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Support local this Black Friday and Saturday - Little Boxes at ink & peat

LITTLE BOXES LINK HERE

A Bountiful Harvest Awaits

We're thrilled about the sunshiny weather we've had this past week, even if it is officially cold and windy outside! With the sun melting the first frost and the last of the leaves, we thought it'd be nice to post something warm and cozy-feeling to celebrate this week of cooking, gatherings, and Thanksgiving festivities. We've been having so much fun at the shop - up to our elbows in spiced candles, Christmas ornaments, and various stacks of amazing cookbooks. We have an impressive collection of seasonal harvest-inspired cookbooks right now that make us want to camp out in the kitchen all week with the crock pot on and an oven filled with savory tarts, pumpkiny sweets, and roasting chestnuts! We relish this time of year with its bountiful harvest and festive occasions that draw us out to the farmers markets and inspire a creative kitchen. Here's a few of our favorite harvest food picks! Enjoy!

YUMMM. This autumnal take on bruschetta is a winning combo of sweet-roasted pumpkin and creamy goat cheese dashed with spicy arugula. 

Pickle it! You can pickle anything these days and turn it into a bright and flavorful feast - like the pickled beet and acorn sqaush platter we found here!

The autumn harvest is all about soup! Roasted squash, golden chestnuts, and buttery mushrooms are some of our favorite ingredients for these simple, warming meals (these soups found here, here, and here.)

We found these incredibly wild mushrooms here! 

Wild mushrooms are abundant this time of year. Check out the receipe for these delicious, melt-in-your-mouth mushroom toasts over at Smitten Kitchen!

Savory, savory, savory! We think the humble brussel sprout, roasted to perfection with some apples, could steal the spotlight this Thanksgiving. And we'll definitiely be having a slice of Yotam Ottolenghi's caramelized garlic tart! (These savory dishes found here and here).  

Smooth and sweet, pears make the perfect autumn-buttery fruit crumble. And yes, we'll have ours ala mode! (Pear delights found here and here).

Give us a spoon! What a treat it would be to crack into this creme brulee pumpkin pie!

ink & peat staff pick! We love this cookbook from cooking and gardening extraordinares, Todd Porter and Diane Cu. Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at ink & peat!

 

Written by Holly (at ink & peat)

 

 

Hello, James Gordon: Paper Extraordinaire

Be still our hand-cut paper hearts! This week our traveling, blog-loving eyes took us all the way to Sydney, Australia where Scottish-born mixed-media artist, James Gordon, produces magnificent paper creations. When you're an artist working with french paper, watercolor, a blade that cuts feather-thin, and you've got as much talent as a bottle of champagne has bubbles, then you had better run with it. This artist certianly has! We love the wonder-with-a-splash-of-edgy style of Gordon's signature ink and watercolor illustrations - trimmed, layered, and set by hand to bring the world around us glittering to life through this most humble art. We'll be following James Gordon's paper trail for a long time to come. Have a look!

We love this exquisite custom table setting with paper "Cocktail Hands" created by James Gordon for a Great Gatbsy themed soiree.

 

(Photo credits here, here, here, here, and here)

Written by Holly (at ink & peat)

 

 

     

Brightly Spiced

With Thanksgiving just ahead, we've filled the shop with a wonderful selection of colder-weather cook books chock-full of recipes to keep us happy and well fed this holiday season. The titles and covers are all so inviting I could never pick a favorite, but I'm certainly impressed with the Grandaddy of them all, The Spice Bible by chef and cookbook author, Jane Lawson. At 450 pages and 250 recipes that include the histories of spices from around the world, Lawson gives this big, beautiful world of flavor the royal treatment. Just a glance had me dreaming about the sweet and smoky brightness of spice markets in the Far East. What I wouldn't give to visit one someday! In the meantime, I'll be cooking (and dreaming) through the pages of The Spice Bible ... and enjoying my new spiced-up bar of Coffee Mint soap by Saipua from ink & peat. Delish!

This spice market photograph presents some of the richest colors on the organic color scale.

Take a look at these mouth-watering pyramids of spice!

We'd just love to scoop all the spices we want from this honeycombed gathering of fragrant spices found here.

Nice spoons! Very spicy eye candy photography from William Lingwood.

This most hefty cookbook speaks to the natural, culinary powers of spices. Especially when - sometimes - just a pinch will do! 

Written by Holly (at ink & peat)

 

We Belong Together: Paintings and Patterns

Some things just belong together. Like feather and bone or haystack rocks and the sea or coffee with cream. Working at such a lovely shop as ink & peat, I'm learning that great design follows the same rule. This past week was our big holiday floor set and the shop is fresh pressed with all of our gorgeous new product! We have a little bit of everything that's lovely and it was an amazing day of working together to create a feast for the eye. We'll have pictures up soon, but in the meantime, it got me thinking - all those shapes, colors, and patterns - it takes careful work and artful gestures to make it all come together in one space. I left inspired to pick a few of my favorite works of art that compliment that wheel of patterns, textures, and colors that reflect the high aesthetic we love to tap in to.    

This snapshot of peeling wallpaper and abandoned house debris draws our eye to the pale elegance of Christina's World (1948) by Andrew Wyeth. He spent months on the painting's far-field landscape. When it came time to choose a color for Christina's dress he imagined "a pink dress like a faded lobster shell ..." "I put this pink tone on her shoulder," Wyeth remembers, "and it almost blew me across the room."  

Stripes galore! This poppy print with mustard piping makes a seamless statement when we put it next to the very moustached (and striped!) gents in Henri Rosseau's charming masterpiece The Football Players (1908)

Vincent Van Gogh's Landscape Under a Stormy Sky (1888) set against this pattern reminds us of warm summer rainstorms. We love any color palette that marries the soft glow of wheat tones with swirling blues and greys.

John Singer Sargent's most infamous painting, Madame X (1884) catapulted the classic black dress (and its Muse) into infamy. So very elegant! Especially next to this winged french lace pattern.

From the Boston punk scene to haunting self-portraits, photographer Mark Morrisroe documented the boom of 1980s youth culture that hit the East Coast. We love the trio of cats, soft lighting, and big pink dress in Morrisroe's photograph, Fascination (1982.) And we couldn't resist throwing a few more meows into the mix with this illustrated Siamese cat pattern. 

Serious flower power. Rich, burnished reds and forest greens flow seamlessly between this painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo (Flora, 1588) and keyhole door by Josef Frank.

Absolutely dreamy! Wayne Thiebaud's painting Rosebud Cakes (1963) paired with this sugar frosting-colored rose pattern makes us wish we were recling on a Marie Antionette sofa and reaching for a petit four. 

Written by Holly (at ink & peat)

Thanksgiving flowers at ink & peat

Holiday faves from Honey Kennedy

Jen over at one of our favorite blogs  - Honey Kennedy - did a nice Holiday roundup for us at ink & peat. Take a look at her post here. Get 10% OFF all orders at INK & PEAT (online) with promo code: FALLHONEY now thru 11/22/13. Please print this if using in-store.There are lots of other great discounts for other great shopsand products so make sure and take a peek!

Design Poetics: the Portrait

So many pretty portraits found their way into our design fever this week, we had to share a few favorites! Hanging or leaning, old or new, these framed beauties never fail to catch the eye with the color and dimension they bring to any wallspace. We're amazed at how such a strong focal point manages to hold its own while showcasing everything that surrounds it. Magnifique! 

This beautiful photograph from Dust Jacket Attic captures a rare balance of glamour, design, portrait, and still-life. 

The sophisticated ram's head portrait brings hormony to the various materials used in the tabletop design we found here.

We love the brilliant contrast between the clean, straight lines of a portrait canvas and stacked shelves of nuetral pottery here.

 

American Gothic or Mid-Century Modern? We love both! (photos found here and here) 

 

A smaller, tucked away portrait makes a beautiful backdrop for a variety of heights and shapes as seen here.   

  "Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter."            ~ Oscar Wilde

written by Holly (at ink & peat)