Featured Work: A Mid-Century Tale

Featured Work: A  Mid-Century Tale

Once upon a time,  in March of 2011, I had two wonderful and creative Clients who wanted a special decorative / design application on a perfectly blank wall in their master bedroom.

Here’s where we started…

And..here’s where we ended up.

So…what happened in-between?

Well, having done a custom application in their guest room,

I had familiarity with the Clients’  home, tastes, design style, and color preferences.  It was immediately apparent upon entering their space: these Clients have a passion for  Mid-Century/ retro style and design.

Their strong affinity for hues of orange fit right into their Mid-C sensibility.

The Clients’ unified approach to their home decor and design is expressed in just about every detail of their space, including

tray tables…

shower curtains….

coasters,

textiles,

a sunburst clock,

vases (and furniture and ornaments),

and more vases (and furniture and ornaments).

We began our collaboration with a small gem of an idea…a snippet of  inspirational pattern that caught my Clients’ sensitive eye.

We played with the scale, the sizing and the spacing,

 

and I created custom stencils.

We did the math (a few times…), and I marked out the pattern on the wall with chalk.

I did the first stencil application. The pattern emerged, and,  the wall came alive…  the pattern just animated that wall!

The secondary stencil animated the pattern, design, and wall surface yet further.

Little rings of fire did their job…added energy, snap, crackle and pop that was just, well, FUN.  (As my Clients are).

The result, though we had planned for it carefully, surprised us all in its whimsy, uniqueness, and aliveness.  (Also qualities of my Clients.)

Somehow the wall, and the design, the pattern  and the treatment became more than the sum of their parts…

one of the happiest outcomes of the Arts!

And here we have the happy ending of the tale…or, is it a beginning?

Have YOU ever had the experience of your collaborations and creations becoming more than the sum of their parts?

If you feel so inspired,  please share it with us here.  We love to hear from you.

Remember, we are all creating this story of our LIVES, together.

May You have JOY and Aliveness in your Life, as you Live it!

Featured Work- The “Leopard”

Featured Work: The “Leopard”

This image is based on a piece of 14th century embroidery depicting the “Leopards of England”.  Remade into a religious garment in the 18th century,  it may have originally been a horse blanket created for the English King, Edward III.  It has been re-imagined here as a mock-up for a larger scale mural, one of my wish list of projects!

Re-imagined from embroidery to paint...

I discovered the original image at the Cluny Museum in Paris, the “Musee nationale de Moyen Age – Thermes de Cluny”, which houses one of the richest medieval collections in the world.  The Middle (Medieval) Ages is one of my favorite historical period for images…depictions of marvelous creatures and fantastical beings expressed everywhere in paintings, sculpture, carvings, and tapestries.  It would seem that the pagan underpinnings of European culture still breathe through these creations, which can inspire, delight, and mystify our soul upon  beholding.

A happy guardian of the harvast?

The Leopard grins out at the viewer against a background of foliage, punctuated by smaller, detailed figures which could represent the animated spirit of the natural environment, or perhaps tasks associated with fruitfulness and harvest, such as the care and tending of the vines. Does this image speak to you?

And, if so, what do the Leopard, and its spritely companions say?