I spent Monday in the library leafing through Vogues from 1925 - another fun research project! - so my brain's full of flappers.

Patience or Fortitude.

I’ve been doing some research at the New York Public Library for a professor. Tracking down centuries-old newspapers, letters by American Revolutionary War heroes and articles about occult-sounding medical treatments has me feeling a little like Indiana Jones. Or some intrepid woman anthropologist…It doesn’t hurt that the building is incredible, with its maze of rooms filled with masses and masses of cloth-bound books, its spiral staircases leading to narrow balconies and cat-walks, its huge reading rooms with coffered ceilings that make you feel impossibly tiny but somehow cozy. Also, the place is guarded by two lions.

I ate a quick lunch on the steps, and drew even quicker sketches. One of them's looking a little more like a collie than a lion...

Day Trip: Barcelona Pavilion

but, man, I wish I could draw like Kate Beaton...

I was leafing through a book on Ludwig Bemelmans when I noticed this little picture in the corner of a page.

I love how images can conjure up really specific associations. To me, this one's about the '50s, calisthenics, old school gyms with hardwood floors and benches, medicine balls. Maybe the Ballet Russe warming up. Or a demonstration of rythmic gymnastics. And something I heard on NPR the other day, a rarely performed Prokofiev piece called Music for Athletic Exercises.

I didn't know when I drew those that she's actually the famous Parisian stripteaseuse, Dodo D'Hambourg. Here's Bemelmans' take.

I can't get enough of Tauba Auerbach's work.

Can't.

And since I also can't afford to acquire a piece or two, I'll be completely indulgent here.

If I were slightly irresponsible, though, these would be in my pocket right now.