This large study amply covers Norwegian artist Thomas Fearnley’s interest in rendering effects of light and reflection in water, as well as the flora growing on its banks. He painted this picture on September 23rd, 1837, in Surrey, during an extended sojourn in England. Fearnley learned to sketch directly before nature from his teacher Johan Christian Dahl, but this work also betrays the artists encounters with paintings by influential landscape painter John Constable.
Photographed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art n NYC.
On Sunday mornings, I go for a walk that often takes me through the historic district around Irving Place. There are lots tiny boutiques in the area and it;s fun to window shop.I spotted this Hot Pink Poodle Candle on display in the window of a place called Takamichi Beauty Room (located at 125 East 17th Street) which bills itself as a wellness store and ‘cabinet of curiosities.’ Despite the fact that the Poodle is perched atop a box for a candle by Cire Trudon (which retail for over $100 each) it is in fact a much more affordable product of Photerianand retails for just $15. Sweet.
When Covid dictated a shift from working at an office to working from home, my daily routine changed in many ways. One small but significant shift involved what I regularly enjoyed eating for breakfast each morning while sitting at my desk. The office pantry always stocked fresh milk in the fridge for our coffee or cereal, so it was super convenient (and saved me a few bucks) to keep a box of my favorite cereal — Barbara’s Peanut Butter Puffins, available at Trader Joe’s — at work. At home, I rarely purchase dairy milk because it basically starts to go bad as soon as it’s packaged, and it’s easy to forget to use it up before the expiration date hits. Needless to say (but you can see I am about to) when I started working from home — one year ago — I stopped eating packaged breakfast cereal entirely. That changed recently, when I found out about Koita, a line of shelf-stable, plant-based milks from Italy! Today I’m going to review Koita Organic Coconut Milk, which has brought the joy of breakfast cereal back into my life.
Foscarini, a leading Italian design and manufacturing company that produces masterful and innovative decorative lighting, is one of my favorite showrooms to visit in NYC’s SoHo design district. The company was founded in 1981 on the famous glass-blowing island of Murano in Venice, Italy, and their award-winning and iconic designs are the results of passionate collaboration with world-class designers. To create light is the central vision of each Foscarini project, never losing sight of the connection between the form and the function of illumination.
One of my favorite designs of theirs is the Lumiere Table Lamp, which was created for Foscarini by Milanese architect and designer Rodolfo Dordoni. The Lumiere has an elegant gradation of tones in the glossy finish of its blown glass shade contrasted with the finish of the characteristic tripod base. This light is both beautiful and beautifully crafted. It has a elegant look and emits a soft light. Each of the elements, the glass shade and the metal stand, are well made and have a nice weight — which, with a table lamp, is a desirable. This is a classic lamp that will complement the decor of virtually any room. The blown glass shade comes in your choice of colors that include Polished Cherry (shown), Polished Turquoise and Warm White, with metal-base finishes of Champagne (shown), Aluminum, and Black Chrome. The Lumierecomes in small and large sizes, with this small size lamp retailing for $727.00.
It’s obvious that this fun Shark paste-up by street artist Captain Eyeliner (@captain_eyeliner) has been out in the elements for a while, but I just noticed it while I was visiting Freeman Alley on my recent Birthday, and happened to walk west on Rivington toward Bowery instead on heading east towards Chrystie, which is my usual route. The message of Smash the Patriarchy, featuring an engaging image of Uncle Sam as a hungry Shark is both powerful and timely. A bit of research on Captain Eyeliner’s Instagram tells me this campaign is from 2019. Glad to see it has survived. Shark Attack on the Patriarchy, Bitches!
Kandler’s brilliantly composed figural group, The Judgement of Paris (1762) was intended as a table centerpiece that would appear with dessert. It depicts the story of the shepherd Paris awarding the golden apple to Venus, whose charms he preferred to those of Minerva and Juno. The splashes of color add a frivolous note, in tune with the frothy rococo spirit of the sculpture. Moreover, hints of naturalistic coloring deny these goddesses the timelessness of idealizing sculpture, making them instead into modern beauties who perform a titillating after-dinner entertainment.
Photographed in The Met Breuer (Now Closed) as Part of the 2018 Exhibit, Like Life: Sculpture, Color and The Body.
This rose bush grows in a planter bed out front of my apartment building, and it somehow manages to stay alive nearly all year long. This photo was taken in early December of 2017, and I can’t believe I got such a great shot of these tiny Pink Blossoms, and one still-tight bud, covered in a light snowfall. The roses are actually taking a break right now as there’s at least two feet of accumulated snow in the bed, but this photo is a reminder that they’ll be back in the spring.
