Plum Favorites

Beginning the week with a quiet, happy start and favorites that make me smile.

A gorgeous Notre Dame de Paris wood and iron door

A custom chair by Fortuny with Barberini fabric

The Barberini fabric up close

 Some day, while visiting with my blog friends in Houston, I'll make it to see Mark Rothko's chapel!

 Have a good one!

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Pulp Fashions: San Francisco and Venice

Yesterday I visited Karin's lovely blog, La Pouyette, where I first encountered the intriguing work of Belgian Isabelle de Borchgrave. (Where have I been?) She introduced us to the book, Paper Illusions, which offers Barbara and Rene Stoultie's stunning photos of Isabelle's art. Look closely.

What you see is paper- in beautiful colors, with amazing details. 

 Isabelle de Borchgrave, first and foremost, is a painter. She loved it growing up and has always had her hands busy in some form of painting or another. Isabelle began her own studio, Creations Isabelle de Borchgrave, in 1983. Over the years, she has painted commissioned murals in fine hotels and homes throughout Europe, worked with fashion designers to provide them with painted fabrics, and developed lines of fabrics and textiles for the home. 

Exquisite!

In 1994, inspired by a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, she began recreating her paper costumes sculptures. Based on paintings and the high fashion dress of the period, Isabelle has gifted the world with four different collections: 300 years of fashions, from Elizabeth I to Coco Chanel, with "Papiers a la Mode", the Fortuny collection with 19th century fashions of Venice, the "I Medici" collection with the ceremonial dress of famous figures in Renaissance Florence, and the costumes for the 20th century ballet companies of the world.  

Here is a peak into her to-die-for studio:

How I would love to be working right with them!

Isabelle starts with sheets of rag paper that measure 1 meter by 1.5 meters and applies her magic with her colors, brushes, gilding and trompe l'oeil techniques. 

Just look at the incredible definition of each painted object! Just the "fabric" background alone reads pure silk to me.

In 2008, Isabelle exhibited her creations in the Fortuny Palazzo in Venice. She described herself as "Fortuny's spiritual daughter", inspired by his devotion to reinterpretations of ancient textiles.

 

Fortuny's art of plisse (pleating) is meticulously captured by Isabelle...

The "fabrics" are so colorful and realistic.

What a setting!

For those of you lucky enough to live close by, be sure not to miss the new exhibition, "Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave", at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. It runs from February 5 to June 5, 2011 and features 60 costumes and works from the collections of Isabelle de Borchgrave.  

[Photos courtesy of Isabelle de Borchgrave and the Facebook page of Isabelle de Borchgrave]

Raw Finishes

These are the colors I am working with on my kitchen walls. Figures- it is taking a while to get the colors just right! I can go to a client's home and pick the colors out quickly; in my own home, it has been challenging.

Stone, putty and touches of ochre, cream and cocoa- my tumbled marble and ceramic tiles are suggesting the direction to follow. I am loving the lime wash paints of Sydney Harbour Paints. 

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Hoping to win the acanthus leaf fragment sconce over Zinc Studio's giveaway for the kitchen!

Pompeian Colors

Rounding out the week with some lush colors from Pompei to offset all of the white stuff most of us are living with at the moment!

These photos were all taken in Pompei.

Even after two thousand years, the colors are still bold and beautiful!

 Have you been to Pompei? What is your favorite memory?

Mud... Painting?

Spotted recently in two publications...

This Belgian apartment features mainly white walls in the minimalist fashion of British designer John Pawson.

He invited another Brit, artist Richard Long, to apply his artistic sense in any way he saw fit. Long has created mud paintings all over the world. He ended up bringing his own mud from the river Avon in England to get the specific color he was looking for.

Long applied the mud with only his hands, plunging them into a bucket of mud and then slapping and flicking it onto the wall. The mud provided a textured foil to the spare interior. 

 

The new Anthroplogie catalog also gives prominence 
to the look of mud painting.

It certainly is a dramatic look for the right space!

What do you think of the painting with mud look?

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Classic Inspirations

Sometimes you just need to be inspired by the awesome work of ancient Rome. 

Thank you to Cindy at My Romantic Home!

Basket Weave Wall

For something different- how about a basket weave design on your wall? 

Fun, clever, and easy to remove when you want a new look!

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