best of the internet - september 2024
I'm reviving the tradition of best of the internet! I keep so many links saved in drafts of these posts that I never quite hit "publish" on, and then the month changes and the name isn't valid anymore. Exciting to have made it past a whole year on this blog such that now I need to specify what year these 'best of the internets' are from.
Many of these might simply be images I found that made me swoon.
ukrainian artists to support
Recently I started looking for ways to support Ukraine, so I googled around for Ukrainian artists selling their wares to audiences abroad. These necklaces struck me as absolutely gorgeous, and I wanted to promote them here in case you also fall for them or have a woman in your life to gift them to. The shop is based in Lviv.
The Carpathian mountains – Stumbling upon this image on a Wikipedia search, I was struck by the magnetism of this mountain range. The way the bright, festive colors of the rooves stand out against the muted plains, with jagged peaks rising up. The raw beauty of such a place.
The Carpathian Mountains lie in large part in Romania, but also Ukraine and neighboring countries.
Seeing landscapes like this, in the form of such jaw-dropping photography, emphasizes the injustice of seizing this heritage and robbing the people who rightfully live there of their land.
This piece by Noema magazine on mountains sums up many of my feelings well.
Chamois – the most adorable animal you never knew. Native to the Carpathian mountains, and also to the Alps and the Pyrenees!
It's a species of goat-antelope. I love that that's a thing. Other species include urials and stone sheep which also are cool-looking.
Old-growth forests
The Carpathian mountains are filled with old-growth forests - forests that have remained undisturbed by humans for multiple centuries. I love the way the moss bedecks the roots of trees, the smooth gradient of green as it claims everything in its path.
The US has several old-growth forests, which is very exciting if you're based in the United States. Wikipedia has an index of them (happy to see my home state has a few -- I think every state has at least one) and this organization is dedicated to protecting them.
for those making a collage
Antique book patterns – This is extremely niche, but it's a digital archive on Flickr of visual patterns found on the inside covers of books from 1890-1930. I've recently become very interested in collage, and collections of historically authentic patterns like this really strike my fancy. I might try printing out some samples of these to include in works.
The collection is from the Bergen Public Library, based in Norway. I'm absolutely charmed by some of their other collections, particularly of the 1928 National Fair. Imagine being a young Norwegian child riding on this contraption for the first time!
Artistic printing - letterpress printing from the Victorian period, American and British typographers making a last rush for letterpress printing to compete against the more versatile lithograph printing, which was just taking off. Filled with colorful and festive designs.
