Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Art is a Stepchild of Interior Design

What I love most in this room is the round arch as opening to the next and of course that magnificent swing. I want one too...

But as usual I am not quite content with the original art that was on the wall - not because I think I have the better paintings (of course I do ) but because I think in many examples I have shown art is definitely not a major element of care or to say it more bluntly - art is the last subject the interior designer was thinking about which I bewail.

Sometimes it appears to me that interior design ends at the cushions on the sofa or bed, that the decorator was tired and eager to get the job done. So something has to go on the wall but there is no money nor time left to spend a bit more energy to fulfill the job. And sadly enough more money is often spent on stupid light fixtures or accessoires which are unneccessary and only dust catchers. Less would be really more. I would rather hang a poster on the wall to fill the place and then take time to look for the perfect painting or other wall art piece instead of buying something cheap and meaningless.

My mantra is when you can afford to spend xxx money for a bag or a designer table ware, you could spend the same money on a REAL piece of art.

Of course you also have the other way round - people spending big bucks on a painting that is intended to be an investment but does not fit into the environment at all. This should rather be kept in the security container of a bank than on a wall then...

I need to add though - in order to be fair - that there are many many examples of interior design where you really can see that every single piece was chosen with great care and diligence and a lot of love for the task. Unfortunately I am not so sure whether this is always appreciated by the clients accordingly...

Now in this example below I thought it would be more appropriate to repeat the hues of the rug and the furniture rather than using the original art piece on the wall. The orange of the painting Naranja adds a bit more warmth to a room that is rather cool despite the gas fire place in the wall.

 original image source and with courtesy of 
the original image  

The acrylic painting belongs to the Reminiscences series, a painting series, that was created from my photo documentary about the Olympic Student Village in Munich, that has been torn down 2 years ago in order to be re-constructed.

"Naranja"
(from the Reminiscences series)
26" x 18", acrylic
©Petra Voegtle
 
In order to create a kind of memorial for the beautiful and often funnily painted walls which are now all lost I took hundreds of photos from the village. But this was not enough for me - I also decided to create a painting series from the most impressive and beautiful parts i.e. walls, doors and windows. The peeling paints and especially the marks all the vines left on the plaster created wonderful patterns and structures. There is an extra photo series only about these wall motifs which you will find here.

More about the painting itself and the whole series you can find under this link .

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Purple - the Colour of the Senses

The colour purple means something special for me. On one hand it is the colour of the holy, spiritual and was reserved to be worn by royals only and the high ranking clerical staff. In some countries and way back into history purple was and is the colour of mourning.

According to Feng Shui rules purple should not be used too often and especially not on walls because it could trigger blood diseases. The only possibility to use purple in a room is for healing purposes - remember the amethyst being one of the strongest healing crystals. Purple has alway been associated with mystery.

But purple has also been connected to poison and rage, it has been an attribute of homosexuality, is associated with contrition and all kinds of extremes. Btw - Dior created a perfume called "Poison" which was filled into a wonderful dark purple glass bottle. I find these components of psychologically tinted attributes extremely interesting. This might also be the reason why the bourgeois, the bores and deadheads of this world consider purple being flagitious, voluptuous, euphuistic and simply vulgar - at least in the times when I was a child. Purple was not a colour a decent girl would be wearing. Today a ridiculous interpretation! Thank heaven the times have changed...

But some tiny bits and pieces of this former interpretation may have survived in a rebellious mind because I find this colour extremely inspiring and juicy. Isn't it the forbidden that intrigues us most? And what do you think about the colour purple?

 original image source and with courtesy of 

And what would go best in this room with the wonderful purple sofa? One of my favourite paintings Haleakala, inspired by Maui's dream landscapes.


"Haleakala"
(from the Magic Landscapes Series)
silk, 21" x 40"
©Petra Voegtle
This silk painting has been inspired by the breathtaking landscapes on the Hawaiian Islands, especially the Haleakala National Park. You can read more about it here if you like and what's so special about this painting.
More room examples you can find here.
 

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Matching Colours again...

I must admit that I really have fun with matching colours. The challenge is to find objects in rooms which repeat or complement a certain colour. As I can do this only virtually I never can be sure whether you see the same as I do colourwise, depending on the value settings of your monitor. Never mind...

The painting shown here belongs to the series Reminiscenes - I have written about it here . The fun part is that these paintings are very colourful and fit into many interiors, be it modern, classic, romantic or any other style. I find they can really brighten up the day and change a bad mood to the better. The important point is to mount them in a complementing frame (which I have done here virtually again) and then place them into the right context:


 original image source and with courtesy of 

"Amarillo"
(from the Reminiscences series)
26" x 18", acrylic
©Petra Voegtle
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Saturday, October 16, 2010

ECCENTRIC DISCOVERIES: Colours for Happiness

In my former post I was talking about living in a completely white interior. Furniture by Lisa Whatmough is the complete opposite. Mostly styles from the 19th century downwards but hidden beneath surfaces which simply jubilate with striking colours and patterns in combinations which could make you crazy. But it is a happy form of craziness, it makes you smile, even laugh!

Eccentric nonsense you may say but I have found out that I simply adore certain pieces of this furniture. I think the trick is to use only one single piece in one room - this helps the eye to get used to it and appreciative for the happiness those colours will spread in your house.
"What started as a desire to showcase her collection of 19th century fabrics and silk turned out to be a fascinating business enterprise for Lisa Whatmough, who set up Squint in 2005 to make bespoke armchairs and sofas". (read more on luxury-insider)





(original image sources for above luxury.insider)

 

 
 (original image sources for above squintlimited)

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Living with white Interior and a little Colour Intrusion

What makes people want to live in a completely white interior I ask myself? Is it the longing for the pure per se or is it rather a trend thing or lack of inspiration or...? I really don't know but I find it a bit creepy. It somehow reminds me of hospitals, of sterilized environment, of OP rooms (as they were equipped in the past) and of people who always want to have everything under control. Am I so wrong?

I love light rooms because I live in a country where the sun is rare. Often the weather is turning the sky into something undefinably grey and your longing for sunlight becomes an obsession. So the only chance to fill your heart with a bit of lightness is to keep your rooms light. But white without some colour infusion is not the right recipe.

On a white background you can see each little spot, each little im-perfection, each little fluff. You cannot leave kids alone in a white room, not to speak of pets and when your grand-pa decides to eat chips while watching an old film you will inevitably find the crumbs on your perfect white fluffy carpet... So not a place to really live in?

So what could happen if you just add a little colour to your white interior would be this example (of course you would still have the crumbs on your carpet but...):

(sorry - lost the original image source)

The acrylic painting belongs to the Reminiscences series, a painting series, that was created from my photo documentary about the Olympic Student Village in Munich, that has been torn down 2 years ago in order to be re-constructed.

"Blue Door"
(from the Reminiscences series)
26" x 18", acrylic
©Petra Voegtle


In order to create a kind of memorial for the beautiful and often funnily painted walls which are now all lost I took hundreds of photos from the village. But this was not enough for me - I also decided to create a painting series from the most impressive and beautiful parts i.e. walls, doors and windows. The peeling paints and especially the marks all the vines left on the plaster created wonderful patterns and structures. There is an extra photo series only about these wall motifs which you will find here.

More about the painting itself and the whole series you can find under this link .

~
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