GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAFY

. . . nearly november, and there has been overcast skies, blustery, leaf-strewn winds, and bouts of rain, and so, to brighten these last october days, golden artwork and gilded accents, warm white cable knits and sun-soaked high-waisted trousers, and it's off to the flower markets for as many bouquets as one can possibly carry . . .

. . . while the worlds of décor and fashion often collide here, every once in a while, the intermingling of fashion and art, such as the glimpses of of paolo roversi's ethereal, painterly work, and now, michele gastel's photographic still life, naturalistico, an artful arrangement of fashion accessories and everyday objects, resulting quiet captures of beautiful moments in time . . .















{images: photographic still life by michele gastel for the february issue of italian amica via life is a puzzle & the terrier & the lobster}

Beauty without colour seems somehow to belong to another world."

Colour affects emotions, design, art, and trends; it dictates our fashion, changes our mood and it epitomizes so many, many things without the need for words. Ruby red lipstick can be worn to signify ardent love and desire; pink blush conjures romantic rendezvous, and a bouquet of yellow daffodils can be given to symbolize friendship . . .



. . . lavender candles in a powder room can symbolize femininity, grace and elegance; a black evening gown that flows in the moonlight can represent sophistication and style, and the colour of a string of heirloom pearls worn on a wedding day is said to represent marriage.

Colour has its own language and painters are its masters.



Michelle Armas, an Atlanta-based artist, doesn’t simply paint with colours, she fuses colours with thoughts, blending magic to canvas -- each whimsical brushstroke takes your mind away to almost a heightened state of being and awareness, as you follow the light she creates through colour in paintings that have the power to light up a room.

Whether she is sipping café au lait in Paris, studying fine art in Madrid, or on a long-afternoon drive through lavender fields in Northern California, artist Kimia Kline continually draws inspiration from the stunningly beautiful things that surround her.

The artist's use of light brushstrokes and soft color schemes -- blushing rose, taupe, ivory, lilac & amaranth -- create the sense of morning sunlight peeking through lacy curtains and evoke thoughts of lazy afternoon picnics on sandy beaches.





Kimia's paintings have been featured in solo and group exhibitions at the Candystore Collective and the Swell Gallery, both in San Francisco, as well as in art exhibitions all over the world. She has won international acclaim, and was the winner of the NYAXE Gallery competition in 2009, and a national exhibition, 12"x12", at the Todd Gallery in 2010.



Kimia has had the dream-like opportunity to experience living in many countries around the world, places like Spain, Israel, the US, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Japan and Namibia, and in a few weeks, she will be moving to India for her next chapter; each place has influenced her paintings in a thousand and one ways, and this week, she reveals her:

. . . finding myself really quite excited . . . will you be watching?

{p.s.} and doesn't the route of the royal wedding processions look positively lovely rendered in watercolours?

It's almost wedding season and aside from new beginnings and catching bouquets, there is just one thing on everybody's mind: what to wear? Jennifer Hyman and Jenny Fleiss have the most delightful solution, and it involves a mountain of haute couture and never having to wear the same gown twice.

Jennifer and Jenny, who met at Harvard, realized they were not the only ones who adored high-end fashion, whether for black-tie affairs or casual first dates, used their backgrounds in business and entrepreneurial spirit to launch, Rent the Runway, a membership-only designer rental company where women can rent dresses and accessories from over 100 of the most luxurious labels including Herve Leger, Proenza Schouler, Missoni and Badgley Mischka for only 10 percent of the retail price, making shopping in Carrie Bradshaw's closet no longer something in our dreams . . .



. . . and since Jennifer and Jenny's mission is to assist modern-day Cinderellas find the perfect dress to whisk away Prince Charming, we naturally wanted to know which dresses were the most sought after, so we sat down with them this week to find out:

. . . even before the clock strikes midnight, already a nostalgia for the year we leave behind, {although suppose it is always that way with good-byes} . . . and yet, few things are lovelier than the overwhelming excitement and perfect anticipation for the days and months that lay ahead . . . and there are still so many things left to discover, words left unspoken, and plans to be made, there are new places to travel and dreams left to dream . . .

so let's raise a glass to the past, to no regrets and springtime in paris, to red lipstick and pink champagne, to art and architecture and the kindness of strangers, to meeting again and to friends, to morning cups of coffee and laughter on a winter's night, to dinners for two and little adventures, to lives well lived and impossible accomplishments, to beautiful happiness and kisses at midnight, and most of all, to you . . .

thank you for coming along with me & wishing you a new year lost in love and the beauty of dreams,

. . . had originally been working on two other lovely things for late this morning, but they had been taking such an astonishingly long time to complete, that had become rather sidetracked by this hopelessly lovely space in madrid, and all of the perfect little details that lend it such a wonderful warmth and elegance: the luxuriously bright entryway and paneled wood doors with gold hardware, the extravagantly-sized mirrors and art gallery style displays, and most of all, the beautifully handwritten and framed french phrases . . .

{images: nuevo estilo via the diversion project}

. . . if you found coe & waito's delicately lovely pine cones utterly inspiring, toronto-based designer & ceramicist carly waito's stunning oil on masonite paintings of minerals will have you searching for your long-lost easel and forgotten box of paints and get caught up in creating beautiful things . . .

{images: carly waito via all the mountains}

{two lovely things}: whether elegant yet striking with a 1960′s abstract expressionist painting by al held hung above a louis xiv gilded settee luxuriously upholstered in belgian linen, or beautifully ornate with a stunning 2oth century gilded console perfectly paired with a bronze and crystal chandelier and orchids, there is nothing quite like crisp white with a touch of black, intermingled with the warmth of wood, and, most certainly, a touch of gold . . .

{p.s.} more two lovely things

{images: top - photography by roger davies for western interiors april ’09, design by c. renea abbott of shabby slips houston; both via trouvais, also seen in a previous post}

. . . stunningly beautiful works by scottish painter alison watt, described as "one of the leading lights of the scottish contemporary art world" and a graduate of the glasgow school of art; while still a student, watt won the john player portrait award and was commissioned to paint a portrait of the late queen mother

in 2000, watt became the youngest artist to be offered a solo exhibition at the scottish national gallery of modern art with shift, an exhibition of 12 paintings featuring fabric alone; inspired by the work of french neo-classical artist jean-auguste-dominique ingres, the paintings are large, close-up studies of white draperies:



{images: colline via [design] relevant and national galleries of scotland}