Creative Morning with Paddy Harrington was great

Am rushing off to silk screen!

The quote I scribbled above is:

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.

We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift" 

- Albert Einstein 

YEP.

Here are my notes from Paddy's Harrington's talk complete with sketches of Colleen Nicholson's legs and great Chanelish flats!
One of his main messages was Trust that your Intuitive brain is churning away at the problem all the time!
More later. Very inspirational.

New Sketch: Jack of Spades

I went to see Snow White and the Huntsman a couple weeks ago and it's put me in a medieval mindset - full of knights, + queens + suits of armour.

Carol Fertig's Manhattan Rental In Elle Decor

All Photos by Christopher Sturman

Just loved the space of Designer Carol Fertig in the latest issue of Elle Decor.
Such a juicy mix of vibrant colours, interesting textures and objects both new + old.
(Plus I love the fact that the magazine featured a rental. Good on you Michael Boodro!)
In her livingroom above she created the wall sculpture from gold painted plastic leaves. Inventive.

 

Carol's library is so warm and inviting with an inspiration board which threatems to invade the livingroom. Love it. paint colour is Ben Moore Tangerine Dream.

In her bedroom I love the antique suzani on the bed and the paint colour called "Day's End" which helps make the room feel like a complete retreat. 
ps. Yay Fornasetti book on the night table.

Carol's entire apartment is going on my Pinterest boards under Home Inspiration. :-)

Barnyard friends

Copyright Alanna Cavanagh 2012

Dinner with Sasha

Dinner last night with Sasha at Enoteca Sociale.

Fresh baked foccacia
homemade pastas
+ great people watching.

A new Toronto favourite.

1288 Dundas St West.

ps. Check out the great ring on Sasha's right hand. Made by Albert Zuger. 

Couldn't resist the plug.
:-)

Retro swimsuit sketch

Drew this while at a friend's cottage this wknd.
I see that these retro swimsuits are all the rage -. I love the design of them - and yet find there is also a bit of a creepy retrograde Betty Draper vibe to them. Whaddya think?

Looking forward to this on Friday....

Paddy Harrington is Executive Creative Director at Bruce Mau Design.

Room of One's Own print now available

My Room of One's Own silk screen print is available again.
It is printed on Maidstone archival paper and measures 26" x 40".
Each print is handpulled and then individually tea stained.

Below is a photo of the print in my livingroom.

Note to last minute shoppers...Father's Day is on Sunday

Perhaps yer favourite dad would like a Big brogue shoe silk screen print?

A Tale of two Shops

On Friday I went to visit Kevin Austin at Chair Table Lamp once last time. Kevin has sold the shop to a new owner who will take over the reigns June 13th. 

I purchased the small sunburst mirror which I'd been coveting for a while. I think it'll work well in either the hallway or bedroom and will also serve as a nice reminder of one of my favourite shop owners. (Corny but true!) 

Then on Saturday I went to the opening of a new shop VERSO in the back of INabstracto.
The owner Julie Jenkinson + her partner Kate Eisen had done an amazing job of transforming a dark little space into a beautiful oasis filled with art, furniture + lots of great vintage finds.
Inspiring.

Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of the overall space... but I thought this oversized apothecaryish vase with pink peonies was just stunning.

Best of luck to Kevin +Julie on their new creative adventures. :-)

Home of Jo Saul - Co-owner of TYPE books

  

The Home of Jo Saul - Co-owner of TYPE books is featured in the current issue of Toronto Life's City Home. 

Jo's newly renovated space above includes two of my prints: 

A Room of One's Own and n is for novel.

A close up of n is for novel. (SOLD OUT)

Here's a pic I recently snapped of Jo hard at work in her shop.

TYPE is one of my favourite spots in the city for inspiration + general 'visual goodness'.:-)

New edition of Penguin prints almost ready

I spent an inky weekend completing the last stages of my new edition of A Room of One's Own print. Back in March I completed Passes 1+2  and this weekend I screened in the title with a smaller screen. I then tea stained them each individually - with real tea FYI! The only stage remaining is the adding of a coffee ring.
As you can see I ran outta room in my studio area for drying so used my livingroom + office! This is indeed a work/live space.

 Applying the black ink to the screen.

Tea staining the print with real tea. (Red Rose fyi) :-)

Creative Morning 6

Gary speaking at the Gladstone
Instagram photo by Jennifer Stark.

Creative Morning with Gary Taxali was great this morning.
His slide show took us through his entire career and included images of his work on a great mix of surfaces including wine labels, pillow cases, toys and even cufflinks. (!) Inspiring.