a coat of paint

This past weekend my dearest friend Agnethe visited my new place. After getting our toes painted, we set to work painting my kitchen. The space is large, was painted off-white a long time ago, and lacked personality. The insides of the cabinets had remnants of paper and a bad, uneven paint job, as if someone lost interest mid-way through the job. I had some paint left over from my studio, and we decided to alternate the orange and the yellow in each cabinet.

The result was modern, and happy, and featured on Apartment Therapy, whoo hoo! Big thank you to Sarah Rainwater for the article.

The next step is a fresh coat of clean white on the outside of the cabinets and the walls. I am also thinking of painting a warm gray in this corner:

As Agnethe says, it will immediately shorten the space, which is long, and warm up the room.

the invasion of alien flowers

Five of these lovely creatures have sprung from one of my plants. They range from one to two inches in diameter. The tiny round beads at the tip of each petal are syrup-y dots of liquid. I am amazed at this perfect geometry.

phalaenopsis: my moth orchid

I have never been a fan of orchids, but am very much attached to this beauty that flowers for me every year. And every year she has more and more flowers. Her leaves are drying up lately, so I have re-potted (though you are not supposed to when she’s in flower). I’m hoping she will survive, and continue to light up my space with her blooms.

room with a view

This past weekend, the sun flooded my loft, and the blue of the sky was a welcome sight after a long hard winter.

a wintry tasty vacation

Just got back from a mini vacation at mom and Mark’s house in Cleveland, where it snowed every day. The wintry weather was a perfect excuse to stay in and enjoy mom’s amazing food and beautifully set table. It was a much needed retreat.

home-made gravlox and pickles

baby spinach salad with persimmons, apples, tangerines, and raw almond slices

sliced apples sprinkled with cinnamon, baked on top of puff pastry dough

thank you apartment therapy and sarah rainwater

I would like to thank Sarah Rainwater for her wonderful article about my loft which was posted on Apartment Therapy yesterday. Sarah took such lovely photographs, and I am now fortunate to have her among my friends. Visit Sarah's beautifully written story here. Click on the image below to enter the house tour.

geninne zlatkis’ inspiration board

Via the latest issue of Uppercase Magazine, I found Geninne Zlatki's inspiring studio, and wonderful watercolor illustrations. I love her collections and inspiration boards, click on the images above for a larger view. What beautiful arrangements of natural materials, paintings, photographs and books. Visit Geninne's blog for more of her life and exquisite work.

From Geninne' journal.

Geninne's A to Z of birds.

artists in their home: no. 7

For Halloween, my neighbors Rich and Julie transformed their loft into a spooky pharmacy. With their combined talents for lighting design and graphics, they created something spectacular, and a little bit creepy.

The table centerpiece was a light box, filled with pill bottles. Who knew that prescription bottles could be so beautiful?

 The downstairs was transformed into a 60's psychedelic lounge.

 Julie baked up some tasty prescriptions.

And Rich administered some, um, delicious looking punch.

Even Dr. Uncle Ned made sure everyone's temperature was well above normal. It was a great night.

artist in her home: no. 6

all photographs are from The New York Times

I found this fairy tale (which hapens to be a true story) in The New York Times today. Hope Sandrow encountered an unexpected muse while taking a walk in the woods, a Paduan chicken. Ms. Sandrow is a mixed media artist, whose work is in permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney and the Met. After a long period of not producing any work, she met Shinnecock, a large blond confident rooster, and began to create again, mostly chicken-related art.

Even the eggs laid by her now numerous chickens, are looked upon as sculptural installations. You just never know where inspiration will come from. More fowl-inspired art, including a video, can be seen at hopesandrow.com, there is even a live web cam. I love it.

artist in her home: no.5

photograph by Béatrice de Géa for The New York Times

I was struck by an article about the home, art and life of Paula Hayes in The New York Times. Paula Hayes works with plants, creating sculptural landscapes, planters, terrariums and living necklaces. Gardening is her unexpected art form which she exhibits in galleries as well as in people's homes and gardens. What made an impression is that Ms. Hayes makes and lives what she loves, and is very successful at it. Her creations are unique, unusual, very personal, and they sell. Her work brings to mind my favorite passage from Rumi:
"Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground."


living necklace


hand-blown glass terrarium


hand-blown glass mini terrariums


silicone and dumpling planters


pond planter

All photographs of Paula Hayes' work are from paulahayes.com. Even her website is organic, growing out of Ms. Hayes' work.

artist in her home: no. 4

Visiting Jennifer French and her husband Rob in their recently purchased home is a treat. The food is always gourmet-delicious, and the setting is inspiring. Every room in Jen and Rob's house is a feast for the eyes, every wall carefully considered.

I have been a long-time fan of Jen's work, first admiring her Christmas ornaments at the RISD Alumni Holiday sale when I was in grad school. How fortunate that a few years later, our paths crossed in Pawtucket, where we became neighbors, and friends, in a renovated mill building. A year ago, Jen and Rob moved into a new house and have created a sophisticated, playful, and inviting home, decorated by Jen's incredible eye for beauty and a talented hand for painting. Here are a few details (click on the images for a larger view):


Jen's most recent work: collage, drawing and painting, reminds me of Russian folk tales I grew up with.


A collection of animal statues look stunning against the rich dark color of the living room.


Art Nouveau details, hand painted by Jen on the living room walls.


A series of skulls from animals collected by Jen's family.


An arrangement of hand painted and transferware plates in the kitchen.


A piece of wood Jen found in the back yard now serves as a coat hanger in the front hall. The antique ornate hooks were sent by Rob's father.


I was lucky to have traded two of my tiles, shown above, for one of Jen's paintings. It makes me happy to see the tiles displayed in Jen's dining room. They are in such good company, like the gorgeous paintings by Mara O'Day, shown below.

artist in her home: no.3

I live in a renovated mill which was built in 1912. The building started out as an underwear factory, then was a jewelry factory, then sat empty for a while, and finally was converted into condos five years ago. My loft is filled with light, due to the 20-foot-long and 6-foot-wide skylight that spans half of the ceiling. I love watching the light change throughout the day, it's magical when it is raining.


I keep the decor minimal, but like to surround myself with books and art. I collect paintings created by friends and family, but most of the ceramics in the collection is mine. I never quite figured out how to sell my sculptural work. Maybe it's because I don't really want to part with these pieces, they tell such an intimate story.

A few years ago I decided to create a mini gallery for the art in my loft, and commissioned my friend David Dilks to build deep shelves which could be easily adjusted to fit many different heights. Within the shelves, the pieces can be viewed individually or in context with everything else, an installation of one life's mosaic.


Collection of pots and bowls thrown on a wheel. I was experimenting with form and clay texture for a while. The clays I experimented with are pictured here: white stoneware, chocolate low-fire clay, and porcelain. My favorite: porcelain.

This installation is titled Skins, Shed. Each "skin" is made out of one white stoneware slab.

A white stoneware sculpture titled Repose, hand-built with coils.

Oil painting on wood by my friend Jennifer Inderland French.

Pencil drawing of my grandmother by her second husband, Gregory Marozov, done in 1958.

Acrylic paintings on wood by one of my favorite illustrators, Trisha Krauss.

Collage and pencil on canvas, by my friend Claudia Middendorf.