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Seeing Signs of a Rainbow

Thursday, September 1st, 2011

Post Irene and while writing this I’m not sure where I’ll be. On vacation, finally, or stuck working still?….As I write this with an hour upon the big bands of 85 mile winds approaching that have caused 20,000 people to lose power in Virginia, I’m not sure if power will still be on in the morning. But, at least I can envision signs of rainbow — hoping all will be well.

Here are views that you may be seeing “after the storm” captured in a Morning Drive by watercolorist landscape painter and illustrator, Nick Swift, who I’ve just added to my blogroll. He has an interesting background being partially color blind that brings extra fascination to his work. He also has an instructive painting demo that show the process of his work. I’m intrigued with the artist’s creative process.

I also like his shells, which I hope to be collecting by the time this post is published. I love beachcombing in the early hours before any ones else is awake and the beach gets crowed — and I’m NOT a morning person but this gets me up.

But I hope I’ll be seeing signs of a rainbow by this time too:

1) Rainbow Door to Paradise by Agnieszka Cuprys from Poland (designboom).

2) A Rainbow “house” stairs by Ab Rogers and DA Studio (modern house deco).

3) Plexus no. 8 by Gabriel Dawe is lovely and reminds me of a translucent rainbow (St. Louis Riverfront Times).

4) and even Rainbow Sheep — now that’s really seeing rainbows (moonbattery).

How could I not post She’s a Rainbow by The Rolling Stones. A great song to Kick Start the Weekend.

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Tags: ArtIsEverywhere, Gabriel Dawe, Nick Swift, rainbow door, Rainbow sculpture, rainbow sheep
Posted in Architecture, Artists, Design, Everyday, Sculpture, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

On a Cloud

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

This is a pretty good instructional video on how to paint a cloud. Realistic looking clouds are actually harder than you would think to paint without looking animated. This video simplifies the method and makes it look easy to do.

We’re flying high on a cloud this week with some recent press for my business, so much so that’s it’s been hard to write posts, so this one is short and sweet, with music to match. I always thought this song, No Rain, by Blind Melon was a happy song and a fun one to Kick Start the Weekend.

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Tags: Blind Melon, how-to-paint-a-cloud
Posted in Creative Process, Kick-Start the Weekend, Music, Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Perfect Expanding Apartment

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

What do Legos, boats and Japan have in common? Yes, it’s a riddle that will make sense when you see the video in this post.

I wasn’t expecting to find my blog post this week in my new subscription to ASID‘s (American Society of Interior Designers) Eye on Design Newsletter. (As a new member I receive this subscription that is jam-packed with interesting information that I never have enough time to read.) I’m glad I read this one.

My oldest son, Piers, is graduating from college this Sunday with a BS in Engineering. Hard to believe that this moment seems “all of a sudden” here. That’s a post for next week, however. He’s now a grown-up, civil engineer and I attribute his path to this point in time to Legos. Yes, thank you Lego®!

Reflecting back on his childhood, he’s always had a knack for building complicated structures without the instructions, so I wasn’t surprised that he chose engineering as his professional career path. Legos just enhanced his natural math ability, as to which I’m not so inclined.

I’m choosing this topic as a tribute to Piers. I think he would be fascinated, as am I with this incredible, invisible yet expanding apartment, especially since he is looking for his first apartment. And here’s the answer to the riddle = a 258 sf roof-top apartment in Barcelona that is inspired by boats, where everything is concealed behind compartments; Legos, because whatever you use, you have to build or in this case pull out, and Japan – the culture of Zen-like simplicity.

I rarely use overblown exaggerations but I really do love this concept. I have a passion for functionality, organization and practical solutions. (Maybe that’s my artistic engineering sense — without the math.) I’ve always admired changing furniture that can serve multiple purposes and Casart coverings – repositionable, removable and reusable wallcovering – of course. There is truly an art to designing such a space and how to maximize its functionality and I call it ingenious. Enjoy!

Hard to find music for such a momentous occasion as a graduation and an incredible transformation. How about simply, “Where It’s At” by Beck to Kick Start the Weekend.

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Tags: ASID eye on design, Beck, casart coverings repositioinable wallcovering, functional interior design
Posted in Architecture, Design, Family, Functional Art, Inspiration, Kick-Start the Weekend, Music, Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Cherry Blossoms are Here!

Monday, March 28th, 2011

The cherry blossoms just burst into bloom on my street. They are gorgeous! They are just in time for DC’s annual Cherry Blossom Festival. This year, there is a special tribute to Japan in light of their recent earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power situation. It’s so overwhelming the amount of damage and help needed; it’s hard to know where to start. There are plenty of charitable giving opportunities out there but recent events in Japan makes this year’s cherry blossoms all the more celebrated. *

I have so many mural sites collected but a cherry blossom mural was hard to come by except by searching. Only then, did I come across Sculpture SenCe’s site and Santi Vipaka’s wonderful artwork. You’ll have to go to his site to see more but here’s his Cherry Blossom Mural.

Sculpture_SenCe_Mural on Art-Is-Everywhere

Cherry Blossom Mural by Sculpture SenCe and Santi Vipaka

Here’s another Asian inspired mural in Toronto’s Rosewater Supper Club restaurant.

I seem to get inspired every time I see the cherry blossoms bloom and these are my many postings regarding this time of year. The blooms are fleeting and only last 12 – 14 days and that is weather conditional. This weekend, we had a dusting of snow. Hopefully this will help them last longer.

* When I posted this mural from Osaka on March 7th, the Japanese tsunami was just about ready to happen on March 12th. Call it coincidental but I find it a little uncanny.

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Tags: Cherry Blossom Festival, Japanese tribute
Posted in Celebrations & Events, Inspiration, Mural Mondays, Murals, Nature, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Smithsonian Smackdown

Monday, March 21st, 2011

It’s not everyday that the Smithsonian Institution goes head-to-head with another preservationist entity like the LA Conservancy. Both would like to have the murals located in the lobby of the Los Angeles Golden State Mutual Building. The Smithsonian National Museum of African History would like to purchase two murals by Charles Alston and Hale Woodruff for $750,000 because they demonstrate “early black Californians including explorers, cowboys and oil riggers.” They would like to remove them from the building to display them at their new museum located on the second floor in the Natural Museum on American History, which is due to be begin construction in March 2012 in DC. The LA Conservancy would like the murals to remain and they are seeking to landmark the building in order to preserve the murals in situ. There is a hearing scheduled for March 28 to decide their fate.

Golden State Mutual Bldg. Murals _via LA Curbed, as seen on Art Is Everywhere

Golden State Mutual Bldg. Photos via LA Curbed

Here’s another link to the story in The New York Times.

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Tags: Historic Preservation, LA Conservancy, murals depicting African American culture, Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian National Museum of African History
Posted in Mural Mondays, Murals, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Guédelon

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

I became completely curious when I first learned of this fascinating endeavor to build a new Medieval Guédelon Castle in the town of Treigny, in Burgundy, France. The work was to simulate original Medieval construction methods. Even the workers must wear Medieval clothes to closely mimic how the labor was affected by all the details. The work was conceived in 1996 and began in 1998, when a French landowner, Michel Guyot , who happens to own a real St. Fargeau castle, wondered what if a new Medieval castle could be build from scratch the way castles were originally constructed. The project holds academic weight to give insight into Medieval Times. These BBC and Kuriositas links explain more about the project and show the progression from 2005 – 2008. Little known outside of France, the site welcomes visitors (who can wear modern clothing) and there will be plenty to see as the site’s completion isn’t anticipated until the 2020′s. In the meantime, this endeavor encompasses much art in the creative construction, the design, and the performance to compete the architecture and learn in the process about a past time and culture. Pretty fascinating!

1artists_impression_guedelon. Courtesy Kurositas, seen on Art Is Everyhwere

Artistic Impression of Guédelon. Courtesy Kurositas

Guedelon. Courtesy Kurositas, seen on Art Is Everyhwere

Guedelon in 2005. Courtesy Kurositas

Guedelon in 2009. Courtesy Kurositas

This video explains the project.

If you’d like to brush up on your French, see this video.

GUEDELON from BOUTONNET O & CHANET Marcel on Vimeo.

Well how about a little bit of BeauSoleil and some French Cajun music to Kick Start the Weekend. Their better one is l’Ouragon but this one, Theogen Creole, is pretty good too. It has a little “down by the bayou,” French-style sound. Allons Danser is another fun one. This reminds me of learning how to square dance for gym class when I was in Middle School. Not your run-of-the-mill, common thing to encounter but New Orleans is a little different.

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Tags: Guedelon project, Medieval castle
Posted in Architecture, Creative Process, Culture, Design, Education, Everyday, Kick-Start the Weekend, Music, New Orleans, Performance, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Mansion at O

Friday, October 15th, 2010

I am finding all sorts of weirdly familiar and reminiscent things in my local newspaper this week. How strange it is to have these offshoot connections.

There was an article about The Mansion on O in The Post, O, So Weird and Wonderful, but Zofia Smardz in the travel section. I could travel 20 minutes across town to be there. The odd thing for me is I have been wanting to go here for quite some time — ever since a client of mine was planning her wedding reception at this location back in the 90′s. I had never heard about this strange high-priced ($350 a night) hotel, off Dupont Circle that I had probably passed a million times, when I used to live right up the street, and yet, I was doing the calligraphy for the wedding invitations for this event. The project was unique in that I was not calligraphying the envelopes and addresses that I’m typically asked to do. I remember the project was not all that easy because the paper had been hand torn and was metallic, so a master template couldn’t be made and then printed on top. Each invitation was slightly a different size and had to be hand-done and be the same on each one. I can’t remember how many there were but it took a while and required a little artistic magic. Needless to say, this was all in keeping with the offbeat, unusual and even mysterious nature of the O Mansion, as I learned so many years later in this article. As the writer describes her stay as being an ever-ending journey and that their website doesn’t reveal many secrets, but I found it appears to tell you a lot. There are theme rooms, treasure hunts for kids, Sunday afternoon tea and events open to the public that I might have to take advantage of. It seems like such an adventurous, Alice-in-Wonderland experience with secret doors leading to other doors, that I’m going to have to finally visit.

O Mansion_Photo Bill O'Leary_Washington Post, as seen on Art Is Everywhere

O Mansion. Photo by Bill O'Leary via The Washington Post

O Mansion Nautical themed room

O Mansion dining

I might have to cap it off with a visit to the Mad Hatter just to complete the experience.

For Kick Starting the weekend, as we do with music on Friday, here’s Shantal’s Whatever from the Hotel Costes series. Not much going on in the video but seems appropriate as Secret Lounge music:

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Tags: Hotel Costes, Mad Hatter in DC, O Mansion, Shantal
Posted in Celebrations & Events, Decor, Everyday, Inspiration, Kick-Start the Weekend, Music, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Van Gogh in NOLA

Monday, October 4th, 2010

Van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night [in Arles] is the first of his paintings that pops up in an image search. Does that mean it’s popular? I think so but other paintings of his are more well known. When you think of Van Gogh, you think of works like: Starry Night, Sunflowers, Almond Tree Branches, Black Crows in Wheatfield and many, many others. He was quite a prolific painter.

When my mother snapped these shots of a mural of Van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night in New Orleans (NOLA), I was happy to see them because I hadn’t seen this mural before and this is one of my more connected memories to Van Gogh’s paintings. Art, I believe, has most meaning when there is connection.

VanGogh-in-Arles_NOLA on Art Is Everywhere

Mural of Van Gogh's Café Terrace at Night. Photos by Lorre Lei Jackson

I love Van Gogh’s work but certain pieces speak to you and this one did because even though I wasn’t in Arles, where he painted it, I was at that very scene in 2006, when I went on an “art trip” with my parents and my sister Lindsey in the Provence region of France. We were traveling with a well known pastel painter, Alan Flattmann. He taught us how to paint with pastels, which I was reluctant to do before because I don’t like the feel of pastel and/ or chalk. The difference is that pastel is pure pigment. Alan taught us through his creative process from finding the scene to paint, determining the composition and the type of paper to use, laying out the foundational drawing to the layers of additional pigment and showing us how the painting developed. He was a good teacher and is an exceptionally talented artist. I’ll have to reserve an entire future blog post dedicated to Alan and that trip, but for now, here’s just one picture of him in the process of painting the harbor in Coullioure, France.

In going back through this album, I just had to post this endearing photo of my dad, which I love, doing his best at drawing. The problem for a neurosurgeon is they get too stuck on the details. He did a good job but boy, did it take long — and he never lost focus. He was a practicing surgeon until 80 years old. Amazing!

Here’s my reproduction of Van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night, that I painted when I returned home from this trip. It greets people when they enter my living room.

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Tags: Alan Flattmann, Cafe at Night, Coullioure France, New Orleans mural, pastel painting
Posted in Artists, Family, Inspiration, Mural Mondays, Murals, New Orleans, Trips, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Tape Art

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

The murals I mentioned in the last post must have required a lot of tape. Although painter’s tape is traditionally used for “taping off” areas for painting and mural projects, this sticky blue stuff can also be used to make unusual and temporary tape art and murals as seen in this examples by Michael Townsend.

Michael Townsend. Photo via Technology Review (John Maeda), seen on Art Is Everywhere

Michael Townsend. Photo via Technology Review by John Maeda

artallstate-wide_tape-art-Michael Townsend, as seen on Art Is Everywhere

Bonfire Tape Art by Michael Townsend

I also ran across this unusual site via Trend Hunter for tape murals by Multipraktik. This video describes the process for making their creations and shows the fun involved.

TapeArt – Fejzo & Luka Ursic from Multipraktik on Vimeo.

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Tags: artwork with tape, street art
Posted in Artists, Creative Process, Humor, Murals, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Murals that Teach

Monday, September 27th, 2010

Finding murals that teach something and last long beyond their time, literally that is, with vines that are meant to grow on top is a very admirable thing. I was first taken with this picture for a mural with components that can be removed. Then, I was even more struck by how this mural in Windsor, Canada is part of an ongoing program with federal grant money and help from local artists to help train the unemployed or underemployed who have artistic aspirations.

Windsor_Mural via Windsor Star on Art Is Everywhere blog

Windsor "training" mural via Windsor Star, in Windsor, Canada

Other murals that teach are murals that students see and therefore live with every day. I discovered these murals quite by accident and found their location coincidental with the timing of my most recent Milwaukee artists posts. These murals at Woodrow Wilson High School in Milwaukee got a lot of flack from the commentators but I actually like the brilliance of the colors and the perspective that gives a surreal feel of walking into a vortex. Everything about the composition of the murals leads you to the entrance, so I think it works visually, even if it is over the top in its depiction.

Woodrow Wilson Murals via JSOnline

This link explains the symbolism seen in this mural with hyperlinks to explain each section. The information pertaining to the mural and the artists, Gilbert Wilson and Don Hadley, was compiled by Linda Hill, the art teacher at the school.

Here are more ‘historical” murals that teach in the Terra Haute area by Milwaukee artist Schomer Lichtner commissioned by the WPA (Works Progress Administration).

Lichtner mural via JSOnline

I came across a couple of cool websites: Lets Colour Project, which introduced me to Mural Locator, a site that locates murals in whatever city, around the world, in which you ask it to find. You can also upload photos to increase their database and improve their search capabilities for mural enthusiates. There are no murals listed for Alexandria, VA and I know that’s not true, so I better get busy submitting them. You might want to as well for your city. New Orleans has way more than one, for instance. Let’s help them out. I’m adding this site to my blogroll. I have posted about Let’s Colour Project before and the great things they are doing but was unaware of the Mural Locator. What a happy find!

On another note, however, I want to apologize to my subscribers for any spam comments to my posts that they may be receiving. Askimet, my spam filter, which is great and catches nearly 20+ spam comments a day, is all of a sudden being blocked by my network server, Network Solutions. I’m emailing them (spamming?) everyday until they fix it. Spam sucks and they should know it, just like I do! I’m trying to stay on top of it with a lot of deletes, so sorry to clutter any one’s feed or mailbox. Network Solutions says they will fix it soon but that was last week. I’ll keep on them because I cannot fix their firewall on my end.

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Tags: educational murals, Let's Colour Project, Milwaukee murals, Mural Locator, Woodrow Wilson High School
Posted in Education, Everyday, Mural Mondays, Murals, Uncategorized | No Comments »

ArtIsEverywhere

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Seeing Signs of a Rainbow

On a Cloud

The Perfect Expanding Apartment

The Cherry Blossoms are Here!

Smithsonian Smackdown

Guédelon

Mansion at O

Van Gogh in NOLA

Tape Art

Murals that Teach

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