Seasonal Decorating
July 29th, 2010
When I think about decorating for the seasons naturally what comes to mind are the jewel tones of fall, the reds and greens of Christmas, and the pastels of spring and Easter. But as I looked around my home I’ve noticed that the greens of summer have infiltrated my home in the form of faux plants and moss balls, with a few florals thrown in for good measure.
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Make Your Guests at Home~
July 28th, 2010
I mentioned a few weeks back that we were going to have house guests on and off for several weeks this summer. I just love house guests!!And I love to make sure that my guests feel at home. So today I thought I’d share a fun idea with you…I always leave fresh, fluffy towels on the ends of the beds where my guests will be sleeping. But here’s a way to make them extra special… First, I tied the
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Tale of two condos: why staging pays
July 26th, 2010
I’ve done some home staging for a few clients over the last few years, but more often in my area, sellers don’t see the value and don’t want to spend the money. And, honestly, it’s always a bit of a crap shoot. I did one home a few years ago and it sold during the first weekend on the market in a bidding war. But another house I worked on, which was on the market for nearly $9M, is still on the market after several years and several price reductions. There are no guarantees.
Last week, I was condo shopping with a friend and client who is looking for a small pied a terre in Boston. He has a country house on the Cape and he’s looking for a small city place so he doesn’t have a long daily commute to and from work at Harvard. One of the buildings we checked out is a full service concierge type new building – lots of amenities including valet parking (which I would love!) We saw two basically identical units on different floors and with different views. The first unit we saw was empty, the second fully staged. The difference was amazing and I wanted to share just what a difference staging can make.
For 500 sq. ft. these are nice little spaces. Now, clearly, there is little difference between the two units. And the staging is pretty basic and not at all upscale. However, the difference between the two units was like night and day. Both my client and I have pretty good imaginations when it comes to mentally placing furniture, but even for us, just seeing it laid out made all the difference. He even said the words “I could live here”. Music to a seller and realtor’s ears.
Still, staging remains a pretty uncommon thing here in New England. Sometimes Yankee frugality gets in our way.
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Tale of two condos: why staging pays
July 26th, 2010
I’ve done some home staging for a few clients over the last few years, but more often in my area, sellers don’t see the value and don’t want to spend the money. And, honestly, it’s always a bit of a crap shoot. I did one home a few years ago and it sold during the first weekend on the market in a bidding war. But another house I worked on, which was on the market for nearly $9M, is still on the market after several years and several price reductions. There are no guarantees.
Last week, I was condo shopping with a friend and client who is looking for a small pied a terre in Boston. He has a country house on the Cape and he’s looking for a small city place so he doesn’t have a long daily commute to and from work at Harvard. One of the buildings we checked out is a full service concierge type new building – lots of amenities including valet parking (which I would love!) We saw two basically identical units on different floors and with different views. The first unit we saw was empty, the second fully staged. The difference was amazing and I wanted to share just what a difference staging can make.
For 500 sq. ft. these are nice little spaces. Now, clearly, there is little difference between the two units. And the staging is pretty basic and not at all upscale. However, the difference between the two units was like night and day. Both my client and I have pretty good imaginations when it comes to mentally placing furniture, but even for us, just seeing it laid out made all the difference. He even said the words “I could live here”. Music to a seller and realtor’s ears.
Still, staging remains a pretty uncommon thing here in New England. Sometimes Yankee frugality gets in our way.
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The Underwater Sculptures Of Jason deCaires Taylor
July 26th, 2010
Note: There was so much to say about these unusual underwater sculptures that double as eco-habitats for marine life, that it was easiest to simply take the copy from the artists’ site, so the following text was not written by me.
Jason deCaires Taylor’s underwater sculptures create a unique, absorbing and expansive visual seascape. Highlighting natural ecological processes Taylor’s interventions explore the intricate relationships that exist between art and environment. His works become artificial reefs, attracting marine life, while offering the viewer privileged temporal encounters, as the shifting sand of the ocean floor, and the works change from moment to moment.
The experience of being underwater is vastly different from that of being on land. There are physical and optical considerations that must be taken into account. Objects appear twenty five percent larger underwater, and as a consequence they also appear closer. Colours alter as light is absorbed and reflected at different rates, with the depth of the water affecting this further. The light source in water is from the surface, this produces kaleidoscopic effects governed by water movement, currents and turbulence. Water is a malleable medium in which to travel enabling the viewer to become active in their engagement with the work. The large number of angles and perspectives from which the sculptures can be viewed increase dramatically the unique experience of encountering the works.
Vicissitudes
Vicissitudes depicts a circle of figures, all linked through holding hands. These are life-size casts taken from a group of children of diverse ethnic background. Circular in structure and located five meters below the surface, the work both withstands strong currents and replicates one of the primary geometric shapes, evoking ideas of unity and continuum.
The underwater environment is much like that of the outdoors. An object is subject to changes in light and prevailing weather conditions. The cement finish and chemical composition of Vicissitudes actively promotes the colonisation of coral and marine life.
The figures are transformed over time by their environment, and conversely as this happens so they change the shape of their habitat. This natural process echoes the changes exacted through growing up. Social interchange shapes this process, while conversely as the product of a particular society we in turn invoke change on the workings and dynamics of that environment.
The sculpture proposes growth, chance, and natural transformation. It shows how time and environment impact on and shape the physical body. Children by nature are adaptive to their surroundings. Their use within the work highlights the importance of creating a sustainable and well-managed environment, a space for future generations. Taylor notes that close to forty percent of coral reefs worldwide has been destroyed and that this figure is set to increase. His work reminds us that the marine environment is in a constant state of flux, and that this in turn reflects poignantly the vicissitudes, changing landscapes, of our own lives.
The Un-Still Life
Un-Still Life mirrors the classical composition of traditional still life tableaux. On a table is an arrangement of cement objects, a vase, bowl and fruit. In contrast to established ideas of stasis the work is perpetually changing, remaining a work in progress as layers build on its surface.
This accumulated colonisation of coral becomes a physical equivalent to conventional mark making of drawing and painting.
The work reflects the time-based observation associated with the classical study of still life composition. It reminds us that changes are inevitable.
The Lost Correspondent
The Lost Correspondent depicts a man sitting at a desk with a typewriter. The desk is covered with a collection of newspaper articles and cuttings that date back to the 1970s. Many of these have political significance, a number detail Grenada’s alignment with Cuba in the period immediately prior to the revolution.
The work informs the rapid changes in communication between generations. Taking the form of a traditional correspondent, the lone figure becomes little more than a relic, a fossil in a lost world.
Hombre en Llamas (Man on Fire)
Man on fire depicts a lone figure standing upright and defiant. The sculpture is installed 8m deep in the clear Caribbean waters surrounding the island of Isla Mujeres at a location named Manchones.
The cement figure has 75 holes planted with live cuttings of fire coral (Millepora alcicorni ).This is a fast growing marine organism, yellow, orange and brown in colour which emits a painful stinging sensation when touched, thus reflecting its name and the title of the sculpture. It is anticipated that over time the figure will appear to be on fire underwater. The holes have been drilled on each profile of the body so that when the coral starts developing it will grow in pointed fingers resembling flames. Thus, when covered in coral and viewed from a distance there will appear the silhouette of a figure in flames. The fire coral has been sourced from fragments damaged by human activity or by tropical storms. A small proportion has also been artificially grown.
The statue, which weighs over 1 ton, is cast from a local Mexican fisherman called Joachim. The piece is intended to symbolize the current environmental situation in which we live. The man is on fire, burning but unaware of his situation, we too seem to be unaware of the impact that our actions are having on the planet on which we all live.
Our dependence on and over use of our limited natural resources, such as fossil fuels, has meant that we have been living on borrowed time. The fire is alight but we have the capabilities to control it, the current generation must rise to the challenge.
La Jardinera de la Esperanza (The Gardener of Hope)
La Jardinera de la Esperanza, depicts a young girl lying on garden patio steps, cultivating a variety of plant pots. The sculpture is sited four metres beneath the surface Punta Nizuc, Cancun. The pots are propagated with live coral cuttings rescued from areas of the reef system damaged by storms and human activity. This technique, a well-established procedure in reef conservation, rescues damaged coral fragments by providing a suitable new substrate.
The sculpture, a synthesis between art and science, conveys a message of hope and prosperity, portraying human intervention as positive and regenerating. The young Girl symbolizes a new, revitalized kinship with the environment, a role model for future generations. The interaction between the inanimate and living forms highlights a potential symbiotic relationship with the life systems of the underwater world. Over the past few decades we have lost over 40% of our natural coral reefs. Scientists predict a permanent demise of 80% by 2050. The Gardner of Hope is designed to focus attention on this important, often forgotten, ecological issue.
Built into the base of the sculpture are specialized habitat spaces designed to encourage individual types of marine creatures such as moray eels, juvenile fish and lobsters.
El Coleccionista de los Sueños Perdidos (The Archive of Lost Dreams) also called “The Dream Collector”
The Archive of Lost Dreams depicts an underwater archive, maintained by a male registrar. The archive is a collection of hundreds of messages in bottles brought together by the natural forces of the ocean. The registrar is collating the individual bottles and categorising the contents according to the nature of each message – fear, hope, loss, or belonging.
Various communities from a broad spectrum of ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds have been invited to provide the messages, which, it is hoped, will document current values and aspirations for future generations to discover.
The sculpture is placed within an area of the national marine park, which had been previously damaged, by hurricanes and tropical storms. The choice of location aims to draw the high number of visitors to the region away from other sections of pristine reef allowing them space to develop naturally.
Fall From Grace
Limited Edition prints of his underwater sculptures are available on A2 (420 × 594mm) high grade archive photographic paper. The prints are limited to only 50 copies and are personally signed by artist Jason deCaires Taylor. Buy them here.
Artist’s Bio (from his own site) 
all images courtesy of the artist.
Jason deCaires Taylor was born in 1974 to an English father and Guyanese mother, spending the earlier part of his life growing up in Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. Educated in South East England, he graduated in 1998 from Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, with a B.A.Honours in Sculpture and Ceramics. He is also a fully qualified diving instructor, underwater naturalist and award winning underwater photographer, with over 14 years of diving experience in various countries.
In May 2006 he gained international recognition for creating the world’s first underwater sculpture park in Grenada, West Indies. His underwater sculptures, designed to create artificial reefs for marine life to colonise and inhabit, embrace the transformations wrought by ecological processes. The works engage with a vision of the possibilities of a sustainable future, portraying human intervention as positive and affirmative. Drawing on the tradition of figurative imagery, the aim of Jason deCaires Taylor’s work is to address a wide-ranging audience crucial for highlighting environmental issues beyond the confines of the art world. However, fundamental to understanding his work is that it embodies the hope and optimism of a regenerative, transformative Nature.
Jason is currently resident in Mexico as Artistic Director of the new Cancun Underwater Museum. To contact Jason deCaires Taylor please use the details below:
UK: +44 (0)7762829173
MX: +52 (1) 9981921189
www.underwatersculpture.com
A special thanks to Jennifer Taekman and Laura Reoch of Forget Me Not Design for bringing this unusual work to my attention.
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The Underwater Sculptures Of Jason deCaires Taylor
July 26th, 2010
Note: There was so much to say about these unusual underwater sculptures that double as eco-habitats for marine life, that it was easiest to simply take the copy from the artists’ site, so the following text was not written by me.
Jason deCaires Taylor’s underwater sculptures create a unique, absorbing and expansive visual seascape. Highlighting natural ecological processes Taylor’s interventions explore the intricate relationships that exist between art and environment. His works become artificial reefs, attracting marine life, while offering the viewer privileged temporal encounters, as the shifting sand of the ocean floor, and the works change from moment to moment.
The experience of being underwater is vastly different from that of being on land. There are physical and optical considerations that must be taken into account. Objects appear twenty five percent larger underwater, and as a consequence they also appear closer. Colours alter as light is absorbed and reflected at different rates, with the depth of the water affecting this further. The light source in water is from the surface, this produces kaleidoscopic effects governed by water movement, currents and turbulence. Water is a malleable medium in which to travel enabling the viewer to become active in their engagement with the work. The large number of angles and perspectives from which the sculptures can be viewed increase dramatically the unique experience of encountering the works.
Vicissitudes
Vicissitudes depicts a circle of figures, all linked through holding hands. These are life-size casts taken from a group of children of diverse ethnic background. Circular in structure and located five meters below the surface, the work both withstands strong currents and replicates one of the primary geometric shapes, evoking ideas of unity and continuum.
The underwater environment is much like that of the outdoors. An object is subject to changes in light and prevailing weather conditions. The cement finish and chemical composition of Vicissitudes actively promotes the colonisation of coral and marine life.
The figures are transformed over time by their environment, and conversely as this happens so they change the shape of their habitat. This natural process echoes the changes exacted through growing up. Social interchange shapes this process, while conversely as the product of a particular society we in turn invoke change on the workings and dynamics of that environment.
The sculpture proposes growth, chance, and natural transformation. It shows how time and environment impact on and shape the physical body. Children by nature are adaptive to their surroundings. Their use within the work highlights the importance of creating a sustainable and well-managed environment, a space for future generations. Taylor notes that close to forty percent of coral reefs worldwide has been destroyed and that this figure is set to increase. His work reminds us that the marine environment is in a constant state of flux, and that this in turn reflects poignantly the vicissitudes, changing landscapes, of our own lives.
The Un-Still Life
Un-Still Life mirrors the classical composition of traditional still life tableaux. On a table is an arrangement of cement objects, a vase, bowl and fruit. In contrast to established ideas of stasis the work is perpetually changing, remaining a work in progress as layers build on its surface.
This accumulated colonisation of coral becomes a physical equivalent to conventional mark making of drawing and painting.
The work reflects the time-based observation associated with the classical study of still life composition. It reminds us that changes are inevitable.
The Lost Correspondent
The Lost Correspondent depicts a man sitting at a desk with a typewriter. The desk is covered with a collection of newspaper articles and cuttings that date back to the 1970s. Many of these have political significance, a number detail Grenada’s alignment with Cuba in the period immediately prior to the revolution.
The work informs the rapid changes in communication between generations. Taking the form of a traditional correspondent, the lone figure becomes little more than a relic, a fossil in a lost world.
Hombre en Llamas (Man on Fire)
Man on fire depicts a lone figure standing upright and defiant. The sculpture is installed 8m deep in the clear Caribbean waters surrounding the island of Isla Mujeres at a location named Manchones.
The cement figure has 75 holes planted with live cuttings of fire coral (Millepora alcicorni ).This is a fast growing marine organism, yellow, orange and brown in colour which emits a painful stinging sensation when touched, thus reflecting its name and the title of the sculpture. It is anticipated that over time the figure will appear to be on fire underwater. The holes have been drilled on each profile of the body so that when the coral starts developing it will grow in pointed fingers resembling flames. Thus, when covered in coral and viewed from a distance there will appear the silhouette of a figure in flames. The fire coral has been sourced from fragments damaged by human activity or by tropical storms. A small proportion has also been artificially grown.
The statue, which weighs over 1 ton, is cast from a local Mexican fisherman called Joachim. The piece is intended to symbolize the current environmental situation in which we live. The man is on fire, burning but unaware of his situation, we too seem to be unaware of the impact that our actions are having on the planet on which we all live.
Our dependence on and over use of our limited natural resources, such as fossil fuels, has meant that we have been living on borrowed time. The fire is alight but we have the capabilities to control it, the current generation must rise to the challenge.
La Jardinera de la Esperanza (The Gardener of Hope)
La Jardinera de la Esperanza, depicts a young girl lying on garden patio steps, cultivating a variety of plant pots. The sculpture is sited four metres beneath the surface Punta Nizuc, Cancun. The pots are propagated with live coral cuttings rescued from areas of the reef system damaged by storms and human activity. This technique, a well-established procedure in reef conservation, rescues damaged coral fragments by providing a suitable new substrate.
The sculpture, a synthesis between art and science, conveys a message of hope and prosperity, portraying human intervention as positive and regenerating. The young Girl symbolizes a new, revitalized kinship with the environment, a role model for future generations. The interaction between the inanimate and living forms highlights a potential symbiotic relationship with the life systems of the underwater world. Over the past few decades we have lost over 40% of our natural coral reefs. Scientists predict a permanent demise of 80% by 2050. The Gardner of Hope is designed to focus attention on this important, often forgotten, ecological issue.
Built into the base of the sculpture are specialized habitat spaces designed to encourage individual types of marine creatures such as moray eels, juvenile fish and lobsters.
El Coleccionista de los Sueños Perdidos (The Archive of Lost Dreams) also called “The Dream Collector”
The Archive of Lost Dreams depicts an underwater archive, maintained by a male registrar. The archive is a collection of hundreds of messages in bottles brought together by the natural forces of the ocean. The registrar is collating the individual bottles and categorising the contents according to the nature of each message – fear, hope, loss, or belonging.
Various communities from a broad spectrum of ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds have been invited to provide the messages, which, it is hoped, will document current values and aspirations for future generations to discover.
The sculpture is placed within an area of the national marine park, which had been previously damaged, by hurricanes and tropical storms. The choice of location aims to draw the high number of visitors to the region away from other sections of pristine reef allowing them space to develop naturally.
Fall From Grace
Limited Edition prints of his underwater sculptures are available on A2 (420 × 594mm) high grade archive photographic paper. The prints are limited to only 50 copies and are personally signed by artist Jason deCaires Taylor. Buy them here.
Artist’s Bio (from his own site)
all images courtesy of the artist.
Jason deCaires Taylor was born in 1974 to an English father and Guyanese mother, spending the earlier part of his life growing up in Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. Educated in South East England, he graduated in 1998 from Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, with a B.A.Honours in Sculpture and Ceramics. He is also a fully qualified diving instructor, underwater naturalist and award winning underwater photographer, with over 14 years of diving experience in various countries.
In May 2006 he gained international recognition for creating the world’s first underwater sculpture park in Grenada, West Indies. His underwater sculptures, designed to create artificial reefs for marine life to colonise and inhabit, embrace the transformations wrought by ecological processes. The works engage with a vision of the possibilities of a sustainable future, portraying human intervention as positive and affirmative. Drawing on the tradition of figurative imagery, the aim of Jason deCaires Taylor’s work is to address a wide-ranging audience crucial for highlighting environmental issues beyond the confines of the art world. However, fundamental to understanding his work is that it embodies the hope and optimism of a regenerative, transformative Nature.
Jason is currently resident in Mexico as Artistic Director of the new Cancun Underwater Museum. To contact Jason deCaires Taylor please use the details below:
UK: +44 (0)7762829173
MX: +52 (1) 9981921189
www.underwatersculpture.com
A special thanks to Jennifer Taekman and Laura Reoch of Forget Me Not Design for bringing this unusual work to my attention.
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What I would have wanted.
July 24th, 2010
When I think about bedding for my bedroom this design is what I would have wanted. Since I don’t have a magic bedding machine, I guess I will just hang these as large scale prints over my bed. Now I need to hunt down a simple light gray comforter. My printer does have the ability to print on fabric. I just may have to look into that so I can have some small matching throw pillows.
If anyone one is interested in these two prints I’ll put them in my etsy shop.
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Proceed With Caution
July 24th, 2010
a teeny tiny drawer for storage.
I tried to solve the storage problem with a collection of boxesthat I painted and numbered.
But they ended up looking too big and clunky for the space.So I went to Plan B.
I had this great, vintage basket that was a thrift store find.
It was nice, but not all that masculine.
A nice coat of gray spray paint helped, but it still needed a little more.
Since my husband did service in Germany in his youth I asked him to pick a German word that he thought would be appropriate for the basket. I printed off the word in a font that resembled one found on old shipping crates.
Then I cut out the letters to make a stencil. Next I sprayed the paper with adhesive and placed it on top of a piece of scrap wood that I had already painted the same gray as the basket.
I spray painted the stencil and when the paint was dry I aged the sign with a little sanding and a light top coat of stain. Then I attached it to the basket with wire.
I love that the basket now looks like it came from an old ship, complete with the German word for CAUTION.
It fits perfectly under the nightstand and is a great storage solution for hubby’s odds and ends.
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Keeping a weather eye
July 22nd, 2010
I was recently doing a photos hoot on Charles Street in Boston for an upcoming project and we were in the Period Furniture and Hardware Company where they had this fun cricket weathervane in the window. I was reminded how fun they can be. Beautiful works of art that we rarely get to see up close. My father had put up a small shed in my parents backyard many years ago and he built what we liked to refer to as “Cape Cod’s most expensive cupola” because of the tools he needed to buy to build it and on top he mounted a whale weathervane. It was new when purchased and family lore has it that he peed on it to get a good patina going. Well, there were no witnesses, but it’s a funny story.
I was doing a little drive-by shooting this week in my town and came across a great collection of weathervanes.
This next pic is a little blurry, I was driving. Remember, I’m a professional blogger. Kids, don’t drive and shoot!
I love the big weathervane on the tiny garage. Funny looking. To bad they just plopped onto of their tiny cupola.
On the other end of the spectrum,last simmer I visited The Mount in Lenox, MA. Edith Wharton’s majestic home boasts quite a petite weathervane.
I shot this pic of Chenonceau castle in France several years ago. It boasts two identical flag weathervanes.
Here’s a roundup of some pretty fantastic weathervanes around the world:
The Dragon weathervane atop Mary LeBow is the oldest weathervane in London, dating from 1679
Weathervanes have been around since at least 48 b.c. (the oldest documented weathervane which was in Greece) and so antiques and vintage pieces are pretty easy to come by.
And, of course, there are many new weathervanes of all shapes and sizes on the market:
What’s your favorite weathervane style? For me, it’s always about the mermaids!
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Frugal Friday (and my bloggy birthday)~
July 22nd, 2010
Welcome to this week’s edition of Frugal Friday!I am pre-empting my regular Frugal Friday project this week, because I am a bad blogger. Would you believe that yesterday was The Shabby Nest’s 2 year blogiversary? And I forgot. Okay, well I didn’t really forget. I knew it was at the end of July…I just didn’t remember what day, until I looked back through my archives…yesterday. Silly girl that
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