I can't believe it is actually June tomorrow. This means crazy end of school activity, exams and ballet recitals and my little family heading off to Umbria for the summer. We are all overwhelmed and thrilled.
First off I would like to preemptively apologize for not showing you the inside of this barn. Believe me I would like to see the interior. I'm just "stalking" this art studio. I don't know the people who own it, use it (rarely) or live here. I visit it often and dream of how amazing it would be to have it as a place to paint furniture and do all my projects. I love this space because the blue door is perfection. Perfection as a design choice is rare to find, simple and decisive, this point just thrills me.
Once the mercury hits 80 degrees
(27 Celsius) I feel the need to make espresso with whipped cream.I even believe in having a spray can of
whipped cream for a topping on the hot espresso.Honestly the cream in a can is gross but the girls love to
spray their mouths full.In our
city in Italy it is quite easy to get homemade whipped cream at the bar and when it is a hot summer
night that Panna just magnetically pulls me helplessly toward the bar.
I’m quite infatuated with the
trend of massive amounts of flowers displayed in a still life with many framed
paintings of flowers shown behind.To me, it evokes a past era when people studied and painted flowers.
“If you could say it in words
there would be no reason to paint.”
I am excited because I am in a very creative phase in
my own life and work and somehow this is translating into not much creativity
for my blog.I’m sorry about that,
today’s post may not make up for this lacking either, but I’ll try to get
better.I do believe that
creativity is endless and the more we use our creativity the more it grows.
I have seen someone paint on dried leaves in Italy very intricately and just gorgeous. Today I thought it would be inspirational to show how I painted on these fresh citrus leaves very simply, to use as a little touch of creativity for your table setting or just as a vase of leaves and bloosoms.
It is raining out and I’m
drinking peppermint tea and I have just turned on the white lights that are
strung high above the garden courtyard.
Sometimes when I’m feeling blue,
it is so silly (or desperate?) how one inkling of hope can give me that jolt to
the heart.It is enough to wake me
up, at least for that moment and I become utterly certain that-- to quote Prince “joy
lives round the corner”.
I’m on a new plan to try to wake
up early and start to work on my business before my girls or the sun has risen.
This morning for me the sun rose at 6:56 am so each day there will be a little
bit more light in the sky.Does
anyone want to join me and give it a try? I already feel kick-ass and I only
began this morning.Laugh with me
not at me o.k.
Probably all of you at some
point have considered painting a room in your home RED.Maybe you already have… congratulations!I have not, shameful as it may be.Right now I’m obsessed with the right shade of blue.
I believe that there are many
ways to make a red room work.Here
is what made it work in my opinion in this space that I painted in San
Francisco.
I’m back in California and the
rain won’t quit.We have little
breaks and the sun tries to come out, but the air and ground are always.We are all thrilled, after 4 years of
draught, the rain is a big celebration.I like to go for long
walks and then scavenge for a winter bouquet.It is easy just to pick up Lichen, branches of Rosehips or fallen
Camellia blossoms.They are often
covered in dirt or mud.At home I
rinse them off and put them in a crystal bowl and an old olive oil bottle.Even if they faded or browned at the edges the effect is
still stunning.
It is a rainy day somewhere in
the world, now since you don’t really know for sure if I am in Umbria or
California today we are NOT going to play a little game, NOR are we going to
take a test.I don’t like to do
either of the above, in fact my friends and family think I should begin to like
to play games.I would rather read
a book or go for a run, than play a game.
I love this photo for its beauty
and feeling of solitude.It may be
just that January feeling.This is
a palazzo in our main Piazza in Foligno, Italy. I know the view well. I like the contrast of the modernity of
white lights with the antique façade behind.It warms my heart.
I love December and the Holidays, it warms my heart. Tomorrow we leave to go back to Umbria for Natale in Italy with my darling Alfredo and all our friends. I still haven't packed! It would be lovely to return dressed elegantly, instead of the painters whites that I usually bicycled around the city in.
Recently I finished painting an
apartment in San Francisco.It is
a space I have worked on before, twice actually traveled from Italy to work on the interior.Every time I return to the
neighborhood of Pacific Heights, I find myself in dreamland, architectural
wonder, full on cloud nine o.k. !It
is amazing. On the top of the hill with views of the Bay, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate
Bridge.Then I fall in love with
every single house.Watch and see if
you don’t do the same.
I’m feeling excited for the
festivities and to be home in America for Thanksgiving, everyone is heading out to the
beach house, the whole big family together.
I have been working so hard and
just finished painting an apartment in San Francisco.Soon I’m going to show you all the amazing houses in the
neighborhood I was working in, each one looking like a jewel.
To tell you the truth. I forgot and I got the date wrong. I'm that bad. I actually love this blog and so I should have remembered her day. To be honest I just have too much going on right now. It was November 5th 2012 when I took the leap and started it up. I was living in Umbria, Italy then. Click Here if you want to flash back and view my very first blog post.