Modern Chinoiserie

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A few months ago I was contacted by designer Heidi Dripps to create a finish that was inspired by a wallpaper that the client loved.  The wallpaper was beautiful but there were certain things that didn't work for the client. One, the colorways weren't quite right. And two, the composition wasn't just so. The designer and client wanted me to recreate the feel of the contemporary imagery but create more of a mural.

In keeping with the printed look I created stencils and masked out each branch so that I could stencil them also.

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The final look is traditional and contemporary at the same time.

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An example of traditional chinoiserie:(‘Badminton’ design in standard design colours on Mocha Williamsburg. Photography by Fritz von der Schulenburg.Interior design by Bunny Williams.)

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Source:http://www.degournay.com/

Definition of Chinoiserie (pronounced shin-wa-sur-ee) courtesy of wikipedia: a French term, signifying "Chinese-esque", refers to a recurring theme in European artistic styles since the seventeenth century, which reflect Chinese artistic influences. It is characterized by the use of fanciful imagery of an imaginary China, by asymmetry in format and whimsical contrasts of scale, and by the attempts to imitate Chinese porcelain and the use of lacquer-like materials and decoration.

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With all the hub-ub about the Lincoln movie, I thought I would share a fun little project I did for designer Wendy Appleby as a gift to her brother...

His three favorite things are Abraham Lincoln, the Boston Red Sox, and his local daily paper the "Jackson Hole Daily"

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Wendy's daughter recently was married by Wendy's brother who became ordained for the sole purpose of officiating the ceremony.  As a thank you Wendy and her family had me paint the hat and paper over top of a print of Lincoln.

I even had Mikey pose for me.

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Thanks Mikey :)

Kitchen Facelift

This post has been long overdue... A few months ago I finished a kitchen cabinet redo.  The clients wanted not only to freshen up their 90's oak cabinets, but also take advantage of the 9 foot ceilings.

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Enter Gael Summerhill. Gael is one half of Summerhill Cabinets.  They do amazing things with wood.  Gael came out with me and helped design some upper display areas and dress things up with some crown.  They also added trim and base molding to the island and added a little shelf unit to the end of one of the rows of cabinets.

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After their work, I painted everything.  I sprayed the doors and drawers in my shop and then set up my equipment to spray on site.  Setting up is the biggest pain in the butt but what a difference it makes when you are painting.

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The after is to die for.  If I do say so myself. :) It helped that the clients updated their appliances and installed a new backsplash and counters. Notice the new lighting under the cabinets and inside the display areas? Summerhills.  Yeah, they rock.

Its much more economical than ripping everything out and replacing them.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Pret-a-Papier at Hillwood Estate

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I often see announcements for exhibits and plan to make time to go but forget amidst the chaos of work and life.  I happened to re-read a recent issue of Veranda and came across a blurb about an exhibit at the Hillwood Estate in DC that combined paints, paper, and fashion.  I had never heard of Hillwood but upon further research realized it was the estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post.  (In my head – “Duh! Merriweather Post Pavillion!“– The place where in high school I hopped the fence to many a concert…  Until it changed owners and a huge berm and two barbed wire fences were erected, oh, and a highway transected my pathway to the venue. Hmph!) But I digress… The exhibit was of the works of artist Isabelle De Borchgrave of Brussels.  She creates fashions out of paint and paper.  I was skeptical until I looked up the Atelier and was blown away and the detail and realism she has realized with paper.  The exhibit was to close in early January so I had to go and with Christmas break around the corner I had some time to play with.

So I passed the idea by Mike and gave him the right of first refusal.  Secretly I wanted him to say no because I think my mom would LOVE to see this since she sews and would appreciate both the methods as well as the construction of the pieces. I think he knew that and so I asked my mom and of course she wanted to go.

I just have to say first what a treasure the Hillwood Estate is, and how ignorant I feel for not knowing about its existence.  The home is filled with Mrs. Post’s collection of French porcelain and Russian liturgical artifacts and Relics that were to end up melted down by the Russian government after the Revolution.

Oh but the paper, it was simply stunning!  It was mind-blowing how Borchgrave manipulated paper and paints to replicate fabrics like silk, brocade, trims, precious gems, and metals.

Detail of Dress in the style of Empress Josephine shown above:

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Fortuny Inspired Dresses:

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Marie Antoinette:

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Polonaise Dress:

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"Robe a l'Anglaise" detail:

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Dress inspired by the paintings of Jean-Antoinne Watteau

Pierrot Jacket and Petticoat:

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Russian Traditional Dress inspired by the painting of the Wedding behind it:

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Countess Samoilova:

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French Drawing Room:

You can see more about the exhibit here, http://www.hillwoodmuseum.org/whats/exhibitions/pr%25C3%25AAt-%25C3%25A0-papier

More about Isabelle De Borchgrave and her Atelier: http://www.isabelledeborchgrave.com/en_home.php

365 sketches

Finally getting up and moving after nursing a throbbing head all day.  I swore that I wasn't going to stay out past 10pm last night and what do I do but stay out till 1 am. I think today should be officially designated "Hangover Day". Luckily I didn't have anything to do today and indulged in a rare activity for myself- doing nothing. I did watch "It Might Get Loud" which was really good. I recommend it. Anyway, I just finished dinner and was perusing my usual websites, one being the Faux Forum. A member, Marge Cameron, posted about something that I've recently been wanting to do. More sketches. She has committed to doing 365 sketches this year. One a day.  Now Im not sure if I could follow that regimen but I've been wanting to get back to my sketching because although I paint every day I don't draw every day. Does that make sense? I loved to draw in my sketchbook growing up.  I did it when I was bored, inspired, whatever.  I was never that good at drawing out of my head. I was always better at observational drawing.

It started this past week when I was bored and decided to dig into a box of radio parts I borrowed from my dad when I was struck with inspiration when Lori was here. I took out a radio tube, sat it on my desk and drew it. It took me about 1 and 1/2 hours to complete it, the layout being the hardest.  I felt really rusty but once I got going it was so much fun. I'm not sure about where this is going but I think for now Ill settle in to doing a pencil drawing of each item and then go from there.

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(the angle makes the tube look lopsided, but its not.)

The next sketch I started was this Acanthus Leaf in one of my Dover books.  I really suck at leaves and frilly things so I figured I would try to tackle it freehand, no tracing or tools like compasses or rulers.  This one has taken two tries and I've worked on it in several short sittings because I get frustrated.  So perhaps instead of doing a sketch per day, Ill resolve to sketch each day and see where that goes. I've also looked at other artists' blogs where they do a painting a day. This one I especially like: Postcards From Detroit. Now that is commitment.

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I may not get any sketching in tonight, still a little woosy from the previous night but maybe tomorrow.

Thanks Marge for the push! Marge Cameron's Blog

Happy New Year!

Update: 1-13-13

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