The Bump Out Success

Hello All! Speaking of Spring, My paint color choices for the wall have really brightened my Bump Out!  I am VERY cautious with my paint colors and usually stick to blues and grays everywhere but alas I wanted a nice warm cherry blossom color!  So here is the stencil, here are the new sconces and  please notice all the new outlets and light switches!!!!  The stencil was a labor of love.  It took awhile and it needed to be quiet, no baby interruptions, but it finally got done!  I am exhausted just thinking about it but I really do love it everytime I walk by it.  It puts a smile on my face!  Please enjoy some pics!

 NEW BLINDS!! REALLY CLEAN UP MY OLD WINDOWS!

 ARTIST OF MY WALL ART IS NONE OTHER THAN ANNA BANANA~!!!

PS- if you noticed I picked a different wall to do the stencil because oh my goodness the other wall was sooo slanted I did not know how to start the stencil without it looking like the house was going to sink into the ground!!!- Meg

Planning for Spring Gardening

Little Man helping me start impatiens for the front of the house
it's a very shady section

The weather has absolutely been so inspiring... my gardening bug is twitching.  It was further fueled by my Mom's gift of a flower gardening book for my birthday.  It shows how to plan out your beds, talks about different kinds of gardens, and really makes you dream of the secret garden in your backyard.  

Last Year's Tulips outside

I know from experience that this does not happen easily.  The hardest part is weeding!  Keeping up on weeding with a child under 3, not the easiest task.  I don't like to use weed killer or anything of that nature.  So, last year I basically gave up after a wonderful bright display of tulips came up, I just watched as the weeds took over.  Ignoring it almost all together.

But, it didn't make me as happy as I thought it would, the not weeding.  This year I plan to get back on my diligent weeding path.  I'm a little worried about my tulips because they are already totally coming out of the ground, and it being February, I just hope they make it.  My husband plans on doing a little vegetable gardening (which most likely means I will be doing some vegetable gardening).  I plan on sticking to my flowers.  Maybe trying to change up the layout in the backyard, but mostly concentrating on starting a cutting garden which will make me pretty happy(beyond the weeds).  We are attempting to start some impatiens from seed for the front of the house, they really did well in the shade.

A few of last year's tulips
so bright and beautiful proving these colors exist in nature!

<3 Anna

Tag You're It: Tangerine Tango

Egon Schiele, Kneeling Girl in an Orange-Red Dress , 1910

It's been awhile since we had a great game of tag around here.  So, yesterday I informed Megan that I was tagging myself to find four inspirations for Pantone's Color of the Year, tangerine tango.  According to Pantone, "Tangerine Tango, a spirited reddish orange, continues to provide the energy boost we need to recharge and move forward."

John Singer Sargent, The Sulphur Match, 1882

Well, I feel invigorated don't you?  I thought I'd provide you all with artists that inspire me that have used their very own versions of Tangerine Tango in their works, some from over 100 years ago, their work still looks innovative and daring.  I hope you enjoy my tangerine tango inspiration from Schiele, Sargent, Bacon, Basquiat, and Twombly, some with a little pop and some with a lot! (I choose five instead of four because that's how I roll)

Francis Bacon, Portrait of Lucian Freud, 1965

Jean-Michel Basquiat,  Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump, 1982

Cy Twombly, Ferragosto V, 1961

Let's Have a Picnik

One of my favorite sites is closing down ironically on my birthday, April 19!  Until then you are allowed to use its fun premium features which is sooo exciting!  These are some old examples of how I used the site!  Enjoy, have some fun, make some art!
http://www.picnik.com/app#/home

Suspense!

I know I have alot of crafts pending right now and I wish I had more to blog!  But I want to give you the full experience when I am done.  Here is a sneak peak of my crafts for the upcoming Baptism for my little guy (don't you love nonpariells?)and a close up of some jerry-rigging we needed to do to make a sconce work in a old weird house that is wired like crazy!!!

Contemporary Art in an Unlikely Venue

Jeff Koons

I just got back from a six day stint at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital at the Westchester Medical Center.  The baby had breathing problems steaming from the RSV virus.  All that is far to medical for me and it was a terribly scary experience, but when he started feeling better it became easier for me to appreciate my surroundings.

For the first five days I enjoyed taking a look at all of the dolls that were on display in the Judy R. Rosenberg doll collection that were displayed in a long hallway on my way to get something to eat each day.  Clearly you would need a lot of space to collect all those dolls, and I don't have any collections to speak of.  But I am always comforted to see my Grandmother's little figurines on display.

Judy R. Rosenburg Doll Collection

When we were finally transferred from the floor of the PICU to the Pediatric Floor, I began to notice a spectacular collection of prints on display in the hallways.  One kept catching my eye and as I got closer to the tag, I read that it was a Jeff Koons print hanging near it was a Murakami print!  How exciting for me.  I tried to cruise around and look at the other images without appearing to be a wackadoodle parent.  There was a vast collection, and it was all very happy and wonderful.  What a wonderful environment for the children and a seriously fun contemporary art collection.  Here is a link to more info on the hospital's collection via the NYTimes
<3Anna

The Bump Out Continues

Just a quick preview of my labor of love.  In old houses there are alot of layers.  Alot of layers of wallpaper, alot of layers of paint, alot of layers of grime on the wood floors.  I love the story and the history of each generation painting a new layer on the walls- BUT what I never will understand is when you are putting another layer of paint on your walls, why would anyone paint right over the outlet plate cover and then the outlet- not once, not twice but several times!  Do they say to themselves "Hey- lets paint over these tiny slits in my wall that provide me with electricity, that will  be good for my appliances"  So here I am scoring the paint around the outlet and then prying it off without damaging the plaster walls! Not an easy task for me (a bull in a china shop).

I will be buying new outlet covers and my wonderful dad knows how to switch out outlets! ..... To be continued.............. ;0 Megan