since the holiday season soirees are in full swing (already!) i thought it would be fun to go a little glam this separated at birth. and nothing says glamour like old hollywood starlets.

canadian house & home and lucille ball.

silk draperies and eartha kitt.

elizabeth taylor and angus fergusson.

home journal via this is glamorous and sophia loren.

design decor and audrey hepburn.

• top image greta garbo; and gubi grand piano sofa.

toronto based holly farrell is one of my favorite artists – ever! a few months after i wrote about her for the first time, i was lucky enough to meet her in person. not only is she insanely talented, she is also soooo sweet! don’t you love it when that happens!? anyway, it’s very easy to have an art crush on her, thanks to her vintage subject matter, her muted color choices, her unbelievable painting skills, and of course, her just-mentioned sweetness! Have a look:

gah! so lovely! i have so many favorite pieces that it took me forever to decide which one to start the post with, but i knew exactly how to finish things off. this may very well be my latest “holly farrell” fave!

love that cozy little hat! oh, and one more little tidbit to share with you – i’m thrilled to say that i’m curating a group show this spring (details to come soon!) and holly is one of the artists! so excited! i’ll keep you posted – until then, i’ll see you back her in two weeks ~ the jealous curator xo

well, this is a super fun post for me! y’all may already be following some our twitter antics and know by now that san francisco-based artist lisa congdon and her lovely girlfriend clay are good pals of mine. we like to tweet on and on about project runway and other interests of ours, and somewhere along the line of lisa’s tweets i found out she had recently redecorated her art studio. so, admiring it from afar was just not enough for me, and i think i just went right ahead and invited myself to photograph it!

and so, lucky you — you get to see lisa’s studio up close and personal too! it’s so smashing — with its tall loft ceilings and exposed brick painted white, and big old skylights to provide lisa with all the natural light she needs to happily paint her days away. and i can assure you, it’s a pretty cool place to hang out — like a mini museum displaying many of the infamous collections that grace the pages of her book, a collection a day. thanks for letting me share, lisa! for more of lisa’s work, visit her brand new blog, website, and etsy shop.

if you’ve been following along for a while, you’ll know i have a fairly large collection of vintage portrait paintings, including the infamous rico suave. i’ve been in a bit of a conundrum over them – do they stay or do they go? maybe i just need to rearrange them somehow for a more dramatic effect, or revamp the collection with some new pieces of art. so i went looking for a few more ideas to give them new life. they feel a bit like family now, so it’s hard to say farewell for good. i loved the look of these portraits (above) and i loved the look of the mismatched eames chairs with them.

gregory mellor; kitschcafe; vintage renewal; and dianafayt.

swarm; elle decor; emma’s design blogg; liveafabulouscreativelife; the selby.

• top image via better homes & gardens.

The Blackbird Sings is the work of Natasha Newton, artist, illustrator, obsessive book collector and nature lover, dividing her time, living between the beautiful coastal county of Suffolk in the UK and in Paris, France. i find Natasha’s art to be so soothing and calming, just like the nature, birds, and a love of astronomy she is inspired by.

natasha also enjoys experimenting with different surfaces for her paintings, so alongside the more traditional canvas, paper and woodblock, you will also find natasha’s paintings on objects such as wooden boxes, sycamore plates, and smooth pebbles found during walks along the beach. You can see a larger variety of natasha’s work on her website, and blog as well as follow her on twitter, and shop for her pieces on etsy.

ok, that’s it – i’m going to get my portrait, along with the likeness of my two wiener dogs, painted onto the smallest piece of paper i can find! wish me luck! ~ the jealous curator xo

{all of these images can be found by searching for “miniature portraits”, on ebay. have fun!}

yum! that was goooood. ok, i’m off to get a jump start on “my special day” – and victoria, i suggest you do the same. happy birthday lovely lady!  ~ the jealous curator xo

{1. painting & sculptures ~ will cotton 2. paintings on paper ~ martha rich 3. sculpture, and close up of the inside of that fabulous sculpture ~ lauren brescia 4. realist paintings ~ anselmo swan 5. paintings ~ wayne thiebaud 6. ok, these are titled “bonfires”, but i like to believe that they’re little mixed media ice cream volcano cakes with built in candles ~ tom edwards 7. sculptures ~ beatrice moore 8. painting ~ claire grill}.

i am already a big fan of Leslie Oschmann of Swarm’s painting canvas bags, and home furnishings. but now leslie and the Amsterdam-based design-duo Little Owl, have created these gorgeous plate sets, called the Altered Perspectives series, available through anthropologie. each set contains a various number of plates, and each set is one of a kind. A vintage portrait, painted on canvas, is layered atop traditional blue and white transferware, resulting in a vintage-modern work of art from two timeless elements. beautiful!

see?! so many unique vistas, and original horizons – all of which i’d be thrilled to have just outside of my window. alright, well you enjoy the view, and i’ll see you back here in two weeks with another one of my little collections! ~ the jealous curator xo

{1. iceberg paintings ~ jeremy miranda 2. circular photographs ~ marco suarez 3. sunset paintings ~ zoe pawlak 4. portrait/landscapes (love these so much!) ~ helen sear 5. icelandic photographs (top three staged with wool, bottom three staged with chocolate cake, poppy seeds and milk!) eszter burghardt 6. collage ~ tom edwards 7. found landscapes embellished with text ~ wayne white}.

i’m a huge, fanatical fan of designer leslie oschmann of swarm. if you’re not familiar with leslie’s work you may have seen it lurking around an anthropologie shop and not even realized the work was contemporary. re-purposed from vintage painting canvases, leslie’s work takes on a whole new wonderful life when she gets to deconstructing these paintings.

amsterdam-based swarm’s new work includes this series of unique, leather handled carry bags made by hand using vintage oil paintings sourced from flea markets in Holland and Belgium. Each bag tell its own story through the juxtaposition of timeworn painted canvas, making each one a distinctive piece of wearable art. This series of carry bags are strong, versatile and spacious, and are designed to show signs of age so that their stories live on, and have an interior pocket, also made from a painting.

leslie’s other new collection further explores the re-invention of juxtaposed and re-purposed materials — this time with chairs. By altering some of the original components, new life is breathed into each chair, transforming them into the “altered” ego of their former self. so, i thought it might be fun to juxtapose leslie’s new bags next to her new chair collection! for more on leslie, visit swarm.