Fearless Michelle

Woman of the moment, Michelle Obama is a woman for women. An incredible package of grace, accomplishment, supermum ability, sense of humour, and -oh yeah- she just happens to be married to the leader of the free world. I'll talk about the least of her superpowers - her fearless colour sense and how it translates to equally refreshing interiors.

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Inauguration day lemongrass with green

Her outfit from the Kids Ball the night before the inauguration. There was a wide belt cinching the lemongrass cardi in at the waist, over a tourquiose skirt.

Patterned, from her appearance on The View, embodied in Kelly Wearstler's style

Michelle Obama images from etonline.com and abc news.

All interior images from Domino mag.

Happiness Shopping List for 2009

I'm convinced 2009 would be a great year if only I had these.

Handcrafted lacquered wood boxes from Lille

Sailor pants in extra flare. These from here

A clever owl lamp. This from Madison Ave Gifts

Or this one from Anthropologie

Mark Rothko at the Tate

About 7 years ago I was alone in London when I encountered Mark Rothko's room in the then-newly opened Tate Modern. It was in that moment, in that room, on that day that I realised I had to do more with my life, starting with making art. A little portion of my headspace is dedicated to this remarkable room and I still return to it with frequency.

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A Rothko retrospective is now showing at the Tate Modern

26 September 2008 - 1 February 2009

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TA for h~fh

Maquette for installation of Seagram murals at Tate GalleryTate Archive Collection© Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 1998Photo by: J.Fernandes, Tate Photography

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The Seagram Murals were originally
commissioned for a restaurant interior - how tragic would that have been if it had materialised?

Rothko requested that the murals should be hung high, as that was how they were painted, and shown on a warm background colour, which is how they are displayed here. (The entire room is painted a warm grey)

In the mid-1960s, Norman Reid, the Director of the Tate Gallery, approached Rothko about the possibility of extending his representation in the Collection. Rothko responded by suggesting a group of Seagram murals to be displayed as an immersive environment. In September 1969, Reid provided Rothko with a small cardboard maquette of the designated gallery space to finalise his selection and to suggest a hang. This exercise resulted in the major gift of nine murals to
the museum, where they have been displayed almost continuously, albeit in different arrangements, as the so-called 'Rothko Room'.

Rothko never devised a final scheme for The Four Seasons restaurant,
nor did he prescribe a fixed order for the display of his murals at Tate. At an early stage he seems to have contemplated a continuous frieze, as evidenced by the small sketches in this room. By contrast, the Tate model, which includes the small maquettes made by Rothko for a number of the works, suggests that he wanted the paintings to be hung slightly apart with the two extreme landscape formats double-hung. It remains inconclusive, however, as one maquette is missing and two others are blank.

All images and text from Tate site

Abandoned 1

Abandoned images trawled today

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TA for h~fh

Russian library from fascinating site English Russia. The books look like forgotten children.

Tyersall House, Singapore by Daniel Cheong. Click on for larger view. Stunning. He also has a group of haunting photos of The Mitre Hotel on his flickr site, which I unfortunately can't download. Pesky copyrights.


Images from Infinite Ink