More from The Glow

With the winter solstice approaching, I thought it appropriate to focus on images filled with beautiful light. I immediately thought of The Glow and their stunning portraits of creative families in their beautiful homes. It's been a little while since I last featured the beautiful project over at The Glow, and three new families have been brought under the light, along with their fantastic names, stylish interiors and interesting interviews.

--Christiane Lemieux and her children, Isabelle and William are the most recent feature. Their place is totally open and light. Equal parts exposed pipe, natural woods and ivory linens, it's a perfect place for dreaming and climbing.

"It’s indoor/outdoor living here."

This one sentence of Christiane's perfectly sums up my dream home.

--Cynthia Rowley was featured with her girls, Kit and Gigi. I fell in love with these little ones and their gold piano!

"I’ve been told by my husband that it would probably be better for our marriage if I stop answering the question, 'How many kids do you have?' with, 'Three, if you count my husband'".

Love it.

-- Athena Calderone and her son Jivan are so sweet and tender together. This really makes me want a little boy! I love that he's riding his skateboard in the living room! Again, I'm so fond of those sparse, open spaces that lend themselves equally to lounging in simple beauty or wild playing. I love the idea of every room in  a home belonging equally to each family member, from the most artful adult to the youngest baby--toys can be pretty, and the prettiest spaces can also be designed to welcome even the grabbiest of little hands and encourage freedom and exploration. Beauty and fun for all!

From today's inspirations:

Christiane (the prettiest of smooshes, and perfect for those wanting to honor either a woman of design or journalism, or both)

Isabelle (another classic smoosh. I'm partial to it over Isabella.)

William (I love this classic name so much. I'd love to see a little William called 'Wim'.)

Whimbrel (okay, this isn't really a part of today's list, but it has a logical likeness to William for me. I really thought about this when I was writing on bird names-- 'Will' and 'Whim' are so alike on several levels, so it seems equally approachable as William. If you love the idea and feel of William, but want something less classic, I think this is a great option!)


Cynthia (such a pretty name, and she links to some of my other favorites....)

Artemis (Cynthia was one of Artemis' names.)

Hestia (another of the virgin goddesses)

Vesta (the Roman version of Hestia and a nickname of Silvestra)

Kit (a great nickname for so many lovely names-- Catherine, Katerina, or fantastic by itself!)

Gigi (most commonly, a potential nickname of Georgia, Georgiana, Virginia or Gilberte. I wonder if it's short for anything here.)


Athena (another virgin goddess)

Minerva (the Roman version)

Pallas (Pallas is to Athena as Cynthia is to Artemis. I love both 'wise' names.)

Jivan (a fantastic 'life' name. I so love it.)

Vito (another favorite 'life' name of mine for a sweet, little surfer boy!)

Such great meanings here today in this list-- we have names linking to wisdom, purity, earth, and life, itself.

Any favorites from today's list? Have you been enjoying The Glow? Are you participating in any "light" festivals this week? I think we may go to a Saint Lucia festival on Saturday, complete with all sorts of craft activities for the girls!

P.S.   Still having font troubles, so I just switched everything to a clean, simple font while I get it all figured out. I love the idea of my title being in cursive, because um, it's a play on notes in the margins, which I'm pretty sure are never typed. Alas, the only other cursive fonts available (my previous one is malfunctioning) are just too thick and stout for my liking. Any recommendations for a pretty, petite cursive font? I like em long and lean.... and tidy.  I really enjoy basic, clean fonts on other blogs, but the current set up isn't right for the mood here, I'm afraid, so I'm eager to get back to the old style. Any favorite font shops?

(images: all courtesy of The Glow, by Kelly Stuart)

The names from The Glow

Have you been over to The Glow?  It's a really beautiful experience. You get to peek in on the inner worlds of creating moms and their kiddos. I've found some pretty inspiring stuff there, fantastic images, and some pretty darn awesome names, too.

The Editor? Violet Gaynor. So we're already off to a good start with names.

Then there's the name of the Journal, itelf. I love it.  I also love how the photographs of these women and children are glowing with actual light, another subject of the portraits, a visual representation of the love between mother and child (I know. Forgive me.)

And can we just talk about the photography for a second? It's so compelling.  Photographer and co-founder of The Glow, Kelly Stuart, visits the homes of the women profiled, taking the loveliest portraits and candids of them, their children, and their inspiring homes. 

I love the layout of photos and interviews, which encourages us to slow down and take our time enjoying the content. 

With each new image of mother and child, we read a bit more of the interviews. And these interviews! I selectively chose my first few to savor and can't wait to read the rest!

I'm always so impressed by projects like these and how they're woven together. They're so innovative for so many reasons, but Violet and Kelly do the brainstorming, the curating, the writing, the interviews, the photography, the connecting -- everything that goes into this journal.  It's inspiring to see a project that focuses on both the creativity and motherhood of women, aspects of us which are truly celebratory and magical.

What's more, I really can't get over the names of the profiled women and their children.

The very first image and name pair I encountered when I hit the site features a mother and painter, Jemima, and her daughter Rafaella Israel (below.)

  

 I'm a sucker for warm, light-in-the-hair shots, and there's this wonderfully tender moment that the photo captures: those sweet, little toes curled around the credenza for a nice gazing session.  There are dozens more awe-inspiring photographs of this beautiful pair throughout the interview with Jemima, which focuses on her work and motherhood, amongst other interesting bits!  If you're a mom who creates, this interview with Jemima Kirk is absolutely a must read.

--"Being a mother takes all of the bullshit out of being an artist. Artists can sometimes be flighty or flakey, or have these loopy ideas. I’m doing everything that’s not that, and really stripping it down to what it is— I’m a painter, and I’m really thinking about what I do and working to make that happen. It’s awesome."

I also particularly enjoyed the interview with clothing designer Lauren Moffat (who's creations I also happen to adore):

--"It's hard to be little so give them the time they need to sort it all out—I'm pretty sure that by the time she's 10 she will no longer want a pacifier at bedtime, wear a diaper when she sleeps, or insist on putting away her favorite toys when friends come over (her attempt at getting around the whole sharing thing)."

Couldn't agree more, Lauren!

And I'm in. Are you?

More Mom and kiddo name pairs:

Ramya and Chiara

Lauren and Stella




Laura and Georgiana

Jeanann and Ruby


Lynn and Sebastian


Jenne and  Roxie, Bowie & Valentine

Meredith and Grayson

Ann and Luna


Jemima and Rafaella Israel 

Additional names from todays inspirations:
Violet
Kelly
Stuart

These interviews are so addictive. I can hardly wait to read them all! Get on over to The Glow! You will even discover why and how some of the names were picked, in addition to getting an eye full of awesome scenery.

Have a glowing Monday!

All images are by Kelly Stuart and courtesy of The Glow.