Interior Design

Peekaboo (part 12)

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Two is company, three a crowd, but with four...
Two is company, three a crowd, but with four…

It’s a party of four now that I have added these two spiffy stools. With them I can now kick back solo or gather more than two friends for evening cocktails. After long hours of trolling online for something other than the usual outdoor furniture choices, it was a happy moment when I found the Lebello website. The stools’ woven wicker appearance is the perfect compliment to my vintage metal rocking chairs. And because the wicker is made from HDPE (High Density Polyethylene synthetic fibers) the stools can withstand all the weather extremes that Texas can throw at the them. Which brings me back around to my original point… if they’re so easy to clean, let’s party and have a few accidents.

The smaller one is called the Marshmellow, and since it was in stock, it shipped immediately. I had to wait two months for the delivery of the larger ottoman, Mega Spinball, since it was a custom order.

Landscape & Gardening

Alien Form Number 2

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Don’t worry. It’s only a creepy and massive lump of mushroom.
Don’t worry. It’s only a creepy and massive lump of mushroom.

Known as “dog turd mushroom”, this mass has been growing for several months in a gravelly portion of my garden and has just now decided to uproot itself and relocate. Last year I remember seeing one in the alley under my trash cans. It took months to break down, and at the time I thought it had been tossed there as a joke. So when I tripped over this new bit of nastiness, I felt it was time to put my google skills to work.

By the way, this isn’t the first time an alien form has invaded my garden. It’s funny how both incidents were named after dog accidents.

Officially this lump of ugly is known as Pisolithus tinctorius or Pisolithus arrhizus. Despite its repulsive appearance, this mushroom happens to be beneficial. As a mycorrhizal fungus, gardeners and foresters use it to assist young plant and tree growth. Since I have no plans to sell or donate it to a local nursery, it’s been tossed under my oak tree in the shade garden, where hopefully it will do some good.

Film: Design & Architecture

Star of Midnight (1935)

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This still really doesn’t hint at the wonderful sets that I’m about to show you.
This still really doesn’t hint at the wonderful sets that I’m about to show you.

The bachelor apartment is the real star of this film, not William Powell or Ginger Rogers. It’s interesting that stripes and plaids (refer to my past posts here and here) were generously used to decorate masculine quarters in many films from this era. Today’s male seems to prefer a more cavelike atmosphere populated with massive furniture upholstered exclusively in dark leather.

Interior Design

Must Wait a Long Time

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livingroom_3281

For two custom silk rugs by Stark Carpet. The color-match sample took three months to arrive. So I will have to wait at least another nine months for the finished products, which will be two area rugs, one each for the living and dining rooms. With the exception of dimensions both are the same color and design—a square version for the dining room and a rectangular one for the living room. Hopefully the carpets will arrive before I become an ancient relic too old to appreciate their beauty.

Landscape & Gardening

What’s Blooming Now

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In front is Black and Blue Sage. In the background, the tree is Texas Lilac Vitex. And under the tree on the left is Powis castle artemisia, and on the right is White Gaura.
In front is Black and Blue Sage. In the background, the tree is Texas Lilac Vitex. And under the tree on the left is Powis castle artemisia, and on the right is White Gaura.

This Texas Lilac Vitex has really grown since last year, and that’s after quite a bit of pruning this past winter. But the Black and Blue Sage and the Gaura are just now beginning to bloom after a long cooler-than-usual spring. The flowering perennials may not be as bodacious as last year, because I chose not to add compost this spring. Last year the garden and newly prepped beds created monster plants that had a difficult time staying healthy during the long hot summer. Smaller plants have a better chance enduring the heat without succumbing to disease.

Contemporary Art

At The Reading Room

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season

Season, an installation by Jesse Morgan Barnett, has opened today at The Reading Room and will continue through June 22. The exhibition includes photography, video and sculpture, making subtle connections between fishing, weather, food preparation, philosophy and artistic endeavors. TRR is open today, Saturday, June 1 from noon until 8 pm in conjunction with East Dallas Gallery Day. There will be a closing reception and artist remarks on June 22 from 6 to 9 pm.

Barnett is a University of Texas at Arlington graduate in Intermedia and member of the collective DB12. His work has been shown locally at Marty Walker Gallery, Oliver Francis Gallery, Kirk Hopper Gallery, and Eastfield Community College as well as in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., the United Kingdom, France, and Japan.

Contemporary Art

What’s Hanging (part 4)

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(hanging) Lorraine Tady, 'BTT-TAR (96B),' 1999, charcoal, ink, acrylic on paper; (tabletop) Professor Otto Poertzel’s Carrara marble bust previously discussed here
(hanging) Lorraine Tady, ‘BTT-TAR (96B),’ 1999, charcoal, ink, acrylic on paper; (tabletop) Professor Otto Poertzel’s Carrara marble bust previously discussed here

Lorraine Tady may seem a bit shy or reserved in person, but her work is not. I am not very good about using words to describe why I love a work of art, but I will try. This piece for its small size is packed with rich energy. The details and use of structural elements, which I have dealt with while restoring the inside and outside of my little home, speak to me. It may seem chaotic, but there’s a plan, there are layers, it’s going to work and why not have fun while we’re at it.

In Tady’s own words: In my work mechanical-like systems are subjected to or are participants in an indirect and formal examination of structure; or a subverted diagrammatic, engineering process. Parts are extracted, analyzed, and re-translated, using both digital and analog tools. I propose questions in the investigation and set up specific games, parameters and rules to respond to in the work’s progression. The language of line propels the work, and I use it to help make visible the parts, and to find the answer to ‘what connects to this, how is this connected to that, etc.

I own two more pieces by Tady which I blogged about in a previous post. They were part of a larger group, but I could only afford the two. They were created in 1995 and have a different sensibility from the one shown above.

All three of Tady’s pieces were purchased through Barry Whistler Gallery in Dallas, Texas. To find out more visit the gallery’s website and the artist’s website.

Landscape & Gardening

What’s Blooming Now

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These coral bells were planted six weeks ago.
These coral bells were planted six weeks ago.

Heuchere villosa ‘Beaujolais’, commonly known as Coral Bells, were chosen to replace the purple Wandering Jew (Purple Heart) that did not survive its first year in this location. Since the Wandering Jew did manage to come back this spring in a shadier portion of my garden, I can only guess that this unsuccessful small patch received too much sun. Additionally, I have chosen not to continue planting seasonal annuals. So the Coral Bells have been planted as perennials to replace the annuals and Wandering Jew.