The work of land artist, Chris Drury.
Alessandra Sanguinetti’s images of sisters on a farm in Buenos Aires.
Artist, Robert Nava’s childlike imagination.
Monogrammed towels and decoupage.
Children playing by Hiram Maristany.
Inspiration
Bather
June 23, 2021
Not everyone is into clawfoot tubs. Not everyone is into tubs. But if your daily scrub includes bubbles and a good book, this one here may inspire you. It’s not just the tub, I know — it’s the reclaimed wood, the weathered corrugated screen, and the overall French country fabulousness of it all — but I kinda want to dive right in and stay here ‘till next Tuesday. I may even grow a tail.
Wall to wall
June 21, 2021
Eleni’s playroom was a delight to visit. Her family lived across the road from mine, and she and her two sisters shared a large playroom filled with dolls and puppets and heirloom prams. The walls were handpainted with flowers and kites; the kinds of things that stir a child’s imagination. The walls were my favourite thing about the room. To this day, I dream about handpainted walls. My artist friend, Dasha covered a wall in our living room with colourful Twombly-inspired scribbles and splodges when we first moved in, and I hope she’ll come back one day to paint flowers directly on to the concrete wall in our garden. This wallpaper by Atelier Wandlungen is my inspiration. What a thrill to see daisies and dandelions in our garden all year round.
check mate
June 18, 2021
From the quintessential summer table cloth, to Dorothy’s pinafore, to Bardot’s wedding frock and the classic oxford, what’s not to love about gingham? It’s preppy and playful (like the hotel room at Finca Cortesin, below). This gingham check top is right up my alley, as is this scoop neck bikini. Just thinking about gingham sends me into holiday mode.
give me resin
June 17, 2021
I came across a beautiful bowl of blue swirls the other day and fell in love with it. Dinosaur Designs is an Australian brand founded by Louise Olsen and Stephen Ormandy. The duo’s line of homewares and jewellery is made from resin and brass. I like resin. It’s smooth and durable, and provides immense possibility in terms of colour and form. Have a look at the Wildflower Collection; think giant bangles in peach and lapis blue, jewel tone platters, and drinking cups in every colour of the rainbow. If you’re preference is a more muted palette, the Clay Collection is a mix of terracotta, honeycomb, caramel and sand. It’s design at its best; simple, original and bold.
flower power
June 16, 2021
Once a week, I pick up a bunch of flowers from our local corner shop –– this week it was floppy tulips and frilly stock –– and run home to play. Flower arranging is an easy way to feel a burst of creativity. We have a large tulipiere which always poses challenge and possibility. My tastes run the gamut from minimal to classic, but a decadent vessel stuffed full of a single bloom is always a good idea. Have a look at Marina Filatova’s stunning photographs. I love the playful combinations of vessel and flower, and the scale and theatre of each arrangement.
around and around
June 15, 2021
cut it out
June 14, 2021
Kim Bartelt’s paper paintings are soothing to look at. It’s the palette –– pastel pink, terracotta, oyster, sand and grey –– and the simple cutout shapes that make them so easy on the eye. Bartelt has worked with paper for several years; “I like its fragility, the noise it makes when you touch it, the transparency. It always lets you see what’s behind it, it never covers up completely like real paint does. It has a luminosity to it, and also a chalkiness, which I enjoy a lot.” Recycled materials such as fabric and silk paper often make it into her work, also. “I definitely think that these materials, carrying a history of their own, add to an artwork,” says the Berlin-based artist. Even the canvases have a history, and some have travelled as far as Beijing, Ethiopia and Morocco. “I loved the idea of their travels; there are small dents and marks on the canvas and the frames, it’s beautiful how life has left its marks.” Bartelt likens her process to a puzzle. Her studio floor is covered in paper cutouts, and very often it’s the leftovers from a cutout that inspire her next canvas. “One series of works is actually called ‘Puzzles’ as I move these shapes around until I find the right place and relation to the surface and the other shapes.” Have a look at her work. And her home/studio.
nomad
June 12, 2021
I came across the work of Sean W. Spellman today and I was taken in by the playful simplicity of his drawings. Spellman has journeyed across America more than two dozen times recording his travels in paintings, drawings, photographs and song. I like his sunsets and sunrises the most, the squiggles of waves, and the stars in the sky. It’s all very wanderlust-ey.
smorgasbord
June 10, 2021
I love the word smorgasbord. And a smorgasbord is my favourite way to eat. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. This is a beautiful one, with cheese, cherries, olives and prosciutto. There’s no easier way to feed large numbers than this, and no prettier, in my view. The minute we start to break bread again with our friends, this is what I’ll serve.
