Inspiration Fridays: John William Waterhouse

Before there were mori girls, before there were hipsters, before there were blogs and tumblr and Etsy...

There was John William Waterhouse.

I love paintings- they are one of my favourite art forms.  I have no skill at painting whatsoever... just ask my boyfriend.  We have some awesome puff paint stick figure drawings rotting on our bookshelves somewhere.  But I appreciate them so, so much.  I especially love paintings with romantic themes.  As much as I appreciate very well executed work, I am a sucker for content, and I like to see pretty women, flowers, handsome men, and long, flowing dresses.  Most people like that type of thing.  I enjoy the type of painting that makes me want to take a book of Gothic poetry and sit in the park on a cloudy day for hours with a latte.  To be honest... a lot of things in life make me want to do that, but the work of John William Waterhouse definitely does!

The themes are from folklore and literature.  The women are pretty, and either elegantly dressed or delicately nude.  Curiosity and despair and prevalent and draw you into the painting, evoking so much feeling.  I respond very emotionally to his work, and I hope that you find it inspiring as well.  

All of these paintings are by John William Waterhouse.

Yeah.  I love his work.  I hope you enjoy it too!

PS.  I hope I wasn't too doom and gloom yesterday.  This upcoming "Apocalypse" just gives me a moment to highlight my main intention of this blog- pointing out that we all need to be a bit more optimistic and realize that our world is pretty darn lovely and awesome, and so are the majority of the people in it.  Have optimism, have faith, make beauty, make art, love one another, accept one another, and enjoy the ride tomorrow, kids.  Hopefully it won't be a bumpy one! 

~Emily

Springy Spring Springing

I'm confirming the news: spring has arrived in New York City!!  I couldn't be happier about this.  Flowers are blooming, trees are becoming green, and the squirrels are chasing one another around in their nutty, spastic mating rituals.  Seriously, those little guys are just dashing up and down trees after one another like they are never going to run out of energy.  It's amazing.  Birds start singing their adorable songs outside of my window at about 7am.  People are wearing skirts and shorts, boots are becoming rarer.  I'm such a delighted kid right now.  Oh... and Cadbury Cream Eggs are for sale in stores.  That really means it is spring!

I know I have more photographs of frolicking squirrels somewhere... deep in the depths of my hard drive.  I'll find them and share them in the next few days.  Since they are one of the only animal species I see on a regular basis, I've grown rather fond of the furry guys.

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Through the Window or Out the Door

Sitting in the window, staring at the world, I long to join in.  Sometimes it can be hard to step outside, to risk, to be a part of life out there.  Some days, it feels more comfortable to stay snuggled up in your blankets, playing on your computer, reading a book, or watching a film.  But, you have to go out.  You have to make friends, have love, have a great time. 

Make a difference.  You have to make a difference.

Well, you don't have to... but why not?

 

So much is happening in the world right now- with pro-democracy protests in so many countries, and the protests standing up for rights here in the United States, specifically Wisconsin.  It is easy in a time like this to say that your voice doesn't matter, but it does.  You have a body, you have a voice and an opinion.  It is yours.  Go out and share it.  I mean, if you want to.

Go out and make a little bit of difference today, if you want to.  Times like this can make us meek, but they can also make us bold.  Share what you have, if you want to.

I've been doing this wonderful volunteering gig, at The Stella Adler Studio of Acting.  I attended Stella Adler's school through New York University (NYU) in Undergrad.  Almost all of my acting classes were at Adler.  The school is wonderful, but one of its best programs is the Stella Adler Outreach Program.  It provides free acting training to low-income high school students.  These students are at the studio, among students and professionals, for four or more hours a week, learning very advanced acting.  All of the young adults had to audition for placement into the program, and are taught by excellent instructors.  I have the priviledge of getting to aid these instructors two days a week.  

It's a joy to watch the difference I am making for these young people.  I hesitate to call them kids- most of them aren't.  Though they are young, some of them have had a pretty rough go, but they haven't let it get them down.   They are all insanely motivated, and auditioned for this program, to become better at an art they love.  

They inspire me every time I am there- the drive and zeal with which they approach the work puts me to shame.  There are so many days when my alarm goes off really early and I just want to (and sometimes do) go right back to sleep, instead of going to an audition.  It's so easy to look at the world and say "no," sometimes.  Doing the better thing is hard, but it's still the better thing to do.

Help someone today.  Make art.  Change the life of a child.  Be an inspiration.

I mean, if you want to.

Why not... right?

Photographs taken in the West Village.

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Inspiration Fridays: Lily Cole

She's one of my favourite models.

I've had some people tell me that I look like her... which I take as a huge compliment, because I think she's absolutely adorable. 

She just has such a cute little face, and kind of droopy eyes that give her a very endearing quality.

I don't see the resemblance, actually, but I'm just thankful that people think I might be as lovely as she is!  (I'm not)

I love her modeling, but I think even more than that, I am a fan of the type of work she gets hired to do.  Often, she wears slightly gothic clothing, or things reminiscent of a princess.  This makes me very happy.  Roses, pinup, and lolita are common in her photographs too.  She looks little and cute, yet wears things that are sexual and risque.  I like that.  Young appearance, with a serious edge. 

How Lily Cole portrays herself is the type of person I want to be.  Who she is, I don't really know.  I know very little about her as a person, I just admire her body of work as an artist.

It inspires me.

Longwood Gardens Part 2

So... remember when I told you to wait til Sunday for the rest of the Longwood Gardens photos?

Yeah..........

It's Tuesday afternoon.  Life's been really busy lately. I had a new show open on Friday, and on top of performing in it, I'm also the Dance Captain, so life has been nuts.

BUT ANYWAY.  Here are the photos!

 

 

 

There will actually be one more day of Longwood Gardens photographs after this one!  (Then just wait til I go back for the holiday light displays... )

I'd love to say that it will be posted tomorrow, but I might not be able to get it up.  I hope I do!  Every time I let this blog just sit for a few days it makes me sad.

In any case, I hope you enjoy it!  As always, your comments and emails are very appreciated :)

Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, USA

Longwood Gardens Part 1

 

Longwood Gardens is a stunning former Dupont family estate in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, not too far away from where I grew up.  There are acres upon acres of pruned outdoor gardens, stunning indoor conservatories, fields, fountains, and pruned fruit and vegetable gardens.

They also feature some special exhibits- there is one permanent installation about the gorgeous organ in the conservatory ballroom.  A temporary exhibition while I was there was about perfumes. It told how different scents are extracted from flowers and mixed together.

The indoor conservatories really are spectacular.

 

This flower (below) was one of my particular favourites.  My favourite colour has changed probably 75 times over the years.  When I was really little it was green, then purple, then burgundy, then red, then black... lately I've really been liking baby blue.  I don't know why.  There's something inherently pleasant about it.

 

Here... have some more lovely flowers!

More to come on Saturday :)

Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, USA