Perfect use of art in home.

Kate Spade's apartment in N.Y.C. is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. It has been posted before by one of my favorite blogs out there, Habitually Chic.

I LOVE the mix of traditional and abstract art.

Photo's by Tina Barney

Artist of the month : Mark Boyle

Some of my favorite paintings are old school, traditional pieces. Mark Boyle paints these beautiful, Northwest scenes, that are so fitting for all of the water lovers that live here. Did you know that Seattle is ranked # 2 in the U.S. for the largest boat ownership? We love us some water... This boat is titled "The Marantha" and the colors that he uses are absolutely beautiful. This one goes in my lakehouse. Oil on Linen, (2006)
"Gillnetter at La Push". Oil on linen, 2006
"November clam digging" Oil on linen.-2006
" Break in the clouds", (2006) This painting was awarded the oil painters of America, "Award of merit".
"November clam digging"-oil on linen, 2006


Interview:
Q : What do you love most about being an artist?
A : Traveling. Painting what you experience.
Q : What are the mediums that you work in?
A : Oil
Q : Many of my favorite pieces of yours is the boat "The Marantha". I LOVE the colors you used. As a child were you interested in the sea-fairing lifestyle?
A : One of my trips to La Push, the texture of this one boat, the paint was peeling, and the bright red buoy, and the great reflections in the water...
Q : Do you start drawing first or come up with the idea first?
A : I take a bunch of photographs and then find the most pleasing one and then paint from there.
Q : Is your work autobiographical?
A : Yes. I do a lot of fishing. In the summer I go backpacking.
Q : What shows are coming up?
A : I was accepted into the "Oil Painters of America" National Exhibition in Scottsdale Arizona.
They had 2800 submissions and only 200 made it in.

Thankyou so much to Mark for offering me his time. Here is more information on this talented artist.

Photo by Ken J. McLeod

In my early years, I explored ravines and woods near my house. Often being late for dinner lost in another world. A serious interest in painting developed at 11 years old. As I recall, my first painting was of a rainbow trout. My parents hired local artists to instruct me privately during my teen years. A person who really taught good basics was Carl Christophersen. In painting lessons, Carl taught me to divide objects into shapes and planes with hard and soft edges.

Nature impassions me. I am on a constant quest for that perfect subject to paint. During my outdoor adventures, such as hiking or fishing, I am inspired by the things I find. It is important to me to bring home my experiences and share them in a painting. Some of the landscapes I paint are so remote that most people can’t view them. One of the most rewarding experiences is to set up an easel on a high mountain meadow and capture the true colors found there. Through photography, I’ve documented many of my trips into the wilderness. I later use these as references in my paintings.

The mediums I use are primarily oil, pastels, and watercolor.

Where to Buy: Howard Mandville Gallery: Kirkland, WA Phone: (800) 544-4712

www.markboyle.com/

You really do need to come and visit...

Thought I would leave you with this very northwest scene.
Have a joyous weekend...


Photo - Unknown (if you know who took this photo, kindly do tell).

"Eclectic" is the new "Modern"

This is a Swedish home that is very unusual, as it is not engulfed in white.
American designers could learn a thing or two from the Swedes, and that is, editing... Those Swedes know how to edit a room, and yet not to the point where the room feels lifeless, or cold, like so many "edited" rooms can look. I think some designers think it might look dirty, or disheveled, or disorganized if you put too many personal things in a room, and I think that is where you weed the good designers from the bad. Good designers know how to work in the eclectic, homey look and still make the room look fresh.

Have you noticed I have a thing for clothing hanging from the ceiling? I LOVE the way it looks, and if I did not have a closet, I would quite possibly have dresses hanging everywhere. But alas, I do have a closet, and I may as well put it to good use...

My "music room" or "studio" will look like this, when I have one...

One of my all time favorite paintings of people. By Edouard Vuillard.

One of the pieces of art I want more than any other, is a traditional portrait painting of my husband and 2 children. I have yet to find anyone who evokes the charm of the old masters, and I am not talking 1800's here. I love the look of the late 1930's, to mid 1960's, paintings. This one by Edouard Vuillard, of Jeanne Lanvin, (yes that Lanvin), in 1935, has the look and the color combination that I LOVE.

Beautiful abstract art. Run, don't walk, to get one of Emilia Arana's pieces. I have a feeling these are going be worth much more in the future.

Esmeralda, 2009, Acrylic on Canvas.

Zephyr, 2007, Acrylic on canvas.
Jazz and Spaghetti, 2008.

About Emilia Arana

Swirling colors frolic together in Emilia Arana’s abstracts, resulting in beautifully choreographed dances of paint. On the surface, spontaneous brushwork and vivid color palettes create rhythmic pieces that radiate energy. Closer inspection, however, reveals emotional undercurrents ingrained in her work, speaking to the viewer on an individual basis and asking them to bring their own experiences to the interpretation of her work.

Selected Exhibition History

• Small Works Invitational Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ 2009
• Melody and Momentum Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, Arizona 2008
• The Colors of Home Hilltop Gallery, Nogales, AZ 2007
• Lyrical Abstraction Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, AZ 2006
• Abstraction Tucson Jewish Community Center, Tucson, AZ 2005

Shop to visit: Ben Pentreath, Ltd.

I am in LOVE with this wall. I am thinking that I need to give Ben a ring to see if he may be interested in carrying my work!
My beach house mantel would look like this.
Ben Pentreath studied Art and Architecture at the University of Edinburgh. He spent 4 years working in N.Y.C. for Fairfax and Sammons designing houses for the likes of Liv Tyler and Sarah Jessica Parker, before moving back to London to open his own interiors shop in Bloomsbury, where he sells interesting, well designed, things for the home, sourced from England, France, Germany, Turkey, and India.

Inspiring Rooms...

One of my style icons is Loulou de la Falaise. She knows what she likes, and I respect that in so many ways. Years ago I saw her in Paris, at the Inter-Continental, as she was walking to the Yves Saint-Laurent show. She oozes sensuality and coolness, which can be a rare combination. Her apartment in Paris is gorgeous, the only thing I would do differently, is to make the table in the center a tad bigger, to hold all of the macaroons, and pastries, and tea, that I would be serving...
I am in serious need of a bedroom overhaul, and seeing this bedroom has made me realize, I do not need it to be to "done" to be gorgeous...
Look at the view outside the window?! Are you singing the "Chim-Chimney" song from "Mary Poppins" when you look?

Beach house bedroom. I can feel the sand underneath my feet as I write.

Coming to Seattle? Go to this Bakery.

A couple of my best friends came into town this weekend and we took this bakery by storm. We devoured the pastries. They taste as delicious as the ones in Paris.

Here is the trophy that the owner won at "THE WORLD CUP OF BAKING" in France.( He was also on the cover of a Wheaties box.)

As the captain of the 2005 Bread Bakers Guild Team USA, William led his team to victory at the Coupe du Monde de Boulangerie (World Cup of Baking), he is quickly making Bakery Nouveau a Seattle icon.

Divine old Dutch paintings.

Ambrosius- Bosschaert the Elder, (1573-1621). He was an amazing still life dutch painter.

Isabel Marant.... Artist of clothing.

This gorgeous piece of art is what I would put up in place of the "Starburst Mirror"

The wonderful Interior Designer Tobi Fairley, asked a great question recently, "Have Starburst mirrors been played out?".While I do like the antique starburst mirrors,(even though I am somewhat visually tired of them), I do not at all like the many replica's that we have seen in the past 10 years...They tend to not look like works of art, but factory made, low quality, junk, in my opinion..This on the other hand, I would hang in my house as a major focal point, and a piece of fabulous ART...

Falling Garden....

This INCREDIBLE installation is called ‘Falling Garden’ and was created by 2 German artists; Gerda Steiner & Jorg Lenzlinger and is part of their nine ‘Brainforests’.

♥ Steiner & Lenzlinger: ➔ Site

Organized disorder...

I get really tired of seeing all the perfectly put together room's everywhere I look. I think everyone should have one room in the house that looks incredibly lived in..and NOT just the office...
The living room maybe? The Den? My favorite room for this look would be the library...
Don't get me wrong I like sparse, beautiful rooms too...Sometimes though...this is more visually entertaining...

Some of my best friends are coming to town, and my guest room looks like a tornado hit an antique frame shop....

Gorgeous girls..I will be waiting ...with my sweatband of course...
I may have to bust out a pre-war tent for them to sleep in...
It looks like this, with the frames sprawled all over their bed, piled to the ceiling, with my art all over the walls...poor girls....

My Seattle...

Heron's. Eagle's. Seal's. Whale's. Green everywhere...And even SUN...Yes, SUN...I actually LOVE that everyone thinks all it does is rain in Seattle...( It keeps them away)...The summers here are GORGEOUS...and I think if everyone knew what I knew about Seattle...the entire world would be living here...

Happy May Day!

Back in the "olden" days, they used to celebrate hard with the arrival of the new season's, and "May Day" included a beautiful procession with loads of flowers and ribbon, and a tall "May Pole" reaching to the sky. Children weave ribbon around the pole, and everyone sing's in celebration, looking forward to the warm days of summer.We take it quite seriously at my kid's school in Seattle!