Room of the week

Yes! A resounding "Yes" to the layered art, the rug, and the mid-century piece but something is making me uncomfortable. I feel like it is one of my teenagers' rooms and I want to say ,"Get that crap up off the floor!" Lived in is cool, junk piled under a dresser is not. Am I right?

Construction zone

KerrySteele.com header

You won't need a hard hat (I might if this gets really frustrating) while I reconfigure everything. I want to integrate the graphics I use on my blog and on KerrySteele.com and it's going to be like bathing suit shopping. I am going to have to try on a lot before I settle on something. So I ask your patience in case you see a bunch of flip-flopping.

As you can see I have a lot going on looks-wise.

last blog header

shop header

Feel free to chime in with your thoughts.

Naugahyde and seek

If you are of a certain age you may have memories of "the chair", that hideous chair or collection of chairs in the school office. You always knew whoever was in that chair was in big trouble or waiting for their mother because they just threw up. It was a Naugahyde chair.

 

 

 

The chair

These indestructible beasts of vinyl were slippery when you wore pants and like duct tape on the backs of of your legs when you wore shorts. It came in a bazillion colors, the most popular of which seemed to be a green representing something associated with a terrible malady.

Who picked THAT color?

Could this stuff ever be cool? Well, maybe.

 Lest you think its all mod see the first photo and this.

Here's my confession: I own a vintage Naugahyde covered chair. It awaits a more grown-up kid before it gets recovered. It came from the US House of Representatives offices and I bought it because it is so rock solid that I can't lift it.

Do you remember Naugahyde fondly?

Room of the week

I am a sucker for beautiful clutter. Too fussy or just right?

Summer color

Summer is my favorite season, always has been. I love the sounds of tree frogs and locusts at night and balmy breezes that relieve the heat of the day. I love the early mornings in the garden and the fresh produce available. The hot southern sun that I long for in winter is a pleasure to me.

I put together the board above with some of the paintings I have done this summer that speak to the colors that abound and a few inspiration photos from this summer and around the web.

What season is your favorite?

Seller beware

Today's post is a bit off topic but I know some of my readers are also online seller of some sort and I want to help out with some awareness of a not-so-clever scam.

Several weeks ago, I was contacted by a potential buyer to purchase two large paintings. The broken English in the email was a red flag, smacking of those spam lottery letters from the "Ambassador of ____".

After several emails the person asked to pay by check...another red flag.

I received a 2 day Priority envelope with a return address of California Institute for the Arts in Santa Clarita, CA. In the envelope was a check from a business named Accelerize New Media. Nothing else.

The check was made out for nearly twice the amount necessary. Red flag #3.

I emailed the customer to ask if the check was from her and started making phone calls. I called Accelerize and was told someone had been forging their checks and called Cal Arts and they said someone was targeting former students in a similar scam using the same address.

In the meantime, the prospective purchaser got back to  me and copied the tracking # saying that it was her check. The next email said that I would need to forward the amount of extra funds to her husband and the paintings to an address in Miami Beach, FL. I looked up the address and found a 13.5 million dollar real estate listing. Nice try but I called the realtor and the house has not sold.

I did more digging and found out that the scam works like this--someone finds an online seller and pays by check but writes the (fake) check by more than is needed and then asks the seller to wire the difference back. The problem is that weeks later, when the check is deemed fake the seller is responsible for that money and the money that was wired is untraceable. That means that you are out the amount of the check, your goods or services and the money wired.

I have filed a mail fraud case but I really don't want anyone else to get sucked in by a scammer like this.

Luckily, the scammer was not very clever but had the addresses matched and the house seemed legit, I might have fallen prey. Be careful!

Room of the week

I am not sure that I love this space but I do love the different textures. The Moroccan blankets, modern side tables and tiled ceiling are all keepers in my book.

Fun with design boards

I love to create these design boards with Polyvore. I have the most fun hanging my art in spaces that aren't real with furniture that I don't have.

For some reason I gravitate toward more neutral spaces (more neutral than my house) and let the art and accessories do all of the showing off. Isn't that what us designers tell people to do?

When I am making these boards I hear this...

Actually, by "art" he means "dinner".

 Do you like to play with Polyvore?

Fab four

I often chat on the phone with my friend and artist, Christina Baker. Its mostly shop talk about studio practices, galleries, and things we like in general. Several weeks ago, the subject turned to Instagram and sharing images that we love, we had one of those "ideas are flying out of our mouths so fast its crazy" moments.

We decided to each share our own "Fab Four" every few weeks on Instagram. These will be any image that we like from artists, Pinterest, blogs, Etsy and more. Sometimes I might choose something that informs my artwork but more likely it will be things that make me happy or cool things and new artists that I would love for people to know about.

Follow Christina to see her Fab Four HERE 

Follow me on Instagram HERE

I won't always blog about my Fab Four choices but I thought I'd take the time to mention them here in addition to my Instagram post.

The first image is a Pinterest pin from Lilly Pulitzer. On first glance I thought it was a painting. I am quite enamoured with the point of view in this photo.

I read designer Dana Gibson's blog and Follow her on Instagram. She recently posted "The story of summer chintz" on her blog and I loved reading the story behind one of her playful designs.

I don't often find myself gazing at fine art photography but this image by Saatchi Art artist, Maya K. got my attention for its ethereal feel while using vibrant color.

This photo for an Etsy listing made me laugh. The listing is for the flamingoes only but I thought the seller must have a wonderful sense of color not to mention a sense of humor.