Seeing Green

Catching New Yorkers Catching Banksy

New York is currently all in a tizzy over "Better Out Than In," a month-long "residency" by British street artist Banksy. It started October 1, with Banky's posting of this photo, a clue to the location of a piece he created on the Lower East Side. In less than 24 hours, it was defaced and removed. The same thing is happening to most of the other work he's been putting up, which is quickly turning his daily website postings into immediately-must-know info if you want to see his art before it disappears.

I got lucky this morning and figured out the location of today's piece in one of my favorite places for graffiti-hunting: Red Hook. The 'hood neighbors mine, so I hopped on a bus and got a chance to see "helium balloon" in all its unspoiled glory. "It's less than three hours old," another art-spotter said to me, just as it started to rain. "It's like we're seeing a newborn baby."

I'm now very curious to see how this little guy will grow and change over the next few days. Because the end of that spray-painted string is simply BEGGING for something to hang off it--I mean, other than just a few New Yorkers with iPhones and Instagram accounts, don't you think?

[UPDATE: It's already been tagged! That was fast--check it here.]

 

 

Since the Last Time We Spoke, or Views from My New Office

When I look back on the life of this blog -- an almost three-year endeavor, started in October 2009, officially because I "wanted to have a blog," unofficially because I needed a creative outlet to mourn some personal changes I had just been through -- I am amazed at where it's taken me and what it's all meant. More than anything, it's been my little engine that could: my space, my place without an editor, my inspiration for digging back into photography, my neck of the woods. 

I've recently gone through some personal changes again, but this time it's more of the happy sort. I've been holding back on sharing it here for some reason, like it's been my secret to savor -- or perhaps because, when I post this, it makes it all officially official. But it is official. And here's the deal: About a month ago, I left my job at Real Simple in order to become a freelance writer.

(Freelance! Don't you dig that word in every way?)

Now, to actually go freelance, you have to work to build a client base for a while -- and since the start of the year, I've been working around 80 hours a week to make sure I could comfortably make this shift. (Which should explain why my blog has been so quiet.) (Also: I'm exhausted, y'all.) I've been spending time saving and asking questions and consulting friends and family, and around mid-July, I announced my plans to my co-workers. They took the news with such grace, generously giving me love and enthusiasm for my decision -- a big one for me, especially since I had been at the mag for five years. I could not be more grateful for those friends and that amazing team. Their support meant the world to me.

I credit much of this new step to the work I've done on this little blog. It's the place where Cerentha Harris, then-editor of the Lifework blog at Herman Miller, posted a comment saying she wanted to do a tour of my studio. I started writing as contributor for her after that, and today, now that Cerentha left to launch Mom.me, I am the editor of that blog. And who replaced me as contributor? The amazing Jamie Latendresse, whom I met on this blog after I featured his "4 Seats on the 1" print in October 2010. (The print got a particularly awesome reception when I mentioned it in an Apartment Therapy tour of my digs -- another result of M-Dashing.) It's been connection after connection, blessing after blessing. All because I wanted a blog, and needed to deal with my life. And now here we go.

I'll continue to fill you in as this adventure unfolds -- there's much to share (like, much much), but I am, admittedly, still slightly overwhelmed with the possibilities and the flexibility and the opportunities that come with being my own small business. There.is.so.much.to.learn. And change finally feels so good.

xo

More Lovin' from ESPO

Artist Stephen Powers' "Love Letter to Brooklyn" isn't the only love he's spreading around in downtown BK. These two other buildings are also just as eye-popping. I dig that the sign in the top photo is actually supposed to be related to the pizza place below it (those red circles in "YOU" are, um, slices of pepperoni)--read about the debacle here.