knitcole

Anchors Away!

Ever since I made my deer silhouette for my bedroom I have had lots of silhouettes in mind so it was no surprise that when I found out my dear friend Joy was moving to Redding, CA which is over an 8 hours drive away!, that I would make her an anchor silhouette.

You see Joy LOVES anchors. I'm not quite sure why but I know that she loves them. She also really likes the colors red and mustard yellow so I figured what better way to send her off with something to remind her of home than to create a custom anchor just for her.

It came out quite lovely. I actually really love the color and pattern combinations and the white frame from Ikea was just perfect. Joy was so shocked when she opened it. She really liked it and it's always wonderful to see someone appreciate something you made just for them.

We sent her off with one last night filled with fun, family and laughter. Joy is one of those people who has a special light that just emanates out of her. She's beautiful, fun, loving and happy. Truly a beautiful woman inside and out! I will miss having her just a short hour away but when your friends move away it just means you'll have somewhere fun to visit.

Nicole

Art in the Streets

A couple of weeks ago I ventured out to LA with a couple of crazies to see the Art in the Streets exhibit at MOCA. It's the first major collection of US graffiti and street art. It was pretty amazing. We waited in a huge line but it was worth it. The installations inside were pretty incredible. Coming from someone with a love for art and some formal training I was blown away by the sheer size and proportion of some of the stuff in there. There is a whole section of city recreated inside MOCA, it's pretty unreal. I didn't have my camera with me, (epic FAIL,) but I did get some great iPhone photos. Here's a bit of what we saw.

I really like Banksy and here are a couple of his pieces.

I don't know any artists for the remaining pieces but I really liked a lot of the graffiti and there was a section on how the tools of the trade evolved, (that's where all the spray paints were,) and then that kid was just so cool looking. I hope that what my kids are like someday. 

This installation was gorgeous. All white, grays and black. Beautiful. This picture doesn't do it justice and you can't tell that it fills a whole room from floor to ceiling.

My favorite piece of the day by far was this Banksy piece. It was so gorgeous and it was framed in the middle of everything. Truly breathtaking.

These crazies made my trip to the museum a perfect one! Love these people to pieces! I highly recommend Art in the Streets, for $10 it's reasonably priced and a trip to MOCA is always nice...even if the drive to LA isn't!

Nicole

 

 

Painting, painting, painting!

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to create a piece of art for a benefit show for India that's happening tonight. I was apprehensive about starting a new project but excited to create something bright and fun. When I think of India I think of gorgeous jewel tones and my favorite print, paisley. I'm not ready to reveal it just yet, maybe tomorrow after the show, but here's a sneak peek!

It's the brightest thing I think I've EVER created! See you all tonight!

Nicole

Sometimes I call my self a painter, but mostly I'm just an artist.

Saying that I'm a painter is a hard thing for me. I paint sometimes, and I don't think I'm especially great at it so I have a tough time sharing my work with other people, or even calling it good.That being said, I'm going out on a limb and sharing my latest with all of you.

Chris and Es gave me a canvas to paint when they moved to Des Moines last year and I thought about it a long time before I decided that I wanted to paint something that kind of reminded me of a wall at your grandma's house but with a new twist. I used brown and green because they are colors Chris and Es love and I cross stitched a simple "Home Sweet Home" to add to the painting.

I reinforced the back of the painting with a piece of wood and hammered and nailed just like you would on the wall to hang the cross stitch. I think it turned out pretty well and I hope it's found a lovely home on Chris and Es' Iowa walls!

Until next time!

Nicole

Stacie Bloomfield of @gingibersnap

It's time to share more of the amazing art that I bought for our apartment. Thanks to a post on Rachel Denbow's blog Smile and Wave, I headed over to Etsy and checked out Stacie Bloomfield's shop Gingiber. I was quickly in love with many of her prints.

I knew that Mr. Coleman loves blackbirds, (he has one tattooed on him and it's his favorite Beatles song,) and I just knew he would love the first print that I showed him from her shop.

He did love it, along with the cardinal and sweet little bird with red flowers that I also wanted to get.

We purchased these three plus a beautiful deer that I will show you a little later when I finally get around to posting our bedroom art.

We decided that our dining room was the best place for these sweet little birds to reside.

Our dining room still needs some work. We are hoping to paint the wall that these lovely birds are hung on a nice deep red color. We would also love to take down the mirrors with the silly borders around them but it all depends on time and how much we really want to put into our apartment that we may not live in for longer than a year.

Back to these lovely prints. I decided on a sweet little white frame for the square print and found a lovely black frame that turned out to be larger than I expected but I think it looks quite nice with the print. Since I didn't want to put two black frames in my trio of prints I decided on a natural color for the cardinal and I'm very happy with how they all look.

It's so nice to have beautiful things on our walls that bring smiles to our faces. Thanks Stacie for creating lovely art!

Make sure you head over to Stacie's blog or shop and see what she has to offer.

Until next time!

Nicole