I thought I’d share a bit about what has been inspiring my art lately and what you can expect this year. Oil painting is here to stay and am loving the classic medium. Above you can see my favorite décor pieces! Everything is second hand besides the oval frame and fern. Featured here is some floral upholstery fabric, a paisley velvet fabric that I used for my pillows, a green marble cutting board, a blue and white ceramic vase, unique frames, my paisley scarf, a rabbit foot fern, and painted sketches from my notebook. This is my visual representation of everything that is inspiring me. Let me share more of what is influencing my art.

Verdure Tapestries & Pastoral Art

*Woodland with a Pond, ca. 1660 from Art Institute of Chicago*

Every time I see a tapestry on Pinterest I get excited and take a really close look. I’ll even screenshot videos of them! I’m obsessed but not ready yet to visit an online auction to purchase one of my own. Did you know that tapestries used to be a beautiful way to insulate castles?

*View of the Gulf of Pozzuoli from Solfatara 1803 Philipp Hackert (German, 1737–1807) Germany, 19th century Oil on fabric*

Anyways, I’ve been admiring the composition of tapestries and pastoral scenes when there’s some sort of tree in the foreground and a far away structure in the background. This inspiration has been translated so far into sketches (shown up above) and I can create these fairy tale-like scenes in my mind and it has been such a fun creative exploration.

Vintage Upholstery

I recently got a sewing machine and have been so excited with all the possibilities! Finding vintage fabric and creating pillows from it feels so wonderfully custom. Upholstery fabric can often remind me of tapestries (always inspired by them) which just makes me so happy. The colors in a fabric can often inspire me or help me realize what I’m being drawn to.

Painted Tile

Dutch Tile, 1640–60, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, scanned in black and white

In early 2023, it was said that delft tile was having a moment. I’m convinced that moment is here to stay and the rich history of the delft tile makes them timeless. I haven’t quite figured out how to reimagine the delft tile look in my own way. I love the classic blue look but also enjoy using brown as the monochromatic or sepia color scheme. More to come on monochromatic painted tiles.

I’m determined to explore painting on tile and plan on creating a tile mural at the very least with some secondhand tiles from my local Habitat for Humanity. (First go at it is pictured above.) This will be a piece that can either be installed on a wall or just hang with hooks. The composition will be reminiscent of a verdure tapestry or a pastoral scene. This will be the direction for my first ArtPrize exhibit this fall! (ArtPrize is an art festival in my town, Grand Rapids, Michigan.)

Murals

Large artworks like tapestries and tile murals just make me want to create my own but as a print or wallpaper. I’ve been looking into Spoonflower and want to create something from all of my explorations. If you’d love to have a mural, please let me know!

This year, we will be updating our upstairs hallway and the kids rooms. I’ve been dreaming of painting my own mural at the top of the steps and adding some more European faux-architecture. I think it will be a great summer challenge!