Blue Wood and Flooring +

A few remaining items to mention from the NOHGS: BluWood, Floors by Michael, Patricia Delaney, Frank Relle and Rebecca Rebouché.

I finally had time to check out some more intriguing exhibits at the show and just had to ask the guys at the BluWood booth, “What makes your wood blue?” I explained that I knew most folks would be interested in knowing about the technical capabilities of their treated wood (e.g. impervious to mold, mildew and termites) but being an artist, I was captivated by the color. Their sales rep told me although he couldn’t give away proprietary information for their product, he did say it was a vegetable dye that caused the coloring and because it was treated on lighter colored construction wood, it could appear green where the blue combined with the yellow wood. Blue and green happen to be my favorite colors. The reason the colorant is used, however, is to show the coverage and penetration of the treatment throughout the wood. “Oh, I said, “kinda like a radioactive isotope for MRI or CAT scans to pinpoint a diagnosis in the body” (just my personal experience I guess). He looked at me strangely and gave me some samples to take home.

Making it Right, Brad Pitt’s rebuilding foundation for New Orleans, uses BluWood in their construction, which makes the houses look a bit surreal.

Another artistic booth, right next to ours, was Floors By Michael. Revear Designs used Michael’s stained concrete tiled flooring in the Artist at Home booth. Rebecca and Michael, are a delightful couple. I had a long chat with Rebecca about exploring business techniques via the Internet. They had a large and attractive booth, but they were smart to only “install” their flooring where it needed to be visible. I remember seeing Rebecca while we were moving out and later that night after we had gone to get dinner at Acme Oyster House and returned @ 10pm to remove our flats and boards. We all looked as tired as we felt.

I met Patricia Delaney, another decorative artist, in the Living Magazine booth, where we were provided delicious and power-boosting sandwiches for two days. (Thanks again, Nancy Ruiz!) Patricia had a wonderful display of beautiful textured finishes. I particularly liked the blue and green plaster. Gorgeous! I couldn’t find it on her website but here’s a lovely one from her home page.

There was an Artists’ Gallery around the corner from us at the show with incredible New Orleans “Nightscape” photography by Frank Relle. Truly captivating and reminded me of Magritte — something unusual in the lighting. This photo below, Telemachus, was chosen for the cover of the recent book, Nine Lives by Dan Baum, about New Orleans natives’ lives due to the affects of Katrina. This might be my next book group choice.

His girlfriend, Rebecca Rebouché, had her interpretative artwork (Spoon Dress example below) on display in a shared booth. We enjoyed meeting them both and having lengthy discussions on the properties of art. We appreciated them coming by our booth to check out casart as well.