ARTmonday: Holly Irwin

Artist Holly Irwin wrote to me last week to say she’s a new Style Carrot fan. I’m now a fan of her paintings, especially these dreamy images of women in full skirts. Irwin lives and paints in a seaside village in Alabama and is represented by Lagerquist Gallery in Atlanta, Loretta Goodwin Gallery in Birmingham, and Lyons Share Gallery in Fairhope, Alabama.


Camelot •  48×48″ •  Mixed media on canvas

La Femme

Circle of Life

Hush •  14×11  •  Mixed Media on Canvas

La Fleur

Dreamer

Rain

[tweetmeme source=”StyleCarrot” only_single=false]

Beauty Break: Cover Girl Lash Blast Mascara

I’ve been on the quest for the perfect mascara since I was 15. I wore contact lenses, and most mascaras could not stand up to the saline solutions. Smudgy undereye —not a good look. Despite the decades of hype, the pink and green Maybelline Great Lash Mascara never worked for me. Do you really think supermodels and celebs se drugstore stuff?

Over the years, I’ve used numerous brands with success, including Chanel and Trish McEvoy. For a while I was addicted to a dark burgundy by Make Up For Ever. For the past ten years or so, I’ve been using Bobbi Brown in brown. It had become increasingly difficult to find. Last week what I suspected was confirmed: the salesperson at Neiman’s in Copley said it had been discontinued.

Rather than go through the hassle of trolling department store counters (and spending too many $$$), I did something a little bit crazy. I bought  . . .  drugstore mascara. Namely, CoverGirl LashBlast Water Resistant Mascara. Yes, it’s true. My husband, who was with me, asked, “Who are you?”

Here’s the thing. I liked the ads – those crisp yellow print ads with Drew Barrymore really appealed, and I’m not even a huge fan. I actually used the images in a yellow trends story for The Inside Source. No, they did not send me the mascara (though I wish they had). Each time I saw the package at CVS – it’s been heavily promoted – I was drawn to that yellow, plastic wand. It seemed so wonderfully clean and durable compared to the usual clumpy black ones. And, the product comes in brown.

Guess what? I LOVE it. Seriously love it. The packaging, the wand, the color, the product. And, of course, the price.

*     *     *     *    *

S H O P makeup and fashion at S A K S

Saks Pre-Fall 2013 Shopping

ARTmonday: Susanna Maing

Got an email this morning from Specific, a new design store in L.A. (probably worth its own post) about an exhibit of new works by artist  Susanna Maing, who shows Angles Gallery, which also represents Polly Apfelbaum.

Peek
2006. Acrylic and flashe on panel. 60 x 52 inches


Snakes and Ladders
2006. Acrylic and flashe on panel. 41 x 36 inches


Peter Pan Shadow
2003. Latex on panel. 60 x 52 inches


Oddjob
2004. Acrylic, flashe, latex on panel


Seeing Stars
2006. Acrylic and flashe on panel. 37 x 40 inches


Baby, My Unforgettable Remembrance
2006. Acrylic and flashe on panel. 36 x 41 inches


Real or Fancy
2003. Latex paint on two panels. 32-1/4 x 55-1/2 inches overall


All images courtesy of Angles Gallery, Los Angeles

[tweetmeme source=”StyleCarrot” only_single=false]

Designer Spotlight: Seema Krish


Inspiration board.

Seema’s studio.


It’s true, I blogged about Seema Krish last summer after interviewing her for “Designing Women” in Stuff Magazine. But although we had a long phone conversation, we had never met. She invited me to The Buttery for tea last week, and after devouring a carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting (all me, not her), we walked to her studio at 46 Waltham (and ran into Jill Goldberg of Hudson with her beautiful new baby Dylan).

After introducing me around to some stationary designers – it’s like a college dorm in there, very fun – Seema showed me her newest work. In addition to continuing production on her debut collection, “Bombay Bliss”, she is introducing a new line of 46 textiles to Seema Krish Collection. Her work is absolutely stunning. The photos don’t do it justice. The colors are gorgeous, and on top of the block printing – by hand, so not perfect, thus utterly charming – are hand stitched details, like French knots, cross stitched “X”s, dotted lines, subtle mirrored pieces, appliqué, etc.

Bombay Bliss pillows

New designs – drawings with stitching

Browsing through a David Hicks book.


[tweetmeme source=”StyleCarrot” only_single=false]