New work

"Champagne street cred" 30 x 40 oil on canvas by Kerry Steele

The painting above is something a little different in terms of color for me. It is a commission for a very exciting installation that I will share soon. I started with white and a tiny touch of lavender and then added the "blacks" which are sepia, Payne's gray and Mars black applied mostly with a credit card type hotel key.

They wanted a bit of gold and I decided on an oil stick for that. Oil sticks are like big buttery crayons and really fun to work with.

"Canon in D" 16 x 40 mixed media on canvas

This floral painting was inspired by all of the wedding pins I have been seeing on Pinterest. I am loving these elongated canvases for floral paintings. This is my first 16 x 40 inch canvas and I may be doing more since I liked it so much. I began with acrylic spray paint and finished with oil colors and Conte stick.

small figural series  #7

I am continuing to do more small figures on linen and I now have a commissioned nude that you will be seeing sometime soon.

Stay tuned, I have lots of work in progress!

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What were you pinning last year?

One of my first pins

I was in search of a pin recently and noticed a trend or two in my boards. The things I was pinning a year or two ago are different, for the most part, than what I am pinning now.

I don't pin much that is not art related these days and there is a decided edge to my choices.

Sometimes I don't even like the elements of a room that I pin.

I am chalking it up to desensitization of my eyes. Yeah, its pretty but if it doesn't get my attention, I don't pin.

What are your criteria for pinning?

Pinterest hilarity

How did anyone pin this at Rejuvenation without out noticing?

HERE

Dare to caption it?

Why do you use Pinterest?

my Pinterest boards

I found a really useful article about which pins on Pinterest get repinned the most.

I found it a bit surprising on some counts and obvious in other ways, like a very saturated image gets more attention that a dull one. Things I rarely consider, like the aspect ratio of the image having an affect, were mentioned too.

art wishlist board

Pinterest has been very helpful to me from an art sales standpoint but that is not the sole reason I use it. Its so yesterday, but I use it mostly to save and categorize images and ideas.

The article is a good read but it made me wonder, why do you use Pinterest?

Has it helped you business or blog?

3 favorites

Last week I was browsing my Pinterest boards and noticed a few pins that had been pinned multiple times. Oddly, I also noticed several "what was I thinking" pins too.

I digress.
 I wanted to chose a collection of favorite rooms and identify the commonality.

Today I'll show you my favorite dining rooms in no particular order.

Bunny Williams

Meg Braff

Miles Redd

These rooms are so different but there are common elements that I find appealing.
The Meg Braff room seems, at first glance, to be completely different than the other two. It is light and bright with modern lighting and art.
I think I take comfort in traditional elements in a room. The Bunny Williams room fills that need in classic, East coast style but it is no where near the sassy Palm Beach chic.
The Miles Redd room does not resemble the others either. It is an explosion of pattern, from the DeGournay wall covering to the tablecloth and chairs.
The traditional elements, Braff's Louis chairs and Redd's wallpaper are the number one similarity in these rooms that works for me. Also eye-catching color plays a big part in rooms that speak to me.
Meg Braff's room is mainly devoid of color save the chair fabric and artwork so those items become obvious. The mural in Bunny Williams' room plays off what surely must be a custom carpet. The Miles Redd dining room has a great deal of green that is tempered with black, beige and a small dose of red but it is the variation that I love.

I think that finding favorite images and identifying the common elements that are pleasing to you is the most useful way to pin down your style and proceed in choosing the decor for your house. Back in the day I gave clients a stack of magazines as "homework" to accomplish the same thing.
Thank goodness for Pinterest!
How do you use Pinterest?

Using Pinterest to plan decorating projects

Hi friends, I have a guest post today that my kick your Pinterest boards into some organized shape! Its a great tutorial on taking the random images you have and putting them together in clear way to help a designer help you. Oh, and Rob is a hometown boy.  I went to High School in Springfield, Virginia.




For years homeowners have filled 3-ring binders, accordion file boxes and scrapbooks full of ideas collected from the pages of House Beautiful, Better Homes & Gardens and many other home design magazines. Designers – like Select Kitchen & Bath – would then be showered with the resulting mass of glossy photos – one that has the cornice she likes, a half-dozen unique backsplash ideas, a few faucets, layout ideas, a dozen cabinet colors and styles – and be expected to turn the patchwork quilt of ideas into the perfect room for their client. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.

Technology has come to the rescue with Pinterest!

 

If you’re already using Pinterest, you know what a great tool it is for gathering and organizing your ideas. You can set up individual ‘boards’ to collect images to. You can ‘pin’ images from anywhere on the web using the ‘pin it’ browser tool. You can also ‘repin’ images you find on Pinterest itself.

No more ripping out magazine pages and filing them with hopes of remembering in the future which part of the photo caught your attention. Collecting and sorting digital images on Pinterest has taken the gathering of design ideas to the level of near perfection. 

Here are 5 ways to use Pinterest to create the perfect kitchen:

1. Divide and Conquer
Organization is the key to making sense of the kitchen ideas you collect. If you pin everything into one board called ‘kitchen ideas,’ for example, you can easily end up with an overwhelming collection of images that might actually confuse the process more than help. A better approach is to create separate boards for each aspect of your kitchen. You could consider these labels for your group of kitchen boards: countertops, sinks & faucets, appliances, lighting, islands, layout, eating bars, cabinet doors & styles, cabinet storage, pantries, hardware.

2. Search
Spend some time searching Pinterest for images that you like and repinning them to your boards. Pay close attention when you repin to make sure each image gets pinned to the appropriate board. If the image fits more than one category, simple! Just repin the image from one to another. Following our kitchen example, you might begin by simply searching ‘kitchen ideas’ and then become more specific such as a search for kitchen sinks or cabinet lighting to gain ideas for certain boards. Don’t forget to use the ‘pin it’ tool on your web browser for pinning ideas you find outside of Pinterest too.

3. Follow
When you do find an idea you particularly like, you may want to look at the Pinterest account it was originally pinned in for more ideas. If the image comes from a certain designer or brand you like, you may want to ‘follow’ their boards so that new pins from their boards come into your Pinterest feed automatically.

4. Add Notes
As you are pinning and repinning to your different boards, don’t forget to type in descriptions or short notes to remind yourself later what it was you liked about this image. Was it the faucet or the sink? Was it the stain color or the style of the cabinet doors? Having them sorted into different boards will help eliminate most of the confusion, but a little description will define things even more.

5. Create a Master Board
Once you feel you are ready to talk to a designer about putting all these ideas together and creating that perfect room, it’s time to create a new board that will capture only the best of all the images you collected. Go through each board and look through the images. Repin your favorites from each individual board into, for example, your ‘Perfect Kitchen’ board. Once you have that board filled with images from all your other boards, you’re ready to make your appointment with your designer. Take your laptop or iPad with you to provide the visuals from Pinterest as you discuss your ideas with the designer.

Technology has made so many things easier in our lives. When it comes to collecting and sorting home design ideas, Pinterest is the designer’s dream come true.

- Rob, Select Kitchen & Bath

Follow Select Kitchen & Bath on Pinterest!

Take my breath away tile

OK, I sort of unofficially promised not to just grab images from Pinterest as the main subject for a post...but I saw this tile and actually gasped. So one more time, a Pinterest grab.

 

I am especially fond of this shape tile. It reminds me of my early childhood when this stuff was frequently seen and I think my grandmother had a linoleum version (in blue) in her kitchen.

The idea of having a warm, cozy wood version really thrills me. I am too hard on my floors. Not being the super fussy type.. who am I kidding, I totally uptight about my floors but worrying about something like this might put me over the edge.

Do you have a favorite tile?

Stairs that don't suck

When I was kid, I was every sort of nerd, but especially a history nerd. Still am and one of my favorite figures and  fave former Virginia governor, is Thomas Jefferson. We have at least one thing in common, hatred of stairs. Good ol'Tom designed these odd things to get up more quickly (Sally Hemmings comment deleted)

Crazy! He also made tiny, treacherous things to avoid the unsightly, space hog that can be a staircase.

 I generally find them ungainly but my Pinterest board, Stairs that don't suck is a testament to beauty in a stair.

 Notice that they are all curved and sculptural in some way.

I will always want one of these

I wonder if Mr. Jefferson would approve?

Collage fun

I had fun with Pic Monkey creating this board around my newest painting, "Imperata"

"Imperata" 30 x 40 acrylic on canvas by Kerry Steele HERE

I am horrible about sourcing links. Most of the images on this board can be found on my Pinterest board "Pink"

The painting is named for this ornamental grass.

It is known by several names including Japanese blood grass but that would not have been a good title so I went with the Latin botanical name.

Have you made any fun collage boards lately?

If so, feel free to link to them in the comments section.

Happy Wednesday!

Pinners and boards to inspire your weekend!

Seriously, who doesn't love Claire Desjardins? I stumbled upon her Pinterest boards today. Her board with her own art is swoon worthy and "my inspiration" board is a taste of heaven, in terms of art.

Too hot? Too boring where you live?

Real life destinations that will make you want to hop a plane are on this board.

The ultimate in decorating and chinoiserie boards is none other than The Pink Pagoda.

I am sorry if I have further enabled your Pinterest addiction! hehehe.

Happy Pinning.

* P.S. In other news, the winner of the small commission yesterday is Jean of Flower Hill Design. She was the first to mention the movie based on the novel Being There by Jerzy Kosinsky, that my painting of the same name was inspired by. *