Virtual Room - Silver and White

It's all West Elm's fault. They've got me obsession about silver. All day long while I am preparing boring legal documents I am secretly designing a silver and white loft in my head.

It started with West Elm's silver ottoman, that I wrote about here. I just can't get it out of my mind. I am in serious lust. I mean look at that! Simply gorgeous! Whenever I design rooms, they are all white. White walls, and white floors, like a cloud. I could totally see three to six of these ottomans lined up in lieu of a sofa. Ahh. What other pieces would I put in this romantic cloudy room? How about a lamp? What about the heavenly Yoga from Kundalini Italy.

I like the idea of the loft being almost empty, and having very large windows. What should cover those windows? What about these translucent light tiles by Jet Mous?

When I design a room, it occurs to me that I am much more fascinated by accessories than furniture. Now don't get me wrong. I love furniture. But I always start with accessories and go from there. Hmm. Seems to be a contradiction to my love of minimalism. Here are some other possibilities for the romatic silver and white loft:

Tord Boontje silver garland lamp from Modern Poverty. Very affordable at $55.00. I've been wanting a Boontje lamp for a long time.

Boontje's work reminds me of origami. I would love to see it paired with a rustic, low Japanese table like this one from Jtansu. Now I need to find some very yummy floor pillows to go around the table.


Target has a very beautiful tea set that would look wonderful on this table.

Hmm. Now I need a painting for this virtual room. I think I'm going to start experimenting with silver and metallic paint.

Painting as Experimentation

Color and paint are all about experimentation for me. I am often surprised at the colors that look good together. After obsessing about pink and white for years - I was recently surprised to find that I love blue and orange together. With lots of white, of course.

I paint in much the same way as I arrange objects. I love stark geometric forms, as well as swirls and pops of light. My apartment and my canvases dialogue with each other. They are dynamic, never the same. I actually start moving around objects before I start a canvas.

Here is a recent painting using turquoise, pink and orange. It took me forever to mix these colors - just couldn't get them right. The turquoise is right - I wanted a more blue- teal turquoise, not a mint green turquoise. The orange is not quite right though. I've also incorporated what seem to be recurring themes in my paintings of late: auras, angels, halos, movement.

Untitled, 24" x 30", 2007, acrylic and marker on canvas.

See more of my paintings at my flickr set.

Jet Mous

In celebration of pottery day here at Creative Influences, I would like to show you some work by a potter I have admired for a long time. Jet Mous from the Netherlands. I had been preparing an art installation when I discovered her work. I had sawed the tops of various detergent bottles and spray painted them pink. Alongside these bottles were bricks I had collected, also painted pink. This was before I began digitally collecting my artwork. That installation has since been dismantled, and I have no photograph of it. Oh well.

Anyway, I discovered Jet Mous' work around this time and her work in ceramic reminded me of those detergent bottles. I love the simple forms and bright colors of her work. Beautiful.

Vessel Architectural Pottery

Dear Target,

I love these Vessel Architectural vases available from Velocity Art and Design. I mean look at those pure forms! And that pure white. Please produce knock-offs as soon as possible because I want them all, and can't afford them.

P.S. Make sure they are produced in matte white. Call me if you have any questions.

Love,

Peggy

Pottery Jones

Today is a holiday at Creative Influences! That's right - it's pottery day once again. What could be better to obsess about? Come celebrate pure white, gold, geometric and organic forms with me and forget about your troubles for a while.

Ruffle vase and porcelain jug from Global Table.

Next to my vase that I broke, the Boa Vase by Bodo Sperlein is one of my all time favorites. Available at Unica Home. Simply gorgeous.

These stunningly sculptural vases are by flickr usr Anczelowitz. If you are a pottery lover, you must check out his flickr site. This guy is totally cute, prolific and his collections extremely diverse.

I can't imagine that anyone who blogs about design hasn't heard of or isn't in love with Jaime Hayon. These ultra-cool ceramics are available at Unica Home. I just can't help it - I dig 'em. Not sure why. Maybe it's because they remind me of urban toys or of aliens.


Japanese artist Nagae Shigekazu really pushes the envelope when it comes to porcelain forms. I love the windy feel of this piece. I've been seeing a lot of intriguing origami pieces in decor lately, but I don't think I've seen anything as beautiful as Shigekazu's work. Shigekazu's work can be seen at past exhibits of the Yufuku Gallery. The Gallery is now represented by Toku Art.

Moon Jar at Antique Alive. This is a great site carrying works in the Korean master tradition. A must see for any pottery lover.

These affordable vases are from West Elm. $49.00 for the set. Hmm. Thinking about ordering. And while I was on their site, I got very excited about their holiday decor. I never really decorate for holidays. Not sure why, but feel like it ruins my decor. Although this year maybe different with beautiful items like these. I am really digging these lacquer boxes and just look at that gorgeous white lantern. Oh my. So hard to be a minimalist.

And it's not pottery - but I am seriously lusting after this silver ottoman from West Elm, though it's too pricey for me. Just as well, it would start a whole new wave in my apartment. I could see a romantic, silvery moroccan vibe.... Ah, just as well to collect images.

Bleu Nature

It was my intent today to write a post about the very exciting color contest at Apartment Therapy, but as I perused the site this morning with my Columbian coffee in hand, I got distracted. I about fainted when I saw this lamp. I've written much about lamp lust and the fact that I am a lamp tramp (a very cute phrase coined by Kim at Desire to Inspire).

Recently, I wrote about two obsessions. Organic decor and turquoise lamps. Then today I saw this lamp by Bleu Nature which incorporates both elements as well as fulfilling the geometric precision that I crave. This is quite simply a beautiful lamp.

I had to check out their site, and also saw these beautiful white sculptural bowls, which incorporate organic elements. Stones. Absolutely love these. I think I'm going to steal this idea and place some of Lake Erie's beautiful rocks on my pottery shelf.

Thanks AT for always being such an inspiration! And thanks Bleu Nature for these beautiful designs.

Scrap Art

These collage/multi-media works have never been seen by anyone (besides me). So much art is hiding in my closet that wants to be shared. I've been very shy about showing my art, but blogging has helped me immensely with this shyness. Like most artists I know, I am always working on many creative projects at the same time, and I make such a mess. One day after exhausing myself, I became fascinated by the scraps I had left everywhere and assembled them into these collages. Sometimes a small piece will fascinate me so much that I reproduce it on a large canvas.

These pieces were done in 2005 and are approximately 8" x 5.5". Materials are: acrylic, markers, staples, cardboard.

Found Art

Art is omnipresent. It is everywhere I look. I am a lover of graphic design. Things like logos, business cards and promotional postcards always catch my eye. I often pick up little gems of graphic art that have been carelessly thrown on the street. I keep them in a folder and sometimes they become collages. Here are a few of these found objects.

Sometimes I discover fab local artists this way. Like the "Warrior of Light" Donald Black, Jr. His business card caught my eye. I checked out his website, his art is nothing short of profound.

Derek Hess is another fab local artist. His work perfectly represents the complexity of dichotomy. His diabolical angels disorient me, I find them alluring and disturbing at the same time. They are tragic and yet strong, as witnessed by their incredible muscles. There is a somber romance in his work that I find compelling and impossible to ignore. And hot damn, he sure can draw. I am always on the look out for his postcards.

See more of Derek's work here.

A gift card and coaster from Starbucks. I don't know who the Starbucks' artist is, but I'm going to find out, their work is so cute. Starbucks should start selling posters. Wouldn't that tangerine coaster be too cool rasterbated? Love those letters. I could see it as pop art, printed on a very large canvas and hanging in an all white dining room.

I don't smoke, but this logo caught my eye. I was fascinated, because I had no idea clove cigarettes existed.



Random promotional postcards, labels, buttons. All fine examples of graphic art. When I travel, I love to pick up promotional postcards. I need to find a way to display my postcard collection creatively.

A piece of styrofoam. May steal this, would be a cool geometric painting.

These aren't really art, and they don't make me feel happy nor inspired. But, I've gotten enough of them that I could wallpaper my bathroom. Too bad they're not pink.

When I run out of canvas (which is often), I paint on found pieces of cardboard. Here's a painting of mine from 2005 of a graphic flower on a piece of cardboard.


Untitled, 2005, 8" x 8", acrylic and marker on cardboard.