Tag: Art

I ❤️ new art!

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I have been adding so much new art to my home (as I mentioned here), I thought these lovely artists deserved a post of their own. I hope you find a new piece or three that speak to you!

Malika Favre‘s bright, punchy visual style caught my eye recently, and I snagged a few prints from her recent sample sale. Leo from her Zodiac series, Le Plaisir, and Les Ciseaux all have joined my collection — très sexy. I love her graphic lines and shapes and the clever the way she makes use of negative space.

I was gifted a beautiful set of hand-painted notecards by my partner when we stumbled upon them in a sweet little local stationary shop, and when framed with wide white mats, they make for a beautiful set of small paintings for a gallery wall. Two live in our living room grouped with Paige Gemmel’s Dogs on Orange (also a recently addition), and the remaining four are hung vertically in our kitchen. I love how from certain vantage points in both rooms you can see all six — they pull the spaces together so well!

Less recent but just as lovely are three prints I purchased from UK printmaker Sam Marshall. I follow her on Instagram, and I can’t decide whether I enjoy her seeing linocuts and etchings or her adorable mini dachshund Miss Marple more! Curled Up, Those First Few Days, and Lots of Dogs (on our console as seen below) are the ones I added to my little collection. Bonus: may I suggest a mirror ball for no other reason than to make you smile (or perhaps to inspire an impromptu dance party in your living room)? Placed in a sunny spot, the light dancing on the walls will never fail to elicit happiness. Trust.

Last but not least, near and dear to me is the artwork of Jared Schwartz, a mixed media artist based in LA whose work floats somewhere between figural, abstract, cartoonish, evocative, surreal, expressionist, and political in all the best ways. (Full disclosure – he is my partner so I may be a bit biased, but I think his work speaks for itself.)

Schwartz does political cartoons and activist artwork as well as more abstract and figural art pieces. He seeks to make the world a better place through every medium he works with, whether it is mobilizing for a deeply-felt cause or bringing joy to a single viewer. I’m continually in awe of the way he sees the world, then brings those visions to a canvas. His piece Hold Me Close hangs in my living room, perfectly set off by an emerald green frame from Framebridge. I am also very partial to Pan & Syrinx and to the #MeToo anthem work My Body Is Not Yours, a perfect summation of the abortion, rape, trans rights, and marriage equality issues we have to endlessly address.

I hope this smattering of art and artists brings you to a new work of art you love, an artist to follow, or perhaps some inspiration to switch up your wall décor. Enjoy!

In the gallery

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Lately I have been super inspired by bold gallery walls. The kind that are a focal point for the room, make a statement, and look collected and eclectic… like some kind of old world library, an art collector’s studio, or maybe an intimate salon (SAH-lon, if you’re fancy!). Here are some spaces I can’t help but swoon over right now:

via: Chairish, my scandinavian home, Lucky magazine, and sfgirlbybay

This week I decided to start over from scratch with my own gallery wall. I’ve had a mix of art up in my living room for quite some time, moving pieces in and out as my tastes or whims have changed. This time, instead of swapping out a piece or two, I took down everything and thought long and hard about what I really wanted for the end result. I framed several items I’ve be wanting to hang for ages, laid everything out on the floor, and then added, subtracted, rearranged, and shifted everything until I was really thrilled with the arrangement. Next, to get everything spaced out properly on the wall, I made templates out of newspaper for every frame and hung them on the wall with a bit of tape. This method works especially great when you are hanging a lot of items. Also, you can mark on the paper where you need your nails or hangers to go! Then just affix your nails while the paper is up, pull down the paper, and hang your frame. Here is my end result, and I couldn’t be happier with it!

Our living room feels fresher and even more personal now, just in time for the holidays. This Thanksgiving I’ll be giving thanks for our health and safety in my own little private gallery — I hope you can do the same!

I ❤️ Atelier Stella

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studio photos by Fiona Murray

Our next featured maker is Atelier Stella, home of the sweetest ceramics you ever did see. Stella Baggott established her unique ceramics business in 2012, and all her creations are hand built, sculpted and pinched with love. She credits “Cornish, Italian and Swedish potters from the 50’s and 60’s” as influences for her stylish designs, and there is not a single piece that I would not love to bring home!

I was lucky enough to snag a couple of her pieces when she collaborated with West Elm and also Anthropologie a few years back, and their little smiling faces bring me joy every time I catch a glimpse of them in my living space. To me, her pieces mix dreamy neutrals and organic shapes with just the right touch of whimsy. Luckily for all of us, she has begun to ship out her beautiful ceramics again after a brief pandemic hiatus, so shop on her site to your heart’s content. Any of her little works of art will brighten your day.

The vase and candle I have are both sold out, but here are a few of my favorites currently available on her site. Act quickly if you see something you love, as her pieces are made in small batches and change regularly.

Flora vase in white
Double wave candle holder in terracotta
Mini rainbow pot in white

Enjoy, wear a mask, and stay well!

Matter

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Bleu II, Joan Miró

Matter

I could really fuck myself up over a boy like you

(and by “I could” I mean “I am”)

with that slow crooked smile,

that kindness, that quick-witted humor that makes me smile

until you shatter me with silence.

Those stupid beautiful eyes twist me up, make me ache,

make me crave/need/want

as only a book-loving writer of a boy could (and can, and does).

A constant state of yearning is de rigueur as long as you’re here

yet not here, as present/absent as a quantum reckoning.

Oh, honey — you’ve fucked me up bad and I’m off to the races,

off-kilter, off in dreamland as I wait wait wait for you to wake up,

to love me, to make me feel like I matter, am matter, am solidly a part

of that life you keep close to the vest that I so desperately want to inhabit.

Thumb is out for this hitchhiker, this will o’ the wisp black-hole-dense dreamer

who loves you and might even gift you her smile

if you would only open your eyes.

–Charla M. DelaCuadra

Little rusty

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As September gets going, I inevitably think of back-to-school times.  It stays hot in southern CA well through October, but I love fall clothing and could hardly wait to break out that new brown corduroy jumper or pretty sweater.

It is far, far too hot to consider sweaters at the moment, but in the meantime I’m feeling inspired by rusty, earthy hues in every iteration.  Rust can look fresh with white, wicker, and linen, or deliciously moody with deep blues and ochres.  Terracotta, amber, burnt sienna — whatever the hue, these interiors incorporate rust beautifully, and I’m here for it.

Night Palm Studio – Los Angeles – Photos by Pablo Enriquez

Photos via:  livingbylo  petite passport  remodelista  bobby clark  my scandinavian home  rue mag  anthropologie  jessicamenda  sfgirlbybay  altoon sultan

Tuesday

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sonia_delaunay_colored_rhythm
Sonia Delaunay, Colored Rhythm, 1946

 

Tuesday

 

I’d like to package up my life

all the bits that make it up

and place it on a shelf

in a white box

tied up with a golden satin ribbon —

leave it there

safe

for a while

while I try on something 

new.

–Charla M. DelaCuadra

J’adore Paris

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Oh Paris, how I love thee.  I’ve been planning a Paris travel guide for some time, but it always seems daunting to distill my favorite city into a single post, as I could wax poetic for hours.  I’ve been several times now, and with every return trip it feels more and more like my heart-home.  This guide is far from comprehensive, but here are a few of my very favorite places to eat and visit in the City of Light.

Visit

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Continue reading “J’adore Paris” →

Beginner-ings

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As you might guess, my drive for perfection makes it difficult to be a beginner.  Recently I started taking ceramics classes, though — and when you start something new, you have no choice but to start at the beginning.  Time for beginner-ing.  Ooof.

I’ve wanted to learn to throw pottery for ages.  Something about the instant gratification that comes with a guided touch on clay, the graceful turning of forms and hands on a wheel, and the wabi-sabi imperfections that make up a particularly stunning glaze — all of these things have beckoned me for quite some time.  Rather than wait until I had some time, I finally decided to make some time this month to make it happen, and I am so glad I did.

The wheel and the clay both have their own learning curve, I have realized.  Gravity and centrifugal force have their own demands as well.  There is a sweet spot to be found between clay that is wet enough to become what you envision, and too wet to maintain the form you’ve shaped.  There is a strange satisfaction in trimming a piece, leathery clay spinning in ribbons off the wheel as you uncover the shape you’re imagining.  And there is a magical alchemy to glazes — the way minerals and heat combine to transform into something unexpected and beautiful.  That minty-green goop you just dunked a bowl into?  Of course it is going to be cobalt blue when fired.  Fascinating, yes?

Beginner’s mind is a challenge to get into as an adult.  Our society demands knowledge, know-how, swagger, confidence, momentum.  Being a beginner requires curiosity, surrender, awe, wonder, and acknowledgement of another’s superior skills.  It requires you to be open, vulnerable, and even silly.  It requires resilience.  A beautiful bowl can become a lopsided twist of clay in a heartbeat, and all you can do is laugh, smush and knead, and begin again.  I’m working on squishing down my irritation along with my misshapen clay, working on laughing and shrugging my shoulders, working on going with the flow, working on embracing a “flawed” piece as one I can learn from and experiment with.  And you know what?  It’s fun.  It’s hard and messy and fun.  And I am learning.

I have yet to fully complete a piece yet, so this is all about the journey so far.  Considering how results-driven I can sometimes be, I am surprised how much I am relishing it.  Each step is new and different and hard and exciting.  I’m eager to see how my work will turn out once it’s been fired, of course, but (shockingly) I’m even more excited to keep learning and creating — because there is so much to enjoy along the way.

Women creatives

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Happy International Women’s Day!  In celebration of women, the work we do, and the world that we shape, here is a round-up of artwork and ceramics by women makers that I’ve been loving lately.

There is something feminine and strong about these paintings by Bernadette Marie Pascua.  She is a multi-disciplinary artist based in New York City.

Humble Ceramics, created by by Belgian-born artist Delphine, offers artisan pottery made with mindfulness and intention in South Los Angeles, one small batch at a time.  I love their Alder tumblers.

On Society6 you can find art prints by Tracie Andrews, an abstract artist based in the UK.  The considered colors and shapes make me smile.

Bobby Clark is a Scottish artist and photographer who currently lives in Melbourne, Australia.  Her latest artworks “explore the symmetry and balance of shapes, creating minimal studies of shape composition,” which I find both meditative and inspiring.

I covet this small half mesa bowl from OATMEAL.  Elise Birnbaum is a maker and founder of OATMEAL, where objects are designed and made with care in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — ethically and with respect for the material and the people they are making for.

Support women, support artists.  Happy International Women’s Day.