Graham Arader Galleries and the works of Adrien de Montigny...

I love strap work....and Montigny was one of the early decorative artists that did it so well.

Graham Arader has an impressive collection of Montigny watercolors in his two NYC galleries. I was in NYC recently and had contacted Mr. Arader prior to the visit to set up a time to see some of the work.

The colors are still brilliant done in the late 1500's in watercolor on vellum. Graham has a detailed article on them on his blog.

Montigny used decorative borders of floral motifs and strap woven strap work to frame the villages and pastoral scenes.

From his very detailed work, we can learn what trees grew in the area and even identify the buildings.

(source)
"Assembled over four hundred years ago, the collection of watercolor albums commissioned by Duke Charles de Croy constitutes one of the most remarkable historical records of the towns and villages of the Low Countries of the 16th and 17th centuries, and a foremost artistic expression of the French Late-Renaissance style"(source)

"Many show examples of highly distinctive strapwork decoration, a hallmark of the late European Mannerism. Strapwork was widely popular throughout the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a type of ornament generally employed for borders that was composed of bands with the appearance of having been cut from leather or sheet metal, then twisted and rolled into fantastic shapes.  The origins of strapwork are to be found in Italian art at the beginning of the 16th century, and interlacing bandwork or strapwork appeared on bookbindings in Italy and Spain from the mid-15th century into the 16th. Early examples of bandwork used to articulate fields of ornament occur in Raphael's decoration of the Vatican Loggia(1518-19). Closer to de Montigny's center of activity, Rosso Fiorentino introduced a developed and highly individual form of strapwork in the stucco frieze of the Gallerie of Francois I at Fountainbleau."(source)

Work by Adrian Card

If you have a similar love of strap work, contemporary decorative artist Adrian Card will be teaching a three day class on it in San Francisco at Lynne Rutter's studio in September. I will be there and hope to meet other like minded decorative enthusiasts! Details on Adrian's class are here.

Salon Tokyo 2013-East Meets West

Niels Jongdahl

The attendees are back home and several have posted on this amazing annual event already. Salon is an annual gathering of artists from around the world sharing techniques and displaying their painted panels.

group panel

 The theme this year was "East meets West". Artists interpret the theme in their panels using traditional painting techniques of trompe l'oeil, gilding, scagliola, woodgraining and marble. A group mural is always a highlight! All the participating artists combine their talents to create a large panel displayed for all to see.

Masao Hanawa

You can see not all work submitted is traditional! Masao Hanawa did an incredible self portrait, larger than life!

Arlene Mcloughlin

American artist Arlene Mcloughlin submitted this beautiful panel of a geisha.

Lynne Rutter

Lynne Rutter (from San Francisco) created an interesting juxtaposition of East meets West with the play of a samurai warrior and a warrior of another kind! This was done over a copper gilded background.

Helen Morris

Stencil artisan Helen Morris did this incredible multi layered stencil of a geisha serving tea.

This is a chance for artists to connect with each other and paint collaboratively , not often the case as artists mostly work alone on the job site.


You can see the many ways artist interpreted "East meets West"....

Caterina Manisco

Julien Gautier

Marie Vanesse

Mats Carlsson

detail

Jeanne Santomauro Schnupp

Lotta Olsson

Lo Spazio Dipinto

Jean-Luc Sablé

Cultural events were also held including a tea ceremony...

and face painting.

Next year's event will be held in Seattle! 

Vignettes.....

Vignettes....one definition is "a grouping of treasured items arranged artistically on a table, shelf or piece of furniture."(source) I live in a home that is a blend of curiosity cabinets and personal vignettes.

I do not live in a pastel world...I like dark, rich environments. Everything has a story and a memory.

Everything on my desk has a story, the sea shells from trips to see my daughter, my taxidermied mouse under the glass dome from Paxton Gate...notice the lamp shades are a little wonky, that tells me the cat walked across the desk last night and her tail made them tilt. She is forbidden on the furniture but takes delight in the night walking across things! I straighten them daily....ahem...

The lamp that was my mother's, the luna moth found in the front yard after a storm...

My beautiful parrot feathers from Patrick Gracewood mixed with goose feathers from my daughter along with my love of fossils and minerals....

This baker's rack shows my love of Italian ceramics  along with a bonsai I made from a twisted rosemary bush root....it was too perfect to get rid of.

I love opening my cupboard and seeing lace fragments from my Mom...I love all my blue and white and think they belong together.

My spices from Paris...

A vignette is a grouping of treasured items...a mask from Venice, a clock from Paris,and a picture from a party with Chihuly....

My keys from a hardware store in Venice, a small Eiffel Tower from Paris and a ribbon found in Rome sums it all up...

"la vita e bella"...Life is beautiful!

Spanish Revival.....

Have you ever been on a mission to find something? Not just anything, but a Spanish Revival style light fixture for my breakfast area.  I made a trip to San Francisco(the home of Spanish Revival) to see my daughter and begin searching through flea markets and antique shops...

Lynne Rutter sent me to Big Daddy's, a treat in itself, where I began to feel like Goldilocks...this one was beyond fabulous but, too big.

...equally fabulous, this was a gem, but too small....

This one made my heart flutter,( a prop from a theater) but was even bigger than the first one!

I ended up with a great piece from the Alameda flea market and tried to ship it home with a few other things, but was too fragile for most shippers to consider.

I ran and bought practically all the bubble and plastic wrap one store had and mummified my iron fixture for its plane ride home with me!

I watched it go down the conveyer belt at the airport check in and prayed it would make it home in one piece....

It did! Here it is one plane ride, one shuttle and one car ride later heading home to be lamped and add glass.

I choose seedy baroque glass and kept the piece as is for aesthetic purposes.

Here is the final results. A rescued iron fixture that is almost 100 years old, now electrified and brought back to use. I love owning things that have a story, do you have some wonderful stories about your collections?

The Journey of a Paintbrush....

The internet has made the world so much smaller...and accessible when it comes to shopping!

As an avid member (and moderator) on Faux Forum, I saw a post where someone had found a listing on ebay (UK) for some vintage paintbrushes. (Thanks Roy of the UK) 

These were not just any brushes, but hogs hair softener brushes (3 inch) made in 1946 and were sitting in a military warehouse in England! Hogs hair brushes are a bit coarse by nature and not as popular as a badger hair softener.

 I owned a few badger softeners, but no hogs hair, so I jumped on line and bought one( there were a few dozen in that warehouse) Opening the package was an experience in itself!

These brushes were made when quality was the norm, the handles were wooden, turned on a lathe with a nice grip, and the packaging was almost over the top!

The brushes were still sealed from the manufacturer and stamped with the date packed. Layers of waxed paper, thick corrugated paper and other cardboard cradled the brush as if it was an artifact.

The box certainly was musty, but the brush was in excellent condition!

Even the handle had an identification tag tied with twine..sigh...such care given to an humble hogs hair brush.

So, after waiting , forgotten in a surplus warehouse, 66 years later and  thousands of miles , a simple hogs hair brush is now working full time! I am learning its nuances and promise to care for it for the next generation of decorative artists...they just don't make hogs hair like they used to!