Yoskay Yamamoto

I've previously defined Chick Art on this blog.  It's a subject - and a genre - I am quite find of.  Initially, I defined Chick Art as being by chicks for chicks.  But since I discovered that the fab Yoshitomo Nara is indeed male, I need to revise my definition.  So here's my definition of Chick Art - art that is decidedly feminine, but with an edge.  It often features young women who at once possess innocence and wisdom beyond their years.  It is sweet, but with a little edge of creepiness to it.  It's romantic and mysterious. It attracts as well as compels at the same time.  The women in these works are incredibly complex, and very  alluring - just like a woman.  If you'd like to see more on my Chick Art series, please click Chick Art under Regular Features on the side bar.

Today it is my pleasure to add another very fine male artist to the series.  Yoskay Yamamoto.  Here is a small sample of his work, I am sure you will agree that it is fab!

I love that Yoskay includes sketches on his blog.  I like having a peek into into artists' creative process.

Aren't these flower pots that he designed awesome?  I usually don't like flowers growing out of head vases.  But these work for me.  The cacti look like the elaborate sculpted hair of a Geisha.

I want the pillow he designed.  To see more of Yokay's work, his website is here.  His blog is here.  Pillow and fab tea cup available at My Plastic Heart.

Perfect Pink Sofa

 

I saw this perfect sofa today in my favorite vintage store.  I will be revealing my source in an upcoming post so stay tuned.  This sofa would be perfect in my apartment.  It wouldn't even need to be reupholstered, and its structurally sound and so comfy.  Dig the back of this sofa, it only looks like loose backed pillows - they are actually secure which makes it even more sturdy.  I'm not a fan of loose back sofas.  Unfortunately the sofa was $849.  Out of my budget, but actually a good price.  This sucker will last for years.  If you are in the market for a sofa you really should go vintage, they just don't make 'em like they used to.  I think this would be a great sofa for Emily Henderson's show Secrets from a Stylist don't you?  She always finds the most rad sofas.  Emily, I adore your show.  Let me know if you want this sofa, okay?  It can be arranged, but you'll have to come to Cleveland to get it.  Kidding on that last part - but I would love it if you came to Cleveland and brought Antonio with you.  xo 

P.S.  You know how it is during a long weekend when all the blogs go quiet.  It can be a little lonely.  Not to worry, the editors here at Creative Influences plan to continue posting during the long weekend, and have some great posts lined up so stay tuned.

I could live here

Image Architizer via Apartment Therapy.

Friday Fun, Part II

Dear readers, I discovered the most fab blog and shop and I must share!  It is written by Doe Deere, who lives life as art, or as she puts it - she "narrates her own fairy tale."  This girl has got it goin' on.  Not only is she an artist, but she's an entrepreneur as well.  She's a totally fab makeup artist and has an online shop.   Here are a few of her lipstick colors that I'm not sure I can live without:

There are so many cute pictures on her blogazine that I had trouble only using a few.  I particularly love this one, I'd like to have a poster of it.

Like I said Doe is a rad makeup artist.  She does celebrity-look makeovers.  This gorgeous creature is made up to look like Twiggy.

Talk about an It Girl.  And she gives tutorials on celebrity makeup!

Here's Doe in one of her unique lipstick creations.  She's absolutely charming and adorable.   Her blog is a pure, unadulterated celebration of girly fun and very inspirational to boot.  It always picks me up, puts a smile on my face and makes me happy to be a girl.  You simply must check it out.  Her blog is here.  Her shop is here.  I will be adding her blog to my link list.  Doe, thanks for being an inspiration.  You go girl!

Friday Fun

Hello dear readers, today was a good day.  I hired a life coach and am very excited about it!  It feels so right.  I'll be sure to keep you posted on how it goes.  I am looking forward to a long weekend filled with art shows and family.  What could be better?  So let's have some fun shall we?

I'd like to have this poster!  This should be my motto, or my blog name.

Isn't she adorable?  And doesn't she look great with pink hair?  I discovered an artisan wig shop at Etsy!  The artist is Tiffany DeMichelle, and her work is totally fab.   I want this wig - and many others!  :)  She makes wigs in all kinds of fabulous colors.  Wouldn't it be fun to plan a wedding and have all the brides' maids wear wigs to match the color scheme?  If  you'd like to see more pictures of totally awesome pink hair, you can check out my gallery at flickr, here.  For summer, I'm going to be very girly, funky and flirtatious.

Here's a couple of pieces that would work great in my summer wardrobe.  Love the necklace, love the combination of pink and red.  That purse is so cute.  Hmm.  I used to crochet.  Maybe I should take it up again.  I'd like to make a rug too, like this one from Urban Outfitters.   The purse is from Rice.

 

 This playful ring would look so cute with that purse.  From Etsy user Crystoo.

Sorry, I don't remember the sources for the poster or the necklace.  My bad.  Please contact me if you know who the artists are.

Day 3 of Painting Project - Letting Go of Perfection

Yesterday for my painting project I wanted to paint squares.  With rounded edges (like the Smeg fridge).  I wanted to do something that looked kind of mid-century, but updated.  Only thing is I felt a little tired so didn't feel like the precision that I prefer in a painting.  I even thought about skipping painting.  Instead, I decided to just go with imperfection and have fun.  Painting should be fun, right?  So here's my painting for Day 3 of my 30 day project.

Untitled, 2011, 24" x 24", acrylic on canvas.  Just an exercise in freeing creativity.  Still finding it difficult to paint on the floor.  Once I buy an easel, I am sure my painting will improve.  Here's the same painting digitally enhanced.  I am enjoying manipulating my paintings digitally.

Little Mushrooms in My Yard

Yesterday I fully intended to get up early and catch the Eastern Sun.  You see there was a patch of little mushrooms in my yard.  I had an idea for a photo collage, I'd photograph them every day to show their growth.  They grow at an amazing pace - almost doubling their size everyday.  It's fascinating to observe.  I was ill this morning, and it rained.  Again.  Seemed like a good reason to sleep a little late.  I awoke foggy to a strange sound.  The lawn mower!  Oh no!  I ran downstairs, but it was too late.  The little patch of mushrooms had been cut down.  I know it sounds crazy, but I was sad.  As I stood there limply with my camera, my ears started to hurt from all the noise.  I looked around the neighborhood and there must have been 20 lawn mowers going!  Is it just me or does any one else find this strange?  I mean besides the obvious waste of time, energy, money and resource, isn't a little odd that we force patches of Earth to grow in an artificial way?  And we get really competitive about it too.  There's a few yards in the area that grow wild flowers.  They leave them alone and they flourish.  They look great and are a lot less trouble.  I think the Earth is a very fine thing.  She can decide what she wants to grow in a certain area without our interference.  And there's really no such thing as a weed.

Image from my sketchbook

Day 2 of Painting Project - Evolution of Painting

 Untitled, 18" x 30", acrylic and marker on canvas.  Keep reading if interested in the evolution of this painting.

 

What a difference a studio makes!  My dear friend Haley shared her lovely studio, and provided loving moral support while I worked on this painting.  We had a great time creating together.  I felt so happy!  Surely this must be a sign that I am meant to be an artist.  I sometimes feel like an impostor.  Do you ever feel this way, dear readers?  I had the beautiful painting by David Bromstad (below) in my mind and I wanted to copy it as an exercise.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a picture of it, but I was still influenced by it.  I wanted smooth, simple lines and I was in love with the colors he used.

Here is what I came up with.  I love the color combination of dove gray, pink and yellow.  Fun, but just didn't feel complete.  I felt compelled to layer on more paint, but I wanted my edges to be perfect.  I find my hands are not as steady as I'd like, but I kept going.

Second incarnation.

Third.  Hmm.  Maybe I should have stopped here.  But I didn't.

Fourth incarnation.  Since I considered this painting an experiment, I actually let go of the worry that I would ruin it and I kept going.

 

Fifth and final incarnation!  For better or worse the painting is done.  I'm actually kind of pleased with it, I know I will be working in these colors more.  It looks a little deco to me.  It's a little more graphic and bold than what I want to achieve, but I think I might be on to something.

Day 1 of Painting Project - Finding your Voice

I feel as if I am struggling to find my voice in paint.  Painting for me is largely experimental.  I seem to have two styles of painting - minimal and maximal.  I always have more than one canvas going at the same time.  Like many artists, I am seldom happy with my work.  I've been attempting to commit myself to painting every day, so I'd like to use this blog to document 30 days of paintings. Perhaps having this method of accountability will keep me more disciplined!  I hope so.  Here are two canvases I prepared on Day 1.

Untitled 2011, 24" x 30", acrylic on canvas

Untitled 2011, 24" x 30", acrylic on canvas.

As you can see, very different.  Probably the only thing these two canvases have in common is that I am always trying to achieve balance on the canvas.  I work a canvas until I am satisfied with it - or not.  There are many times I ruin a painting.   Knowing when to stop is always the hardest part.  Why do I do it?  Because I must.

Painter Envy

Dear readers, as I study the work of painters I sometimes find myself envious.  I am especially envious of painters who can pull off a simple, smooth painting.  Such is the work of David Bromstad.  You already know David is a totally fab and uber talented designer on HGTV.  I love the rooms David designs, indeed everything he touches turns to gold.  But it's his paintings that do it for me.  I wish I could paint like David Bromstad.

See what I mean?  I love the painting standing to the right.  It may be simple, but this style is not easy.  It's difficult to get the paint super smooth and you can't have one line out of place.  David can paint portraits, landscapes and just about anything  - but it's this kind of painting that I find the most aesthetically pleasing.

A new vase arrangement

 

Hello dear readers!  Hope you had a great weekend.  Below I wrote about arranging vases in my sister-in-law's entry way.  I got inspired to move around some of my vases, so I thought I'd show you the new  arrangement.  Rearranging vases is fun!  I think I should have worked in a flower shop!  I love their shapes.  This is part of my ceramic collection.  The green planter is from the McCoy Floraline collection and has the most wonderful matte finish.  The small pink bowl is Haeger.  I spray painted the larger pink vase because modern pink vases are hard to find.  Do you have a collection of glass or ceramic - maybe even both?  I'm thinking of doing a post featuring people's collections.  Contact me if you'd like to show off your collection here.  xo

Good things are happening in Cleveland, Part II - a beautiful entryway

So my sister-in-law got a chance to see the exciting developments in the Gordon Square Arts District when she ran the marathon on Sunday.  And something happened to her that's happened to me many times - vases in the window of duoHOME caught her eye.  She and I share the obsession of vases.  Yesterday we went to check them out.  We call this the vase game, and it's one of my favorites.  We hemmed and hawed about a third, shorter, squatter vase, but finally decided on these two beautiful tall black vases.  Part two of the vase game is arranging them in their lovely home.  They are now part of their elegant entry way.  I think they look totally fab with the gray accent wall.  I love how the vases sport open rectangles which gives a peak to the beautiful gray color.  I also love the asymmetry of this arrangement, and how the bowl repeats the open rectangle motif.

Image by Peggy

Good things are happening in Cleveland - or if you can't beat 'em, join 'em

The annual Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon was this past weekend.  (If you're into graphic design, you gotta check out their website.  I'm serious.  The graphics are killer.)  Now, I've been really skeptical about marathons.  I mean, you must be a little crazy to run one, right?  How is the human body capable of running 26 miles?  Insane right?  Just watching the video of the route made me tired (see time lapse video here).  My sister-in-law and her sister were running like their 100th marathon this week, so I thought I might as well get my butt out of bed to cheer them on.  I mean the marathon runs right by my home.  It was your typical gorgeous Cleveland day.  Rainy.  Gray.  And very, very cold.  So I grabbed my umbrella and stood outside to watch the runners....... and had fun!  It was totally fun!  I got caught up in the spirit.  Here were a lot of people doing something really hard.  And even better, here were a lot of people cheering them on.  Suddenly I felt very proud of my city.  I can't imagine the work that goes into planning such an event.  I watched the crowd eagerly awaiting my two ladies running, and I must admit that when I saw them I jumped up and down with excitement!  I don't know who this guy is, but I thought his costume was cool.

Image by Peggy

Guest Blogging

Today I have the pleasure of guest blogging at fab interior designer Marcelle Guilbeau's website.  I wrote about a subject Marcelle and I both feel passionate about, living with art.  Click on the logo above if you'd like to read the post.  Thanks Marcelle!

Collecting Art Glass - Jewelry for Your Room

We are all curators, our homes reflect what we find beautiful and useful.  Accessories are the jewelry of a home.  Not sure how to accessorize your room?  How about some lovely glass vases?  Did you see the May 2011 edition of Martha Stewart Living?  There's a wonderful spread on mid-century glass.  They feature American, Italian and Scandinavian glass.  If you stick to simple shapes, glass vases fit perfectly in a modern, minimal home.  Here's a look at some lovely pieces, some expensive, some not.

Beautiful decanters featured in Martha Stewart Living.  Sometimes vintage decanters are missing their stoppers.  If you are lucky enough to find one with its stopper, snatch it up.  I love all these shapes and colors.  Beautiful pieces clustered together look like sculpture.  I like grouping glass by color. 

It's good feng shui to have a pop of red in your room.  You can do that with a beautiful glass vase.  Here's a couple of mod red pieces that are reasonably priced.  Left:  Modnique;  Right:  Linea72.

I'd like to have this beautiful pink vase.  My guess would be that this is recycled Spanish glass, but I'm not sure.  Image from Rue Magazine.  If you know the source of this vase, please contact me.

 

Left, beautiful Italian cased glass from Vintage4Vintage.  Right is a beautiful satin glass vase. I'd guess this is Fenton, but I'm not really sure.  The shape looks like Fenton, but I was not aware that Fenton did gradations in color like this one.  This piece is very reasonably priced.   Available at Scentsiblescents.

Perhaps you need a pop of yellow.  Yellow glass vases are perfect for that.  Left:  Moonbeam vases from Cyan Design.  Right:  VintageModernandMore.

Or blue.  There are lots of examples of beautiful blue art glass, such as this lovely frosted glass bar set from Kypeep.

Probably my favorite vase of all time.  I've been coveting it for a long time.  That's right it's vintage Holmegaard from the Carnaby Series, double gourd shape.  And it's expensive.  I'm always searching for Holmegaard at flea markets and garage sales, but I haven't been successful.  A girl can dream right?  This one is available from Etsy seller Modernspecific.

Here's a whole collection of blue Holmegaard from The End of History.  Looks so fab clustered together.  Love the baby blue color. 

Of course, you can always mix colors, as this lovely Blenko collection demonstrates.  Image Glasshouse (this also links to a very fine article on displaying your glass collection).

Are you a lover of neutrals?  A collection of rare gray cased glass also from The End of History.

This beautiful Italian vase in Oyster is available at Linea72.  She has such a great shop!

I can never get enough white.  I think these vases would look great together.  Left is Holmegaard from BModern.  Right is vintage Finnish cased glass designed by Tapio Wirkkala.  Available at Observation.  Such a beautiful minimalist shape.

Don't fret if you can't afford expensive pieces.  There are plenty of modern, reasonably priced pieces that are beautiful, such as these Sultan canisters from Z Gallerie.  I'm thinking of order the white ones.

Here's the latest piece to my collection.  A very fine piece of Polish cased glass.  It's absolutely perfect, there are no flaws.  I love its minimalist shape.  I got it for $9.00 from Home Goods.  What about you dear readers, are you a lover of art glass?  How do you display your glass?