How can I blog and not show a picture of my pup Rudy (left)? Here she is on a walk date with her favorite friend Ollie. Caitlin, Ollie’s owner, and I decided to check out the new PictureBox Departmental Store that popped up last month just over the Gowanus Canal from me in Brooklyn. PictureBox has been a favorite publisher of mine ever since I started my book blog and I realized I liked pretty much every book they sell.

It’s hard to tell from this photo but the window of the store is covered in crazy drawings painted directly onto the glass. (I think I caught Caitlin in mid-sentence saying something like- no, you cannot post a picture of me on design*sponge.) Across the street there was a sweet mural painted on a temporary construction site wall.

The inside of the store is a burst of bright color with orange fixtures, a myriad of artists books, comics, prints and fun trinkets. I could have spent the whole day looking through everything.

I love the Gary Panter one-of-a-kind plate drawings.

I wound up buying this book. I can’t leave a bookstore empty handed. Caitlin and I discussed plans for our upcoming show at Rare Device in July on the walk home, while Rudy tried to swallow Ollie’s head. We walked over the disgustingly beautiful Gowanus Canal. The oil reflecting off the water made pretty rainbows. Can you believe a whale once tried to survive in there? It’s a sad story.