Looking Back

Late 19th, early twentieth century photo of the house and its second family

We've owned the house in New Hampshire for four seasons now. We love every season, every day and each week we work on stripping back both the interior and exterior to its original glory. In spite of snakes and shrubs, snow and rain, we're making headway, here are a few snapshots of the (exterior) progress:

Late Autumn

Winter

Spring (shutters removed)

Summer (shrubs and bushes donated to a friend)

Happy Memorial Day

13 Star Cotton Flag

Great auction at Cowan's American History Auction on June 23rd features some beautiful, early flags. They, more than anything we can write, express our sentiments this Memorial Day.

16 Star Wool Bunting

Extraordinary Works

We've recently become aware of painter James Havard through a Lewis and Maese auction on Liveauctioneers. We're truly astounded by his handling of lava-thick paint pulled, scraped and brushed into elegant, energetic works. When we thought of rooms worthy of this level of achievement, James Huniford came to mind. Though elegant and beautiful, Huniford is one of very few designers that treat artwork and early furniture with respect and a truly artistic eye....his spaces are installations that are somehow comfortable and very livable.

James Havard, Rio Grande Critters

Hampton house bedroom by James Huniford

James Havard, Portrait of Roualt at Bill Lowe Gallery

Huniford Hampton bedroom II

Havard figurative work from the Rio Grande series

Third Hampton house bedroom by Huniford

James Havard, Ben Hogan

A Manhattan bedroom by Huniford

James Havard, Dish Towel Design

New York Expressions

A walk through the West Village to The High Line last night was sticky and warm, the colors sweet and dense.

Looking West from the High Line

An Emil Nolde botanical via Exalted Beauty

Barricade on 13th Street

Karl Schmidt- Rottluff, Houses at Night at MOMA

Drugstore crates, NYC

Emil Nolde, Marschlandschaft mit Muhle via Galerie Ludoff

Referencing Shape & Color

Today, our constant search for palette inspiration led us to artist Laylah Ali. While her works often reference violent political and social scenes, she cuts the tension with brightly colored characters that have an almost comic book feel. Walking downtown yesterday, we could almost see her inspiration, which helps to make these images of violence so easy love.

Laylah Ali via There Were Ten Tigers

Shopping along 14th Street, NYC

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Laylah Ali, Untitled 2002 via Art & Story

194 Third Ave, NYC

Laylah Ali, Untitled 2000

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Laylah Ali, Untitled (Greenheads) 1998 via ICA

Spring Greens, New England

A wet, Spring weekend in New Hampshire has us thinking of nothing but the cool, fresh mornings and the smell of green in the air....the latter may be a bit abstract, but we snapped a few photos this weekend to illustrate:

After the rain, the walk back to our house

The Early American bottle display at The Met

Rainbow arching into our neighbor's orchard

We're still painting the bathroom- strangely pretty, but laborious

Fists of new ferns

Egypt at the Met

Wall Decoration from the Funerary Apartments of King Djoser

A trip to the Met to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit, Savage Beauty (unfortunately no pictures allowed) produced not photos of haute couture, but of our meanderings through different period and cultural exhibits. The Met, and this is an understatement, is astounding. The McQueen exhibit is one of the most inspiring we've seen in years and today we also found great inspiration in the Egyptian Exhibit. We're showing the masterful sculpts and fragments of color on soothing earth tones today, but stay tuned for more.

Relief from the area of the Place of Apries in Memphis

Hapshepsut Seated

Shrine Inlay

Shards of pottery from the research room

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Shrine Inlays

Small busts

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Inlaid plaques depicting foreigners from a palace of Ramessess II

Sweet expression on small stone bust

Funerary cloth wrapped in layers on mummified remains

Whale of a Blog

From a lot of whaling photos at Decoys Unlimited, Inc.

Iron Harpoon at Kaminski via Liveauctioneers

As we blog frequently about New England, I'm surprised we haven't blogged about whaling culture and the arts & crafts that stemmed from that unfortunate industry. We have to admit, there are times we're shopping that we are stopped by the graphic and very foreign whaling imagery in engravings, folk art, etc. They are magnificent creatures, so we're happy that New England whaling imagery is but a beautiful reminder of its history and not its present.

Sperm Whale charger from Quaker Arts

1810 Whaler's rendering via www.observer.com

Vintage Australian whaling photo via Wild About Whales

Early whaling photo

Weathervane sold at Copake's Auctions

Pages from a whaling log via The Bookman's Log

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Alaskan whale photo from Liveauctioneers