Graphics

Recently, while running from one meeting to the next, I darted past this spray painted graphic for the basement.  I immediately turned around and came back for a closer look and a photo.  While the other floor markers were a bit 80s looking, this one still feels new in some ways.

It's also not going to be around much longer because this building is being converted to luxury condos shortly.  What do you think about it?  Too 80s or has it stood the test of time?

Paint By Numbers Painting

A few weeks back, I posted about a Neiman Marcus paint-by-numbers window display that I had enjoyed.  I also think I mentioned a painting of an incomplete paint-by-numbers canvas that I had spotted on a Nordstrom wall.

I was there the other night looking for that day-glow red-orange sweater I mentioned and snapped a photo since all the sales people seemed to be too busy talking to each other to help customers.  {Never leave me alone in your store, I come wielding a camera}.

It's a pretty neat canvas with the mother and child completed but the background only half done.  It also appeals to the side of me that takes on too much because it shows me that incomplete can be done well.  Or maybe I'm just reaching for excuses.

What do you think?  Would you prefer it if the painting was completed or do you prefer the unfinished paint-by-numbers look?

Cosas Minimas

No too long ago, I treated myself to a couple of illustrations from the Cosas Minimas shop by Blanca Gomez on Etsy.  I love these simple and colorful drawings and have had the vespa image as my desktop image for months while I was waiting to purchase it.

clockwise from top left: Vespa Print; In The Neighborhood Print; Parisienne Print; Present Print

Someday I hope that this illustration {below} is available to buy as a print.

I found it on her website as a past project and it doesn't look like it was ever made into more than a card, but it's waiting on my desktop just in case.

Where The Blue And The Orange Lines Meet....

....there is a rainbow tunnel of happiness.  Literally.  At least in Boston.

via latka on Flickr

I found this little bit of 70s happiness by accident once and it made my night. {These aren't my pictures.  Sadly I heard the train coming so I had to sprint down the corridor and haven't been to this station since.}

via latka on Flickr

I had a day yesterday that seemed like it was in the running for the longest day ever.  It began when I got stuck underground on the subway after I managed to get on not one, but two, disabled trains.  I was an hour late for work and my brain hurt when I finally got home at night.  I really like where I'm working now but I'm still new enough that I get tense trying to get things done correctly and on time and being late just adds to the stress.

So, I just try to remember when days like this happen that the Red Line is not the cause of all my problems {even if I repeatedly insist otherwise} and that today will be better.

Botanical Prints at Home

After yesterday's post on J. Crew's botanical artwork, I thought I'd show a few images of the same thing in a residential setting.  Some of you said you didn't think you could do it on your own, if you read on past the first picture, there's something you might like.  I may post a tutorial on how to make some pictures of your own but I recently started working a job where I'm away for over 12 hours a day so free time is a bit scarce these days.

Smaller galleries images are very nice but I liked the impact the three larger prints have in this living room.

Steven Gambrel

If you'd prefer to print rather than purchase or DIY your images there are some free image sources where you would have to invest in the printing yourself but the images themselves are free.  Here are my favorites:

Missouri Botanical Garden's Digital Library has scanned rare botanical books of all types.  You are able to download the books you are interested in as a PDF and you can print what you would like in the size that works for you.  I love the medical texts and the colorful illustrations of the plants with all their parts broken out and think these would be beautiful printed on a high quality matte paper {the colored images remind me of my Audubon's Birds of America book}.  Just be warned that they are good quality scans but some of the pages are crooked and may need to be rotated {I think I rotated a couple before posting them}.

 

Another good resource for not only botanical prints, but many prints in the public domain, is Vintage Printable.  A quick search on the site for botanical returned 26,000 results.  They have not only floral illustrations as the Botanical Garden's library holds, but also some watercolors and floral arrangements.  You may have to play around with the images a bit on this site {the gray picture originally had a black border} but it's up to you to decide what you like and what you don't.  The site was a bit slow to load and use for me but they have so many images it's worth the wait.  They also have many horizontal prints if that is the direction that works for you.

They have a large selection of other categories as well.  I took a look in the Architecture and Landscape section and found a lot of old photos of Manhattan and the two below that I really like.  The first image, with the bathtub stuck in the air shaft, makes me laugh and the second one is beautiful with the lightening over the Eiffel Tower.

The last resource I love is the New York Public Library's Digital Gallery.  Here you can actually order digital files or prints from them or you can download and print yourself if you are using it in your home.  They have tons of botanical prints and I love looking through the vintage poster section.  Best of all, they have penguins.

image via NYPL

I think you can get pretty far with these sites, but does anyone else have any great image resources?

Artwork

I've been crazy stressed out these last few weeks.  I'm waiting on decisions and, of course, I would like the decision to be the one I want so I've been restless and wanting to do something but not actually wanting to do anything specific.  Basically it boils down to a lot of nervous energy and loose ends that need to be tied up.  Posts this week will be shortish and pulled from pictures I have floating around.  I hope you still find them interesting! 

One thing that helped was a snowy morning last Friday - even if what you see below is all that actually stuck around for more than a few seconds.

 
The last few months, I have found myself saving pictures of artwork I find here and there.  I have no idea the artist for any of these but I love them nonetheless.

I found this one at a Design Center showroom this summer.  I think to the right is a card with a description and the artist so I could probably track it down if I needed to.

The next two are from Dramas so some of you may recognize them.  On both of them, I love their simplicity.

These first paintings are colorful and fairly simple but looking closely they are filled with details like the shading.

I find the bowl artwork below very interesting.  It's gridwork and repetition appeals to the side of me that wants order.  

My very first drawing class was with an artist who looked like a math teacher but once he opened his mouth and started talking about art, you knew he wasn't {we spent all semester trying to get him to describe our projects as delicious, that was the ultimate complement}.  He very politely described my final project as "millions of tiny little lines" and, although he claimed it was well done, I could tell it wasn't crazy enough for him since he spent most of the semester trying to get me to see that the red brick library was really hot pink or magenta.  I'm not sure what he would have said about this one below with it's grid, simplicity, and lack of vibrant color, but I love it.

Am I the only one who saves images like this hoping one day I'll know who the artist is?

Catalog Browsing

I'm not much of a Pottery Barn shopper. They are great for beach houses and traditional things but that's not really me. Nonetheless, they dutifully send me their catalog on a regular basis. A couple of weeks ago I came across this picture.

via Pottery Barn

With all the poking around I do in thrift shops and consignment stores I don't often come across frames I like.  When I do, the carving is often broken at the corners and not something I can fix, so I was excited that I actually liked the grouping of the frames above and the detailed carving on the larger frames especially.  I looked to see how much they were and the price wasn't too terrible for a set of 5 {assuming I waited for a sale}.  Not cheap but it's Pottery Barn and they aren't cheap.  Then I realized that all they are selling are the plain very thin framed silver style which is not why I was drawn to this picture in the first place.

I'm considering this a good thing since I don't have $200 to spend on a set of wall frames right now.  Does anyone else find themselves liking the props in catalogs more than what is actually for sale in catalogs?  I find this happens to me more often than not.

Wynwood Kitchen & Bar, Miami

Since it feels like spring, I've been obsessed with cleaning and organizing. Currently I'm focusing on digital cleanups - I've deleted over 200 GB of duplicate files on my external hard drive and worked on organizing it, finally got my google reader subscriptions down to a manageable number, made backups of old digital photos and am now going through my half-completed blog posts and getting them posted!  This post on the Wynwood Kitchen & Bar has been sitting around since the summer so I figure it's time to hit the publish button already.

I think what I love most about this restaurant is that although the furniture used is all very well thought out but the focus is really all about the artwork.

via Interior Design

I love this mural, especially the colors.

via Interior Design

via Interior Design

I guess it's pretty obvious that Shepard Fairey was here.  His work makes regular appearances around the Boston area although last time I was in Fort Point I noticed one of his newer murals was gone.

via Interior Design

My favorite spaces are in the two images below.  I love the furniture and really like both the scrolling floral and the tiled flowers of the mural in the top image.

via Interior Design

via Interior Design

via High Snobiety

To see more artwork of the Wynwood Walls, there are a few 360° tours here {if you get rid of the ad on the bottom of the screen, you can navigate to different tours}.

Scarves As Artwork

Inexpensive original artwork isn't always easy to find. Personally, I have a hard time finding inexpensive frames that I like {funny thing is, I can easily find tons of expensive frames I love}. Many times, the intricately detailed frames I come across at thrift and consignment stores have large chips in the carvings and aren't worth buying. I have plans to eventually frame my old drawings from design school since I spent many, many hours slaving over them and can't bear to throw them away but that is going slowly while I hunt thrift shops for inexpensive frames in the right sizes.

I also think that framing scarves would be a good, inexpensive way to go. Those Vera scarves pop up now and again and can be pretty inexpensive but unnamed brands of scarves can have amazing designs as well. Brimfield and other antique shows have a bunch of options, I bought a vintage embroidered table scarf a few years ago for a pretty low price and they had handkerchiefs as well.  The best part is, on smaller items, you can find cheap frames at craft shops and IKEA that will frame them quite nicely, and the scarves should take center stage so simple is better.

via Skonka Hem

via Canadian House & Home

via Martha Stewart

A nice piece of vintage fabric could also do the trick but the cost to have this custom framed could get very pricey.

via Elle Decor {photography: Simon Upton}

60s Artwork

I don't post about artwork too often so I thought I'd post a painting by John Friel {1966} that caught my eye recently when it went up for auction in LA.

LA Modern Auctions

 It first caught my eye in this vignette on LA at Home blog.  The vignette is by LA-based David John {who doesn't seem to currently have a website}.  It looks much more vibrant in the photo below which could be a result of photoshop but I like it either way.

LA at Home {photographer Bethany Nauert}

The photographer responsible for the photo above has an amazing portfolio.  I'd recommend checking it out if you have some time.

The End

After 3 months, I have finally run out of ICFF photos to post.  As usual I'll probably find some stragglers to put up later, but for now I'll leave you with this last photo.

{photo: jeanine}

Illuminated Artwork

I found this image I had saved because of the artwork.  I love that the words are lit and that they are reflected in the glass.  I'm unsure of the artist but I did find another that says, "We See What We Want".

{image: Being Erica}

MyVinilo

I like the idea of wall decals as a quick and relatively painless way to add something different to a space without a ton of effort.  A lot of the decals I have seen have had warnings that they can't be repositioned or removed but these decals from MyVinilo of Barcelona can be.  If you make a mistake or change your mind and need to move it or reposition it you can.

From my chat with them, it seems as though in most circumstances the paint or surface underneath will be unaffected as well {so if you're renting a place and can't paint, things will probably be okay}, but after a long time it's possible there may be some damage or discoloration.  The ones on display at the ICFF seemed to peel right off like Colorforms.

{photo: jeanine}

Happy Kitchen

I thought these cheerful pictures were a good way to end the week. I love the artwork, especially in the middle photo.




(photos:windompark/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Out of Bounds Artwork

I love this clever idea for artwork and an empty frame.


(photo: iampeas)