Etsy shop owner, Jaime Derringer, has a new creation in her shop. Salmon Birds on a Chandelier is a limited edition print. It measures 8″x10″ and sells for $18.00 

Here are some ideas for decorating with a print this size. First, I suggest buying a matted frame. An image like this would look great in a fancier gold frame. This enlarges the piece so that it will fit on just about any wall. Or, keep it simpler with a small mat and frame. Hang it in a grouping, or team it with a complimentary piece. It can also be hung along on a smaller area. Finally, this size is perfect for decorating a bookshelf.

A final note: all 5″x7″ prints are on sale for $8.00 at Jaime’s shop.

Have you used art photography as a means of decorating? I’m using it more and more in my projects. Compared with original numbered prints, photographic prints offer a less expensive way to complete a room with real style. One resource I particularly like is the work of photographer Olya Sanakoev.

Olya makes her home in Toronto, Canada and has been taking digital images with her trusty digital camera since 2001. As Olya says, “I shoot only digital - not because I don’t like film, but because I shoot for myself, and I like it this way. Photography is fun for me, and I hope that my photographs reflect that fun and joy in life. I think the world is beautiful, and I want to show that. Essentially, I like things that are pretty. Perhaps that’s no deep point, but we all enjoy beauty.”

Outside of photography and world traveling (seriously envious of that), Olya pursues an eclectic life. She holds a double major in Computer Science and Cognitive Science from the University of Toronto. She also writes a blog about knock-off furniture called (appropriately) Knockoffs.

Visit Olya’s site to see more of her beautiful images. You can purchase them in varying sizes. All her photographs are printed on high quality photographic paper. Her prices are as follows: $30 for 8″x12″, $50 for 16″x24″, and $70 for a 20″x30″.

Have you used art photography in your home?

I watched Helvetica last weekend. For anyone interested in design of any kind, it’s a must-see documentary on the world’s most-used typeface. It’s much more interesting than it sounds. You can find in at Netflix, or maybe Blockbuster (depending where you live). Anyway, that’s why I thought I’d feature these posters from Esty seller, Type Junkie.

These posters celebrate the seemingly ancient world of hand-set type, and type in general.

They’re very reasonably prices, too. Most prints can be resized to fit your decorating needs.

Holli Conger is the creative genius behind Type Junkie. She hails from Nashville, Tennessee. Her other Etsy shop is called Found Whimsy.

Statement posters have recently become popular. Do you think these could take off, too?

I scooted over to The College for Creative Studies this afternoon for a sneak peek at their annual Student Show, which gets underway tonight. CCS is a fine art school located in Detroit. It’s one of the best in the country. The industrial design department is known internationally as one of the best in the world.

The juried show is open for two weeks and most of the art is up for sale, with proceeds going directly to the students.

The show begins tonight. Early admission (your chance to get the best stuff) is at 5:00 PM. General admission is $50 and opens at 7:00 PM. You can buy tickets at the door. After tonight the show is free. You can purchase art throughout the event. Art is picked up when the show ends.

This year, you can charge your purchases. Otherwise, bring checks - you’ll need one for each purchase.

I went to a wonderful exhibit at The Detroit Institute of Arts last weekend. Entitled Life’s Pleasure, the show features art from The Ashcan School. I love art history, so I thought I’d share a bit with you.

Polo, by George Bellows

At the turn of the last century, a tightly knit group of New York artists began to focus their work on scenes of average life. And from all walks of life. Because many of their paintings included New York’s underclass, critics dubbed their style Ashcan.

Dempsey and Firpo, by George Bellows

The principle members of the Ashcan School were Arthur B. Davies (1862-1928), Robert Henri (1865-1929), George Luks (1867-1933), William Glackens (1870-1938), John Sloan (1871-1951), and Everett Shinn (1876-1953). Others include: Alfred Maurer (1868-1932), George Wesley Bellows (1882-1925), and Guy Pène Du Bois (1884-1958).

Chez Mouquin, by William Glackens

They painted life as they saw it - using quick brush strokes and saturated palettes. At the time, social conventions were rapidly changing - especially for women. While it was becoming acceptable for a woman to dine in a restaurant, many looked on it as unseemly. The fact that fine artists made this their subject matter was also risque. (If only they could have seen 100 years into the future.)

Mahone Bay, by William Glackens

Many of these paintings are available in poster form. All Posters is a good resource. If you haven’t heard of The Ashcan School and choose to finish a room with a poster by, say, George Bellows, you can impress your friends and neighbors with a bit of history behind the art.

The exhibit at the DIA runs through May 25th. Visit their Website for more information.

There was a very popular statement poster a while back that said something like, “If you love something set it free, if it’s yours it will return, if it doesn’t it never was.” Or something like that. A reprise poster declared, “If you love something set it free, if it doesn’t come back, hunt it down and shoot it.” That’s not very PC, (I said it was from the olden days) but it was funny anyway.

Statement posters seem to be making a comeback. This time around we can all choose the sentiment that suits our personalities. A widely popular one (and I think the one that started the trend) is by fellow blogger, Victoria, who writes sfgirlbybay.

Her Keep Calm poster is sold on her Etsy shop and comes in lots of calm colors, measures 16″ x 23″ and sells for $25. Having a bad day? This is the statement poster for you.

Artist Jaime Derringer has come out with some rancorous sentiments that are perfect for those hormonally-challenged days. Her prints are created using professional pigment inks, measure 8″ x 10″, and sell for $18.

On a happier note, Anne Harwell’s posters might bring out the perky in all of us. (But I really love being right). Hers are printed with archival inks on archival paper, measure 11″ x 16″, and are signed and numbered by artist. The price is $25.

Finally, something for the little baby, or the big baby you love. Jennifer Ramos sells beautiful greeting cards on her Made By Girl shop, as well as her love poster. Feel the love. It measures 16″ x 24″ and sells for $25.

Do you have a favorite sentiment? Do you remember Jonathan Livingston Seagull?

The home accessory company, Simon Pearce is holding its first annual Audubon and Simon Pearce Birdhouse Event from March 24th through April 20th at Simon Pearce retail stores. They’ve created one-of-a-kind Birdhouse sculptures especially for the occasion. All the proceeds from the sale will be given to participating Audubon organizations.

In addition, Simon Pearce is holding an online auction of three birdhouses. The winning bidders will then designate which Audubon organization will receive the proceeds. Each birdhouse is unique and is hand-signed by Simon Pearce. They’re made from wooden forms and hand blown glass created and designed by their own master glassblowers.

The Audubon Society (I was a member when I was in high school) is one of the first organizations to dedicate themselves to the preservation of bird and wildlife habitats. They provide education on wildlife and environmental topics as well as working to create legislation the maintain natural habitats.

One of the best classes I took at The College for Creative Studies was Color and Light. I use the concepts I learned there every day in my design work. I don’t think I would have gotten as much out of it if it hadn’t been for Daniel Stewart, the fine artist who taught the class.

He has a lot of patience, and also knows his stuff. During the semester we mixed countless paint colors to make other colors. Dan could tell me exactly what I needed to do in order to match one color to another. Or to make a color set on, say, a red background match another color set on a green one. He’s also very funny - an important asset in an early morning class.

I first learned that Dan was a painter from a fellow student who told me he painted bears with hearts. Funny, he didn’t look like a guy who painted Care Bears - the first image that popped into my head. She should have mentioned that they had giant claws, too.

Dan also has a series of dogs, known as Charlie. Charlie is fictional. His real life dog is very well fed and happy.

Dan and his wife, Iris, have since become friends. I’ve sold his work to clients, and used them in a show house I did a couple of years ago. To view more of Dan’s work and check availability, scoot over to his new website.

A few years ago I got it into my head that it would be a good idea to order dried butterflies, mount and frame them myself. I have no idea why, other than the fact that I can’t stand spending money on anything that looks easy to do yourself. This used to include painting rooms, but fortunately, I’ve gotten over that.

Anyway, I had seen some beautifully framed butterflies in a catalog, fallen in love and then freaked at the $200 price tag. So I decided to go for it and do it myself.

I found a great website called Insect World. They carry just about every insect in the world - including mosquitoes. After much searching, I chose some colorful beauties that were very reasonably priced and ordered a bunch, including some simple supplies.

I’ll cut to the chase right here and tell you that mounting them was a lot easier than I thought and the results were as beautiful as I had hoped. And for far less money than in the catalog.

I won’t go into all the How-To’s here because Butterflies and Things does a much better job of explaining things than I can. Here are the basics. Butterflies prices vary according to rarity and quality. Most are very inexpensive. The most expensive one I bought was $8.00. Most were $1.00 - $3.00. Order a few more than you need because you’ll probably ruin a couple in the mounting process.

The butterflies come dried. You have to relax them in a jar or plastic container for a couple of days. Next, you spread the wings on a mounting board (I used foam core) and secure them with strips of index cards and pins. They sit like that for another couple of days. Then they’re ready for framing. I bought shadow-boxed frames from IKEA, lined them with fabric-covered foam core, and pinned the butterflies inside. Again, go to the link above for specific illustrated instructions.

It was kind of fun. And it was so inexpensive that I was able to cover an entire area for less than the price of just one piece from the catalog. Both Butterflies and Things and Insect World sell butterflies, which are listed by their Latin names, so you’ll need to take your time finding the ones you like. To start you on your way, here’s a list of the butterflies shown above.

• Ornithoptera priamus poseidon (green bird wing)
• Graphium dorcus ventus (black & white swallowtail)
• Delias hyparete hyparete (white with orange tips)
• Appias nero figulina (orange)
• Morpho patroclus orestes (blue)
• Heliconius melpomene melpomene (brown with orange)
• Chorinea sylphina (white with red swallowtail)
• Tro. oblong oblongomaculatus (black with yellow)
• O croesus lydius, Halmaher (white bird wing)

If you’re a little creeped out by bugs, this project will cure you. It’s also something you can do with your children. They’ll have fun checking out the giant beetle assortment at Insect World.

Don’t forget to tell me if you think this project is something you would think of doing, or if the bug factor is too icky to bear.

We’re all bundled up here in Detroit, which got a good six inches of snow last night. We usually sneer at such a paltry amount of snow, but I think we’re all a bit worn down after such a long, cold winter.

Which brings be to all things made with felt. It’s warm and toasty and perfect for a snowy day. I’m amazed at all the wonderful things crafty and ingenious people are making out of felt. Little pebbles, from Branch, make a soft tabletop display, Hable Construction has some fresh, seaside themed felted appliqué designs for Spring, Papavert Vert makes all things felted, such as vases and little bowls. Betz White combines vintage sweaters and felt to make pin cushions that look good enough to eat. Those are really great. Finally, The Paper Crown sells all sorts of handmade cards, including this one with felt flowers.

If you’re in a creative mood, there are a couple of books to get you started with some fun felt projects. Warm Fuzzies, by Betz White, has 30 projects, including cupcakes. And Fresh Felt Flowers, by Lynn Farris, offers a hot-to guide for making (what else) felt flowers.

I’m definitely ready for some flowers. How about you?

Speaking of New York (see today’s previous post), last Sunday, The Museum of Modern Art opened “Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today.” According to an article in today’s New York Times, “The show looks at contemporary artists for whom color functions as a ready-made — something to be bought or appropriated, rather than mixed on a palette. As Frank Stella famously quipped, “I tried to keep the paint as good as it was in the can.”’

“Ten Large Color Panels” by Gerhard Richter

An entire wall is devoted to Gerhard Richter’s “Ten Large Color Panels” (1966-71/72), a 31-foot sequence comprised of ready-mixed paint bought from a hardware store. Looking at this brings on happy flashbacks to the color theory class I took while a student at CCS. I use the stuff I learned in that class every day.

I came across an interesting article in The Economist about an upcoming auction at Sotheby’s in London. If you’re a fan of the Arts and Crafts, and Gothic Revival Movements, here’s a chance to at least view one of the world’s most extensive collections.

The auction, scheduled for March 8th, is called The Best of British Design from the 19th and 20th Centuries - Paul Reeves. You can read the entire article here. But I’ll quote the basic details:

Rock and Rollers and hippies have long had a soft spot for the decorative appeal of William Morris’s Gothic Revival, with its fair-haired maidens in flowing robes and its air of medieval mysticism. So it is not surprising that when Paul Reeves decided in 1973 to break out of designing avant-garde clothes for David Bowie, Led Zeppelin and The Who, he started selling Arts-and-Crafts furniture to some of the most famous musicians of the day, including George Harrison and Roger Daltrey.

Mr Reeves has organized a week-long selling exhibition and an auction at Sotheby’s next month. They will show just what a good eye he has, and how crucial he has been in encouraging furniture collectors to buy British design from the Gothic Revival onwards, a turning point in western architecture and interior design. About 120 items from Mr Reeves’s personal collection will be for sale at fixed prices. Another 120 pieces from other collectors—many of whom originally bought them from Mr Reeves—will be sold at auction.

You can view the collection at Sotheby’s online catalog. It’s an amazing collection.