January Obsessions: Coltrane, Ghost Wood and Neil Gaiman

John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme on vinyl
My little record corner at home.

In the liner notes for A Love Supreme, Coltrane writes: “In the year of 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening, which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life.” Earlier in 1957, Coltrane was addicted to heroin and alcohol, fired from Miles Davis’s group (Source) and, I imagine, at an incredibly bleak and dark point in his life. This album reflects that journey out of the darkness into a state of grace. It’s a beautiful piece of music and it reminds me that out of dark times can come light and it’s sometimes most poignant and startling when you are close to it. If you don’t know the album – go get it! If you do, and most of you probably do, then I’m just joining the club a little late. Feel free to send me more album suggestions!
The Cesca Chair

Marcel Breuer’s Cesca Chair (Source)

I am looking for a pair of interesting side chairs for my studio and the Cesca Chair is on my short list. I like the airy look, love the caning and the tubular steel – they have an architectural vibe that I think would look great in a room that wants a little gravity. Like when I wear glasses, these chairs bump up a rooms I.Q..

I don’t love the mirrors on the wall, and the small furry animal (cat?) is bothering me for some reason, but check out how beautiful these chairs look and with the moss green! (Source)

You can spend a lot and get the “real” Cesca from DWR or, there’s another site on line (there always is), and they also claim they are selling the real Cesca: The Breuer Chair Company – it’s only $189 here.
Montana Ghost Wood
A home covered in Ghost Wood (Source)

Do you remember my garage studio space? There’s a reason I haven’t shown any photo’s of the exterior – it’s embarrassingly ugly. However, I have a plan! We’ve taken the asbestos shingles (real nice) off of it and are getting ready to clad it in Montana Ghost Wood. It looks like reclaimed wood, but it’s a new wood product made up of “SFI and FSC certified lumber, beetle and forest fire killed lumber”. It’s green, it’s affordable (at least for my small studio) and I love the look of it. I got the idea after Dave took off the asbestos shingles and exposed the dark, 1930’s wide, wood planks. The building looks fantastic right now and I wish I could leave it, but I need weatherproofing. Reclaimed wood was out of my budget and I was really excited to find this stuff. I’ll post photo’s of it when it’s done!

This is the color we got for the studio “Silver City” (Source)
Books
I’ve read a few books since my last post that were quite good – The Invention of Wings, The Fifth Season and Ordinary Grace in particular – but the one that I’ve enjoyed the most is Neil Gaiman’s The View from the Cheap Seats. It’s a selection of essays about all kinds of things that really float my boat: myths, art, artists, reading, magic, mystery – you get the idea. I’m a huge fan girl of Neil’s work – yes, I did call him by his first name, and this book is wonderful. Are you reading anything good?

Inspiring, funny and off beat – he’s one of my favorites.

“We all have stories. Or perhaps it’s because, as humans, we are already an assemblage of stories and the gulf that exists between us as people is that when we look at each other we might see faces, skin color, gender, race, or attitudes. But we don’t see – we can’t see the stories. And once we hear each other’s stories, we realize the things we see as dividing us are all too often illusions; falsehoods. That the walls between us are, in truth, no thicker than scenery.” – Neil Gaiman, The View from the Cheap Seats.