For many years my husband and I have been really interested in, and have begun collecting painted portraits.  We’re starting a small collection which are lining our entryway and stairwell.  Most of the portraits are vintage and antique portraits, but we’re starting to mix in some new/contemporary works as well. A friend of ours who [...]

Feminine, chic, glamorous, and intimate.  I’ve been loving photographs of Irving Penn’s for a long time, but recently I’ve been loving the depth and intimacy of his images.  I ran across a quote of Penn’s which speaks to the power of his images: “Sensitive people faced with the prospect of a camera portrait put on [...]

Slim Aarons lived by the mantra “attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places.” And it’s true, he photographed some of the world’s wealthiest celebrities, jet-setters, and royalty, but somehow with a feeling of approachability and closeness.  From his NYTimes obituary it seems as though Slim had become one of them.  He was actually close [...]

I’m a big fan of public artwork.  But in Chicago we usually see it in the forms of sculptures and installations.  While in Moscow this summer we ran across some installations of paintings placed atop building exteriors.  They took what was a simple cinder block building and gave it a punch of beauty.  They distracted [...]

As you know I’m a big fan of mixing styles and eras, but they’re rarely ‘uber-modern’.  Sure I’ll have modern touches here and there, but I’ve really come to appreciate a new (yet old) form of modernism called Cubism.  Oftentimes for me true modernism feels austere and cold, but cubism feels more visually stimulating, almost [...]

About a year and a half ago while at Art Chicago I ran across a new artist’s work that I fell in love with. Every few months her work comes back to mind, oftentimes when visiting a client with young children.  It’s the perfect blend of beauty, aesthetic intrigue, and yes, the perfect amount of [...]