hundred and fifty steep concrete steps, and when i finally reached the street below - looked up to see the biggest display of decorative tile I could ever imagine.

If you love The Real housewives of New Jersey as much as I do, this might not seem too out of place, but believe me - this was something special. While I waited patiently at the bus stop to take me to the sea side (the other side) of the mountain, I thought to myself - back splash- geometric design or landscaoe?

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That musing on tile patterns didn't last long, as it turned out, while laying in the Mediterranean sun,  I got pretty home sick. I didn't want any more caprese salads, and opted instead for a good ol'back home cheeseburger and chocolate milkshake. The only problem being that the only milkshake I could find was on the alcoholic drink menu, and I had to explain to a very confused waiter that I wanted it without the shot of Kaluha and no rum either. The cheeseburger was square instead of a circle and I could taste a hint of alcohol in the milkshake, both taking me away from the childhood memories I was trying to rest in. The saving grace of that meal: A man at a nearby table asks the waiter where his heart is. The waiter does not hesitate and places a hand on his chest, "here."

JFK might not have been so glad to see me, filthy from an all night plane ride, but I couldn't wait to use the bathroom there and get back on good ol'back home Interstate - 95.

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For my next feet of Auto-blog-ism  - - expect pigment and journeys even further into the psyche. 

Mathematics and Birthdays

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The inspiration for this post came from a few different directions. Last week The Sea celebrated a birthday. Let's just say I "put off" (read: kind of forgot) birthday shopping until way way late. Luckily beautiful girls make it easy to buy them beautiful things. The Sea loves the aesthetic of life. If The Sea could have one of everything in a simple repeating pattern and a vintage inspired modern color - I bet she would trade her pitbull's first born for the chance.

She would've loved a set of these letterpress journals from Pistachio Press pictured above, unlucky for her my only shopping options were by foot and Etsy ordering (and waiting for delivery) was out of the question.

So that was the first inspiration for today's post - the second:

I have been armpit and over head deep in the studio these days, contemplating my navel, your navel, the way I see things, the way you see things, and how these things might all be connected. 

Thinking about Automatism, I thought about auto-blog-ism.  By following the thin thread in my head, over the next week of posts, I will display this feat of human intellect and inqury, here, now, at The Mountain and The Sea. (Or perhaps it will be just another display of the new and the dazzling internet-inpsired ADD.) Either way, I think it will be fun.

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Notice the floor tile in Manuel Alvarez Bravo's photograph "Fallen Sheet", in our last post, beautiful repetitive geometric design - brings me to  thinking about the addition of texture to pattern when skimming the notebook selection of Pistachio Press, takes me to the weight of these scarves, both physical and visual.

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Taken by Stop-Look-Repeat these images are ghost-y surrealist screen-shots of Epice's winter collection. In their nearly see through abstraction, these scarves become animals, they become harbinger's of the forest-past.

Leads me to think more about fabric, and what I might trade a day-old baby pitbull for.

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Viola! Norwich Textile's webpage on "Understanding Pattern Books".

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These books like whole-grain coffee cake, healthy and delicious.

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Which leads us next to the land of espresso and ceramic tiles. (You'll just have to come back and see...)

In the meantime, I encourage you all out there to Auto-ism with me. Can you make it around the world in 4 disparate thoughts? Through time and back again? Notice this week how your inspiration moves through and in turn moves you.

Manuel Alvarez Bravo

Manuel Alvarez Bravo - Fallen Sheet- 1940s

Manuel Alvarez Bravo - Somewhat Gay and Graceful - 1942

Manuel Alvarez Bravo- Laughing Mannequins - 1930s

I can't find my mind, can you? After a particularly busy start to Fall (... a particularly long break in blog posting...) and a particularly long night - nothing makes me feel better on this lovely lost Sunday afternoon then to look at the surrealist photographs of Manuel Alvarez Bravo.

What to say? Born in 1902 in Mexico City with the last name BRAVO - there is nothing more that needs to be said. (Read more about all those details, here.)