One of the best parts about this blog are the pool/lake/swimming hole, swim-lit and swim-art recommendations that come my way. And this weekend, fellow morning swimmer Kerry Clare sent along this incredible swim art—artist Suzanne Moreau is painting all of the women in her aquafit class in her series, Bathing Beauties. Aren't they stunning? They're up at the Kent Farndale Gallery in Port Perry.


Makes me wish I could a) paint/draw and b) had painted/drawn all of my fast lane pals over the years, people whose names I don't remember, and maybe never knew, but people who I spent hours next to, trading small bits of our lives in the shallow end.

*Photos of the art courtesy of Suzanne Moreau

All I want for Christmas is a good solid swim. Maybe an hour or so in a quiet pool. Santa? Can you hear me? I've been pretty good this year, minus the few tantrums I threw when the pool was unexpectedly closed (ahem).

In case you have a swimmer on your Christmas list, my fellow swimmers, Rhya and Laura, and I have some swimmerly suggestions (please note: none of these are affiliate links nor have been sponsored in any way)!

* Swimming books: I'd recommend Gillian Best's The Last Wave (god, I loved it!) and Turning by Jessica J. Lee (I reviewed it here!), Lisa Congdon's The Joy of Swimming, or if you're in the UK, Watermarks: Writing by Lido Lovers and Wild Swimmers (full disclosure, I have a piece in this amazing watery collection!)

* A fancy suit, perhaps one from the Canadian-made Minnow Bathers - lordy they're beautiful suits.

* New goggles (because Kerry Clare reminded me this week non-mouldy, fresh swimmin' specs are a glorious thing indeed!)

* A new bathing cap: perhaps a long-hair swim cap for the large ponytailed swimmer in your life, or a Team Mermaids cupcake-covered cap

* A Turkish towel: These are beautiful!

* Wireless swim headphones: This is Rhya's ultimate dream

* Cute flip flops

* A swim bag

* A flutter board or a pull buoy

* Zippered pouches

* Mini shampoos and conditioner, maybe even some moisturizer to help combat the post-chlorine itch

* Swim art (and I'd add Lisa Golightly's work to the mix! My sis gave me this print last year and it continues to blow my mind with its beauty and this gem is hanging in my daughter's room).

* This one's a big extravagant, but pret-ty next level for a swimmer in your life: The best gift I've ever received was a weekend in a hotel (that had a pool, obvs). I starfish-slept in the enormous king-sized bed and swam at least twice a day, and ordered room service, and it is still one of the next three days I've ever spent.

* And maybe the best gift of all: The gift of water therapy for a patient at Sick Kids' Hospital

P.S.: The UK Team Mermaid crew has a great swimmer's gift list here, too!

If I can't swim outside these days, I've decided the next best things is bringing swimming inside and what better way than with swimming art...

I am in LOVE with Isabella Di Sclafani's swimmer sculptures (above). Aren't they incredible? And she'll be in Montreal at souk @ sat (Nov 28-Dec. 3) and in Toronto at City of Craft (Dec. 8-10).

h2o life jacket ink on kitakata, stitching, polyfil, 22x15x4”, 2014, photo Jeffrey M Bruce

And then there's Kristen Martincic from Columbia, Missouri. Holy GOD, I love absolutely everything she does. Look at these suits. And these caps. And this pool series. And this leisure pool series. And this water series. And these inflatables. I want to live inside her art. All of it.


And Kate Pugsley, a Chicago-based illustrator, who has such joyful swimmers, like the ones above, and like these ones! And there are even some amazing swim-wearables like these dresses!

And Maria Svarbova's incredible swimming pool photographs. Each of them pictures a different pool, usually built in the Socialist Era, in various locations in Slovakia. How stunning are they? (And she even has a Swimming Pools book out now!)

There's more swimming art here and here!