_Matheus Lopes is an artist/illustrator from Brazil. I've been seeing his stuff all over Pinterest lately, and I just had to share some of it with you. I really like it. Partly because it's pretty, but partly because it's clever too. Take a look:

Colorphobia © Matheus Lopes

So. The Apartment Therapy photo shoot for my upcoming house tour has happened and I've finally been able to relax and stop tweaking and rearranging and "fixing" in preparation. The fact that Apartment Therapy was coming really put a fire under my bum to finish some projects, and in the next few weeks, I'll be posting about them. This one, I finished literally less than 12 hours before the photo shoot on Saturday. It's a huge piece of DIY drip art for my living room.

See, I have this big living room wall that I've been debating about. What I wanted for it was something perfect. Some perfect piece of art. And I was willing to wait until something that looked right and affordable came along. But with Apartment Therapy coming, I ran out of time. So last Friday night, I decided to DIY a temporary piece to fill the space instead.

Here's how I did it:

1. I garbage-picked a big square of plywood from an alley in my neighbourhood (you could also buy a canvas, but this was cheaper).
2. I cleaned the plywood with a damp rag.
3. I primed the "front" of the piece with a couple coats of high-adhesive primer, applied with a smooth-finish velvet roller.
4. I decided which side would be "up" in the painting, and turned the makeshift canvas upside down, so the "bottom" was at floor level.
5. I used mat black paint (left over from a variety of other projects such as my front door makeover) to brush a thick black strip along the top (which would eventually be the bottom) of the piece.
6. I filled a plastic measuring cup with the same black paint and dribbled it along the black stripe so that globs and drips would start to crawl toward the floor. I kept doing this until I was happy with the effect.
7. I blow dried the whole thing so I could install it right away (drilled directly into the wall), but even now, some of the globs are a little wet.

No matter. It looks pretty good, in my opinion. Voila:

This is very much a "for now" piece. Something to do duty until I can find and afford something really special, but nonetheless, I'm quite fond of it. It was not a lot of work and it makes a big impact. Consider making something similar if, like me, you're looking for a space-filler, or even just a fun and messy art project.

As someone who's been known to craft the occasional clay finger or diseased mushroom, I've got to respect someone like Martha Todd (a British ceramic artist I recently discovered online, when I'm sure I was supposed to be doing something else).

I know it's not everybody's taste, but I find her stuff delightfully creepy and ugly and wonderful in that way that maybe only weirdos like me can appreciate. Take a look and tell me what you think.

I know it's pretty wacky stuff, but can you see what I like about it? Or am I alone out here?

Man, I love Twitter. The Twitterverse turns me on to the greatest stuff.

One of the nicest and most stylish peeps I follow is Amy Beth Dragoo of ABCD Designs and the other day, she tweeted about this amazing ceramic artist:
Sophie Woodrow.

Love it. Thanks Amy Beth. Thanks Sophie!

I bought a new/old coffee table book at Goodwill last weekend. The dust jacket is in rough shape, but even with a few tears and wrinkles, the cover is iconic.

This is one of those books I don't really plan to read. Once in awhile, I may flip through it, but from what I hear, Mailer wasn't really the expert on Marilyn he claimed to be. And besides, his prose is irritating.

I expect I'll just look at the pictures from time to time and use this bad boy as a conversation/coffee-table piece.

I used to have many more coffee table books, but alas, they were lost in the great schism of 2007 (which is to say, my move to Toronto). My ex, well, sucks... so my old tomes probably went into the trash, which makes me sad. But here are just a few of my old faves:

Okay... I'm cheating. That Tom Ford book came out in 2008. But isn't it PRETTY? I wish I had it, but it's pretty expensive.

Coffee table books are kind of a silly thing to love. I have tonnes of them and I never look through them. I just move them around my house from vignette to vignette. They resemble general clutter. Or do they? I can't decide.

Maybe it's the spring weather, maybe it's just that I was getting a bit bored, maybe I never liked it very much in the first place, but regardless, I was getting sick of the art in my bedroom.

So the other day, I decided to do a little revamp. Here are a couple of the before shots:

Here's the after:

I went from a crowded, close-set salon wall to an row arrangement. What do you think? Good change? In the photos, I actually think the salon arrangement looks better, but in real life, it was too much for me. It felt too heavy and busy for our (rather small) bedroom.

Anyway. I like the new look. Always good to keep things fresh, right? Change it up every so often.

One more thing: how do you feel about this vintage tree piece (below)? It's yarn art. You know, yarn, woven through the piece, sort of like needlework.

I got it from Goodwill recently for $5.99. I really like it, but I can't really explain why. I was a little grubby, but I went at it with my AWESOME fabric shaver which seemed to make a significant difference. It's very retro-looking, I know, but something about it appealed to me. Am I a nutter? A nutter butter?

So... the plate wall is finally complete.

Initially, I really wanted something with a lot of movement. I wanted a cluster. But unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble creating a satisfying grouping. In fact, I had so much trouble, I decided to scrap that plan entirely.

I've had a lot of luck organizing artwork in rows, so I decided to go that route instead, and while the effect is completely different, I think I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I've lost the undulating sense of movement I was hoping for, but the row format allowed me to use only my favourite plates without worrying too much about colour or design.

As you can see, I also mixed traditional art pieces into the display. And there's no transition between the trad art and the plates, which leaves the plates looking like pieces of art. Right? (Right.)

Above the bed, the display begins with a vintage painting from Goodwill, followed by an old family photograph (also vintage and not of my family). After that, I've got a pencil drawing of a ship (which you can't see very well thanks to the reflections) and after that, we transition to plates.

Anyway. Here are the details on the six specific plates I used:

1. A plain white plate ($2 from Goodwill) adorned with vinyl letters from the dollar store.
2. A white plate with a couple of poppies on it ($0.99 from Goodwill), modified with vinyl birds - again, from the dollar store.
3. A vintage plate by Gien France in the Lafayette pattern. (My mom found this baby in the trash along with a bunch of Spode!)
4. This "cracked" pattern plate is actually plastic. ($0.99 from Goodwill). I dressed it up with vinyl from the dollar store.
5. A Johnson Brothers salad (or quarter) plate in the discontinued Lemon Tree pattern ($0.99 from Goodwill).
6. A Johnson Brothers  saucer in the discontinued Hearts and Flowers pattern. ($0.50 from Goodwill).

Now, before you set out on a plate wall project of your own, some words of advice: beware cheapo hanging brackets! The ones I used were NOT easy to work with. They were $2.50 each from my local Home Hardware. And they were incredibly difficult to stretch over the large plates. And worse, once the bracket was in place on the plate, I couldn't figure out how to hang the bracket to the wall without causing the plate to stick out at a 45 degree angle.

Ultimately, I figured out that by using cup hooks that protruded away from the wall, the plates would hang flat. It wasn't easy. Also, the brackets only came in one size, so for the smaller plates, I had to cut them down by hand with my needle nose pliers and wire snips. It was a finicky job.

So. There you have it. My plate wall. It wasn't easy, and it's not my original vision, but it's done.

Anyway, what do you think?

I just discovered this enviro/installation artist Myeongbeom Kim ... and I'm in love.

Here's a bit of his work. I chose this series of images because of the common tree/branch theme (and because, as you know, I'm obsessed with trees.)

Beautiful, provocative stuff, no?

Hey guys. So remember when I posted about my guestroom/office? The space has been functional for awhile. (Nate's always in there working.) But the details have yet to be sorted out. The walls are relatively bare.

But I recently got my grubby little paws on a couple of vintage paintings I thought might work over the beds. (Sorry about the lighting. It's a dim room.) Here's the space without them:

And here are the paintings on the walls, flanking the windows:

So what do you think? They're vintage acrylics. Both nature scenes. Signed by some unknown artist (probably just a hobby-painter in the style of Bob Ross). But I think they're sort of charming and that they work with the room's slightly rustic aesthetic. What do you think?

So, remember when I made that giant chalkboard out of a door?

Turns out, that wasn't such a great idea. At least, not for me. Chalkboards are useful in theory, but if you don't use them (and we didn't) they just sit around getting chalk dust on your clothes and being annoying.

Sigh. Chalkboard: 1, Jen: 0.

Anyway. Since the chalkboard was a bust,  I wanted to find an alternate use for the big ol' masonite door, lest it go to waste. And yesterday, I came up with something.

I flipped the door over to the still-white side, mounted it to the wall in the narrow hall that leads to my bathroom (counter-sunk screws - very easy). And then, using three black vinyl decals from my local Dollarama, I did this:

Vinyl decals have become way too common. But they're affordable and removable and convenient. I think that by using the door as a sort of canvas (which was also utilitarian, since my walls are bumpy and decals won't stick to them) I've managed to create something that is a bit more artistic and interesting.

Don't worry. I know it's not art. Not even close. But the effect is more striking and whimsical in person, I promise. Initially, I intended to add more decals to fill out the white space, but I sort of like the way it is now. It's kind of strange and spare and surreal.

What do you think? Lame? Lame-o?