Inspiration

This blog exists because I love to be creative.

However, lately, I have not been so creative in writing blog posts. My apologies. And thank you to all of you for still sticking with me.

For those who want to know - and maybe the new reader, I will explain, the reason(s) why I was reluctant to blog:

Lack of idea

• After having finished 99% of our renovation and decoration project, there is not much left to report about the palazzo.
• Also not living in Italy permanently, does not provide me with many new stories from the village life in the beautyful South.
• There are so many blogs around these days, that good new stuff that hasn't been explored inside out by others is difficult to find.
• When I write I want to deliver quality, well researched things. I try not to just briefly touch a fashionable topic.
• When I press the publish button, it's because I have to tell something. Something that worth to be printed. Something that is entertaining and keeps readers coming back.

Lack of time

• As I said above, I aim for quality. And that needs time. But nowadays, you need to be faster and faster if you don't want to be the last writing about a subject.

Lack of motivation

• I started this blog in December 2006, so I am in my 7th year of blogging!! Mmmhhh, is it the seven-year-itch !!??
• People seem to follow more and more other (faster) social networks, like facebook, like twitter, pinterest, tmblr .... than blogs. Maybe.

I was even tempted to sign up for a blog e-course with Holly Becker at Decor8.

As I said, this blog exists, because I love to be creative. Actually, I need to be crative! It enriches my life. Although, for a couple of weeks I have not been writing, I have been creative elsewhere:

I am into photography since some months. I know now how to use my digital camera in the manual mode. I learned that prime lenses are giving better results than standard zoom lenses, and that the body is less important than the lens. Over the past days I played around with the free trial version of Adobe Lightroom. I learned how to improve photos in the post process. And, very important, how to insert a copyright into the metadata of a photo - or even better, into a whole batch of photos.

On top of photography, I did some weekly painting. First with a maestro artist who helped us students when stuck. After a year or so, I gave up to paint with him since I was not able to paint without him anymore. Slowly, I started to paint again, just by myself, and with a group of ladies who use different media and techniques.

Over the time I realized, how photography and painting are inspiring and complementing each other. I grew with both. I also came across many artists. Some I heard before, but most were new to me, especially the photographers. Very Inspiring!

I am always curious about an artist's life and where famous artists got their inspiration from! Often from each other!

The other night, I looked up my favorite post-impressionists on my iphone... for hours...The next morning I woke up, sleepy though,  I finally knew what to paint on my pink canvas.

In one session I almost finished the painting. Now, just some glazing (shadows) is missing. I posted it on FB and my friends liked it. I got compliments from art connoisseurs, form art buyers and even a successful artist friend. If I continue to be productive like this, I will be able to participate in the exhibition of my art group at the end of this year. - The only problem is, that the exhibition's target is to sell paintings. - Ha ha, I am not sure, if I can separate from that bird?!



oil on canvas (40 x 50 cm) by me

For future inspiration, I always collect photos and art work in files on my personal computer, ipad and iphone. But today I had an idea. Why not share my inspiration on my blog? I will have a new label "inspiring art" and feature painters and photographers I like. Here we go, same purpose of blogging as before, filing my inspiration online (and finding them in cyberspace always)!

And so, after photography and painting for many months, I am happily back to writing again.
What a connection!

Waiting for Summer

Before lunch at Palazzo Pizzo (oil on canvas)

This is a very cold February, and the snow has even reached Southern Italy. This is less fun than in more Northern parts of Europe. In the South, the houses are not as well prepared for cold winters. Furhter more, heating costs are very high in Italy. So it happens sometimes in winter, that outside in the sunshine it is warmer than inside the homes.

So, let's think some warm thoughts.

When I look at my newly finished painting (above), I think of summertime in Pizzo. I enjoyed last summer very much, especially the aperitivo "Aperol Spritz" between beach and lunch. I had to paint it in oil on canvas. The view is the one from our kitchen or dining table.

I love rooms with sea view (who does not?). One artist, who's artwork I admire a lot, is Henri Matisse. He actually painted a few rooms with sea view. It is facinating how he captured the atmosphere inside and outside the room.

And that's why I will add this book to my collection. It's all about Matisse' rooms with a view:

Henri Matisse: Rooms with a View (amazon.com)
Henri Matisse - Zimmer mit Aussicht (amazon.de)

Italian Beach Painting

Beach at Tropea in Oil on Canvas, 40cm x 40 cm (painted by me)

my inspiration, a photo by Italian photographer Marco Cristofori (via imagestate)

While Angelo is painting walls and ceilings, I am painting the beach in Calabria.

The beach shown above is at Tropea and the view is from above. It is quite a famous spot to take pictures. There are many on the intern if you google "Tropea beach" images. 

Some Surprises Revealed

CC, my husband, had the chance to check out the house and the latest news in and around Pizzo for three whole days! Last night he sent me some pictures that were a surprise, since Angelo never reported about some work he had done. I think he had so much fun being creative and experimentalizing, he didn't want to wait for any approval. See the results here :

A ceiling like a "gelato al limone" or "sunny side up"

It is my son's room. Let's see if he likes it...

Actually, you do not look all the times up, you rather see the room like above.

A pinkish two tones ceiling in the entrance - love that!

Angelo is working on restoring that stucco rosette by replacing some missing peaces.

I asked him to leave the bit of background like it is now (with some yellow, ochre colour). 

Here the maestro in person coming down the stairway he has just coloured.

The stairs look that way as we have to replace the old marble steps that were a lot broken.

Another surprise: a framed mirror for 20 Euro.

And it looks good! Was not ordered or found by me, but it can stay!

I knew that Angelo had found some fresci below the ceiling paint in the living room.

But I did not yet see the result after scratching away all the excess paint.

Awesome ! Like it !

Not sure what the plan is for the rusty beams.

The whole in the ceiling is for some chimney or stove.

Last surprise: a "neat" chandelier in our bedroom...

This mail from CC had the comment: "If you do not like it, it can be removed".

My answer: "yes, please, remove to guest bedroom until we find better solution".

Wow, so many new pictures. Actually it was not all done in three days. Angelo was hiding this from us! Cheeky ! However, he announced that he had chosen a different colour for our son's room. I knew that that will be a surprise. But did not expect so many others. Well, we have so many rooms, why not some surprises... I think Angelo had great fun to bring in his own ideas without waiting for my "pro-and-cons-naa-hesitating-maybe-not-decision-making-process". Vero, Angelo?

Inspired by Sweet Paul

Since I have not been reading or writing blogs for a while I had to catch up a littele bit. I started by checking blog by blog from my blogroll (inspiring blogs). After a while I came across a list of "50 of the world's best design blogs" by the London Times online.  Some of them are already in my blogroll, but most have been new to me and fun to discover. However, a list like that compiled by a single person is never complete or pleasing everybody. So I did miss some of my favorite bloggers (you can find them in my blogroll). - Anyway. I am writing all this, to let you know that I discovered one interesting blog in that top 50 list: Sweet Paul by Paul Lowe, a stylist who works with both food and interior decor:

Photo by Victor Schrager, stylist Paul Lowe

This blog is so clean and serene - not overloaded with tons of colourful mosaic photos as it is now popular in many blogs - Paul's pictures are styled by himself and photographed by professional colleagues of him. The above photo - he writes in his "Holiday countdown" post dec 17 - was shoot on a hot summer day in August for Country Living and he discribes how to get the style.  Right now, Paul posts everyday until dec 25th a new fun craft or recipe that sets you in the right peaceful Christmas mood.

Photo by Studio Dreyer Hensley

Paul loves "chasing the sweet things in live" (this is the subtitle of his blog), and so all the sweet recepies are by himself.  During his childhood in Norway he used to bake gingerbread cookies with his mum while his grandmother used to make a gingerbread house every Christmas. Enjoy Paul's recipie and house making instruction here.

Sometimes a good blog is inspiring other bloggers. Sweet Paul definately is inspiring me and gets me back on the creativity track. I also realise how much styling is important for a good photo and got familiar with the job of a prop stylist.

*
*  Happy Holiday to all of you !  *
*

Creative Tuesday

this morning I saw colours ... of course, when you have followed my last posts, no wonder ... 3 bold fundamental colours (red, blue and yellow) and 4 complementary colours (red-green, orange-blue) on my dining table ! Of course I had to take out my camera. This could be a motif to paint:

My painting class was right after (I am doing water colour every Tuesday morning with my neighbour architect, his friends and an art teacher). But we paint what the teacher proposes. Today we had to paint a frozen lake near our town. She, the artist, always brings a photograph and one or two versions she already has painted. Then she paints in front of us showing her technique and how we could compose the picture - and then its our turn. It is always interesting to see all the different results. Here is mine:

And after this post I can say, that I have been really creative today (photograph, painting, writing) !

Creative Monday

flower pot with geranium and succulents, watercolour by me

original object


tanker with anchor, watercolor by Luca

original object

Today, we decided : no beach.
My son and I sat on the grandparent's terrace and started to paint what was in front of our eyes. We both enjoyed the creative exercise !

DIY: Recycling hangers into useful accessories

What I did lately:
Recycling a laundry hanger into a still missing bathroom accessory: a toilet paper holder.


It is a simple, but unique, creative, and green idea - quickly and easily to implement without spending money!

Also these hanging accessories are a unique.
If you just have renovated your bathroom and still have no mirror this could be an interim solution.



The chalkboard 'capt'n hook' could hang near the entrance or in the kitchen. (For magnetic chalk boards see my previous post).

All products could be done by yourself - or purchased at Magazin, one of my favorite furnishing shops. There are three of them in Germany (Stuttgart, München, Bonn). The toilet paper hanger (yes, I copied the idea) is available in this shop for about 7 Euro. The mirror was about 19 Euro, the chalkboard 29 Euro. Better DIY!

Black Magnetic Chalkboard

I love this big black magnetic chalkboard sliding door by Christine Lane!

My sister has a big black magnetic board till the ceiling in her kitchen.

And I want one as sliding door for my son's playroom.

It will be fun to stick his drawings on it instead of just filing them somewhere. It will be fun for him and his friends to draw on it. It will be fun to play teacher and student. It will be fun to write poems on it. Maybe in Chinese characters. It will support our creativity and be decorative at the same time.

I researched chalkboards on google images and found so many nice ideas. Sfgirlbybay did a peak worthy chalkboard round-up.

Get inspired and DIY !
Get magnetic primer and chalk paint in green or black.
Make a bold statement on a wall in your home office, entrance, kitchen or kids room or loo. Let guests leave a comment.

Entrance of Front Hotel, Copenhagen via hyggehouse

No Special China

I did not do it.
Palazzo Pizzo will not have special china ware.

However, you asked me once to keep you posted what design I would choose.
So here (above) are my two favorites. I would have done 12 dinner plates for each version.

But as usual, I am doing things last second. The shop confirmed, they could do it in a few days and deliver tomorrow, so it could be packed in the container. But when I saw the draft that they send me via email... I thought, it is not the way we like it. It is too accurate. Hand painted though. Of course I could have gone back and explain again - or even go to the other store that develops a chop and print it for 1 kuai per plate. But I am running out of time now.

And maybe it is for the good. I was not really convinced to have special china ware for the house. Maybe I am also a bit tired of the house renovation at the moment. My head is not there right now. - But of course, I will be back soon in best form to blog again more. Especially when we start our summer holiday - close to the project (it is still not livable). I hope I will not be too disappointed about the slow progress. They are still working on the facade. Oh, I hope the architect will not feel offended... it is of course also due to our financial situation that things are slow... no money, no ho(use)ney...

Me & Writing & Design Blogs

I am a writer!
At least once in a while, when I am blogging or when I am writing for a magazine like tbjhome. It is a free monthly English lifestyle and interior design magazine that is distributed together with That's Beijing, the essential monthly guide for life in Beijing. It was fun working with the editor and with the bloggers Danielle, Grace and Jennifer (see details below).
Thank you for the cooperation!
I loved to work from home, anytime, best time for me is nighttime.

Here is the article, two pages - click on the pic to enlarge:


I came up with the idea to introduce some creative design blogs to the readers of the magazine instead of design books. They liked the idea, and gave me even two pages. However the editor said they only want design blogs that have their own domain name because blogspot is blocked in China (censorship).

So I choose from my favorites:
the style files by Danielle de Lange, The Netherlands
design*sponge by Grace Bonney, New York U.S.
and
The Peak of Chic by Jennifer Dwyer, Atlanta U.S.

At the end the editor decided to at least mention three more of my favorite design blogs that are on blogspot (if anybody in China faces access difficulties, go via pkblogs.com!):
Absolutely Beautiful Things by Anna Spiro, Brisbane Australia
Decor8 by Holly Becker, Boston U.S.
and
Designers' Block by Di Overton
National Park Northumberland U.K.

As thinking green is important for our environment, I was looking for a green blog and found inhabitat. This blog, founded by Jill Fehrenbacher, New York is entirely devoted to green design.

Two more inspiring blogs were suggested by the editor:
Core77 - the industrial design super site
and
NOTCOT - a visual filtration of ideas + aesthetics + amusement

And what does this have to do with our Palazzo?
Well, it is mentioned in the magazine as well, sort of, shortly, in my bio.
As I know lots of other bloggers from pictures, I feel like I owe you a picture of me. And as it is published in this Beijing magazine anyway, why not publish it on my blog?
Here it is:
Okay, my name is Susanne. Some friends call me Susi. My sister and father used to call me Susi. My mum didn't like it and so my family calls me Su. French people call me Suzanne or Suzie. American people call me Susan or Susi. My uncle and aunt calls me Sanni (like Sunny). My dear grandma did too. I choose Susi as alias and spell it with 'z' like 'Suzie Wong' as I am living in China and started my Beijing blog first. Oh, by the way, this is all about my middle name only. My first name is Ella.

Bye for now.

Creative Tuesday

Yesterday, Tuesday, I was creative. I kept drawing and drawing the house, just tiny sketches - with all details, with less details and with lesser details and really reduced. You don't want to see all the sheets I did with tiny houses, so just one here:


I was thinking about what comes in my mind first when I think of the house. Or what was the first impression when we saw the house for the first time? What was the strongest argument to buy it?

I like strolling down the alley that ends at the piazza with the church and our house. I like its main facade at the piazza. And of course, I love the sea view. And I realized, I really like the tiny balconies. To be more precise, I love these iron balustrades.


While doing my drawings, I remembered a post by Di from Designers' Block about personalized dinnerware, however could not find it anymore. Thanks to Di, who emailed me the link of Rabbit Toes, I can add this picture to my 'logo file' for inspiration. I like the idea of using the door with the house number.



Hotel Chinaware from Paris Boutique Hotel is inspiring as well for those who plan personalized dishes. You do not need to be noble to have an emblem or invent one - or just replace it with your front door ;-)








Maryam in Marrakesh has found a great logo for her almost ready guesthouse - a silhouette peacock. Now it is my turn to be creative. Beside my top blue picture that represents for me the essential beauty of the place - the sky and sea melting together in front of my iron balustrade balcony with an Calbrian fig cactus - these are my other actual favorites:


What's your favorite? Any ideas? Please leave your comment!