Steven Miller Art You Can Afford! Really!

Decorators like fashionistas jump on trends. Whether it's a designer purse or a Greek key anything, or the same type of art work, there is always something that everyone just has to have. Paloma at La Dolce Vita did a great post on this subject.

Mixing in abstract art with interior decorating is definitely a trend here to stay. From the high prices in the thousands, to Etsy and bloggers making art for sale at more affordable prices, there is something out there for everyone, even if you make it yourself.

The art of Steven Miller as seen in Elle Decor

Elle Decor recently had a feature on the stylish New York City home of Michael Leva. A piece of art jumped out at me, because of the popular motif beloved by many decoristas. The painting was done by Steven Miller. So I went on over to his web site, and loved what I saw. His work is wonderful. As I tooled around I found a link pointing to a place where you can buy prints of his work at Fine Art America!

Steven Miller art canvas print - $207.

Steven Miller art canvas print $207.

How fabulous! It's an art shopping site for the masses! You can get a reproduction of Steven's paintings that sell in the thousands, at very affordable prices. Of course who wouldn't want an original? But in the meantime, here's a way to get something really nice for your decorating dreams. I wish more artists would do something like this, offer reproductions of their work. The art market will always have those valued collectors who will only buy originals, but there is also a market of millions of everyday home makers who would buy nice reproductions like the ones Steven smartly offers.

Artist Lee Krasner - Why do girls love circle so much?

I don't know why circles and scribbles have struck such a note with decorators, both home and profesional. Like it or not, it is a trend that seems entrenched. I have a board at Pinterest with a ton of examples of this type of art. It's fascinating to see all the riffs on the same theme gathered in one place.

Go check out my Pinterest board called Circles and Scribbles

From Southern Accents Magazine - This image started the trend that every decorator an blogger had to do

From The NY Times (photo by Sara Essex Bradley)

I bought this little piece of trendiness three years ago for $75.

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Do You Collect Folk Art?

This post is a reminder that the Thornton Dial show at The New Orleans Museum of Art will close after the final day on Sunday, May 20. The museum is open until 9 PM on Friday. If you have not seen this show, get over there now!

Thornton Dial at work

We had a couple of guests for Jazzfest who stayed over during the week between the two weekends of festivities, and we suggested going to the museum to see the show. We all had a wonderful time, an emotionally moving experience.

Jane Fonda collects Thornton Dial and loaned a piece of it for the show at NOMA - This is her loft

The Thornton Dial show amazes you with creative virtuosity, but even more with the emotions you will certainly experience. You will cry and you will smile. The show is hung like a four act play. It starts out hard and heavy, and moves into humor and life, and then into romance, and finally leaving with you with a sense of hope and redemption. If you live in New Orleans, you are a fool if you don't see this show.

Alberto and I have a very small and modest collection of contemporary Southern art, done by what some call folk artists, or outsider artists. I have always been attracted to folk art, and somehow owning a few pieces naturally occurred when we moved to Louisiana.

We got this piece from Mary Proctor when we were evacuated to Tallahassee, Florida after Katrina - We were out on a drive and saw this incredible junk yard of a place decorated with folk art - There was  a little shack called a museum and we entered- No one was around, and once we walked though we went out into the enormous yard and saw hundreds of pieces of art - All of a sudden we saw a woman sitting in the dirt in the shade and shadows, and she was making art - We made the accquaintance of the amazing artist Mary Proctor - This drowning girl made us think of New Orleans and Katrina

I loved the folk art museum in New York and was familiar with a wider vernacular of American folk art from attending exhibitions there, but there is something extra remarkable about the Southern self-taught artists still living and working today.

This is a black cat made from corrugated metal by artist Charles Gillam that hangs in the laundry room

Life imitates art - Kitty Kitty Bang Bang with the black cat art by Charles Gillam

Le Tango by Charles Gillam, a wood carving done for Alberto and me (I had red hair then) that Alberto gave me for my birthday - In my dreams I have my eye on a Thornton Dial piece for my birthday this year if we win the lottery

The Funeral by Lottie - The description written by the artist on the back says "She put him away fine and looking out for another one" - Contact Lottie in Patterson, Louisiana at 504 395-6677 -  I love this painting for the Grandma Moses quality of it, showing so many delicately painted details

Words in folk art are an important component, the art not only conveying a message but spelling it out - This saying is now identified with New Orleans coined by the famous artist Dr. Bob  - I loved this one because the background looks like old wallpaper to me - Note how the frame becomes part of the work of art

We commissioned the French artist Simon to do this sign for us - His signs are seen all over New Orleans, but especially on Magazine Street near his shop

This sweet painting of magnolias was done by dear friend Anne Farmen as a gift to me - She passed away at age 90, and painted this a couple of years before that

This amazing piece was done by Mary Gillam the sister of Charles. It is made from found objects, and I just love it!

Does folk art have a place in your home?
Go to all the links and check out these amazing artists.

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Readers And Other Bloggers

I love getting email from readers and blog friends. And I love it when you send photos. I also love finding things on other blogs that I haven't seen, and want to share here.

First up is blogger Skyla who writes the fresh and young blog Sanity Fair.
She wrote to me after I left a comment about her fab green dining room, "Thanks for your comment on my dining room! Per your question, the wall color is Hanging Vine by Mystic Paint. I actually considered getting a custom shade like "Miles Redd Green" based on your post on it. Luckily, this was close enough, but you inspired me! I entered my apartment (all 425 square feet of it) in the Small Cool Contest on Apartment Therapy - more pictures of green!"

I love this room that Skyla did! You know it is my favorite color crush of the moment. Vote for her!

So get on over to Apartment Therapy and see more pictures and vote for Skyla! I love every detail she has, including the coral pulls on her desk.

I did a post about art in the kitchen, and got a very sweet note from reader Pamela Clark who sent me a photo of a painting her daughter Sally Jeanne Clark did that hangs in the kitchen. I think it's great!

Art spices up this kitchen, painting by Sally Jeanne Clark

The young lady with her painting - Hope she doesn't mind that her mom sent the photo

And it seems that lots of my friends are having babies! So nursery decorating has been on the mind lately, and I am drawn to images of how modern mommies are making their babies rooms pretty. I found this one at Little Green Notebook, and was immediately in love with the black and white design.

So chic! Love the black and white stripe window shade, and the bassinet skirt is couture! via Little Green Notebook

This is how to do a nursery! via Little Green Notebook

So keep the cards and letters coming! I love hearing from you, and we all love to see and share projects. Don't forget to vote for Skyla!

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The Arty Kitchen

I know you all do it. Put art in the kitchen. It's not like our grannies or moms used to do, decorating the wall with the huge wooden spoon and fork. I love art all through the house. It is especially interesting to see what ends up in the kitchen.

This is my kind of arty kitchen

So here's a little round up to inspire you to get some art for your kitchen.

I love me some Audrey in the kitchen

Clutter crazy good

Restrained and elegant

Trendy and cute

Black and white  - Love it

Nobody does it better than Nicole Cohen

Just a little piece of art on the counter top adds so much

Ditto on open shelves

Love the gallery wall all along where the back splash usually is

Yellow mod painting is so chic

Framed botanicals look amazing over the kitchen sink

The arty kitchen of a future decorator

Now go hang some art in your kitchen! And send me some photos of your kitchen with art. I haven't done a Readers Rooms post in like forever.

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Beetle Vases

I saw these in The New York Times. The unusual form and gem like beauty and craftsmanship is astounding. They are the work of Thomas Eyck.

This installation of 63 Beetle Vases by Thomas Eyck is museum worthy and priced at € 28400.00

Made of porcelain with the most remarkable glaze, each individual Beetle Vase goes for around 500 Euros

The colors are remarkable

Each beetle looks like a piece of fine jewelry

Just luscious!

Would you put a flower in one of these Beetle Vases by Thomas Eyck?

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Moving Art

There have been a couple of photo shoots at my house. That and the subtle feeling that the seasons are changing, got me moving things around again. Well, actually it's more like being a restless crazy decor maven, something you might know a thing or two about.

Sabina suggested I move the art around. So I did, and here a couple of photos. Where have all of you moved your art around to these days?

Moving art in the living room, - Symmetry rules the day! Swedish antique demi lune tables from Karla Katz. - This is the first time I have flanked this couch with a pair of lamps - "Quiet" art placed, not hung - Shades of white tell the story - Framed drawing (a portrait of moi done in 1985!) on the right by fashion illustrator  Mats Gustafson - All of the art was flipped from one side of the room to the other - Photo of the room by Valorie Hart

This is the view of living room with the way the art was hung before - It was more colorful -  Zak hot pink  tray - The portrait entitled "Audrey" by Ashley Longshore dominated one side, while a large  lithograph by Will Barnet entitled 'The Young Couple" balanced the other side of the couch - smaller portraits were stacked over the larger -The hot pink tray and the bold graphic pillows were changed out for a more quiet look as seen above - photo by Valorie Hart

The smaller portraits that were once stacked above "Audrey" and "The Young Couple" are now placed on the mid century Baker credenza, along with the portrait of a chair by Anne Harwell - The portrait on the left behind Anne's painting is of Michael Pelkey done by Letty Nowak  - "The Young Couple" now hangs where the portrait done of me by Mats was - The large lamps used to always be on this credenza, but I prefer them on the demi lune tables now - I like the way the art along with the vintage anatomy charts (and yes that is a mask on one of the skeletons) frames the flat screen TV to form a casual gallery wall of sorts, making the TV almost seem like another piece of art - The more graphic pillow moved from the couch to the orange chair - I retired a pair of Ikat pillows that have been in the living room for three years to the master bedroom - photo by Valorie Hart

"Audrey" moved to the opposite wall of where she was - "Marilyn" by Mario Ortiz, and "Cholo" by Patricia Van Essche remain as they were - perfect!  "Audrey" looks wonderful here, with the back drop of the Union Jack armoire (painted by Alberto and gifted to us by Sabina) - another graphic pillow (both from Modern Market) lands on the second orange chair - the Saarinen coffee table now resides as end table (the bench I recovered in white patent leather is now the "coffee table" with more room for Cholo and Kitty Kitty Bang Bang to play, and it's great to put one's feet upon it as well) - The tall lamp was made in Toledo, Spain, one of many props I had made for an event I designed in Madrid some years ago - It's been used both as a floor lamp and a tall table lamp - photo by Valorie Hart

 

 

 

A view of the opposite wall where both large portraits were flipped to - It's great to sit on the couch and look at these beauties photo by Valorie Hart

The long view into the living room - I think moving the art has changed it, don't you?

Another view of the living room to showcase the antique French settee - photo by Valorie Hart

So there you have it, the great art migration. Well not so huge really, since all the art stayed in the same room. But really, moving the art around is a sure fire and quick and easy way to refresh your rooms, and I thank Sabina for nudging me.

Portrait of The Visual Vamp Valorie Hart by Mats Gustafson