Truth and Beauty

...’s paintings almost seem like they’re about to be taken over by the vines, flowers and grasses that tangle around the central figures. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what we can learn from the PRB and from the English and American Arts and Crafts movements. To be frank, I’m tired of my own and my generation’s cynicism and irony and I’m haunted by Adam Curtis’ critique of self-expression in contemporary art. I think it’s well past time to ge...

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Happy 2020!

...t Burne-Jones, ….his pet grandson used to be punished by being sent to stand in a corner with his face to the wall. One day on being sent there he was delighted to find the wall prettily decorated with fairies, flowers, birds, and bunnies. His indulgent grandfather had utilised his talent to alleviate the tedium of his favourite’s period of penance. Thanks to the Pre-Raphaelite Society for these images....

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Closed vs. Open Floor Plans

...quarters with their own entrances. One even had a room just for preparing flowers and a kitchen devoted entirely to cleaning game shot from a balcony off the second story (the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills!). The “out of sight, out of mind” servant is one of the chief arguments used for the open floor plan: that is, that an open floor plan liberates the cook (often the woman of the house) from the servant role. But I’m not so sure. Sometimes...

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Weekend Linkages: All Play and No Work

...Drawing by finish architect Uno Ullberg, 1903. Bicycle powered car All Work and No Play Google Maps Provided Users With a ‘Potentially Fatal’ Hiking Trail on This Mountain Historic “Garden City” is Surprisingly Anti-Gardening Exponential Economist Meets Finite Physicist Weird fractal Romanesco cauliflowers start life as failed flowers...

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Weekend Tweets: Poppies, Insane Comics and Black Metal Cats

...nia poppies bring CA sunshine wherever they grow! https://t.co/bFeKr66P7e #flowers #history pic.twitter.com/3aMFNOtv8I — Sarah Stierch (@Sarah_Stierch) April 25, 2016 Astydamia latifolia grows on bare rock on N African coasts (+ Canaries). Relative of rock samphire. Love this plant! pic.twitter.com/q9RpE2ltXA — Chris Thorogood (@thorogoodchris1) April 24, 2016 Insane Comic Books Warn Phoenix Children That Biking Will Kill Them https://t.co/77XRpb1...

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