Tag: fashion

  • Wear the Artsy: Painted Jewels

    Wear the Artsy: Painted Jewels

    Artsiness isn’t just about the art we create or appreciate.  It is the way we live, the way we treat others, how we carry ourselves.  Over the course of the last year, I’ve read so much regarding how the way we chose to clothe ourselves says so much about who we are or who we are trying to be.  I’m a firm believer in artsy self-expression in any form!  In this new feature, Wear the Artsy, we’ll pair a piece of artwork with a piece of clothing or accessory that captures the spirit of the art.

    art | jewelry

    In today’s pairing, our inspiration piece is this gorgeous, colorful abstract by artist Dura Hana AKA D.U.R.A.  What better way to wear those beautiful jeweltones than with that cheery Tom Binns Riri Painted Swarovski Cuff?

    Do you have suggestions for a piece of art to be featured on Wear the Artsy?  Comment below and let’s see how we can wear our favorites!

  • Dreams of Doris Day: Tracey Sylvester Harris

    Dreams of Doris Day: Tracey Sylvester Harris

    In my much younger years, many a Sunday afternoon was spent glued to the television, enraptured by the movies of my parent’s generation.  Each one filling my impressionable mind with images of the perfectly coiffed hair, sophisticated fashions and charming coquettishness of starlets like Doris Day, Audrey Hepburn and Leslie Caron.  The work of California artist Tracey Sylvester Harris hearkens back to those glamorous days of my dreams.

    Convertible, oil on canvas, 24×30

    Those old films and their heroines led me to believe in a world in which women wore heels to the swimming pool, men were redeemable rakes and an awkward bookworm could be transformed into a beautiful swan.

    Light Blue Slip, oil on canvas, 60×40
    Starlet, oil on canvas, 60×40

    They caused me to prance around our house in my mom’s high heels and a floating negligee dreaming of the glamorous and romantic life I would lead when I grew up.  But soon, reality taught me its hard lessons and I realized that the worlds I so admired weren’t real after all and the world of my dreams began to look a little different.  A bit more earthy and down to earth.  A little less frothy but a lot more fun.

    Cocktail Hour, oil on canvas, 36×48

    But that doesn’t mean I don’t still occasionally long to thrown on a little black dress and pearls.  Old dreams die hard.

    To see more of Tracey Sylvester Harris’ work, please visit her website.  You can also see her work in person, if you’re in the Los Angeles area, at Skidmore Contemporary.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Friday Finds: Inspired Geometrics

    Friday Finds: Inspired Geometrics

    As with many right-brained folks, math is not my strong suit.  But one thing I loved about taking geometry was the analysis of shape and how each is formed using different angles.  It seems that many creatives are finding geometrics inspiring these days.  Check out my artsy geometric finds for this week!

    Filzfelt Stools via Apartment Therapy
    Hare by Marco Cibola
    Brooch by No Milk Today
    Welsummer Oblong Cushion by Lindsey Lang
    Quilt by Lisa Call

    Filzfelt via Apartment Therapy | Marco Cibola | No Milk Today | Lindsey Lang | Lisa Call 

    Happy weekend, Artsies!  Will you be doing some artsy geometric foraging of your own this weekend? 😉

    PS– You may have noticed that I’ve switched up the Friday’s title from Friday Faves to Friday Finds.  I’ll be using the Friday round-up to not only explore what’s trending in the art world, but to also share my inspiring finds throughout the world of design!

    Featured image is Hare by Marco Cibola ( detail ).  All images are via the artists’/designers’ websites, linked above.

  • Model Character: Luis Cornejo

    Model Character: Luis Cornejo

    I admit it.  I love a pretty fashion magazine as much as the next girl.  Pages and pages of beautiful people contorting their bodies into strange positions to sell gorgeous clothes can sometimes enthrall me for hours.  But then, I find myself needing a break from the beautiful.  That may sound strange, but so often, the perfectly styled and photoshopped images create an unreal world, one that I can only take so much of.  El Salvadoran artist Luis Cornejo takes these idealized images as his inspiration but infuses them with cartoonish humor.

    Paff!, oil, acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 51×75

    Isolating the figures gives each painting an almost classical composition, seeming to compare the fashion models of today to the artist’s muse of the past.

    Untitled ( #5 ), oil and acrylic on canvas, 47×58

    The models retain their “fierce”, pouty poses, while Cornejo’s added illustrative elements remind us to not take this artificially created world too seriously.

    Untitled ( #6 ), oil and acrylic on linen, 31×39
    Untitled ( #7 ), oil and acrylic on linen, 35×53

    To see more of Luis Cornejo’s work, please visit his website.

    Artist found via The Jealous Curator.

  • Artsy Fodder: Is That a Tiny Mountain On Your Finger or Are You Just Glad to See Me?

    Yep, mountains on the brain.  I’m completely in love with this ring by jewelry artist Terhi Tolvanen.

    Aurore Ring, opal, pear wood, paint, cement, 4cm high

    Check out this Helsinki artist’s website for more beautiful, nature-inspired wearable art.

    Image via the artist’s website.

  • Artsy Fodder: If I Were a Margaret Glew Painting

    I stumbled across this necklace from Anthropologie on Pinterest today.  If I were a Margaret Glew painting, I would wear this all the time.

    Pieced Prism Necklace, Anthropologie

    necklace available here 

    Always On My Mind by Margaret Glew, oil on canvas, 96×72
  • Artsy Fodder: Tie One On

    Artsy Fodder: Tie One On

    Anyone who knows me is aware of my love affair with scarves.  As in I own way too many and am powerless to resist their call.  I even hike wearing a scarf ( ok, a bandana, really ).  They instantly up the degree of artsiness in any outfit.  These hand painted and embroidered scarves by Naomi Clark on Grey Area are insanely gorgeous, wearable works of art!

    Mineral Blue Scarf by Naomi Clark

    See all the designs here!

  • Artsy Fodder: Speaking of Branches

    Since we’re on the subject of tree branches today, have you seen these necklaces from Lovisa Lindstrom’s Etsy shop, marukiko?

    Lovisa Lindstrom

    I am completely in love with them.  One would be the perfect tree-gazing accessory!

  • Artsy Fodder:  Art Gets Bejewelled

    Artsy Fodder: Art Gets Bejewelled

    Artists and designers have been inspiring each other for centuries. Whether we realize it or not, much of the clothes we wear, jewelry we sport and objects we use are a result of the symbiosis between art and design.  And I for one, love to celebrate such connections!  For this first feature in the new Artsy Fodder series, let’s have some fun with artfully inspired jewelry designs.  These pieces may not have directly influenced each other, but there is an unmistakable resemblance.

    Art…

    Friday Night 27848 by John Duckworth

    Bejewelled…

    Kate Spade, City Lights Idiom Bangle

    Art…

    Oceanic Series by Thomas Hager

    Bejewelled…

    Anthropologie, Jumbled Loops Necklace

    Art…

    Untitled by Amy Pleasant

    Bejewelled…

    Paige Novick, White Howlite Cuff

    Art…

    Yin and Yang by Jennifer Bain

    Bejewelled…

    Jill Schwartz, Mosaic Pin

    Art…

    Screen ( Barn Owl ) by Kevin Appel

    Bejewelled…

    M. Missoni, Chain Necklace

    Do find yourself buying pretty baubles that remind you of your favorite artwork?  Take a look inside your own closet or jewelry box and I’ll bet you’ll see some similarities!

  • Desires Confronted: Hooper Turner

    Desires Confronted: Hooper Turner

    Confession:  I love fashion magazines.  The beautiful imagery of gorgeous people wearing couture, sporting watches and handbags that cost as much as a car, is like crack to me.  Maybe in the intellectual artsy realm I am not supposed to taken with such trivial and superficial fluff, but I just can’t help it.  Nor can NYC artist Hooper Turner.

    High Noon, oil on canvas, 18×24 ( via Skidmore Contemporary )

    Turner, whose latest exhibition, Glamorama, opens at Skidmore Contemporary in Santa Montica, CA this Saturday, chooses to focus his fascination and truly study these portraits of consumerism, painting them and in turn, seeing them with new eyes.

    The Crusaders, oil on canvas, 30×40

    Turner doesn’t take the imagery out of context, like many might, instead the images are unabashedly commercial, some complete with the text juxtaposed over the image, just as it would be in a magazine.  It is in this honest confrontation of our voluntary manipulation by advertisers, creative directors, etc., that his work finds its most poignant power.

    Solstice 2005, oil on canvas, 30×36 ( via Skidmore Contemporary )
    Spiced Egg Nog Cardigan, oil on canvas, 20×24 ( via Skidmore Contemporary )

    Be sure to check out Hooper Turner’s website to see more images of his work.  If you’re in Southern California, make plans to see his show in up close & personal at Skidmore Contemporary Art.

    Featured image is Calvin Klein Underwear, oil on canvas, 51×36.  All images are via Skidmore Contemporary’s website.