Hylas and Your Favorite Nymph

The early stages of my love of the Pre-Raphaelites was shared during my teen years by my friend Jesse. One thing he once told me he loved to do when he has friends over and he showed them the art on his walls is to ask them which of the nymphs pictured in Waterhouse's Hylas and the Nymphs was their "favorite"...the one they felt the most drawn to.

In a recent documentary about Waterhouse, it was observed that Waterhouse painted all the nymphs with one woman's face. And indeed, fellow blogger Jim reports that upon going to the exhibition in Groningen, he heard a tour group leader "ask one boy which of these beautiful young ladies did he like the best. He took a few moments, shrugged his shoulders and replied ‘They all look the same’ "

But, as Jim also puts so wonderfully, "It reminds me of people with twins who, after a while of familiarity with them, can tell them apart easily whereas somebody whose unfamiliar will struggle."

So which nymph is your favorite and why? Click on the comments to read mine, and click on the above image to see it larger so you can better choose!

Vintage Visions with Sarachmet

Some of you may remember my featuring the amazing photographer, Sarachmet, last year. Well, she has her own blog now, full of beautiful images. I highly recommend it!

The Block Prints of Kathleen West

Kathleen West is an artist who produces the most beautiful block prints using the same sort of methods William Morris might have used in his day. On her website's bio page, it says "Through personal research of galleries and libraries Kathleen "discovered" the works of William Morris. She was drawn to medieval and nature themes along with literary passages and quotes. This shift in style also led to the hand coloring of her prints and influenced her development of a unique pre-Raphaelite quality."

My Apartment -- Pre-Raphaelite Inspirations III (and Final!)

Well, here we are at the end of our tour. I tried to get through these three posts quickly so that those of you saying to themselves "darn it, I don't wanna see her house...where are the posts about art??" don't get restless ;)

As you walk up the stairs past the Beauty and the Beast banners, this is what you will see at the top of the steps. The artwork, Seraphel, is by me.

A close-up of the other artwork on the wall above. Tom found this image on Worth100.com, and it so succinctly summarizes the merging of our two personalities and tastes, we had to frame it. Based on this artwork by Bouguereau
A print of Waterhouse's The Soul of the Rose is on the wall opposite the bathroom:
And yes, the bathroom is filled with Water...house. In the mirror, you can see two framed artworks...Vanity, and a study for The Mermaid.
Also in the bathroom is this plaster painting of Waterhouse's Danaides. I bought this years ago at a going out of business sale for a favorite sculpture gallery in Columbus. Sadly, it cuts off the very important image of the vessel's spout at the bottom of the painting, but I still love it.
Into the bedroom! On the left wall is, again, Waterhouse...Hylas and the Nymphs. Below the art, a quote from my favorite poem, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, reads "I met a lady in the meads, Full beautiful - a faery's child, Her hair was long, her foot was light, And her eyes were wild." in a gold paint that shimmers in the light. Two Mucha tapestries are on the bed wall, with an art quilt made by my mother in the center. The pillows on the bed have images of fleur-de-lis and lions rampant. The comforter on the bed has been christened the "Velvet Fog" as it is soft velvet, and extremely comfy. Eventually we'll get a bedframe for in here, but so far my search hasn't yielded something I love enough in the right price range.
A vintage nightgown too lovely to hide away currently hangs from the curtain:
The other view of the look-down. Two mirrored hooks hold beribboned Moroccan lanterns. The picture between them is one from a recent photoshoot with my friend Tess.
The dresser holds a heavy garden statuary bust adorned with a headpiece made for me by Linden Sidhe. (See first picture above for a close-up) Below it on the floor is a portrait sketch I need to reframe! (And Tom and I are suckers for stuffed animals, I have to admit)I call this my "shrine to beauty"...a lovely folding Ethan Allen table I found a few years ago, with amethyst glass goblet & bowls, silk leaves, figural candlesticks, and a small statue of a bronze-colored faerie, who holds high my wedding Relic with reverence. Also, can you tell I love khussas?

And last, my bedside view, with a wall shelf to hold and display more of my Parrish Relic treasures, a pre-kissed frog prince, and a calendar of Kinuko Craft art.

I hope you enjoyed my house tour! We will return for your regularly scheduled blog posts very soon.

My Apartment -- Pre-Raphaelite Inspirations II

Thanks so much for all the sweet comments about my apartment decor! Today I'm going to share pictures of the rest of the ground floor, and there will be one more post featuring the upper floor (bedroom, bathroom)

A couple of people mentioned that the only thing I was missing in the apartment was tapestries. Well, tapestries are a bit beyond my budget, but this stairwell wall had been bothering me ever since we moved into the apartment 3 years ago. My mother and I recently created three giant banners/fabric wallhangings for this wall, featuring paintings I did of Beauty, Beast, and a crest with a crown, rose, and my and my husband's initials. Boy is it a relief to have something on this giant wall now!

I was also inspired by the tapestries/wall hangings William Morris and friends created for ...Kelmscott I believe? I can't find pictures offhand of these hangings.

Our dining room area, featuring blue and white china! Topsy and Rossetti would be proud. And yes, that is Spider-man hanging from the gothic wrought iron arch. I like to throw in little quirky touches that show Tom's personality too, and he adores Spider-man.

My husband bought me this beautiful Waterhouse Ophelia years ago for my birthday, but we kept running short on funds to frame it (it's a canvas print). At his brilliant suggestion, we decided instead to run out and buy silk flowers that mimicked those in the print, and "frame" it with these. I so love the result.

Another small Kinuko Craft print, a 'harp' I made for some self portraits, from a branch, and my bottle collection:

I just couldn't have the one Waterhouse Lady of Shalott without the other two!

A couple more looks at the faerie murals on my walls, along with a medieval clock from Design Toscano:

One more side note...the Snow White art box auction ends tonight at 11:59 pm. Go bid! :)

My Apartment -- Pre-Raphaelite Inspirations

Home decorating is a passion of mine. I don't claim to be good at it, but I DO claim to enjoy it greatly. I also love to voyeuristically peek into the homes of other people, especially other like-minded people. Among the most beautifully decorated homes I've ever seen, I can confidently list Anita, Lisa, and Jen.

The other day, I was looking around at my house decor and noticing how much of it was inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites and Arts & Crafts. Of course there's also plenty inspired by whimsy and fairy tales, but I think they are in about equal measure. I thought it might be enjoyable to do a series of posts with images of my apartment decor.

Sadly, although my apartment is a quite unique set-up, it's difficult to capture in pictures, so there are a lot of close ups. The apartment is a townhouse, with the living room and kitchen all on the main floor. The main level has vaulted ceilings (wonderful for fitting all my large scale artworks on the walls), and the bedroom and bathroom are upstairs, with a wonderful little "look-down" into the living room that makes me feel like Rapunzel every time I peer from it. There's also a carpeted basement, but we use that as our "geek / tech room" so I won't share pictures of that. As always, the pictures are a lot bigger if you click on them, so feel free!


The front door, with our favorite wedding picture above. I love how this picture blends in well with all of the Pre-Raphaelite art I have at the same level around the room.
The first thing one sees when one walks in the front door is this side table with a box featuring the art of Evelyn de Morgan, and an antique book by John Ruskin.

The corner cabinet beside the window features a vase found on an excursion with Tess. She has a matching one in her Morris dining room, as we both feel it's quite Arts & Crafts. The Snow White box from Tess' Benefit Auction is also sitting here waiting for its new home.

In a post I did during my first month of the blog on how to decorate like William Morris on a budget, I mentioned Artscape Magnolia stained glass window clings, and how wonderful they are for the budget or apartment-dwelling Arts & Crafts aficionado. These are the Artscape windows in our apartment. Sadly the picture does them no justice.
Tucked beside the front door of the apartment is this little fireplace. Above the fireplace on the small ledge mantle, I put four decoupaged picture frames that represent my husband Tom and my great hobbies/interests. His two are Spider-man and Death from Sandman (he's a big comics fan), and mine are Waterhouse and Kinuko Craft.

A better look at the living room walls, with my favorite framed artwork, Circe Invidiosa, looking down. The living room walls were painted with two whimsical faeries (the second one is to the left of the iron grates, unpictured). The faerie pictured was inspired by an artwork by Charles Vess.
Here's the look-down I mentioned, from the bedroom to the living room! How romantic! The Lady of Shalott is one of the first things you see when you walk into the apartment and look around.

An overall view of everything you've seen so far:

Plenty more pictures to come!

Claret Day!

Many thanks to LJ user Spyderfyngers, aka Verity, for letting me quote this from her verbatim:

"It's May the 5th: Rossetti Claret Day!

To explain: A few months ago, I was lucky enough to visit the British Library and handle four of Rossetti's notebooks as part of research for my MA. It was an extraordinary experience. I trembled like nothing on earth. In amongst the scraps of poetry and nonsensical comments about insects, I came across this Highly Important little note:

5 May - CLARET

The bold lettering, the underlining: this is, without a doubt, a sign to buy a cheap bottle of plonk and take the day off work to lie on the floor and meditate on the virtues of the petrarchan sonnet.

I hereby declare May the fifth an annual international holiday! Hit the bottle and squeeze a marsupial!"

Huzzah!