Moves Like Jagger



"Jagger 1968" Diamond Dust Screen Print by Russell Young

Edition of 7. This hand-pulled acrylic paint and enamel screen print with diamond dust on linen.

ACTUAL diamond dust is covering the print image.  Amazing.  The work is signed on verso.  This large piece (5 feet by 4 feet) currently hangs in the Decoratum gallery in London.  There you can purchase the piece for its asking price of $32,500.   Hit me up if you're interested and we can arrange acquisition.  It would be such a fabulous conversation piece, no?

Cheers,

Whitney

Getting Excited... and Elegant Living

I'm getting excited for the Antiques, Art & Design Show at the Armory!  Got my postcard reminder (and free admission for 2!) in the mail, and am marking my calendar!  I get so much inspiration at the Armory shows.  The cream of the crop bring their very best wares to present an insightful & stimulating display of the loveliest things you'd ever seen.  Can't wait!


Go HERE for details on the show. 

And, today is my amazing, wonderful, awesome mother's birthday.  Happy Birthday Mom!  I have learned more from you than any design school, art show, history lecture or cooking class could ever teach about the art of elegant living.  You are my hero!
Cheers,
Whitney

Just Bead It

image via W magazine

This is Liza Lou.  Liza Lou is a visual artist with a mind-blowingly high amount of patience.   She's best known for creating painstakingly precise large-scaled installation pieces made from the unlikely medium of glass beads. 

Her famous work "Kitchen," a full-scale replica of a suburban American kitchen, is made entirely of beads.

A close up of the sink in "Kitchen"

 Lou was in graduate school studying fine art when she started using glass beads in her work instead of paints.  Her instructors and peers objected to her choice medium, mocking and disapproving of the craft supply.  She quit school and moved to Los Angeles, working tirelessly to create "Kitchen," one of her best-known pieces, over the course of five years.  "Kitchen" is estimated to have more than 30 million pieces in its composition.  Can you imagine the time, patience and love necessary to create something for five years all the while knowing that your mentors and colleagues think of it paltry?!

"Continuous Mile"

 "Maximum Security Fence"  image via Guest of a Guest

"Cell"

"Super Sister"



 "Backyard" whose composition includes 250,000 individually beaded blades of grass

Lou's work has brought her to a studio in Durban South Africa, where she has access to a team of Zulu artisans who help her create her intricate works with beads and tweezers.  Lou's career has been a huge success, garnering her accolades throughout the art world and earning her the MacArthur Foundation's 'genuis' grant of $500,000 to support her work.  Clearly, Lou's precise works require dedicated creativity, long-term motivation and physical endurance.  And a truckload of glass beads.  Genius, indeed. 
  


Liza at work in her Durban studio  image via W magazine


The beauty of pure individuality makes for the most exhilarating creations.  Let's be inspired this week! 
Cheers,
Whitney

Stolen Masterpieces

Did you hear/read about the the Picasso Doodle Bandit?  He's the bawdy fella who walked into a San Francisco art gallery over the July 4th weekend and walked out with a $200,000 Picasso drawing and escaped in a taxi. Crazy! The Bandit was quickly caught and arrested, and the Picasso was recovered unscathed.  it turns out that the bandit is a New Jersey boy, who has worked at a sommelier /waiter at some quite fine NYC eateries. What the heck was a sommelier doing stealing fine art in San Francisco?!? My mind races at this stupidity; art theft is a brazen move and bold criminal act. 

If I didn't know better, I'd think this bandit's bust was some sort of viral marketing campaign for the much-anticipated book Stealing Rembrandts by Anthony Amore and Tom Mashberg. Amore is the head of security and chief investigator at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and he knows a thing or two about art theft; the Gardner Museum was robbed of 13 works of art in 1990 by two men dressed as police officers.    

No longer on pre-order, it's finally available! Click here to purchase

Stealing Rembrandts details the history of art theft over the past century, by following thefts of Rembrandt paintings. It also biographies the Dutch master, whose work is generally regarded as the greatest of European art history.

"Portrait of a Young Girl Wearing a Gold-Trimmed Cloak"

The FBI offered a $5 million reward for

the return of "Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee"

"A Lady and Gentleman in Black"

But, as the Huffington Post pointed out (the obvious predicament to art theft, duh), "Unlike diamonds or gold, a celebrated old master painting actually has little street value. Instantly recognizable, it cannot be reintroduced into the legitimate marketplace without attracting attention and is therefore difficult for criminals to monetize."  So why do people steal art?  And why, specifically, do people steal Rembrandts???

The book is part historical biography, part fine art education, part crime thriller.  It would make a great gift for a true crime fan or an art enthusiast.  Or make it your compelling beach read this summer (if you have it in you to commit to a compelling read on the beach)!

Cheers,

Whitney

Cute Correspondence

I just sent a thank you note to our hosts from last weekend for a fantastic time.  Call me Emily Post, if you must, but I believe that hand-written notes of gratitude are the best way to say thanks.  Writing on someone's Facebook wall, 'Hey thanks for the awesome time! You guys are great!' just isn't the same as a proper note.  
There is something so wonderful about fine papers, a cheerful stamp, and sending a card via postman to your sender.  It's old-fashioned and charming, and really indicative of well-intended thoughts.

The note I sent today was from one of my favorite sets of cards by the artist Carol Boeddiker.  A row of colorful mailboxes along a wooden plank seem so apropos for my postman-delivered gratefulness.  Aren't they so country-cute and happy!

My Carol Boeddiker notecards.  The perfect little correspondence cards. 

Carol's work is charming and cheerful.  She illustrates and watercolors designs depicting holidays, flowers & landscapes and animals.  Her forte is pet portraiture.  How fun is that?!

 

The company accepts custom orders, and they'd be glad to hear from you to discuss your desired illustration.  Tell them Whitney from Consider Yourself At Home sent you!  I foresee many of you ordering custom baby announcement cards, thank you notes and pet portraits by Carol!

Now I'm off to the mailbox to drop off my cute card!  Have a charming Friday!

Cheers,
Whitney

What's Rad? Rowley and Reed + Rader

The fashion designer Cynthia Rowley revealed her resort collection today.  The collection's presentation has been elevated to a creative swell with the help of Brooklyn progressive artists / photographers / graphic magicians / meowzas Reed + Rader.  See it today on StyleCaster. 

Have you ever seen the photos of Rowley's NYC home?  Elle Decor featured her townhouse in 2008, and her gilded piano still sticks out my my brain.  It's hollow, plastic-lined, and serves as an ice bucket.  Seriously haute.



all images Elle Decor, 2008

 I think Cynthia Rowley's designs are fabulous, and have always thought she was just so damn cool.  Then I saw this video on Sytlelikeu and now I know she is just so damn cool. 

Cheers,
Whitney

Behind the Scenes: An Interiors Photoshoot

I recently finished a project in Cambridge, Mass.  A lovely Victorian home on one of the most historic streets in the city.  The homeowners lean towards a Colonial aesthetic, and it's been a wonderfully challenging project to settle their decades-worth of furniture, art and collectibles into this architectural masterpiece of a home. 

When it was time to photograph the house, I sought out the services of Lara Kimmerer, who is seriously the most delightful woman in Massachusetts.  We met at the house last Monday, and we shot nearly 20 different vignettes in 5 hours. Lara was so calm & thorough and I enjoyed working with her immensely.  She was open to all my wacky ideas and never balked at my nitpicky styling issues.

So, at 8am on this rainy Monday morning I went to good ol' Whole Foods for my floral sourcing.  Whole Foods always has fresh, highly-seasonal flowers at pretty reasonable prices. 

Despite the date stamp on my photos, it was the 13th. I stink with cameras. Hence, hiring a professional.



Loaded up with fresh flowers and one very perfect orchid. 

Flowers in the house and into many different vessels. Yep, that's a Gurgling Cod pitcher.

Once we started shooting, I stood back and watched Lara do her crazy camera magic.  Our shot in the kitchen was fun.  The family had left the kitchen table earlier that morning with a newspaper, a teapot and some honeydew on a plate, so I used their leftovers as styling pieces!  How authentic!  I even boiled another pot of water so that the teacup would have some 'steam action.'  Fun.



Lara setting up the shot.  I stood behind the island and gawked at all the fancy equipment.

 

My attempt at shooting this space

Lara's final result*

Just following our shot in the kitchen, there was a mishap.  The family's wonderful & lovely babysitter was about to run out for an errand when her car wouldn't start.  But wonderful Lara had jumper cables [thankfully, since I didn't] and the problem was fixed in less than 5 minutes!  Lara FTW!



Drama averted.


The home's Dining Room is an homage to fabric. A historic toile, to be exact.  The walls are padded and upholstered and we shot 3 very specific spaces in the room.

Lara sets up a shot on one of the tall buffets



Final result*

In the Living Room, we shot a corner featuring some of the beautiful fine art and artifacts collected by my clients on their worldwide travels.  Setting up for this shot, Lara and I moved the rug underfoot because the fringe strip was distracting to the composition of the shot.  As much as I love my client's antique rugs, we saw that by pulling the rug out of the shot we were highlighting the house's flooring.  Hardwood floors FTW!



Setting it up



Final result*

It was a long day, but Lara and I (well, mostly Lara) worked tirelessly and cheerfully. Lara's a blogger, too! Check out her photography adventures HERE.    

I drove back to NYC late that afternoon, and stopped at a gas station along the Mass Pike where I saw this weird but funny set of stickers on a trash can.  The 'corrupt NY' sticker made me laugh out loud, as this was 2 weeks into the texting scandal with NY Congressman Weiner (ick).  The Chicken/Rat one, I'm not sure (ew).
 

Nevertheless, it was a great and productive trip to Cambridge and a funny & weird ride back home to NY.  Corrupt as it might be ; )

All photos with * by Lara Kimmerer. All images in this post property Whitney Interior Design.  There will be more photos from our shoot of this lovely house posted to my website in the coming days. 

If you're in the market for a photographer, check out Lara's site and her services.  She does beautiful interiors photography and, since she is so delightfully personable, is a genius people photog.  Weddings, engagements, fmaily portraits, etc.

Cheers,

Whitney

Hirschy

I am a big fan of auction houses.  I've purchased many wares at auctions for myself and for clients, always thrilled with the chase of the item and usually thrilled that I managed to buy something way below it's cost value.

One of my favorite houses in NY is Doyle on the Upper East Side.  Doyle offers @Home auctions every few months and I almost always find something amazing, like cannot-live-without-it-I'm-serious-I-will-explode-if-this-isn't-mine-by-the-end-of-the-day-type of amazing things at these auctions.  Many of the items are from the estates of collectors of fine art, furnishings, rugs or table goods.  I have seen an entire suite of pristine antique silver go for just a handful of dough.  Crazy.

Self-portrait. Hirschfeld at work.

The upcoming Doyle @Home auction is that of the Estate of Al Hirschfeld.  I looooove Al Hirschfeld.  I have an entire board on Pinterest dedicated to illustrators, and Hirschfeld is one of the best.  His satirical drawings have appeared in the drama pages for over sixty years.  His caricatures have graced countless magazine and news covers, and his style has been widely emulated by illustrators that followed him.  

Doyle is hosting an auction of Hirschfeld's estate on June 22nd.  If you're local, go check out the pieces in person; you can browse the auction floor and see these pieces up close before the auction on preview days June 18-21. If you're out of the NYC area, you can bid online.  Wouldn't it be so neat to own one of his original caricatures or a piece of his studio furniture?!?

Leather & wood captain's chair

Judy Garland

Glass & Brass side table.  Very Eileen Grey, non?

Elton, Barry, Dolly, Frank, Bing, Tina and Crosby/Stills/Nash. 

Biedermeier Walnut Cabinet

Audrey in Hat

Bust

A collection of antiquarian books

Woody Allen

His iron & wood studio drafting table

Want to own a little history?  Then I'll see you at the auction!
Cheers,
Whitney