All in the Details...

I was just admiring the portfolio of local designer Suzie Allain and noticed the contrasting paint finishes in this bedroom. I love the high gloss on the door and frame against the flat wall in the same color... this will go into my mental notes for whenever I start painting rooms colors other than white ;)

New Lighting Is Up!!

Remember my $5 light fixture score from Habitat?? Well.... it's up!! My lovely brother happened to be over this weekend and he oh so nicely offered to change out the light. :)

I love watching him do things like that - it demystifies how complicated I think lighting or construction is - he removed the old light and installed the new one in literally 5 minutes! An electrician would of cost at least $50!!

Anyhoot - here's what the hallway looks like now:

It is a little off center from when we built the wall on right side of the hall but I'm not complaining! And I don't have the globe light bulbs I want for it yet but I wanted to share what it looks like up.

And I love the contrast of the French starburst with the mid-century modern light...

I would of preferred the fixture in my kitchen but we need a light with a fan in there to help circulate air during the hot New Orleans summers!

Oh, and below is a picture I dug up of the light that was there! When our sheet rock was sprayed the contractor covered the light to protect it and we would up keeping the plastic wrap around it because we hated it so much! Ha!

And there ya have it! Slooooowly, yet surely, things are getting done around this ole' beaut!  ;)

Even MORE New Paintings Are Up!....

A friend of mine, Elizabeth, recently painted these Natasha Law inspired pop art paintings. She felt they were too bright for her place and was giving them away - so of course I said I would take them!

I put all six up in my living room on that annoyingly long wall that I could not figure out how I wanted to place art work or furniture. I like the symmetry and height these add to the room - these paintings are 22 x 30 so they add a lot of drama! Plus my ceilings are so high - 12' - I can get away with such large paintings!

As a reminder here's the evolution of the living room...

March, 2011:

November, 2011:

I need to get a shot of the room now at the same angle but you get the idea of where these guys are - right where the pineapple and 2 other paintings are and I centered the bench under the paintings.

I question if they may be too bright for me too - I never see myself as a "red" person but I actually really like them. I love how they are huge and there are six of them! Plus let's face it, I'm constantly rearranging  my house!

They are just taped up there temporarily now but if I commit to them, I'd buy the largest Ikea Ribba frame for them. They would look somewhat like this:

SOURCE

Here's a closeup of all my ladies... I'd love for you all to guess what the upper right one is doing!! ;)



SO, what do y'all think?? I think they add something fun and modern to the room.... thoughts??

Latest Lighting SCORE!....

I found this awesome midcentury modern looking brass chandelier at my local Habitat for Humanity salvage store for $5!! YUP. FIVE DOLLARS! I know it's not as snazzy as some other ones but for $5 I'm not complaining...

I need to remove the clips and will more than likely gets bulbs similar to this:



Here are some I dug up that kinda look like mine... BUT both of these guys go for over $3,000!!! I'll take my $5 guy please! :)

I'm not sure where he will go yet but I knew I had to get it!

Barbarella Barbie Makes it's Debut!...

I'm proud to say I finished my Yard Art installation just in time for the Fringe Fest kick off!! It's totally weird and wacky and was a lot of fun to do!

My piece is titled "Barbarella Barbie" and is hanging from a tree in the park across the street from our house.

(this is one of the projects I've done with my Ebay win of 10 Barbies!)

I was inspired by watching too many documentaries on Andy Warhol & Mr. Brainwash and also greatly inspired by the insane movie Barbarella my blogger friend Elizabeth had mentioned!

I already had the Barbies when watching Barbarella and thought, gee, Jane Fonda looks like a space age Barbie! So, I spray painted this Asian light fixture (the spaceship) silver and made my Barbies Fluorescent pink. I was trying to make it look like they were making a crash landing on Earth because their ship had engine troubles... yes.. I'm cracking up laughing while typing this...

I even made her space boots! The silver & foil idea came from Andy Warhol - in his "Factory" he made all the walls and ceilings out of aluminum foil and was really into silver & astronauts at the time...

I love the Barbie below peeking her head out!

I made the one below fly over the space ship, she even has a foil cape ;)

Another view of the whole "spaceship"...

I just wanted to have fun with an art project and not over think it... I hope to just make people smile or wonder WTF?! when looking at Barbarella Barbie!

What do you think!?

In The Kitchen...Brussel Sprout Salad....YUM!

This "In The Kitchen" recipe is inspired by a salad from one of my favorite restaurants here in NOLA, Sylvain. It is so simple, refreshingly healthy and a great salad option for a dinner party.

To make this delicious salad, you will need:

Brussel Sprouts (I used 8 for a salad for 2)
Gala/Fuji Apple
Almonds or Hazelnuts
Pecorino or Manchego Cheese

For Vinaigrette:
Olive Oil
Pear Infused Vinegar
Honey

First, I finely chop up the brussel sprouts like so...

 I mandoline an apple, then slice it up into bite size pieces like so... (I LUVS me my mandoline!!)

Then I chop up the almonds and grate the cheese and throw it all together in a bowl. I just eye ball everything, so for the vinaigrette, a tablespoon or so of honey, tablespoon of vinegar, 2 tablespoons of olive oil - toss it all together and bada bing bada boom - delicioso salad!!

Fresh cracked pepper on top, maybe some artisan bread on the side and ENJOY!!

Weird World of Barbie...

OK, I mentioned yesterday I won some Barbies and I plan making a little art project with them... well while doing some google image research I came across this bizarrely hilarious blog - click HERE to see more of these images!

WTF?!



Seriously... WTF?!

I love wacky sh*t like this though... the pictures remind me of that documentary Marwencol. (and no, I don't plan on doing something like this with mine in case you were wondering)

Latest State of Mr. Etagere & NEW Painting Up!...

Here's the current state of my lovely Mr. Etagere... I'm mainly sharing this with you to show ya where I put my newest painting!!

My Aunt, who's a very talented artist made us this abstract painting below... of course, you know I love the colors!

I love this painting because if you look closely you can see an abstract house, a chair, flowers and I can even make out a sofa!

You can view more of her work HERE.

I also added this little elephant guy to the mix... I love him! I like how he's acting as a book stand.

Above him I have one of my latest art projects... for some reason I didn't take any pictures of making it but it was super easy and fun. I took an elephant ear leaf (which are found EVERYWHERE here in NOLA) and covered it in plaster, waited a day, then removed leaf and voila! Sculptural, organic art dawlin'!

And there ya have it! I'm excited to be in an artistic "zone" at the moment... my ass just won 10 naked barbies off Ebay... get ready for some wild & crazy art projects babies!!

Paintings in the Park....

The night of our fundraiser we also had two outlined murals for people to paint...

 I couldn't believe how many people contributed to the murals and they look amazing!! I actually would love the Buddah woman in my house!! But the view everyday from my door is oh so lovely and the whole neighborhood gets to enjoy these beauts!

Notice my Indian flower garland is framing her!

Close up of the detail...

Flying monkey man...

Close up...

AND if you're a local, we're having another painting party featuring the awesomely talented Africa Brass at 3pm, Sunday, November 20th at Clouet Gardens! WINE will be served! ;)

Bywater Artist & Art Studio...

Yesterday I went over to my friend, Regina Scully's art studio and snapped a couple of pictures of her latest works...

Random small world side note - she went to college and was roomies (in Rhode Island!) with The Hubs and we run into her here in New Orleans and turns out she lives 2 blocks away from us on our street!

Anyhoot, her studio is around the corner from us and she's in the same space as another local artist, Dr. Bob.

Regina's place is to the left, a lot less flashy than the scary clown man directing you to Dr. Bob!

Regina's paintings are abstract and HUGE - notice her standing next to the one below. I love the colors and abstract shapes in her work. I could stare at all the tiny details of one of her paintings for hours!

I love the light blue against the reds and oranges... below is a close up of some of the detail.

I love this black and white sculptural piece as well - it reminds me of a little village of people!

What I really love is to see Regina's work space - so much paint!

Regina is getting ready for her next show which will be at the Heriard-Cimino Gallery here in New Orleans. It will be in early 2012 and I can't wait to see her new paintings!