Invitation to an amazing exhibition

If you are in San Francisco tomorrow

(April 1st - no foolin),
then come along to

ArtHaus (411 Brannan Street)

and see this fabulous exhibition
from 6pm to 8pm.

ON THE SURFACE
Selected works in various media by:
Marc Lambrechts, Andrea Arroyo, Gioi Tran, Serena Bocchino,
Adam Kurtzman, Carolyn Meyer and Maxine Solomon

PHOTOPLAY
Solarized to Digitized
Works by: Astrid, Michal Venera,
Chris Schiavo and Jess Johnston

SUMMER IN ITALY
New paintings by Carolyn Meyer
On exhibit at:
555 California Street (Concourse Gallery) San Francisco
Through May 8, 2010

Hope to see you there!

White wedding

My gorgeous and elegant European friend, Ilonka asked if I would do the flowers for her wedding in Tahoe a couple of weeks ago. What an honor!



The day before the wedding I went to the flower market. I was SO nervous and a little intimidated. I now can imagine how clients feel when I take them to the Design Center.... I just didn't know what I was doing!!! I wandered around a little to get my bearings and finally found a fabulous business with a fantastic owner who really liked my English accent!!


I knew I wanted to use all white flowers, like freshly fallen snow, the finest of lace or the drama of a wedding dress, the singular beauty of white flowers is simplicity itself. They are elegant and sophisticated.


We left the City at noon to head up to Tahoe. I had imagined a leisurely drive, a long bath, taking my time to do my makeup, etc.... but no, as the time went by I got nervous about getting to the venue, the flowers were still in buckets and the vases empty! We finally got there at 4.15pm.... the restaurant was open and I got to work - here I am - relieved that we made it in time! Notice the glass of wine to calm my nerves:

Here are the table decorations - I also bought the glass vases. The smell of the antique roses, the freesias and the eucalyptus was amazing:

My inspiration:

Congratulations to Ilonka and Scott! Love you guys x

Antony Gormley, British sculptor

As many of you know, I am very proud of my Geordie heritage (you might need to Google "Geordie" if you're not from the UK), so when my lovely friend Libby told me that there was a lot of buzz in London around Antony Gormley I had to check it out for myself.

I then realized that I do know his work! He is the British sculptor who created "Angel of the North". A magnificent steel sculpture of a graceful angel standing 66 feet tall, with wings measuring 178 feet across. The wings themselves are not planar, but are angled 3.5 degrees forward, which Gormley has said aims to create "a sense of embrace". It stands on a hill, overlooking the A1 road, in Gateshead and can also be seen from the East Coast Main Line rail route, and is just South of the site of Team Colliery (which again is close to my heart, as my Father became a coal miner at Bowburn's nearby colliery at the tender age of 15!!!!):


I did a little research and found that there was some controversy surrounding the unauthorised decoration of the Angel in 1998. Fans of Newcastle United paid tribute to local hero Alan Shearer by putting a £1,000 Newcastle United shirt over the sculpture, complete with Shearer's name and famous number 9. The shirt managed to stay up for 20 minutes, but the police arrived and removed it.

The sculpture is locally known as the "Gateshead Flasher", for the proximity to the town of the same name and the analogy of an opened arm flasher:


Yesterday (March 24, 2010), Antony created a new public art installation in New York City title "Event Horizon". It features 31 life-size sculptures of himself. The artworks are spread out throughout the Madison Square Park area of Manhattan. Some are obviously placed, and others are tucked away on rooftops and ledges. Gormley explains: “There are two kinds of things going on: one are the inert, silent sculptures, and the other is what’s happening on the ground and how people stop each other and say, ‘Hey, what’s going on? You know, what’s this guy, what’s this silent guy who’s got no clothes on, what’s he doing here? Oh my God, there’s another one!’”

The 2006 Sydney Biennale featured Gormley's Asian Field, an installation of 180,000 small clay figurines crafted by 350 villagers from Xiangshan Village, Guangdong in 5 days from 100 tons of red clay:

Other notables works:

Quantum Cloud was erected in 1999 in time for the opening of the Millennium Dome (now the O2 Arena) and is Gormley’s tallest work, standing at some 30 metres high, rising from a platform bedded in the Thames:

Havmannen ("The Man from the Sea") is a granite stone sculpture located in the city of Mo i Rana in Northern Norway. The sculpture stands proud in the "Ranfjord", which is often referred to in Norway as "Polarsirkelbyen" ("Arctic Circle City"). The sculpture is 11 meters tall and weighs 60 tonnes.

Colour

I used to be a monochromatic type of girl.... but recently I've been introducing more and more colour or maybe it's my clients who are requesting it!! But I'm loving it... just take a look at these inspirational photos.

The fabric on this sofa is amazing and the drapes with the bobble trim really accentuate the colours:

I would never have suggested this colour combination - but strangely enough it works. I like the use of vertical stripes on the bed and the diagonal stripes on the drapes:

Creative use of wallpaper by taking it up and over the ceiling:

Seems to me that the red stripes on the wall mimics the stripes on the chairs:

The pops of orange and pink really highlight the wall colour (or is it vice-versa?):

Lots of colour here - there's the purple sofa, brown and pink rug, eggplant walls and multi-coloured pillows.... if you read about the colours you probably wouldn't let your designer go ahead with the scheme but seeing it finished - it just works:

The fabric used for the roman blinds and seat covers is bold, as is the wall colour but as it is used sparingly it's not overbearing:

The orange chairs finish off this room perfectly:

A designer after my own heart with this London inspired room and nice use of bold colours:

Photos courtesy of http://www.housetohome.co.uk/

Spring has sprung!

The weather here in San Francisco is glorious..... everything seems fresh and bright, the blossom is in bloom, daffodils are everywhere and we're all thinking of getting outdoors.

As you may remember, we had our garden finally landscaped last November/December (see earlier blog post for pictures) and I'm itching to get out there. I need to buy a table and chairs for the back of the garden and was thinking of maybe an outdoor sofa and coffee table for the deck. I really love throwing the French doors open, lovely music playing, and entertaining outside - there's nothing better!

Look at these outdoor spaces for inspiration:

Images courtesy of www.housetohome.co.uk