Isabelle de Borchgrave

Hello everyone! The weekend is about to kick off and I'm hoping to make it to the interesting exhibit Pret-a-Papier at the Hillwood Estate, Musuem and Garden.

Looks neat, right? 

Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchegrave has manipulated paper to replicate couture fashion of the 18th century. 

What are your plans this weekend?

See you Tuesday!

- Grace

Harney Awe

So I'm a little late on this one, but I just stumbled across the work of Paper Engineer Benja Harney this past week and I am in awe. His work is superb! 

Harney creates paper sculptures for a lot of companies including but not limited to, Hermes (duh!), Lego, and Top Shop. 

I'm so jealous of his talent, I'm green! You can check out more of his work on his blog here.

Harney's work brings up the question that first appeared in the late 1500's---is his work craft or is it fine art? Where's the line between craft and fine art, and if there is one, should there be?

- Grace

Artist of the Week: Lisa Swerling

The Night Job

 

For my first installment in The Best of Renegade I bring you the work of Lisa Swerling who makes the miniature dioramas you see here. She is based in San Anselmo, CA, but ships these darling little scenes all over the globe. You can visit her website glasscathedrals.com to see more of her work and order a small world all your own—they come in various sizes and many are customizable.

 

All the Days

The Grass is always Greener

 

 

 

The World is a scary place, but I have Armbands

Evergreen

- Cathleen

[All images courtesy of the artist's website glasscathedrals.com]

Weekend Work

Hello All! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. 

Mine was fabulous! 

We dog-sat an adorable dachshund named Lily which we were so sad to return to its owners on Sunday. 

As far as art goes, well, number one, one of my dining room chairs broke.

Rest in peace dining room chair.

Now I'm left with the obnoxious problem of a dining room table with 3 chairs and no dollars to buy a new set. I am also super duper picky about what I want for my DR. 

I got my current set at an estate sale years ago and loved the dramatic scroll arms. I also got it for a price I'd rather not disclose because it was so good I turn red just thinking of all the dough I saved. 

Now I am stuck with the dilemma of what to buy to replace it. Any ideas? I like farmhouse tables, but I think they are way too mainstream now. 

The second art-related thing I did this weekend was decorate Clementine's chalk bin. I used an old coffee can (the metal kind) and first painted it white. Then I free-hand cut open and closed circles and Mod Podge-d them on. To seal it, I sprayed it with polyurethane. 

What do you think? 

Front.

Back.

You better like it because now I'm in a full-fledged competition with the That's My Letter blog lady. That's one chalk bin I'm not embarrassed to have on my front porch all day and all night. 

See you Thursday!

- Grace

So Much Booty

Just finished up one of the best weekends ever, due in no small part to the gorgeous afternoon Micky and I spent at the Renegade Craft Fair in Williamsburg on bright and sunny Saturday. There were SO many amazing things for sale this year that I cashed out pretty quickly and had to borrow 10 bucks from my sweet husband. Whoops! I couldn't wait to share the spoils with you guys so here goes: 

Photographic print by Debbie Carlos 

I've always admired this when I've seen it online 

and was SO psyched to see she was representing at Renegade this year. 

Purchase!

A pretty hand-printed gray and yellow tea towel from Ktaadn

This was in their samples bin because of a slight misprint, 

which made me love it all the more. (Cheaper AND one-of-a-kind!)

Sterling silver star post earrings from Queens Metal

I'd been looking for tiny star earrings for awhile. Yessssss! 

Two small illustrated recipe prints by Claudia Pearson

Another maker I was totally stoked to see at Renegade. 

Like I literally gasped when we came around the bend and saw her booth. 

Took me awhile to settle on just these two (I also really wanted this one), 

but I'm excited to hang them in our yellow kitchen. 

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty successful trip to arts & crafts wonderland this year. I also gathered loads of business cards from people whose stuff I loved and can't wait to feature on the blog in a series I'd like to call The Best of Renegade. Or maybe Renegade Recall. So I haven't settled on a title just yet, but this way we can make Renegade last ALL SUMMER!

- Cathleen 

Renegade Craft Fair!!

Oh my god, you guys. I am SO EXCITED for the Renegade Craft Fair this weekend! I've attended the last two years running, and I've got to say, as far as summer activities involving two of my favorite things (ARTS & CRAFTS) go, there is nothing I look forward to more. And according to their website, this year is going to be even bigger and better with over 300 makers and sellers stationed all over East River State Park in Williamsburg. We're going bright and early Saturday morning to get first pick, but things will still be going on Sunday too, so you should stop by between the hours of 11am and 7pm either day for more handmade goods than you can shake an artisanal cheese stick at. And if you can't make it, rest assured I will be featuring a slew of The Best of the Renegade posts in the coming weeks. I can't wait!!!

Visit www.renegadecraft.com for more details and click here for a list of all participating vendors. 

- Cathleen 

Dirty Car Art

Artist Scott Wade has found an unusual canvas for his artwork, the windows of dirty cars! Here's a sampling of some of his work.

What do you think? Art or party trick? 

You can view more of his work here. 

- Grace

Artwork of the Week: House Fire

I love the idea of a portrait of destruction. Memorializing a catastrophic event that someone would probably rather forget. 

House Fire by Becca Stadtlander

is a digital print of an original gouache painting that measures 6"x 6" printed on 8"x10" matte archival paper and can be purchased for

$21 from beccastadtlander on Etsy

This one is nice too. 

- Cathleen 

Fruits of My Labor

Now that we've moved to a bigger house I've begun to indulge again in a hobby I gave up when our old house got overcrowded - estate sale-ing! 

I've ALWAYS been a picker and a junk enthusiast and one of the special things about Chevy Chase, MD is the contents of these wonderful old homes going up for sale. 

This weekend I went to several yard sales and one bonanza of an estate sale in Chevy Chase (no, not the actor). Here's a pic of just one of the awesome items I found; a box of old cast iron and tin cars. 

This is just a selection of my favorite cars, but the box has about 18 cars as well as some farm animals and a couple of plastic planes. 

The collection was just so cute I couldn't resist. I'm hoping to resell it at a profit but my kids have had so much fun playing with all the mini cars it might be a hard collection to let go of.

- Grace

Edible Art

Just added to the list of things I want to do/eat before I move away from New York (one day): 

order some edible art from KUROIWA patisserie of Brooklyn, NY. 

Aren't these confections absolutely stunning? Created by owner/chef/pastry sculptress Ayako Kurokawa, her website also features some really gorgeous minimalist cakes, but the 'one of a kind' section is what truly took my breath away. As far as I can tell there is not a brick-and-mortar space that I can visit, unfortunately, but she does have a bigcartel shop where you can buy various tea cakes and commission portrait cookies. You have to go to www.ayakokurokawa.com to see more of what I'm talking about. You must! 

- Cathleen 

[Images found on Pinterest, courtesy of the artist, I think.]

Getting Put in My Place

Last weekend I stumbled upon a blog I had never heard of before that inspired me and made me feel totally inadequate. 

That's My Letter Blog can be found here. 

The author of the blog, Jaime Costiglio, calls her self a DIYer and she does not kid. The first few projects seemed harmless enough, a personalized caddy for kids.... until I realized she built the caddy herself. And when I say built I mean cut lumber and hammered the whole thing together. 

She also whipped up this amazing media center that looked like it was purchased from the pages of a catalog. 

Yeah, she built that. Not, pieces came in a box with instructions built, more like measured, cut wood, sanded, painted and THEN put this shizz together. And she's totally humble about her accomplishments! (I hate her already jk!)

Jaime is my new Martha Stewart- amazingly talented with the ability to put you in your place on a dime. 

Happy Weekend Everyone! 

- Grace

Drawing Parallels: The Gleaners Edition

The Gleaners

Jean-Francois Millet

1857

Fall Tilling

Warren Chen

2010

Powerful art is still being created!

-Grace

Artist of the Week: Charlotte Trounce

 

 Charlotte Trounce is an illustrator based in London whose drawings are as light and fresh as an exhilarating dip in a cool pool followed by a juicy hunk of watermelon. Mmm. Truly the best sensations of summer! I especially swooned over the distinct pulp-y line work of the slice of fruit below. So simple, so perfect. 

 

I so love illustrated recipes. 

Rice Pudding Tea Towel, collaboration with Found Bath, on sale here

Cheeky alphabet,

 inspired by the 2012 Olympics

From peach to pit,

James and the Giant Peach book cover 

You can see more examples of the artist's work on her website charlottetrounce.co.uk and her blog charlottetrounce.tumblr.com.

- Cathleen 

[All images courtesy of the artist's websites and Pinterest.]