Sign of the week

Last Chance!

Create exciting environments and bring them to life with color and light! Last chance to save $100 on my self taught online classes!

Designing with Color and Light: http://ift.tt/16RyZ1T Environment Design: http://ift.tt/1ubMuYf

"All Aglow" floral watercolor

Watercolor on Arches 300# cold press, 9"x 12"

http://ift.tt/1nu8bDR

Photo suite 144 -- mirror images

Andtradition

We are in love with the new items from &tradition and the pictures look absolutely stunning. The timeless beauty and quality that is born out of tradition and renovation gives the brand an special character and character is what we like in a interior. Want to see more? Check out the whole collection on their website or come visit us at the First or Second store.



"Craft meets art. Function meets form. Material meets potential. This is our Nordic tradition and heritage. &tradition aims to bridge these values to contemporary design, reshaping, redefining and reinventing materials, techniques and forms. We respect nature that provides our raw materials and we believe in design that is made to last."



-&TRADITION -



Enjoy your weekend! :)

Interview

I was recently interviewed for the Savvy Painter podcast, listen here.

Links to a few other interviews in the sidebar.

Beijing Hutong 2014 - 3

Grey is the color of Beijing. This is great opportunity for me. Although I have already spent quite a bit of time working on my greys, I am still not able to handle it in a controlled manner. Well, I have no choice, but keep going and keep learning. Click here to purchase.

Sign of the week

Bet you haven't seen this material listed on a museum label recently.

Here's a detail of the artwork.

April and may hearts

- 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 -

Leaf prints by Pernille Folcarelli

Bring the nature inside with all this unique and beautiful leaf prints from designer Pernille Folcarelli. The prints look beautiful on their own but you can also decorate your wall with a combination of different prints.



Pernille Folcarelli is a freelance designer and stylist, working with graphics, textiles and interiors. Check out her website for more amazing work!

industrial home | Nylon fabric

We love this industrial and open daylight 'home'. The contrast between the industrial black and white base and the wooden elements creates a certain tranquility and can never go wrong.



Kove interior architects are specialized in total concepts and also in the installation of kitchen and bathrooms. This super showroom under the name of Nylon fabric is one of them. It references to the former function of the building. Filling this huge space with daylight and coziness was the goal of this project.



Images by Luc Roymans

april and may | costes

We love fashion just as much as we love interior. The two are so much connected and are both the perfect way of reflecting your (personal) style and who you are.



We love to combine fashion and interior, getting inspired and making beautiful combinations. On a regular base we will show you our selected items from Costes fashion. Costes is a Dutch boutique style brand that offers a total concept for women with different looks and collections to dress for every occasion.



We have selected several pieces that we really like and want to share with you. They are showcased in our store First or Second store in the 1OR2 VILLA where you can find the most up to date pieces every 2 months personally selected by us. But of course we will keep you updated through our blog too :)



We love to inspire...soon more!



Image: 1OR2 VILLA | photography: Manon van Wezenbeek

First or Second | we are open

As you might have noticed we have been a little bit absent the last weeks. The reason for this was the opening of our store First or Second in the Netherlands. The last week we have worked like crazy to get the whole store ready before we opened our doors on the 13th of September.



We are very proud and amazed by all the wonderful people who have helped us and all the great response from the people who already visited us.



For now above a short impression from the store. More about our 1or2 VILLA, 1or2 CAFE, 1or2 KIDS and 1or2 ART the next couple of weeks when we will be shooting some beautiful pictures and give you more information about the concept and our store.



You can ofcourse follow us on Facebook and instagram to stay updated.



We are glad to be back!

Signs of the week

Schoolism Live Montreal this Weekend!

Myself, Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi are excited to see all of you in Montreal this weekend! Register here.

Photo suite 142 -- on the river

Richard Schmid 80 Years Birthday

If you ask me who is the best artist I consider. I will say Richard Schmid. I admire many artists, some are good at painting still lives, some are good figures, and some are good landscapes. However, if you ask who is good at everything. I will say Richard Schmid. I am very fortunate for painting with Richard a few times. They were very great and very informative. They have strong impact on my art. I am relatively a late starter in art, but study with Richard Schmid has significantly accelerated my progress.



Richard Schmid will be 80 years young in this October. Please join me and friends all over to celebrate his Birthday by participating the Global Birthday Card Party for Richard by the Village of Arts at Putney.



Thank you

Sign of the week

"Demo at Easton 3" --- Sold

For the third demo at Easton, I did not do a high key one. I feel I have some thinking to do about my high key approach. As a matter of fact, I have a lot of thinking to do in front of my entire art career. At the time you look at my art, I look at other people's art as well. I have found that making progress in art is so difficult. So many artists (including myself) keep painting the same thing. We like their works when we at the first place, but after we saw so many similar paintings, we start to get tire of them and stop following them, because we know they don't have any thing new to offer.



Why is it so hard to progress in art. There are several reasons. First of all, artists are human beings, they have their limitations. If we can do one or two things well in this short life, we should feel good about ourselves. Secondly, most of us are slaves of the all mighty dollar. We perform as puppets controlled by the market. I try my best to be mindful and live intensionally, but so many things are beyond my control. It sounds that I am complaining, but I am not. I am investigating and looking for potentials.

El Dorado

Continuing posts for the Schoolism annual Fall sale:

This is from the animated film The Road to El Dorado; learn how in my online classes at schoolism.com while the sale is on!

"Demo at Easton 2" --- Sold

For the second demo I used that red Japanese lunch box. With the orange red rose and orange warm grey back ground, the painting has a warm tone. I use to emphasize that the contrast is the key consideration to make an interesting painting, but recently I pay more attention on unification and harmony.



I am back to Austin now. The Oregon + Maryland trip was enjoyable. Now I need several days to recover my "Qi" (or energy). I really wish I will sit around and do nothing for a few days. Who knows if that is possible. Last night's full moon was so beautiful. I was pondering "unification" again. It was amazing. It doesn't matter where I am, west coast, east coast, or in Texas, the moon looks the same. Perfect, and bright, shared by the whole world.

australian home

This home in Australia is warm and minimalistic at the same time. The consistent use of warm wood, concrete and black steel makes it very sophisticated. You can find more images of this home here.



Photography by Tara Pearce

via Nordic Design