Silk Felt Soil

things are getting pinteresting

2011-04-03T14:39:00.008-04:00

have just discovered Pinterest. It's a new world over there and a delicious one... Come find me -- xx p

oh, & ps... have I told you I'm moving to california? things are good over here! hope with you too.

image via enthusiasm documented.

a tea set that I suspect my mother will disapprove of

2011-02-17T19:27:00.002-05:00

What do you think? I just bought this set on Etsy. The best part about it? It's super baby pink. The second best thing about it? The seller said it's Haviland, Danish mid-century modern, but it looked art deco to me, so I did a bit of research and yup! it's marked Johann Haviland, Bavaria, which means that it can only have been produced between 1907-1924.

Now I have to tell my mother that I bought a pink tea set. She's going to wrinkle her nose gingerly and wish me well. She's a Norwegian from Montana stock, loves Sir Edmund Hillary, Martha Ballard, and other stoic heroes, and wears jeans and a bit of vintage Marimekko. She likes whites, and woods, and blues, and the occasional red. Not into Bauhaus pastels. And that's where she and I lovingly agree to differ.

cricket bats, cherry blossoms and korean girls with pin-curls

2011-01-19T18:22:00.009-05:00

Surely we can all agree that this wintery winter's been lovely, but that it's now time again to start dreaming of longer days, sprays of forced quince blossoms in the entry hall, and that beautiful, frosty, misty, foggy part of early spring, that part of the season that is so delicate and promising, that almost-melting, not-quite-slushy, sauntering-out-in-Wellies part, when every living thing seems to be entwined in ether, curlicued in vapor.

At least that's what I start dreaming of when I see these odd, enchanting images from a Korean Vogue shoot, called "Romantic Sport Fashion."

Via Abby's Road.

Betsy Dorman: the Kara Walker of animal silhouettes, perhaps...

2011-01-19T17:41:00.000-05:00

Reyer Stolk, 1945 (seen first by me here, and then in various places, such as here.)

Love the above Dutch picture book madly (but aren't prepared to search through vintage dealers for a copy)? Try Betsy Dorman's fascinating, beautiful take on animal silhouettes, found in Besty, her Etsy shop. She manages to be both unsentimental and yet sympathetic, even affectionate, towards her subjects. Check out her porcupine. Not exactly a pretty guy. I revel in the courage of it.

And, "S" is for Sloth.
Few animal silhouettes are observant and witty enough for anyone to dare class them as portraits (e.g., these, which are pretty stock), but hers do actually make it as portraits. Each profile, each face, has its own look, its own particular, watchful, attentive gaze beyond the frame.

I also find it deeply impressive that BD's sloth, and several of her other silhouettes, manage, successfully, to toe that ambitious, elusive line between abstraction and absolute specificity.Poster, $60, Besty.

Good, no? Let's be honest; we're talking so damn fine.

a silk print for the last days of November

2010-11-24T20:03:00.006-05:00

and with a a swatch of vintage silk in a feather print, we let November go, say goodbye for now to Thanksgiving, and welcome in December with its pine needles, its brown paper packages, its mittens, its champagne, its snows.

turbans

2010-11-08T15:53:00.004-05:00

my vote? yay for turbans.

fortnum & mason green, grapefruit, and the nubbly black of an avocado skin....

2010-11-03T21:20:00.005-04:00

just discovered the inspiration boards at snippet & ink. damn does that girl have an eye.

she picked the gorgeous image above, by photographer arjan benning, for this one.

dance and repose: carolyn anderson

2010-09-06T20:12:00.007-04:00

Just discovered Carolyn Anderson, an extraordinary contemporary painter. (click on the photos for larger images.) It would be interesting to see what she did if she moved out of her comfort zone of 19th c. subjects, but either way, what she's currently doing is pretty incredible. The sense of motion conveyed in the Native American dancer is inspired. You can feel that shuffling, rhythmic, explosive, moccasin'd step...

fiiiigaro! figaro figaro figaro!

2010-08-14T10:16:00.013-04:00

Spotted a beautiful vintage car in pristine condition on the street near Victoria station today, and just had to take a closer look.

Turned out to be a Nissan Figaro. Not currently available in the US, but oh! the possibilities!

.
Come to think of it, it's been a lucky 24 hours. Was out walking with my husband in Picadilly, yesterday evening, after work, and it was drizzling and cool and there were masses of crowds as usual but all was fairly calm because of the rain and the dusk. Suddenly I grabbed my husband's arm and whispered: LOOK! It's SOAMES! It was. He was out and about with his wife, looking just dashing. Went up to him, a bit starstruck. He didn't expect it, and was pleased. Mmm... So was I.

Violet is the name of a cake shop in London

2010-08-09T13:18:00.010-04:00

Such a treat this past Friday: went with an American friend, her British husband, and their beautiful new daughter on a little jaunt to Violet, a teeny, tiny, little bakery near their home in Hackney, London's answer to Brooklyn. Violet is owned by Claire Ptak, a transplanted Californian who used to work at Chez Panisse, and now tempts the likes of Stella McCartney and Jamie Oliver with her cakes. I chose a clotted-cream cupcake with lashings of raspberry jam. Delight.

Pics from Violet, and from the rewarding blog, This is Naive.

wish you were here, from Cap Ferrat...

2010-08-02T13:02:00.012-04:00

back now in London, after an absurdly beautiful weekend on the Côte d'Azur with a Catalan friend and three Italian friends of hers. We sunbathed on high, quiet rocks, ate trofie al pesto under umbrellas, and browsed in tiny shops smelling of incense and the sea.

Gràcies, Anna; grazie, Fede!

handmade toy blocks on etsy

2010-08-02T08:51:00.004-04:00

So love these delicate, squat blocks, washed in watercolors and polished with beeswax. Their soft corners remind me of those sweet, buttery, chalky mints that you eat mindlessly while waiting for a table in slightly sketchy but really good Thai restaurants. (Available for $24 in the Etsy store of JustHatched.)

wallpaper for a summer guest

2010-06-18T09:02:00.007-04:00

So it's really properly summer, isn't it? I'm in London and it doesn't feel that way-- it's grey here today and cool, and the helicopters are circling overhead of Buckingham Palace because apparently Sarkozy is in town.

I'll be posting off and on this summer, and if you're willing and able to read an "occasional blog" as I now think of Silk Felt Soil, do join me from time to time...!

Here is a little treat:

Honestly, cannot tell you how much I adore this Lulu DK wallpaper that I spotted on interior designer Elizabeth Martin's website-- it's called "Sunshine" and it looks insanely gorgeous in red, shown here. Can't you just imagine a guest bedroom by the sea done up in it? Really strong, yes, but the hand-drawn feel of it softens it and makes it playful.

The Aesthetics of the Japanese Lunchbox

2010-05-18T16:42:00.002-04:00

must. read. now.

loving industrial restaurant lighting

2010-04-14T14:53:00.004-04:00

gorgeous sconces with industrial bendy-arms hanging over the tables at Mile End deli in Brooklyn (image from the NYTimes's tantalizing "makeover of the delicatessen" slideshow). They look awfully like the ones I publicly coveted a couple of years back on design*sponge's xmas gift guide.

(the ones, dear reader, I bought!)

spiny lobsters and other textilic delicacies served up by anthropologie for spring

2010-04-05T23:25:00.007-04:00

some stunning new textiles from anthropologie for spring... adore the soft blues and terra cotta pinks and corals of this needlepoint-esque lobster, made edgy and beautiful by its surprising scale, and slightly menacing, fibrous legs....

more favorites include another rug, inspired by a vera print, in scalloped-woven silk; a "freckled fish" pillow in hot pink linen, and anthropologie's take on dwellstudio's popular avian "Chinoiserie" bedding-- I think they got their watercolor parrots exactly right. beautiful, infused saffrons, and soft floral branches. really nice.

2010-03-25T13:50:00.002-04:00

the foyer of wendy burden (vanderbilt heiress, now lives in portland oregon), within which "four generations of riding boots" hang out.

curtain rods made out of pipe and other good ideas

2010-03-24T14:39:00.004-04:00

understated but truly elegant curating on the part of a cobble hill couple... love love love love love the use of plumbing pipe and burlap for curtains in the living room.

images via nytimes.

loving beehives for spring

2010-02-26T15:46:00.001-05:00

phenomenal early sixties hair & oversized cable bands at prada fall 2010.

Thornwillow letterpress is so good you'll hang up the phone on your husband too

2010-01-21T13:52:00.019-05:00

I was talking on the phone to my husband late last night (he's in business school in Philadelphia right now), and absentmindedly clicking through sites for decorative papers at the same time. Clicking onto Thornwillow, I suddenly stopped, unable to talk. I started to stutter. "Oh my! oh my!" I gasped. "I'm looking at a letterpress online that is really good. No: I mean, Really Good! Let's talk later! Bye!"

Check out a sampling of the custom monograms they offer-- almost as nuanced and as unusual as those offered by Leontine Linens...

The great thing about Thornwillow Press (other than the fact that Cynthia Kling, the woman who gave Domino the name "Domino," has praised them to the high heavens in Vanity Fair's July 2009 ed, I discovered today) is that they balance a lot of tricky extremes.

a) They do the "Letterpress Is Posh" thing oh so effortlessly... (love that lion like nobody's business)

b) They do the wry, tongue-in-cheek, ironic, "Letterpress can be Naughty" thing well too....(love their "spanking babies" set of note cards)...

c) & then, best of all, they do lots of OTHER things too-- charming things that are actually charming, (vs the too-gooey, the too-treacly, the too-sweet). I guess the best way to describe Thornwillow is that they seem to have been designed by someone who lives in a Sempé cartoon, and whose life is half-lived in tails, giving toasts--

and the other half, lived at the circus--

or in dreamy, teetering castles of books, shared with friends, in the air.

great site: beauty is a thing of the past

2010-01-14T09:42:00.002-05:00

I've been fascinated by a new blog discovery recently: Beauty is a Thing of the Past. All sorts of amazing images of hair "sculpting" from 1700s to the 70s. enjoy!

(this particular image taken from skaro, a site I found via b.i.a.t.o.t.p.)

stenciled fish floor at prada spring/summer 2009

2009-12-20T19:03:00.006-05:00

"Poor thing!" was my first reaction after seeing this model take a spill in Prada's Spring/Summer 2009 collection (on Huff Po). Must admit that my second was, "gorgeous floor!" Wouldn't it be so chic to stencil the black, matisse-like, fish design on the floor of a wooden or lino bathroom, a nursery, or even on a large piece of canvas?

Beautiful description of the show from Luciole Press, a blog named for the French word for firefly, which reported that the Prada catwalk "meandered like a river and was painted with fish similar to ancient cave drawings... the models’ skin [was] slicked with water as though they had just risen from the sea."

Image via Bryan Boy.

ysl, safari, and a gold-splattered plate

2009-12-14T13:43:00.008-05:00

urban flea made a mini-gift guide for those of us who like our dark, rugged, woody, Yves Saint Laurent safari aesthetic splattered with gold... I particularly like these fine looking plates from bailey doesn't bark.

See here for UF's adventures in gilding a slate-grey sideboard. Inspiring.

Image of YSL's former home via Vanity Fair.

2009-12-14T13:12:00.006-05:00

Some of you might know that I'm what people in English departments call a "poetry person"-- a writer who writes about poets.

But what hardly anyone knows is that sometimes, once in a while, I'm ever so tempted to write about poets & their eyeglasses. Just look at Robert Lowell. Doesn't get much better. I mean, really.

PS: if you're in the market, SEE has some lovely Lowellian specs for both sexes...

Image via Yelp.

at your service: vintage melamine serving trays

2009-12-08T14:58:00.011-05:00

If you're looking, as I am, for divided melamine trays to organize your desk, here are two options:

we could have one (1) beautiful, new, sarah-jessica-parker-sea-green-"barely-mint" melamine dividing tray for the low price of $89.99....

or,

we could have three (3) beautiful, vintage, sarah-jessica-parker-sea-green-"barely-mint" melamine dividing trays for the lower price of $8.99....

...........I'm not sure...hmmm. What would you pick?

[image of sjp's dior via blogdorf goodman].

Holiday Shopping under $100: Vintage Cards "Kit" & Classic Games

2009-12-01T21:01:00.011-05:00

I once read that Isaac Mizrahi hosts a weekly bridge game at his apartment, and that he has delicious cocktails and delicious things to eat, but the real thing is the bridge game: apparently, he's quite serious about it, as are his friends.

This enchanted me. It seemed so glamorous and retro and yet nerdy and smart too. They say bridge is DIFFICULT! Again-- doesn't this sound good?

So ever since then I've kind of had it in mind that the ideal thing in life is to host a weekly bridge game. Or, frankly, a weekly mah-jong game-- that sounds fun too. Canasta! Whist! (Whatever these words mean, they sound great....!)

If you're a reader in Boston and know how to play bridge-- for heaven's sakes, email me! Though I know, my dear readers, I've been rather negligent here at Silk Felt Soil, and haven't posted enough recently. But I now have some time, having finished my dissertation, and I hope to be posting quite a bit more these days.

So I will leave you with this, for now: two holiday suggestions.

1. Present a friend with a cards "kit": a glam deck of vintage cards, like these wonderful matadors; an instruction book of card games, & and a promise to learn a classic card game together. (Bonus: add treats and a 6 pack of Coke in glass bottles, or a bottle of something stronger!).

Or...

2) Give a carrom board to someone you love, and learn to play it together.

What's Carrom you say? Carrom is like pool, except with poker-chip like disks that you flick with your finger over a chalky board. It's played all over Europe, India, Tibet, and South Asia generally. In France they call it "le billiard indien" as well as "carrom." And the boards are so pretty that it would make a lovely gift for the Someone in your life Who Has Everything....

UPDATE for Bostonians: I just learned that not only is MIT's bridge club renowned across Boston, and open to the community at all levels, but that the club's annual bridge bootcamp is free, and about to start up after the holidays. It will take place on Monday and Thursday evenings between Jan 4-Feb 1. More information here and here.

Holiday Shopping under $100: What about a Papered Photo Album from Venice?

2009-11-30T22:24:00.014-05:00

Not very often do I come across artisanship that makes me catch my breath. Paolo Olbi's work is decorative and baroque without in any way pandering to sentimental stereotypes of what classical Italian design is. To me, this is modern design. It is fresh, crisp, interesting, wild and fierce. I am stunned. What gorgeous, agile work.

Photo Albums and Journals by the Venetian designer and paper artist, Paolo Olbi, available here.

touching on... FLOR

2009-11-30T22:14:00.003-05:00

FLOR always has great designs, but this "Big Wooly Rug Kit" (100% natural wool) is a particularly beautiful concept-- I love the idea of a striped shag, especially paired with a smoky blue velvet sofa and a tufted club chair. Soft, inviting & yet also masculine, like a good scotch.

toucan; sahara; lacquer: 500 colored pencils

2009-11-03T13:15:00.005-05:00

happiness is... a subscription to 500 pencils. It's terrific how excited these guys are about their set of 500 pencils, and all the love they've put into marketing it; I particularly like the idea of their display case, for an entryway, a living room-- any place you currently have a bunch of assorted pens lying around. Write notes and to-do lists in color!

unsalted butter and radishes make a great sandwich if you have good bread

2009-10-18T22:26:00.006-04:00

don't think i've ever seen a more beautiful salad than this one of heirloom radishes that penny los santos, a national geographic photographer, created and photographed for d*s.

ps: doesn't "radish pink" sound like the best pink you've ever heard of? pink can get awfully frou frou, but radishes are peppery and spicy and crisp and I'm going to start calling everything radish pink from now on.

vintage illustrations & where the wild things are...

2009-10-18T18:02:00.017-04:00

Loving the splattery, scrawly look of mid-century illustrations right now...

and the flat, bright surfaces of these 1930's world's fair posters, too....

Thanks to illustrator "ward-o-matic" and his flickr set for the first image. And thanks to Vintagraph for the two world's fair images. Both of the latter are available for purchase in a variety of sizes.

Great link, btw: wardomatic's recent and wonderful analysis of some of Maurice Sendak's choices in Where the Wild Things Are. I am one of the people who know that book quite well, but I'd never thought hard about the role of "white space" in the story. Such an elegant, simple, and powerful strategy. Dazzling.

still writing...

2009-09-12T20:19:00.001-04:00

still writing, writing, writing. (almost done though.)

Thought you guys might like to see a scene from my writing desk. Recently started working at home and it's kind of wonderful! The silver elephant figure is Ganeshji, god of new beginnings, Remover of Obstacles, and Patron of Writing Sessions. He still has a dusting of magenta powder on him (click to see close up) from when he was last annointed, a year ago, at a ceremony that happened before our wedding.

I love using teacups as little vases....

personifying the world around us is too easy when things look like this

2009-08-06T18:50:00.007-04:00

Image of Sanno-Iwa ("three rocks"), taken by my brother James, who's currently living in Japan.

If only Blue Note Records had limited edition prints....

2009-07-31T17:33:00.012-04:00

Found these, and others, over at an incredible Japanese website while researching images for the poet Major Jackson's favorite poetry covers. Click over and you'll find a treasure trove of Blue Note album covers, and others. Just an incredible resource. I'm dazzled, and longing for images big enough to frame.

.

If it's crumbling....

2009-07-31T08:36:00.006-04:00

While researching the covers that David Lehman chose for the feature on poetry cover design that I'm doing at the Best American Poetry blog, I came across this wonderful image that has absolutely nothing to do with Kafka, but turned up on the Google image search: "Kafka" "Castle." (It's from a NYTimes article in October '08.)

Don't you just love the cheerful curtains that turn a wreck of a room into something altogether cheerful?

PS: The image it comes to us from BLDG BLOG, a great looking architecture blog that now has its own book. Possibly not for those who come to Silk Felt Soil via the glam, effervescent likes of Oh Joy, perhaps.... but if you're interested in contemporary architecture and surrealist wit, take a look.

writing on book design at Best American Poetry this week

2009-07-27T13:59:00.009-04:00

This ravishing smudgy birthday-card painting is by David Lehman, poet and founding editor of the Best American Poetry series.... click on the image to see it up close. so good. (notice how words always somehow sneak into poets' paintings......!)

I mention this today because I'm visiting as a guest blogger at the poet-painter's Best Am Po blog this week, writing about book jacket design, and interviewing poets on their favorite cover designs. so much fun!

come visit!

bacci,
p

the english for "elaichi gulab" is "cardamom rose"

2009-07-15T16:08:00.004-04:00

if you would like to practice your hindi, this is a good place to start: "ek glass cardamom rose cocktail milega?" which means, "may i please have a glass of that stunning pink drink?"

neckware

2009-07-15T15:51:00.002-04:00

I "Lova" this tie.

"I will really feel like celebrating when they are here on earth again"

2009-07-15T12:29:00.016-04:00

I'm perennially fascinated by our human longing to see vastly, and the artist's interest in recording that longing. See here for another post on this.

Today, the New York Times has collected some incredible images of July 20, 1969 in honor of the 50 year anniversary of mankind's first walk on the moon. It is really moving to see and read of the exhilaration that people were experiencing that day. This woman's postcard, above, is one example: "The moon's surface is so interesting. I can't wait to see color pictures in Life magazine etc.... What a fantastic thing to see on live TV!... What a day!"

Someone else wrote in about what it was like to be a little boy at the time: "I was only 7, but I did not sleep the whole week! My eyes were trained on Neil Armstrong the whole time."

Photographs taken by the then-22-year-old photojournalist David Burnett; more about his prescient choice to take shots of the onlookers, here.

pistachio ceilings soften an industrial-chic restaurant in melbourne

2009-06-30T12:13:00.025-04:00

What I adore about TRUNK-- the melbourne restaurant that I just discovered from an astonishingly gorgeous blog with a pitch-perfect design sensibility that I also just discovered (lark about) -- is that it marries

THIS aesthetic (fundamentally, that of the 19th c. draftsman's study, an aesthetic vocabulary that we sons and daughters of architects, many of us anyway, speak fluently...)

with THIS...

or rather, a hint of this....

While Trunk is clearly leaning in the Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch direction, with those dark dark floors and lots of dark shelves and dark tables and industrial lines everywhere, that pistachio ceiling elevates the whole room into something beyond direct historical quotation.

The thing is that my design roots always take me in the direction of wonderful, pre-pre-war architectural bones, deep dark woods and slates and the rough, "quick, grab a pen-- let's sketch it out now" kind of feel. But I am also a girl who loves design elements that are a little (or a lot) more opulent, a little unabashedly pretty, a little delicate and delicious and dazzlingly chromatic.

dear Trunk, we tip our hat.

(& we may even get out our paint chips...I've got two mammoth bookshelves to paint and I'm thinking that a dull absinthe green on the wall, and glossy black for the shelves, might complement and punch up our foamy grey living room...)

watercolor silhouettes, in reverse

2009-06-26T09:09:00.001-04:00

refreshing and beautiful pairing of the crisp, sharply defined letter and the playful fluidity of the stained, saturated paper. would be great for cards to friends, large posters, homemade book covers, numbers for tables at weddings...(no need to do the watercolors so brightly, right? could do them in soft pinks and navy, or as you like...)

or try an animal shape-- a flamingo, an elephant, a giraffe, and paint over them in a range of tones of the same color, for a series.

spotted on AT's children site...

2009-06-25T08:11:00.000-04:00

this octo-marvellous print by little rock artist paul michael dellostritto is available here for $7. via sfgirlbybay.

summer over-brimming a pimm's cup

2009-06-24T12:28:00.012-04:00

Pimm's Cup is my favorite summer cocktail.

It's not really a "thing" here, but in Britain, at summer garden parties or university parties down by the river for boating races, or in a thermos when you're going on a picnic, ideally by boat, and you've got a big hat and a couple of friends and a punnet or two of wild strawberries, it is most definitely a Thing.

yesterday, the New York Times published a recipe for "Pimm's Saigon," which has ginger in it & sounds super divine...

Pimm's Cup inspiration board (with classic recipe) by Polka Dot Bride; she has a good eye for color and her boards are lovely, great for weddings but also parties, and even rooms. check them out here..

film/reading inspiration:
- Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
- Iris (a memoir about Iris Murdoch written by her husband, John Bayley)
- Sylvia (about Plath, the best bits from which take place in Cambridge, UK..)
- and, far, far better than any of these is The Wind in the Willows, the ultimate tribute to "messing about in boats"

a man's watch on a woman's wrist

2009-06-24T11:11:00.011-04:00

viva lauren hutton...

viva men's watches...

viva the two together.

love especially the buoy-hued first of these two men's watches from gnomen... the first, $580, here; the second, $360, here.

speaking of vats of flowers

2009-06-22T16:48:00.011-04:00

nicolette camille is one to watch. her work is opulent yet wonderfully low-key, and her sense of color seems to be the real deal.

thanks to the-soon-to-be-san-diego-based joy for her post on nicolette...

naomi leff

2009-06-22T15:03:00.007-04:00

ode to naomi leff...
ode to dark walls and creamy vaulted ceilings...
ode to great huge vats of flowers as a masculine room's feminine flounce...

lest we forget the rectangle

2009-06-22T15:00:00.006-04:00

so you wish to ground and balance a feminine, slightly cluttered room? try layering rectangles, especially in dark colors.

the black door alone does so much, no?

kate spade, the maharani of rectangles... her website, her logo, her first bags from the early '90s....

thomas paul sale...

2009-06-22T10:35:00.002-04:00

quick public service announcement....!

thomas paul pillows and totes and such will be on highly discounted sale on wednesday, 6/24 at the gilt groupe... (love that "e" on the end; a little ye olde shoppe, no?)

if you haven't yet heard, gilt is an addictive sample sale online; by invite only; feel free to use my link to join.

ps: unfortunately I don't know how to invite you without potentially benefiting financially if you join and then make a first purchase. (gilt uses a gift certificate thing to encourage people to invite others.) just wanted to let you know so as to keep silk felt soil 100% above board.

bare shoulders, white feathers, and french paste

2009-06-18T12:26:00.003-04:00

best hat (excuse us: "fascinator") at ascot...

The coolest needlepoint project I've ever heard of

2009-06-13T13:01:00.008-04:00

The coolest needlepoint project I've heard of was a designer's gift to her parents. She needlepointed on several pillows some of her family's random catch-phrases (in her case, clueless things her father had said that had become classics).

We all have these things that we say to each other -- private jokes with friends, punch lines to family stories, phrases that come out at holiday dinners year after year, ways that we speak with the closest people in our life when we're remembering and reaffirming our lives.

Wouldn't it be amazing to celebrate some of these phrases on pillows?

KNITPRO is a free online application that will make a needlepoint or a knitting pattern from anything you choose to upload.

Or if that's too much work, there always are the classics.........

(from the Well Appointed House)

update:

- a site to get started

- a site that sells audubon canvases and others, eg this fabulous bee one

2 or 3 things i know

2009-05-12T20:26:00.006-04:00

stunning blog alert.

random ps: cool tights.

2009-05-07T19:01:00.009-04:00

have little darlings? let them eat brioche.

ok, sweetiepie in the west village, you are all girly and bird-cage-y and 1950's-crossed-with-marie-antoinette-y but i bite! i mean, i really bite.

every city should have an old fashioned ice cream parlor with tufted cushions that serves stylish healthy comfort food for mothers and kids and girlfriends and has crayons and balloons and in the evening can be turned into a wes anderson style dinner party with zebras on the walls and candlelight.

i mean, really. why not?

(bostonians: 3 alternatives--

the classic, upstairs on the square....
(just met deborah, who co-owns it and designed it herself... she is lovely! we talked about color...)

the new, "Sweet"

doesn't have any lunches, but it does have smashing cupcakes. we'll get there...)

and the really new, Clover, which has won my heart. not girly, not indoors, but certainly for kids... and they host pancake breakfasts outdoors with real maple syrup.

cherry blossom festival

2009-04-26T11:51:00.004-04:00

happy spring from hirosaki!

(taken by my brother james, who is a photographer and is living in japan)

whahn eet ees sprang i feelluh like speekeeng en frahnsh

2009-04-17T21:39:00.005-04:00

dearest dearest readers....

je vous embrasse... i am really touched and delighted by the little comments I've been getting, even after it's been quite a while since I've been posting regularly...

the trees are out, the birds are singing, and it is absolutely lovely outside, and on and on my little manuscript goes....

There is some design news which will be making its way onto silk felt soil when things have settled down. a little taste:

- for the girls out there: wedding pictures! accumulated thoughts on planning a wedding/ designing a wedding... how to do flowers, how to personalize things to your liking, how to spend gobs of money, if you're so inclined. :) I actually had two weddings, a wedding at my parents' house (oh yes!) and a dreamy destination one up in maine, so i'll give you the scoop about both kinds...

- my thoughts on domino's demise, and what we all must do about it!

- some new purchases chez moi (massive custom shelves, glorious shelves!), and potential purchases...

this all will have to wait awhile, of course, but I had to let you know that I'm thinking about you.

baci, besos et bisoux
p

in search of lost time

2009-03-31T23:34:00.003-04:00

the new york times magazine had a stunning, clever editorial on men's watches this past sunday, titled "in search of lost time"... this one, with the dinosaur and the little "leaves" of goldleaf was beautiful... and i loved the tomahawk one too...

this is by way of saying that i am myself in search of lost time... finishing up a manuscript, and will return to silk felt soil in the summer.

xx p

who needs sugar plums when you've got industrial steel credenzas dancing before your eyes

2008-08-13T18:42:00.006-04:00

sometimes in the early evening, when the sun is setting, i start to dream of industrial shelving.... and I dream that I live in the Loire valley and have many many euro to spare.

a view from the milky way: our invites

2008-08-13T17:12:00.009-04:00

ahhhh! our starry invites are out... this is part of the image that inspired the verso of the cards, in midnight card stock with pewter metallic ink. true to form, the über-talented elisabeth did an incredible job, as did our fabulous calligrapher.

and silk felt soil has come full circle-- asa smith's astronomy, from which the image is taken, was merely a gleam in our eye when we started; I lucked out, found the entire book on ebay, have been saving it ever since for something really special.

flowers that remind of me of a starry night

2008-05-20T11:43:00.007-04:00

as you guys might know if you're longtime readers, i'm getting married in september! our wedding theme is "UP!" ( the monogram of our two first names ), so i'm loving all things glowy, twinkly, night-sky-y right now.

these flower arrangements are so inspiring.....!

first image from Grace Ha-Kim's studio, Vale of Enna (seen at Brooklyn Bride)...& second photograph by michiko kon (via moon river).

ah-yi's Nocturne 02 print

2008-03-18T18:17:00.007-04:00

ah-yi's prints are simple on the surface, very lovely and crisp.. . but there's a wild messiness there too that I love. she contains the disorder of little thin fragmenting lines in the safety of whale-like, brain-like organic shapes, but the tumult is there, biding its time, ready to burst through. ah, let it burst and break, ah-yi.

let march march on

2008-03-03T20:29:00.004-05:00

feeling inspired by little quick iced shots of deep blue and lots of texture these days....

(click for the closeup. so good.)

silk felt soil dips its toe into the waters of midcentury modern....and finds the temperature quite lovely!

2007-12-18T22:32:00.000-05:00

news:

i bought a loveseat!

I'm only going to post this teeny weeny pic of it because I don't want to BLIND you guys. I admit, it's not its most charming self at the moment. But doesn't it have potential...? soo many ways we could go with this little one.

blogger's wishlists!

2007-12-07T10:44:00.000-05:00

some treasures in the bloggers' wishlists on design*sponge... my picks are listed,
"the gilt rubs off the edges/ of the pages and pollinates the fingertips" - (elizabeth bishop)

as well as many inspiring gift ideas from around the web, like this etsy shop, bananasaurus rex that sells wine wraps and bibs from vintage fabrics.

and then, just some extraordinary surprises....
these are made by anneke harmsen, and look like something from another world.

Strike! Strike! er.... Ork! Ork!

2007-11-19T16:54:00.000-05:00

I know it's looking like I've left the scene, everyone, but really my absence from silk felt soil has been carefully and ethically considered: in solidarity with my fellow writers in Los Angeles and New York, I have been on strike from sfs.

;)

But I can't help myself: I must give thanks to Ork Posters for their to-die-for regional poster. (and to Lisa Congdon who spotlighted them today at d*s's guest blog). Cannot wait for the Boston one: I'm all signed up.

................... -> note: After Thanksgiving, I'll be holding a Christmas ...................blogger's swap for charity! s t a y t u n e d

mini-project: gilding large stones for table-top book weights

2007-10-16T08:09:00.003-04:00

Grace's mini-guide to paperweights excited me way more than is probably normal and/or healthy.

This particular knobbly gold nugget paperweight, priced at around $140, got me thinking... how difficult would it be to apply gold leaf to stones? and how beautiful and easy wouldn't that be?

One could do big, melon-sized stones and place them on books on a coffee table...! definitely my next project: headed off to Michaels this week for some gold leaf.

[By the request of Ms. Johnson, the images of her gilded stones, which I had cropped in such a way as to conceal her cherry-on-top addition of opalescent snail shells, have been removed.]

why don't you... carve out a gallery space with painted stripes?

2007-10-14T22:24:00.000-04:00

Spotting this image of built-in display shelves, (designed by Todd Romano, Jan '07 Elle Decor), I was suddenly inspired. One doesn't need built-ins to create a graphic display to showcase a collection -- probably not platters, but hats; mirrors; or prints/ photos.... It would be fairly simple to 1) put up some molding to frame a blank section of wall; 2) paint three wide stripes, and 3) display your pieces in 3 x 6 grid. Optional, 4) Take a cue from Romano, and center the largest pieces.

It would be really beautiful to paint light stripes on dark walls. . .

wanted? found...

2007-09-21T12:23:00.000-04:00

on etsy! can't wait till it's delivered...

thanks to coco+ kelly, and to hoping for happy accidents for the link!

zzzip! while you {zzz.....}.

2007-09-11T13:52:00.000-04:00

so i've gone a little pillows-mad. (dear old september, the month of all months where pillows seem most appealing and where you have least time to enjoy them.)

From unison home: love! the faux-tweed....

and love (to the nth degree) the racing stripe bolster.

might as well give the appearance of zzzip while you {zzzz.....}, no?

image of '60s pillow reverie via desire to inspire.

look before you sit! (salvor fauna)

2007-09-06T12:58:00.000-04:00

I adore what Ross Menuez, of Salvor Fauna, says about his process: "Almost all the best work, anything that... that you will like, years later, has nothing of you in it."

Porcupine sien on water, available at Design Public. A whole menagerie may be found at Areaware.

hardcover

2007-08-31T12:53:00.000-04:00

can't miss gift: blurb. make your own book...

thanks to joy for the tip, seen at bloesem's current weekend read, "wishgifts."

happy weekend, everyone. I'm off to the farmer's market!

copper suspension lighting from etsy

2007-08-29T11:13:00.000-04:00

Gorgeous copper suspension lighting at François Legault's Etsy shop. This particular lamp is going for $265. I'll take the ceiling tile and that copper boiler too, please!

a tip.

2007-08-24T08:31:00.000-04:00

When it comes to rifling through an assortment of prints, paintings, sketches, pillows, rugs, anything (whether online, e.g., on ebay, or even in a shop), and you can't decide how to choose, try out my pet strategy:

... ignore your knee-jerk favorites. Blast past the "pretty," and take a closer look at the "ugly": and by "ugly" I mean the one piece that you would ordinarily dismiss straight away, the item that you unconsciously register as the least appealing of whatever group of images you're looking through. (eg, with botanicals, blast past the peaches & give the dingy print of the warty gourd a little love.)

Rationale: the "pretty" is probably just what you're used to. The "ugly" is unfamiliar. Often that first jolt of "Hell no" is actually a good way to discover something new.

"Jolie laide" fish prints from The Old Print Shop (online, or stop in if you live in the NY area; looks like a great shop. 150 Lexington Ave between 29 and 30th).

(ok, now that you've heard me out, tell me I'm wrong. I can take it.)

back to school = cool online industrial supplies

2007-08-23T08:48:00.000-04:00

In exploring the coolest online resource ever for affordable, modern shelving, etc, etc, etc; thanks Blueline!), i found this "map rail," lined in cork and full of fun clips and so on, which is $15 for 4'. I think the graphic stripes of cork and steel would actually provide a stunning and unexpected graphic pop, like a really great belt for your walls, in an entryway (stay tuned....!) or an office, & used all around the room. What a fun alternative to a traditional picture rail: easy to install, and a no-effort way to hang (and re-hang) your gallery .... kind of like a more yang version of mav's ethereal inspiration line, which I've never been able to get off my mind.

Julia Christie at Lumas: 21st century landscape photography

2007-08-21T08:47:00.000-04:00

I've been reading a lot recently about 19th-century landscape painting... it's interesting to compare the perspectival confidence of Friedrich's 1818 "Wanderer above the Sea of Fog"

... with Julia Christie's bleached-out, 21st-century landscapes in which the small human figures are swallowed up even though the beach setting is ostensibly benign...

Seems in some ways similar to Zen Sekizawa's work,
although his take definitely feels more carefree (maybe because the figure, even though headless, is closer to us, and positioned at the top of the frame, like Friedrich's Wanderer)...

Julia Christie's starkly beautiful White Sands photograph series available for purchase at Lumas. Thanks to Angela for the great link to Lumas!

faded terra cotta pink and navy blue....

2007-08-20T08:38:00.001-04:00

I am mad for this color palate of pale terra cotta pink and faded navy blue (spotted on Toast)--

Always did love Diana Vreeland for saying that "Pink is the navy blue of India..."! ... what better than to see the two collide in a bookshelf, or

on a dusky-colored sari that I saw walking away from me in Gujurat....

{welcome to all who are here via Design*Sponge! our contribution to the d*s blogger's guide to online shopping can be found here , along with contributions from 9 other inspiring bloggers.}

one of the best things i've ever read on a blog

2007-08-16T12:53:00.000-04:00

if i had only one example to use in explaining to a being from outer space what a blog is, i would give this post as my example.

.

scandinavian ceramics in black and white

2007-08-16T12:22:00.000-04:00

Madly Gorgeous Catherina Kippel Work Exhibit A:

(from Blås & Knåda)

Madly Gorgeous Catherina Kippel Work Exhibit B:

(from Design House Stockholm)

ebay watch: '50's ceramic table lamps

2007-08-06T11:52:00.000-04:00

these are estimated to go between $100-$200. Not bad.

I'm getting verrrrry into the idea of getting a pair of vintage 50's ceramic lamps for our living room...

why don't you.... paint your floors white with black stripes, a la cecconis in london?

2007-08-02T15:36:00.000-04:00

{s w o o n}.

see here for another take on black and white design with emerald accents.

our Twombly has arrived from Sotheby's! (kind of).

2007-07-31T11:51:00.000-04:00

Back in December I mentioned that I was coveting a huge piece of slate to put up in the living room like a pseudo-painting. Well, we might be almost there!

Over the weekend, my mom and I took a roadtrip up to Maine, & on the way back home yesterday evening, we stopped in Kennebunk to check out Old House Parts, an architectural salvage shop, to see their inventory of vintage blackboards. Prices were a little bit prohibitive, but we still managed to bring back a decent sized piece of slate to hang up in living room over what will become a "games" table/ dining table. I figure it will look pretty all on its own, and when friends come over to play bridge (wink wink Roxy), we can use it to keep score.
Will post some pictures in August, when it's up!

(image of Mariette Himes-Gomez's kitchen blackboard via NYSD.)

a wee little house on an island

2007-07-27T08:44:00.000-04:00

Often what makes a summer home feel special is what isn't there. I love how the architectural firm Lilley.Dadagian renovated this Nantucket cottage (a former "eel shack!") by letting the warmth and cosyness of the space emerge naturally just from the texture of the wood and the intimacy of the building's proportions alone.

che bella casa!

blue feels new

2007-07-26T08:44:00.000-04:00

loving the saturated hit of lapis lazuli that makes a neutral-toned arrangement of boxy objets suddenly feel moody, languid, just right.

photograph of bureau by Alexandra Rowley via Desire to Inspire

lene toni kjeld: wallpaper that makes my heart go THUD THUD THUD

2007-07-19T08:39:00.000-04:00

First..., I think I almost just passed out. Ode to Lene Toni Kjeld, she of the brilliant wallpaper that I must have! I'm so excited about the new directions towards which wallpaper has recently been heading, but I must say that this is particularly lovely, in that it feels contemporary but not in your face (gritty "toiles" and edwardian typescript "bite me" and other i'm-too-edgy-for-my-party-so-edgy-it-hurts kind of designs.)

Lene's wallpaper, on the other hand, is just unnervingly wonderful without being self-conscious or obtrusively tongue-in-cheek; I love its soft, crumbling texture, neutral metallic tones, its 21st-century nod to lace, and even fresco-- à la Timorous Beasties "Fresco" pattern... sigh. so so good.

But here's the thing. The seduction-that-is-European-artisanal- wallpaper has two significant cons, 1) price and 2) permanence. (Oh, and very possibly 3) a significant other who doesn't like wallpaper.) But does any of this deter Michelle of Armas Design? not at all! she recently suggested the genius idea of papering a large sheet of plywood (which allows us to escape 1), 2), and 3) in one go. Simple and brilliant. (Has anyone seen examples of such a thing?)

Lene...? Let's talk!

linen and silk: printed neutrals

2007-07-18T08:02:00.000-04:00

have you heard of the online retailer "Fashion Fabrics Club"? Until recently I hadn't (certainly the name doesn't sound too promising) but they are definitely worth a look! If you have a project that requires some fabric (eg, I'm hoping to make some curtains in time for fall), you can browse on their site for hours: they have a great search engine, tons of natural materials like silk, wool, linen, and canvas, and excellent prices-- most materials come under $20 a yard. I just bought a bunch of different fabrics, 1 yard each, so I'll keep you posted and take some pictures when they come in.

From top: chocolate and ivory "circle" print in linen; a black and white silk plaid suitable for curtains; and this final silk chiffon print might make a cute dress....

LED lanterns: outdoor lighting on the move

2007-07-11T10:18:00.000-04:00

Candles are good, but lanterns are better. For your next picnic or outdoor meal, whether you've rented a beachhouse or are just taking a walk to a safe quiet out of doors spot with your friends for an impromptu dinner, try taking a lantern or two along....

I have recently become very attracted by the notion of LED lanterns because our building doesn't allow fire of any kind on the roof-deck. So I first went in search for some options from camping stores... here's a few:

this little guy has my number. i love him.

Both of these come with a remote:
(L.L. Bean's mini model.)
The Emerson has a great feature of a remote control dimmer.

Bottom line: I think there's definitely a market for more stylish ones, but these are sweet in a dorky way-- if anything, just think how much your nieces and nephews would love them for going camping in the backyard.

If you're looking for something a little more urban, a little more polished, here are a few good options:

for an asian feel, this one from wrapables is quite nice looking; it would be great in a set of 6 or 8-- or intermingled with these japanese lanterns.

(sigh. the "luau" lamp. gorgeous, but far overpriced.)

This one from Brylane Home is a much better deal at $9!

Last but not least-- this one is not bad. I'd love to see a stylish redo by Restoration Hardware, but it's a start!

From Safe Home.

(Top image from Pottery Barn)

bare design

2007-07-10T10:15:00.000-04:00

summer's textures of rafia, rope, cane, and sand are the closest it comes to going naked in design....

chequita nahar's gorgeous fringe necklace with string beads; dedon's "daydream" lounge bed.

Blog Hooky

2007-07-09T06:28:00.000-04:00

Ooh, don’t I know it! It's been over a month now! So delinquent, so ... ! There should be a word for it… “Blogvacay”? “Away From The Blog”? “Stepped Out Of The Blog”? “On Leave Of Blog”? “Blog-Hooky?” That’s what it feels like, like I’ve been playing Blog-Hooky.

So a very warm hello again!! … and also a little peace-offering to all of you in the form of my twist on a classic summertime drink:

Phoebe’s renowned Ginger-Basil Lemonade, otherwise known to me and my main man
as

Jal Gingera:
makes one pitcher
- 3-4 lemons, juice reserved
- water
- sugar to taste (tons- at least 2 cups)
- two inches of a piece of ginger, peeled, grated and the gratings squeezed of their juice
- basil leaves, roughly torn up
variations:
* a little green or black tea (almost better than original)
* instead of basil, smash up sticks of fresh lemongrass, and add to pitcher; & add green tea if so desired.

Mix all ingredients; chill well. Pour into icy glasses that have been stored in the freezer. Sugar rims. Serve on a weekday night after Thai take-out, with pitcher and glasses on a tray to your main squeeze alongside a pack of cards. Suggest a friendly game of gin rummy. Turn on Ray Charles, or Otis Redding, or Amy Winehouse, a little too loud. & then play to win.

oh, hot July, sticky in the day and smooth at night…

xx p

um yes, I’m back, & no, I haven’t gone away to become a bridezilla, and yes, I will be updating regularly this summer, 3-4 times a week, while I write the manuscript of what will become, at some point, a real live book. But that’s a story for another time.

(thanks to pinkiestyle for the img!)

just something simple....

2007-05-31T21:35:00.000-04:00

yassum, we're getting married.

let me not get carried away, all. dear lawd, keep me sane.

so i'm saying for the record, before the planning starts, i'd love nothing more than if our wedding dinner turns out to feel as intimate and simple as this one.

monogrammed linens....

2007-05-25T07:33:00.000-04:00

Monograms are by definition totally kitsch, no? Most of the time, they look copy-cutter, completely un-ironic, which can be a bit scary! Finding an unusual monogram, on the other hand, makes a bed-set become something truly eccentric and wonderful. Leontine Linens, based in New Orleans, has some of the most unusual, unique, splendid, overscale monograms I've ever seen. With names like "Baron." "Monarch." (Such a fun wedding present!) ... Somehow I get the feeling Nick Olsen would dig these.

The masculine "Joseph" and "Claude..." from the Baron collection.

And the more refined "Helena 2" from the Monarch collection, and "Jules," & "Trey" from the Directoire collection.

Have a languid, relaxing Memorial Day weekend, all! & see you back on Tuesday with some musings about the wedding!

pattern: oversized dots and oblongs in silky neutrals

2007-05-23T01:52:00.000-04:00

o . O o . O o . o O . 0 0o O o . o O0 oblongs

Joy's nantaka joy line is out and it's too delicious....! (image via d*s). was so inspired, i had to show a sample of other gorgeous oval and oblong patterns in textiles and ceramics.

Embroidered tambourine fabric by Minä perhonen via photos from IdN spotted on Elly's site.

brooch by scottish artist Ann Little.

"Martini" runner by madeline weinrib

beloved Arabia: Finland giraffes found here.

over the desk

2007-05-22T07:49:00.000-04:00

what's over your desk? a personal composition?

a blank slate?

monochromatic photos?

2 mirrors?

or "lamper fra ikea"?

image sources will be up this afternoon.

our little kitchen that could!

2007-05-18T13:33:00.001-04:00

we did it!

thanks so much to the AT: Kitchen community!

Bostonians, feel free to use comment space here to share kitchen info/tips in the boston/cambridge area.

sometimes it happens, i guess...

2007-05-15T10:42:00.000-04:00

as you might have noticed, i've been otherwise occupied: i am in the middle of a rather long essay on my beloved elizabeth bishop and can't seem to think of anything else.

but I will be back on Monday with a full week of information and inspiration!

and meanwhile, check on Apartment Therapy: Kitchen to see more of our kitchen (we made the finals)!

image of Bishop in a Argentine-designed butterfly chair in her home in Brazil- via the Harvard Square Library

2007-05-09T08:32:00.000-04:00

i love this girl on the sartorialist.

DIY art... black and white illustrations

2007-05-09T08:03:00.000-04:00

this is one of the excellent illustrations by mary shepard from the dark classic by p.l. travers. (it feels Kate Spade-ish to me.. like an image from "Things We Love".) i like it a lot with the text hanging suggestively above, and am thinking of enlarging it massively and hanging up in our entry. . . or perhaps over our bed.

i have always adored this one too.

2007-05-05T14:38:00.000-04:00

if silk felt soil had a brother... a dirt-under-the-fingernails, sandy-haired, freckled, grinning, reckless, tall and lanky, old-bike-riding and 501-wearing brother...

it would be reference library.

thanks to kelly from hoping for happy accidents for her great eye.

what is your visual DNA? test yourself...

2007-05-02T10:04:00.000-04:00

thanks to Maryam, I just discovered Imagini's superb little visual DNA quiz.

Each question (eg, "What is Art"?) can be answered by clicking on one of the many tiles in the mosaic that appears for each question. At the end of the series, the program gives you an analysis of your results, that was spot-on for me. (No registration, no spam emails, no catch.)

I particularly enjoyed being able to see, at the end, how my choices had lined up with other peoples'.

beautiful dna image courtesy of this site run by a dr. john kimball of andover, ma.

dong kingman, zao wou ki: mid-century poster art and illustration

2007-05-01T08:15:00.000-04:00

Mid-century illustration and watercolor touch me on a very personal level because i grew up reading over and over again the picture books of my parents' generation (1940s-1960s), which they had saved, and loved to see me enjoying as they had. So the chaos of color and the shapes and typefaces and all of it is like coming home.

Dong Kingman is one of our great mid-century watercolorists. I hope these travel posters give you a surge of excitement as they do for me.

(The first for sale here, and the second here; or try this ebay print for a more wallet-friendly version of the 2nd.)

I love this one too, so so much, a 1968 lithograph by the abstract painter Zao Wou Ki.

DIY tip: if you enjoy this style of mid-century graphic design and illustration, try scanning an image from a children's book of the period and framing it (I'll be doing this in the next couple of weeks!). There are so many possibilities; try checking out the wonderful Flickr group, Retro Kid; or browse the Japanese site, CurioShop, for thumbnails of a truly stunning collection of mid-century illustrators and their work.

... et finalement, joyeux anniversaire à mon cher papa, et à la belle mathilde aujourd'hui!

update on color trend: super baby pink

2007-04-30T12:37:00.001-04:00

in late february, i wrote...

i think amy at the great new blog design dna is on to something: a color that she charmingly calls "super baby pink" as in "the super baby pink outdoor cushions are speaking to me." if you're looking for an alternate to the beautiful (yet already ubiquitous) bright citron colors of the season, you may want to consider it. (eg, as a ceiling color in an all-white room, say.)

(oh, and don't let its softness deceive you. nor should you be tempted to mistake it for the preppy irony of a jcrew pink. this is something else, a barely-there hue. maybe we should think of it as a subversive off-white.)

... will update you on this one!..

now here are some updates on this:

UPDATE! 4 april:

paperpony via d*s

UPDATE! 30 april:
Genifer Goodman's home (May '02, Lucky mag), via designer's library.

Martha Stewart's guest house on the cover of the May MS Living...
so I'd love to hear from you about this... is this a color for which you can see yourself developing a fondness? or is it too... well, too sugar-girly? myself, i'm definitely loving it, though haven't incorporated it yet into the house...

i am thinking, though, of painting all my wooden furniture a nude color, in high-gloss....

lighting: tripod-esque lamp from west elm

2007-04-30T08:00:00.000-04:00

I picked up one of these over the weekend. From its over-sized shade, to its sweet dangly pulls, to its adjustable height, its multiple settings for brightness, and its architectural angularity, it's charmed me beyond all expectation.

dark-toned art on lemon walls: vintage oil paintings

2007-04-26T08:16:00.000-04:00

I love the warmth of lemony walls, but sometimes they feel a little too peppy; the shadowy feeling of these dark still-life paintings tones down the pep and adds some depth and dimension, plus a little edgyness.

as we all know, Ebay is a great place to look for undiscovered (and hence affordable) artists. Check out this one by Lila Shelby, a mid-century Southern painter. Love!

(note: the clock is ticking on this piece...auction ends this afternoon.)

First image from Domino, May '06; the second from Martha Stewart Living Sept '04.