stellargirl returns

get to know my blogroll: only partially insane

My friends, today I unleash upon you the joy that is Leah of Only Partially Insane. Leah's blog is a mix of style and home decor with a healthy dose of celebrity snark (her open letter to Robert Smith of The Cure will have you HOWLING). I have always found Leah to be a very unique and fun person, and I think you will too... enjoy.

What is the name of your blog?
Only Partially Insane

How long have you been writing your blog?
About 3 years-ish.

What blogs do you read on a regular basis?
Design*Sponge, Decor8, Perez Hilton, Oh Joy!, Jurgen Nation, Stepping Over the Junk, Sarcomical, SF Girl By the Bay, Posie Gets Cozy, The Superficial, Stellargirl Returns (of course!), Apt 2024 and Blankbaby.

What is your favorite shop in Philadelphia?
Well, my favorite shop is actually not in Philadelphia. It's somewhere out in the Lansdale area. It's a thrift store called Care-n-Share. There are 3 separate parts to it....a furniture shop, a clothes shop, and a housewares shop. They have the best stuff. But I have to admit that I also love me some Target!

Describe your dream job.
My dream job would probably be working for myself doing interior design consulting / home staging & photography. In fact that is something that I'm thinking about starting as a freelance side business in the very near future. My own house can't really take any more re-decorating so I need to funnel that energy into something useful. Space planning & interiors has always been something that I did...even as a little kid. My grandma likes to tell the story of how when I was three years old I re-decorated the entire Christmas tree because I didn't think the ornaments were arranged properly.

Where do you draw your inspiration?
I draw my inspiration from creative, imaginative people....and most of those people are my friends. I admire them more than most of them know.

What do you think are the cheapest/quickest ways to improve the look of a space?
Two things actually... 1) De-clutter and organize. We all own too much stuff....so if you really take stock of what you have you'll find that you probably own about 20% too much. By removing the excess, your space immediately seems bigger and less messy. 2) Re-paint. Nothing looks worse than dingy walls, water stains, ugly paint, or white walls everywhere. It's cheap and easy to do.

If money were no object, what kind of home would you live in and where would it be?
For me it's really not about money and price....it's about style and location. I'm in love with 1930's craftsman cottages. Particularly if they have wide front porches and involve some stonework. I'm not particular about the location as long as it's on a quiet, tree-lined street and has easy access to things. I love the city, but I'm a small town girl at heart. The older I get the more I miss lots of trees and manicured lawns....something you find in very old neighborhoods. Currently my favorite neighborhood is parts of Mt Airy and Chestnut Hill. I could NEVER imagine myself living in any place that had been built after the 1940's. That's probably as new as I could go.

What do you love about your dogs Simon & Nigel?
I love EVERYTHING about them. They're warm and snuggly, smart and adorable. They're one of the best things about my life right now.

If you had your own TV show, what would it be called?
Holy Crap! She's got a TV Show!

Do you have an image that best represents your style?
A little dreamy, slightly off-kilter and out of focus, and reaching for new heights.

get to know my blogroll: marisa mcclellan

(photo courtesy of Scott McNulty)

I am so happy to feature my dear friend Marisa McClellan as the next person on my blogroll you should get to know! She's writing on more blogs than most people can shake a stick at, yet somehow she still manages to get away from her laptop long enough to dazzle your tastebuds with her homemade delectables. Keep your eye on this one!

What are the names of your blogs? How long have you been writing each blog?
I started blogging with Apartment 2024 in February of 2005 with a little blogger blog. Then I helped the Metroblogging Philadelphia get started in June of 2005, right before Live 8. In January 2006 I decided I wanted to blog every book I read that year and so started My Book Project. It sort of fizzled after that year was over although I really liked the practice of keeping track of everything I read. I was content with those for awhile and then Scott and I started playing around with the idea of making an online cooking show and Fork You was born. This summer I started Stories from Reading Terminal Market, signed on to blog occasionally at Farm to Philly and got hired to write about food at Slashfood. Earlier this fall I also started contributing to Green Daily cause they pay me. The blogs, they have taken over my life.

What blogs do you read on a regular basis?
I have something ridiculous like 300 blogs in my reader (over half of them are food blogs). A couple of my favorites are Mrs. Sundberg (who blogs once a week for Garrison Keillor), Orangette (a fun food blog from which a book will be coming soon), Smitten Kitchen (a food blog with gorgeous photography) and of course I wait with bated breath for new posts from all my friends.

What is your favorite word?
I'm awfully fond of the word salacious. I also like the word stark, because it feels good in the mouth when you say it.

What do you like to cook when you really want to make someone feel special?
When I want someone to feel special I either cook french toast or I roast chicken. People don't frequently take the time to make breakfast these days and so it becomes a special treat. I do roast chicken because provided the person eats meat, there's always some part of the chicken that a person likes.

What is your most used kitchen implement?
My most used implement is my smallest cutting board. In a kitchen with seven cutting boards, I always seem to turn to the small rectangle that I bought at Ikea three or four years ago. It has developed that silky patina that wood gets from lots of chopping and scrubbing and it feels good to touch.

What would your dream kitchen look like? Feel like?
My dream kitchen would have a deep sink, a five-burner gas stove and lots of counter space that was easy to clean. There would be lots of open shelving and a hanging pot rack. The fridge would be roomy and the floors would be wooden. It doesn't have to be huge or fancy, just totally workable and comfortable.

What do you love about food in Philadelphia?
Philly is such a great food town because people here aren't afraid to eat. I feel like this is a city of tasters, of people who aren't afraid to try new stuff and to allow the old reliable dishes to evolve. However, we also know when to say enough and turn back to the classics like a hoagie from Wawa or a perfect seeded loaf of bread from Sarcone's. Sometimes the good stuff requires no tweaking.

What region of the country (or the world) best represents your palate?
When it comes to food, I like that the west coast will always be home.

What is the most decadent thing you have ever eaten?
A couple of summers ago I spent the day with two of my best friends in the Italian Market. We shopped and planned our meal as we saw what looked good that day. Then we went back to Ingrid's house in East Falls and cooked together. There was something so indulgent about having the entire day revolve around a single meal. We ate out on the front porch, sighing contentedly after every few bites and occasionally saying, "This is SO good. I can't believe we made this!"

What is the single best ingredient in cooking a great meal?
I think that the single most important ingredient in cooking a good meal is the mindset you bring to the process. If you are hurried, frustrated or angry, your food is going to reflect that. If you give yourself the space to let go of some of your stress before approaching the stove (or microwave/sink/cutting board), you'll be better able to handle the unexpected moments.

get to know my blogroll: in it for life

I'd like to introduce you to my very old friend Tim McFarlane, a magnificent painter and a very kind and creative soul. Tim has been painting for a very long time and I'm glad to see that his hard work has paid off, as he is still gifted with inspiration and an ever-growing body of work. Be sure to mark your calendars for Thursday, September 20th to kick off his latest solo exhibit (see below for details).

What is the name of your blog?
In It For Life

When did you start your blog?
I started this blog around 3 1/2 years ago - February, 2004

Can you remember the first moment you knew that you were an artist?
I don't know if it was any one moment, but it was more like art was the one thing I really enjoyed working at in high school. I've stuck with it ever since.

How do you find inspiration?
I find inspiration in a lot of places - music, other artists' work, my own work, the world around me in general...

What kind of materials do you use?
My primary materials are paint and canvas. I also paint on wood and do works on paper using paint, ink and graphite in various combinations.

How has your work evolved since you began painting?
I started out learning traditional realist techniques in high school and moved to abstraction while in college.

Has there been an artist or exhibit that really moved you?
Too many to mention, but Richard Serra ranks pretty high on my list of favorite artists. His current retrospective at MoMA is amazing. What I like most is what he does with physical and psychological space using industrial steel. Many of his larger pieces loom over the viewer threatening bodily harm while also maintaining something of a beautifully lyrical presence.

What is your favorite piece of your own work?
'Plume' is my favorite work from the past year or so. It's something of a breakthrough piece for me that's been the window to some of the paintings I've been doing for the past 8 months or so.

What blogs do you read on a regular basis?
Roberta Fallon and Libby Rosof's Artblog, Modern Art Notes (Tyler Green, out of Washington, D.C.),
Stellargirl (how could I not?), some photography blogs, and some people on LiveJournal.

How has starting a blog altered your creative process?
It hasn't changed much of anything, creatively. I've always written about whatever I might be doing in the studio, mainly in paper journals, of which I have a bunch of. The difference with the blog is that a lot of that internal process is put out publicly. Not all of it, but a lot.

Please tell us about any upcoming shows you have.
I have a solo exhbition coming up in September at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, near Rittenhouse Square. It's titled, 'Stratum' and consists of mainly new paintings done over the summer. 'Stratum' runs from September 20-December 30, 2007
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 20th, 5:30-7:30pm

new feature: get to know my blogroll!

I'm kicking off a new feature here on Stellargirl - a chance for you to get to know my blogroll! I read MANY blogs, but I publish a list of people I know personally (some better than others) to spread the love and support my peers.

My first featured blog is Poptown! written by Philip Looney. I recently asked him some questions about comics and graphic novels and that conversation inspired this idea. So read and enjoy, and maybe you will become a Poptown! subscriber, too!

1) What is the name of your blog?
Poptown!

2) When did you start your blog?
November 24, 2004

3) When did your obsession with comics start?
Probably at age 8 or so, when I got my first Archie comic. As odd as this sounds, at a young age, I realized that I wanted a hobby. I had tried collecting coins and baseball cards to that point, but it never stuck. Then I got The New Archies Digest #3, and that was all she wrote.

4) Do you like to draw?
Yes, though I'm not very good at it, which is why I haven't drawn in a while and am so out of practice.

5) Who is your favorite superhero and why?
Batman, because through sheer human will, he turned himself into a one man war on crime.

6) What are your thoughts on comic books vs graphic novels?
This is sort of a philosophical question believe it or not. I subscribe to a broad view that anything that uses pictures in a sequence to tell a story is comics (i.e. those instructions on what to do in an emergency in an airplane.)

That aside, most everyone agrees that a graphic novel is the same thing as a regular comic as most people think of them - it's telling a story with pictures and words, though in a longer form than the usual 24 pages. So graphic novel is a format, comics is a medium.

7) Marvel or DC?
DC - though you wouldn't know it by what I'm reading now...

8) Which comic book storyline is the most memorable to you?
That's tough - I would say Dark Knight Returns, because for me it is the definitive Batman story.

9) What blog(s) do you read every day?
the-isb.com because Chris is my homey, and he's funny and he updates everyday. Beaucoupkevin.com for most of the same reasons. There are tons of others, but I only check them when they update *cough* stellargirl *cough*

10) Attach your favorite comic / illustration and a few words to go with it.
This is a cover from Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #6 from 1968 by Jim Steranko. Steranko did very little comics work, but it had a high impact on the medium, introducing many design elements that weren't there before. This is one of my favorite covers of all time. You can check out others here: http://www.comics.org/series.lasso?SeriesID=1871