paul ferney commission project

remember the paintings i had commissioned of the boys?

and remember how i promised i would let you know about the next round early enough to get one for yourself?

it's here!  and for only 24 hours.

click here order (or learn more).

love,

coco

picasso baby

remember when i blogged about marina abrovomic?  if not, please watch the video, it will bring you to tears....

you know how much i love artsy shit like this.  weeeeeeeelllll, this jay-z video was brought to my attention today.  hip-hop, art museums, artists, celebrities.  it makes my heart sing.  check it out (marina is in it).

love,

coco

a christmas gift idea

i make things.

usually for family and sometimes friends for the holidays.

i have been fantasizing about opening an etsy shop of custom gifts for a while now, but i am a little intimidated.  sales tax?  yikes.  shipping costs?  who knows?  and don't even getting me started on what i should charge.

i'll get there someday, but i am not there yet.

so i have an idea.

you will be my guinea pigs.  this here blog o' mine will serve as a tiny little test platform from which i can gauge interest.  y'all are my pre-etsy, so to speak (you know, to determine if i could really pull it off).

i am offering two custom gifts just in time for the holidays.

1) hand-cut paper silhouettes

5 X 7 for $25

8 X 10 for $30

each silhouette will be cut from high-quality black paper and mounted on a backing in the color of your choice (red, light blue, or neutral)

all you need to do is email me a couple of high-contrast photographs of your kiddo/dog/model/subject/baby daddy and we can go from there.

2) custom drawing of a house 

(be it yours/yo momma's/baby momma's/you get the idea)

5 X 7 for $25

8 X 10 for $30

 {pardon the glare.  i snapped zero pictures before they were framed and on our wall}

if you are looking for a precise scale drawing of your home, you may want to look elsewhere :)

however, if you are looking for a more whimsical, illustration-like drawing of your home, i'm your girl. i prefer to draw in pen-and-ink, but will consider adding highlights of color if there is a certain aspect of the home you would like to feature.

and there you have it!

leave a comment expressing any interest and i will be in touch with you.  we can proceed from there, my sweets.

thanks for letting me test out my little dream on you first.

love,

coco

live with art

Source: allthingsstylish.tumblr.com via Cortney on Pinterest

true dat.

one of the (dozen or so) challenges with our new house was what to do with our emormous fireplace.  we moved from a house with no fireplace, and although we have a modest art collection, all of our small pieces would've drowned above our mantle.

enter my mom (always one to save the day).  she bought us an enormous frame soon after we moved in.  we were still far renovation-wise from being able to hang the frame, so we had plenty of time to decide how to fill the frame.

we had two requirements: it needed to be affordable and meaningful.  the photos do no justice to the giant scale of the frame.  once we gave it some thought, we knew that putting a picture of the boys in the frame would end up looking like two creepy, giant heads floating above the fireplace.

when in doubt, etsy.  i started searching etsy (which in case you don't know, is a website that specializes in selling hand-made wares.  it's rad.)  since the majority of our little art collection is comprised of pieces from our favorite city, i searched 'maps' and found exactly what we were looking for.

SummitRidge is the name of an etsy shop by an incredible artist who creates watercolor paintings of maps.  anne's paintings look like bluprints.  she meticulously paints every city block and natural landmark.  her work is incredible, she is affordable, and in addition to her inventory of gorgeous maps of well-known cities, she will work with you to create a custom map of the city of your choice.  we knew we wanted a map of new orleans, but she did not have the size we needed.  she communicated with me over a period of a few weeks, we settled on a price, a color scheme, and she even sent me pictures of her progress on the map made in the size we needed.  the whole process felt very special.  and now we have a stunning painting over our mantle that is a talking piece and reflects wholly who we are as a family. and like we do with most major purchases, chris and i turned it into our anniversary gift to each other. win-win.

check her out.  buy a painting.  

live with art.  it's good for you.