Larkin & Catcher

I’ve just came across these images of artwork by the Belgian painter Fernard Khnopff again:

I find his work quite disturbing — but in a ‘beautifully disturbing’ way. The two on this page are the only images of his work I’ve seen until today and I’ve been surprised to see the variety of his work in terms of subject matter and style. A lot of it is less dark but I see some sense of underlying threat in a lot of it.

Khnopff’s motto was “one only has oneself” — which might be true but it’s still a pretty depressing observation on life. More on Khnopff and his art here.

Back to the shop

We’ve just put some fantastically beautiful postcard sets in our store. They’re from one of our very favourite artists and illustrators, Lisa Evans at Firefluff. It seems that everyone who set’s eyes on Lisa’s work can’t help but be enthralled by it — looking at her designs is like entering into a magical world — peaceful, yet (to my mind) with a very slight edge of unease.

  Firefluff’s Postcard Sets

We’re pleased to announce that printed cotton shopper bags, featuring the artwork of the talented young Scottish illustrator Louise Cunningham will soon be available in the Larkin & Catcher store.

Watch out for our new Artists and Designers Profiles page — which will be appearing in the next week. Louise will be the first artist to be featured there.

If you’s like to be featured on the Profiles page, please get in touch — details on the Contact page of the Larkin & Catcher store. Only independent designers, artists and crafters, please.

    I love these moody, atmospheric fine art photographs from the Minneapolis-based artist Ericka Bailie-Byrne. The Abandoned Farmhouse and Haunted are both priced at $15 and are available from Ericka’s Etsy store.

    Delisa Carnegie creates original, handcrafted jewellery in her studio in the mountains of Idaho. Each piece of jewellery is unique and Delisa will also work with clients to create one-off custom-made pieces. The Midnight Princess Lapis Lazuli Necklace (pictured on the left) is $75.00 and the Her Universe Indian Agate in Sterling Silver wire pendant (pictured on the right) is $40 — you can find more of Delisa’s designs at Jewelry In Wire.

   It’s taken me a while to work Petite Paris out and I’m still not there yet. All I know is that it takes all my self-control not to buy out their entire stock. See that gorgeous little ‘Elf’ ring pictured on the left? Well, I had it in my shopping cart and then I did something I never do – I put it back! This is because I’m supposed to be on a strict economy-drive, as I’m about to fork out a small fortune on furniture (there’s a serious storage shortage going on here at the moment). So I’m trying not to buy anything which is not absolutely essential just now but I can’t see that lasting too long.

The reason I was confused is that the site seems to be partly in Japanese and the prices are in Yen and Euros – it took me a while to gather that the site is run by someone from Japan, who is now based in Paris. The shop is full of the kind of quirky products that I so love and includes fashion accessories, fabrics, household goods and stationery – many of which are handmade. There are also some lovely vintage products, including that charming little tricycle. I’ll probably have to double-check this – but as far as I can see, it appears that they do ship internationally. Which is a good thing, if I go back for that ring…

Update: I’ve been informed that Petite Paris does ship worldwide with FedEx!

  I’m a big reader of blogs and I’d rate the Miss Doxie blog as one of my all time favourites — great writing, really funny and sweetly self-deprecating. The only annoying thing about Miss Doxie is that she’s so damn talented – not only does she hold down a job as an attorney but she’s also a gifted artist. The good news is that you can now buy her work at Shop Doxie and the very good news is that she’s got a sale on just now.

There’s a variety of cute little pieces, including jewellery, button sets and magnets and also paper goods and original artwork. The image on the left is one of her ‘stuffed Doxies’ (sweet little dachshund softies) – Miss Doxie has a bit of a soft-spot for Dachshunds and 10% of all the sales from her site go to the Dachshund Rescue of North America.

BACK TO THE LARKIN & CATCHER STORE

  If I ever rein-in my shoe-buying habit long enough to be able to afford a piece of artwork, I know for certain that one of Scott Radke’s sculptures will be first on my list. I’m sure some people will be freaked out by Radke’s work but I find his creations beautiful and oddly moving.
   Nathalie Lete has far too much talent for one person and the pure breadth of her creative skills is awe-inspiring. Lete not only produces children’s and graphic books but she also paints and creates a wonderful array of ceramic and textile pieces.
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