A Recycled Retreat

Cinco Camp, Roger Black’s West Texas retreat, is made of five shipping containers on his 3,000-acre ranch. “I wanted something that blends into the landscape and could be installed and eventually removed with minimal disturbance to the environment,” he said.

Mr. Black, who was the art director at Rolling Stone in the 1970s, and at The New York Times and Newsweek in the 1980s, is now a publications consultant. He built this house, a nine-hour trip from his Manhattan apartment, last year. He stays connected to the outside world by satellite broadband. His few visitors include his nephew, a cowboy, whose image is reflected in the sliding glass door fitted to the front of the container.

The units, finished off site and set in place by cranes, retain their original exterior doors. When sealed, they keep out the elements, not to mention snakes.

The living room has a flat-screen television and midcentury furnishings bought in New York and San Francisco. The painting is by Carlos Montes de Oca.

“Out here, I get back to reality ... whatever reality is," Mr. Black said.

Photos: James H. Evans for The New York Times

Don't Stop Skating

Back on my longboard this past weekend after a month off with a foot injury. Felt so cool gliding down those sloped streets.

When Skaters Grow Up

Jay Shapiro, a skateboarder and musician, and Claire Bigbie, an interior designer, turned a Victorian in San Francisco's Noe Valley into a skater’s dream house. The couple met 10 years ago at a skate park in Rhode Island; they bought their house for $1 million in 2005.

A dressing room has wallpaper by Tom Dixon, a plastic chandelier from Urban Outfitters and a taxidermy deer named Harry. Ms. Bigbie — who had been collecting furniture since she was 14 — has filled the house with vintage and contemporary pieces.

A bathroom designed to look like a pool, with depth marks and pool coping, reminds its owners of the skateboarder’s nirvana: an empty pool. A black laboratory sink Ms. Bigbie found at a salvage yard was fitted with customized faucets; that red is Million Dollar Red by Benjamin Moore.

The ground-floor studio has a rolling garage door that opens to a garden designed by Flora Grubb, with “a Palm Springs desert vibe,” Ms. Bigbie said, and succulents in big pots.

Artwork by Ms. Bigbie and Mr. Shapiro’s friends hangs in the kitchen; the paper on the wall at right is Angles, by Erica Wakerly. Ms. Bigbie painted the mantel in the bedroom Benjamin Moore’s Pool Party Blue; the bottles on it are by Sara Paloma. The Hella Jongerius vase on the floor is from Ikea.

Photos by Peter DaSilva for The New York Times

Red Stripe

Amy Cook & Refueled Magazine

Hung out with Amy Cook over the weekend in Austin. Refueled magazine was there to shoot Amy for the next issue's cover story. Locations for the shoot included Hotel Saint Cecila and Amy's lake side trailer. While down by the water, we were given a very private acoustic performance of songs from Amy's upcoming album and were the first to hear her hypnotic tribute (video below) to Michael Jackson. Fucking brilliant.

Summer Solstice+Go Skateboarding Day

Today was the most perfect Father's Day for me. Spent the Summer Solstice with my two girls at the skatepark for "Go Skateboarding Day". The local boys were displaying some sick tricks while my nine year old, in background, was testing her new skills on the ramps.

Refueled+Stüssy

Yes, it's true. I will be interviewing surf/skate/streetwear giant Shawn Stüssy for the next issue of Refueled magazine. I've been a huge fan of Stüssy growing up, so it's rad that I will be able to sit down with him and talk about his newest venture S/Double, surfing, art and the current state of streetwear. Look for it this Fall.

Inspiring Me at the Moment.

Summer+Coke

Deformer

Eleven years in the making and compiling more than 30 years of material, Ed Templeton’s scrapbook of his upbringing in suburban Orange County California. Its photographs give a sun-drenched glimpse of what it might be like to be young and alive in the “suburban domestic incubator” of Orange County, conveyed in the idiom of Nan Goldin or Larry Clark (and with a sharp eye for the streets that recalls Garry Winogrand or Eugene Richards). For like his groundbreaking predecessors, Templeton is always a participant in the scenes he shoots. From the Alleged Press series curated by Aaron Rose, Deformer interweaves disciplinary letters from Templeton’s grandfather and religious notes from his mother with sketches, snapshots, telling images and the occasional brutal tale, laying out an unresolved narrative that plunges readers headlong into Templeton’s chaotic youth and his reliance on art and skateboarding to accommodate its stresses and joys.“ Skateboarding allowed me to travel the world, and that showed me that where I live is totally messed up,” he observes. “That perspective has fueled me and been a source for my art.” Through photographs, stories and ephemera of all sorts from his youth and teenage years, Templeton offers readers an intensely close and personal look at an artist’s coming of age.

S/Double Studio

Shawn Stussy has a new workplace, S/Double Studio in Santa Barbara, CA.

Refueled Magazine makes Creative List

Out for only three days, Refueled Magazine, issue 3, has made the "Most Popular" list this week at issuu.com. Download a copy today!

R.I.P. Jay Bennett

Now Available! Refueled Issue 3

Refueled magazine has a new issue and a new website. Refueled; the magazine that has been described as the underbelly of style+design can now be found at refueledmagazine.com. Look for a full blown, off the hook site in the coming weeks. Issue no. 3 takes a look at decor in the Hotel Saint Cecilia of Austin, in blogger Courtney Smith Barton’s Houston home, and in the Waxahachie-based museum/home of collectors Bruce and Julie Webb. There is a great Q&A with hotelier Liz Lambert, style from Cari Wayman & Olivia Bee, the "Highway to Swell" surf journal from Nathan Webster and photographer Dustin Humphrey and much more. What better way to start the summer than with a new issue of Refueled magazine? Take a look and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Ink Your Mom

In Honor of Mother's Day, Scott Campbell will be doing "Mom" tattoos for $100 each on a first come first served basis this sunday at The Smile (Saved Tattoo's second location in Manhattan). He will have a set of 5 designs to choose from that he drew up specifically for the occasion, and he will not tattoo these designs after sunday. He will start at 8am on, and will take as many people as he can until 6pm. The Shop is located at 26 Bond St, between Lafayette and bowery.

via Secret Forts

Monster Children Magazine

Monster Children magazine, now into it's 21st issue, has become one of my favorite publications in the surf, skate, photography & design arena. Perhaps it's the magazine-meets-book binding, or the rectangular long-page format. There has been a evolutionary leap from the mag's beginnings as an Aussie surf and skate rag, but they've managed the transition smoothly while still keeping that core content intact. Monster Children has consistently featured some of the finest guerilla surf photography, and their love of the wave is sincere and profound. As they've grown, that sense of the genuine has stayed with them, and it spills over into everything they do. The Beautiful Losers piece is witty and candid, a refreshingly unpretentious take on one of the most significant gatherings of Pervasive Art ever assembled. It's this ability to walk the line between art and accessibility of culture that sets Monster Children apart from the magazine-rack pack.