katyelliott.com

Soothing Greens And Antiques in WOI

Katy Elliott — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:56:36 +0000

I’ve been feeling a bit off this week and discouraged by the renovation. I’m overwhelmed and having a hard time imagining an end.

When I opened the February issue of World Of Interiors this morning my mood instantly brightened. A cloud had been lifted and I was inspired. The above and below photos are screen shots from the story “Jamb Packed” featuring a 1780 London town house owned by Jamb founder Will Fisher. Many of the contents in the home went up for auction on February 2nd. View all lots and information at Christies.com.

The whole house feels cool with an air of green. The rooms are minimally decorated with textiles and color but no piece overwhelms offering perfect balance and harmony. The sitting room above is striking. I have my eye on the s-curve armed sofa in the foreground. A printed arm chair pairs well with a bobbin turned chair.

The space recalls so many of my favorite spaces including Ben Pentreath’s sitting room with a gorgeous boxy yellow sofa and collection of scaled prints. And the room I first brainstormed with Lizzie Bailey when I first bought my house.

I guess taking my time renovating my home does offer me one luxury: time to figure out my own style and make thoughtful purchases. Below a few more rooms in the home plus, pieces featured at the Christie’s auction.

A bedroom with beautiful textile accents.

I love the arms on this sofa. The lines reminds me of Max Rollit’s sofa I spotted in Ben Pentreath’s parsonage.

An arts and crafts dining table with the perfect amount of patina.

A beautiful grand bathroom that reminds me I how much I love the look of simple interior shutters in place of curtains. The fish print is pretty darn cool too.

William IV Ebonised Sofa circa 1830-1840. The s-shaped back and arms about a rectangular seat with squab cushion on tapering legs with brass caps and castors, covered in olive green linen, restorations40 in. high; 83 in. wide; 34 in. deep via christies.com.

A George IV Convex Giltwood Mirror, Circa 1830, 20 7/8 in. diameter via christies.com.

A Pair Of Victorian Walnut Armchairs By Howard & Sons, circa 1880. Re-covered covered in blue printed cotton fabric with ‘H&S’ monogram, the brass cap castors stamped ‘HOWARD & SONS LONDON’ 32½ in. high; 37 in. wide; 28 in. deep via christies.com

A George IV Bobbin-Turned Oak Bergere
Circa 1820-30 With caned seat 35 in. high; 23 in. wide; 25½ in. deep via christies.com.

Kantha an embroidered cotton antique quilt from Bengal c.1900 via jossgraham.com.

The interior images above are screen grabs from my digital edition of World of Interiors which can be purchased through Zinio.com.

Make A Seed Stitch Leather Button Neckwarmer

Katy Elliott — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:28:12 +0000

Inspired by a knit cowl designed by Knittles; I made a seed stitch version with five leather buttons. The neckwarmer is easy to knit and super cozy. Using the same seed stitch technique from my scarf project; I increased the width and shrunk the length. Five leather buttons ($0.79 each) I picked up at MJ Trim in New York secure the neckwarmer in place. The fitted style keeps my neck warm on bitter cold days without the bulkiness of a long scarf. Pull the neckwarmer up to cover your face or push down below your chin for a comfortable fit.

My Version
1 skein (100g/87yd) of Rowan Yarns Big Wool in Linen
US size 13 knitting needles (I could have used #15 but I have a loose purl stitch)

Cast on 21 stitches (odd numbers only)
Row 1: Slip 1 knitwise, *p1, k1; repeat till end. (you should end with a knit)
Repeat the pattern till you use up the skein.
Bind off and tuck in ends.

Secure five buttons on one side of the neckwarmer. I used leftover yarn and tied each button through onto the backside. I then positioned the button to poke through the overlapping top layer to the front side. I didn’t knit button holes but used the gaps between the purl and knit stitch. Below snapshots of the neckwarmer I made. Enjoy!

Handmade seed stitch (moss stitch) neckwarmer.

Front of neckwarmer.

Buttons attached to backside of neckwarmer.

Back of neckwarmer.

Artist: Kathleen Galligan

Katy Elliott — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:00:23 +0000

Passages #1, oil on linen, 10″ x 10″

I came across Kathleen Galligan’s work looking through an art auction at Maine College Of Art (MECA) in Portland, Maine. Her oil series expansive and quiet struck a chord. I contacted Kathleen originally regarding Passages #1 (above) and I then asked if she would be willing to share more about the series with all of us. A beautiful response from Kathleen below.

I love your paintings. Can you tell me more about the oil series?

Kathleen Galligan: Approximately ten years ago, I shifted from working from life—either through plein air studies, or my own photos—to painting instead from my memory and imagination. It was liberating and exciting! I would start with some broad dark shapes of color, which might either be land or water, and see where my process took me. I had no plan and was willing to embark on a journey of exploration.

The oil paintings are aerial images from a previous solo exhibit, Uncharted Shores, at Greenhut Galleries, Portland, Maine. The title is a metaphor and has a personal dual meaning. The paintings were oil on canvas, linen or panels and as this was my first solo exhibit in which I had chosen to work exclusively in oils, I was venturing into uncharted waters. In each previous solo exhibit spanning my 30-odd year career as a professional painter, I exhibited only pastels, with two exceptions when I integrated a few small oils.

The title also serves to describe my relationship to the paintings, which are aerial perspectives of water and land’s interactions. Over the two years which I took to paint this series, I embarked on an adventure, exploring a terrain that was new, uninhabited, wild and waiting to be discovered. Completely imaginary, the journey was a process of exploration of places that were unfolding before me, yet I was the creator. I did no preliminary studies, no visual plan was in place for each painting. One thing I knew I wanted to do, however, was to create a believable sense of expansive distance, which I think I achieved in these paintings.

The seed of this series had already been germinating a few years prior to the exhibit in Portland. I had been working from an aerial perspective in pastels which culminated in an exhibit entitled Updraft, at the same gallery. At that time, I was seeking to gain a broader perspective of our earth. As an environmentally concerned individual, I hoped to make paintings that were celebratory and majestic. As those pastels developed, civilization was present with suggested ports and harbors, without literal detail, but there nonetheless.

This time I painted images of non-existent natural shorelines and found myself in an exhilarating exploration of unknown estuaries. I contemplated our world before we inhabited it, primordial, without civilization—and produced a totally fabricated series of coastlines and waterways, using light and color to communicate their magic and mysteries.

The places, all imagined, yet created by an informed imagination, hopefully suggest this primordial world. Creating places of interest that are both familiar and unfamiliar simultaneously, might invite the viewer to begin their own exploration of these uncharted shores. I am pleased that, from what people have said and written, I succeeded.

Where do you draw your inspiration?
KG: For most of my professional painting career, my inspiration has been drawn from the small, everyday wonders of the natural world.

Do you paint indoors or out?
KG: I think of myself as a studio painter more than a plein air painter. I do, however, teach plein air workshops and love to travel to paint the landscape (view travel series paintings). I think it is a wonderful way to exercise one’s skill as a painter, a great way to be out in the open air and a personal way to pay homage to what I love about what I am painting. So, I do work both indoors and out, but painting inside my studio allows for more creativity and imagination.

How often do you paint? Do you have a set schedule for studio time?
KG: I seem to have a seasonal cycle related to where I live. Maine is a state with distinct cycles of life born out of the seasons. Summers are all about coming out of a winter hibernation, intensive gardening, breathing the sea air, greeting and housing friends and relatives; and for the landscape painter such as myself, painting and teaching plein air painting. It is a time to be out there in an extroverted fashion. Work in the studio is infrequent. At summer’s end, and as autumn nears, while there is some work in the garden harvesting and preparing for winter months, there is more time to retreat to a place of quiet, reflection and creativity. My studio is the venue for this retreat. I can focus well during the autumn/winter and spring months and I try to enter my studio each morning during the week. Of course, it doesn’t always happen, life does have a way of interjecting itself. But if I can put a couple of hours into work in the mornings, and then again after lunch, that’s a good day.

Have you always been an artist?
KG: I have wanted to paint since as far back as I can recall. As a child I would draw any willing relative, copy photographs in pencil or watercolor, and when my great aunts took me and my sister to Cape Cod for a week each summer, they knew they could leave me to watch the portrait artists in Hyannis, while they wandered through the nearby shops. I would be riveted to the very spot they left me as I gazed transfixed by the magic before me. I received academic training in art and earned my BFA (in the Illustration Dept at Philadelphia College of Art, now University of the Arts) in my late twenties, after I had already completed college at a liberal arts school and had been in the work force for a few years.

Who are your favorite artists?
KG: That’s never easy to answer; there is an ebb and flow of both influential artists and artists who I simply appreciate for their work. Sometimes they are contemporary artists, other times, historic. Some are people I know, Maine artists, such as Linden Frederick for his realistic, nostalgic and beautifully painted low-lit scenes of Americana; Dozier Bell, whose work is somewhat dark, but gorgeous and inspiring, moving from the large-scale and ethereal to the very corporeal, detailed and small war drawings. I am fascinated by Cornelia Parker’s conceptual installations. She is a British artist who at one point was short-listed for the coveted Turner Prize. I think she does remarkable work of significance.

I love Wayne Thiebaud’s lushly painted urban scenes, Gustav Klimt and the charm of Vuillard. The paintings, both oils and watercolors, of John Singer Sargent were early inspirations. Rooted in the study of Illustration, I am still appreciative of some classic illustrators such as N.C. Wyeth, Arthur Rackham and distantly in that category, the pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones.

Kathleen Galligan
website: kathleengalligan.com
Kathleen is represented by a number of galleries including Greenhut Galleries in Maine. Click here for a full list as well as additional works, contact information and purchasing.

Ephemera #2, oil on canvas, 24″x 24″

Illuminations #3, oil on linen, 12″x 12″

And So It Begins, oil on linen, 30″x 32″

All images are courtesy of Kathleen Galligan

Farmhouse Laundry Room

Katy Elliott — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:56:35 +0000

Designed by Amanda Jones and skillfully created by cabinetmaker David Bowen of Salisbury Artisans.

I collect a lot of inspiration; identifying elements that I can pull for my house renovation. Lately I’ve been thinking about our first floor and where I hope to create a mudroom/laundry/pantry space that flows into the kitchen. The worn wood bench I shared a few weeks ago was an element in my plan.

I’ve been brainstorming a number of places for laundry. Right now, I have to shlep to the laundromat each week—so you can imagine my mind often drifts to my dream space. My house does have a lot of square footage but each room is not large enough or could handle the proportions of front loaders side-by-side unless I want to put them in the basement.

A popular idea in old homes in Marblehead is stacking the washer and dryer and concealing inside a cabinet. I discovered this laundry room on pinterest.

Designed by Amanda Jones and skillfully created by cabinetmaker David Bowen of Salisbury Artisans based in Salisbury, Connecticut. The open beams and styling were the first elements to caught my eye. The room feels utilitarian but with sophistication that lends itself to an older home.

Miele washer and dryer are stacked and concealed inside a gracious cabinet. A single door opens to reveal both machines. A charming washtub re-imagined as an indoor sink is set upon a marble countertop with a wall mounted faucet. Below chicken wire covers the cabinet openings and allows for circulation.

I love the brick floor and proposed the idea to Greg. He has major concerns because he feels the foundation could not support the extra weight of heavy bricks. We’ll have to see if we can reinforce the beams to accommodate once we get closer to the project.

For more detailed photos of the laundry room and home click here to view on Salisbury Artisan’s website.

All photos courtesy of Salisbury Artisans.

Snow Day Walk

Katy Elliott — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:28:50 +0000

Winter days I love: sleeping late, watching the snow from my bedroom, drinking coffee, long walks, contemplating making a maple pie and knitting a hat.

camera: iphone
app: instagram
filter: rise
follow me: katyelliott

View From Bedroom Window: Snow

Katy Elliott — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:49:45 +0000

I was in NYC all week for work. While I enjoy the city life in spurts and often miss the routine; I’m never more grateful for the solitude of my sleepy town by the sea then when I return home. Snapshots from my bedroom window this morning.

camera: iphone
app: instagram
filter: walden

Framing Antique Wallpaper Samples

Katy Elliott — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Reproduction wallpaper samples by John Derain for One Kings Lane.

Spotted on One Kings Lane framed reproduction wallpaper samples from John Derian. Derian purchased a collection of antique antique wallpaper fragments from a Paris flea market. The collection dates from the 1800s through the early 20th century. Care was taken to recreate characteristics of the originals from saturated colors to raw edges. “They’re wallpaper specimens, and that’s how I wanted to present them, floating in the frame,” says Derian.

While renovating my home we’ve discovered beautiful old wallpaper under layers of paint. Below my favorite discovery a pretty floral found in an odd little room that I hope to turn into a library. I’ve tried to remove large pieces of the wallpaper to hopefully frame. I thought it would be a sweet a reminder of the history of the room. We’ve also talked about including objects found in the walls and ceiling to display in shadow boxes. On a side note: Historic New England has created an extensive database of individual samples of historic wallpapers and photographs of wallpaper in situ. View the collection on their website: historicnewengland.com.

Don’t have any old wallpaper to peel off your walls but love this idea? Adelphi Wallpaper Hangings specializes in reproduction historic wallpapers from 1750-1930. The wallpaper is quite expensive but a 12 X 23 inch sample can be purchased for $10. Carnation & Shells is one of my favorites—framed ala Derian it would be quite striking on a gallery wall.

Wallpaper sources that offer original antique wallpaper are tough to find. Second Hand Rose in New York carries rolls from the 1880′s to the 1970′s. 5QM in Germany offers an impressive online gallery showcasing prints from the 50s, 60s,70s. I’ve gathered a few favorites from their site here.

And then their always ebay, Brimfield and French flea markets. If John Derain can come across a collection of antique samples so can’t we, right?

The little room where we found the wallpaper.

Reproduction wallpaper samples by John Derain for One Kings Lane.

A piece of wallpaper found on the walls of my library.

Wallpaper during renovation.

Floral wallpaper found on the wall under layers of paint in library.

Two layers of blue wallpaper found on the walls in the den.

Celery Root Rémoulade With Beets and Sausage

Katy Elliott — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:00:46 +0000

My resolve for the winter is get more fruits and vegetables into my diet. I’m a creature of habit cooking the same old recipes for weeknight dinners and bookmarking the new healthier guys for the weekend. I’ve always been good about getting a lot veggies to the table but in the winter months they’re occupied by rice, pasta or bread. The carb rich diet is a tough habit to break.

Enter celery root or celeriac. I got a few in my farm box this past fall and made into simple soups (see below). I liked it. Scary looking at first but once you trim off the barky exterior the root smells just like celery—fresh, crisp with parsley notes.

You can find celery root at winter farmer’s markets and grocery stores like Whole Foods. They vary in size from a small apple to a large cantaloupe. The root I’m modeling above is quite large. It’s high in fiber, potassium, magnesium and vitamin B6 (key for curing the winter blues).

If you don’t yet own Nigel Slater’s Tender go now and buy it! A collection of recipes accounting tales from his vegetable garden in London, the book offers me inventive ways to cook the classics. And gives me new ideas for all those veggies in my farm box each week—A whole chapter is dedicated to celery root! The produce and growing season are very similar in London to New England so don’t worry about funky ingredients. It’s the kind of cooking inspiration I’ve been searching for—simple, unfussy but modern.

Celery Root Rémoulade With Beets and Sausage
This recipe is adapted from Slater’s Celery Root Rémoulade—a contemporary version featured in Tender. I paired the rémoulade with a garlic apple pork sausage picked up from Whole Foods. The root I had was so large I was able to incorporated half into this recipe and set aside the rest to pair with Apple-Stuffed Pork Loin With Moroccan Spices later this week.

ingredients
the juice of half a lemon (I had to use a whole lemon because my celery root was so big)
1 pound celery root
a raw medium beet
2 teaspoons whole grain mustard
4 tablespoons crème fraîche
a little olive oil or walnut oil
handful of fresh parsley
handful of walnut halves

Squeeze half a lemon into a large bowl. Peel the rough skin off the celery root using a knife. Grate using a hand grater or a food processor. Incorporate into the bowl with the lemon to keep the root from discoloring. Grate the beet and set aside. In Slater’s version he incorporated directly into the root mixture. I kept it seperate for the time being.

Put the crème fraîche and mustard in a bowl, stir. Season with S+P. Gently mix in enough oil to make a coating consistency. Mix together with a fork or whisk. Coarsely chop the parsley and incorporate to mixture. Set aside.

Heat a skillet to cook sausages. Cook till browned and cooked through.

I then stirred the crème fraîche mixture into the celery root till well incorporated. Then, tossed in very lightly the beets so the whole salad didn’t turn pink. No such luck but I did have some white remaining. Toast the walnuts and scatter over salad. Serve with sausage on the side.

More recipe ideas
David Lebovitz: Celery Root Soup
Mark Bittman: Creamy Curried Celery Root Soup

Celery root with crème fraîche mixture

Beets grated in food processor

Plating lunch

Celery Root Rémoulade With Beets and Sausage

Weekend Snapshots: Jan 7-8

Katy Elliott — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:00:08 +0000

Snapshots from the weekend around Marblehead. Saturday was warm in the mid-50′s which was odd after starting the week in the single digits and frozen pipes. Sunday a bit colder but the tide far enough out for us to walk across to Brown’s Island.

camera: iphone
app: instagram
filter: rise

Where To Find: Brass Pulls & Casters

Katy Elliott — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:13:20 +0000

Spotted at auction

I often find chests at auction missing a few of their original brass pulls. Optimum Brasses in the UK produces replicas using the lost-wax process. Over 7000 different items are available in their inventory and can be viewed in their online catalog. Above a Chippendale chest I bid on and lost at auction with it’s original brass pulls.

I’ve had my eye on the below sofa by Max Rollit since spotting the piece in Ben Pentreath’s den. I’ve had a hard time finding a similar piece stateside. I’ve been investigating having a local workroom build me one to fit the proportions of my den. Ben suggested I check out the casters at Optimum Brasses for the project.

Max Rollit “Katzsic” sofa

Since we’re talking brass pulls I wanted to share a few ideas for the kitchen. Handsome pulls dress up drawers and give the space an elegant antique feel. My two favorite examples are below from Plain English’s website.

Two kitchens from Plain English

A few selections I pulled from Optimum Brass’s catalog for reference. Aren’t they all just gorgeous? My friend Lizzie in New York had this to say, “I always love calling them on the phone because the ladies who answer have the sweetest accents!”

From Optimum Brass’s catalog