My continuing fascination with technology, fashion and art makes me really really want to design (and wear!) my own digital printed pencil skirt. The Wall Street Journal recently wrote an article on Spring’s current wardrobe staple, title “Pencil In Some Fun!” You can read it here.
From the article: “The pencil skirt has the perfect shape to highlight a print because it’s a really clean surface,” said designer Joseph Altuzarra of the high-waisted, nipped-in style to which he returns season after season. The skirt below by Zero Maria Cornejo was based on an iPhone photo of the metal fence at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco!
Here are just a few others… search the web and you will definitely find one for you.
And below is a mock-up of a digital printed pencil skirt made from one of my altered photographs. I can wear my own sexy version of the Eiffel Tower!
Imagined Eiffel Tower Pencil Skirt
And just to round it all out, a palette of “happy color” coffee cups in my favorite brights. Just in case you’d rather drink your bold color than wear it!
This weekend I drove up the beautiful California coast to San Simeon, in central Cali. It is always a pleasure to escape the city of Los Angeles and all of it’s hubbub. The Golden State is gorgeous, and although the weather forcast predicted rain, it was a rare, sunny weekend (lucky me!) It is easy to see why William Randolph Hearst purchased the land above San Simeon Bay to build his castle for himself and Marion… a more spectacular setting would be difficult to find. The castle is as awe inspiring as it must have been in it’s prime party days of the roaring ’20s.
Hearst's Castle for Marion
I have always been fascinated by Marion Davies. According to Wikipedia, she was a much better actress/comedienne than history has claimed (due in a large part to a sad portrayal in Orson Welles movie “Citizen Kane”), but Hearst’s love, devotion and immense wealth did nothing at all to help Marion’s career. She was doomed to throwing lavish parites and drunken revelries, and never achieved the success as an actress that she so dearly wanted. In later life, she worked tirelessly for charities.
Still partially intact is Marion’s beach house in Santa Monica; I pass it often and think of her. It is now a private beach club. She is the ultimate story of someone who had it all, and at the same time, had nothing. Hearst’s wife would not divorce him so they never married, and her talent went unacknowledged. Though I rarely focus on this era for my art prints, the trip up north and the sad story of Marion inspired me to do a image of her. It is the Golden Age of Hollywood in the Golden State!
Charlie Chaplin Entertaining
Cary Grant (the one before George Cloony!)
Marion's house in Santa Monica, as it was then
You can purchase the piece here, or click on the picture:
Marion Davies by Trolleyla
I’ve been seeing some very interesting new fashion for Fall 2013, among those are the voluminous and luxurious styles from Rochas. The looks are both retro and modern at the same time, recalling the shapes of the 1950s yet looking very new. Delicious! And who could not love the mosaic bejewelled treasures from Dolce and Gabbana? Early Christian byzantine art brought to life to be seen anew. I LOVE the colors and the complexity and I find them inspiring and very creative. There is so much inspiration in the fashion world.
Rochas Fall 2013
Doclce and Gabbana fall 2013
Bits and Pieces
I particularly like the Patchwork dresses I’ve been seeing.. they remind me of collage and layering in art forms. It is something tricky to achieve in both fashion and art. What clashes… and what is harmonious together?
I think the use of black and white makes it much easier to pattern clash. It is something I should try as I usually use a lot of color.
Preen Patchwork Dress
raoul patchwork dress
Below is one of my newer more “earthy” patchwork pieces. For now it is only available in my Etsy store (click on the image to visit my store!) as I have too many industrious activities going on and keeping up with them is exhausting (my life functions as a patchwork as well!) I think it is most beautiful as a canvas.
But please take your time to peruse my website, where I have many images not on etsy:
http://shop/trolleyla.com
JuliE Christie
And as Autumn is near, of course I think of Paris, and this seems to represent a piece of a patchwork memory of Paris… It is time to go again. YAY!
Paris
Golden Gustav Klimt
Today I came across two different items related to the iconic Gustav Klimt. Having been to Vienna, which I love (where I swear his spirit lives on!) one is often caught by surprise when suddenly, looming around any corner, is an Art Deco architectural wonder. Of course it is a modern, bustling city, but it literally sings with music and art. I can’t help but love Klimt; of course I love his lyrical line and sense of the decorative, and gold leaf is always special to me (anything that is glittery works for me!) But also, he was a true lover of women and their sensuality, and he always messed and annoyed the establishment of his day, a character trait I admire. No shrinking violet was Gustav! And he produced some seriously beautiful art.
There is a review in The Wall Street Journal “Forever Between Two Worlds” for an exhibition at the Neue Gallery in New York, in honor of the 150th aniversary of his birth. And at the Getty Museum here in Los Angeles, we have “Gustav Klimt: The Magic of Line” which will showcase his drawings. An excerpt:
Discover the beautiful and evocative drawings of Gustav Klimt in this major retrospective, which explores the stylistic evolution of his drawings as well as their centrality to his work. Klimt’s drawings are characterized by an unsurpassed mastery of line, from his earliest days as a student to his maturity as an avant-garde master.
I am lucky enough to be able to see both, as I will soon be in New York (YAY!!) so I will get to absorb some Gustav magic.
Adele Bloch-Bauer, 1907 (Klimt's possible lover!)
Gustave Klimt drawing "Fishblood"
Preparatory drawing for "The Kiss"
Here is a Photo illustration collage I did that includes an image on Klimts very famous “The Kiss”. I no longer sell this image, but maybe I should revisit it! I love being inspired from other artist’s and incorporating them in my work.
Klimt-Collage
Visit my website or etsy store to see what I am up to now!
Beautifully Bjork
It’s been a long time between blog posts for me. I’ve had a bit of computer burn-out. Time always runs short, and I need to replenish by thinking and making things. Sometimes making things that have no use at all. There is a beauty in that, like the beauty of Bjork. I am so thrilled and grateful each and everytime I sell something, but getting it out there in cyberland takes many hours sitting in front of the computer. In fact, right now, instead of working, I read this fascinating article on what inspires Bjork; everything from music to the rain forests. I think it is well worth the time to find out about what inspires Bjork, because she is a true original creative force. I don’t always love all of her music, but I always love her and her strange beauty. She inspires me!
Bjork from her latest album, "Biophilia"
Click on this image to read and listen to some of the many things that inspire Bjork from this fabulous article on the guardian.uk website, written by Rebecca Nicholson.
Photo of Bjork on the Guardian UK article
You can also find images of her best fashion choices! Of course, the famous “Swan Dress” is there!
The sad demise of Kodak
As I write this post on my iPad, I acknowledge that I love the digital age as much as we all do, and there is no doubt that digital photography is one of the most important advances ever. Well, except for maybe the release of the Kodak “Brownie” camera. It was the first portable camera; the first to bring photography to everyone. You just took your photos, and sent the whole camera in, then Kodak sent you back your photos and a newly loaded camera!
I loved learning the challenge of film photography; the chemistry, the skill, the tricks of a double exposure, and sadly, it is now basically extinct. I own quite a few expensive cameras that are now worthless! (a short meditation on the nature of acquiring “things!”) and in reality, digital pixels don’t really replicate a true analog image. Somehow, something is missing!
It looks like Kodak will soon be no more, so here are some retro memories to honor “The Eastman Kodak Co.”
Lastly, I have included a COLOR FILM ANALOG photograph I took about 3 years ago, when I went around my local area taking pictures of old California style Bungalows at night. Sadly, they too, are dissapearing!!!! And NO, NOT ANY Photoshopping!!!!
Film Photography California Bungalow by trolleyla
It’s been long time between posts lately … you know, the holidays and all that. I’ve been enjoying my downtime and reading my iPad, watching movies (loved loved “The Artist”!), filling orders for my stores and generally being lazy! I recently have been perusing the Life Magazine app, which is just beautiful. They have organized their incredible iconic photos into slideshow-based themes and I discovered Françoise Sagan, (under the “romantic-drunken-mad-literary-artist category”) who by all accounts was a hard living, larger than life, precocious artist. Her first, and most famous book, “Bonjour Tristesse” was published when she was 18 years old. She was an eccentric, and I love her for that!
Here she is with some of her more famous quotes:
“To jealousy, nothing is more frightful than laughter.”
When asked if she believed in love: “Are you joking? I believe in passion. Nothing else. Two years, no more. All right, then: three.”
“A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off you.”
“I have loved to the point of madness, that which is called madness, that which to me is the only sensible way to love.”
“One can never speak enough of the virtues, the dangers, the power of shared laughter.”
“Art must take reality by surprise.”
I know it appears I am in love with all things French …and I am! Only the French would make the new silent movie “The Artist”, and possess the effortless style of everyday Parisiens, speak the lovely language that I now master fairly well, not to mention the great bread, the butter, and Brigitte Bardot.
She loved fast cars (and leopard coats!) (Life Magazine photo)
Francoise at work (?)
Francoise and friend
Fabulous poster for the movie of her first book
If you have ever studied another language, one of the first things you need to grasp completely is that you CANNOT translate phrases word for word from your language. That is not learning the language! Which is why the phrase “I miss Paris” never rolls off my tongue quickly enough. To miss Paris, or anyone, they must be “missed to you.” Last night I saw a House Hunters International on apartment hunting in Paris (a daunting task, of course) and today I saw a wonderful article about a new exhibition of Gertrude and The Brother’s Stein’s art collection. (If you saw “Midnight in Paris” you were probably amused by Kathy Bates’ portrayal of Gertrude and that fabulous copy of Picasso’s painting he did of her!) The exhibition, “The Stein’s Collect” is at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, then travels to New York, and finally Paris, where it all began. From the Wall Street Journal article:
For several years, almost the only places in Paris where one could go to see collections of works by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse were Gertrude and Leo’s (and later Alice’s) weekly Saturday-evening salons on rue de Fleurus, and Sarah and Michael’s the same evening on the rue Madame. Eventually, “everybody” came—writers, musicians, cafe society and the gay demimonde, foreign searchers after the new, and the artists the Steins collected.
The Steins were such influential and astute art collectors that they managed to have owned some of the most beautiful and important paintings ever created, such as these two glorious Matisse portraits. They are breathtaking!
So I’m sure you can understand why I have learned to say correctly “Paris me manque” whilst my head is thinking: “Paris is missed to me!”
Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein in "Midnight in Paris"
Gertrude Stein, 1905–6, by Pablo Picasso
Girl With a Hat, Henri Matisse 1908
Woman with a Hat, Henri Matisse 1905
And as always, please visit my store(s) to see the things of Paris that are missed to me 
Eiffel Tower by Trolleyla, canvas print 16 X 20
My Chihuahua is Warholized
If you have a website, blog, store, tumblr, twitter, etsy, or any other online enterprise, you know you are always thinking about them and working on them. It is a lot of work! Sometimes I just want to think about my chihuahua, so I make art pieces with her and they make me happy. I just turned this Warhol version of Jodi the Chihuahua into a small canvas for my store at http://shop.trolleyla.com. Maybe it will make you happy too!
12X12 inch "Chihuahua" pop art canvas by trolleyla
Click on the picture to purchase!
