Please Link to My New Blog Site!

My new blog site is www.kimberlybgray.wordpress.com

Eldorado Arts and Crafts Association Fall Show 2015

The first day yesterday was a pure pleasure.  Met so many wonderful people. One of my clutch handbags went home to North Carolina!!! Thank you Pat and Thomas! I MUST capture some images for this blog, however, blogspot does not allow me to use my iPad, and it is such a pain to get to my computer and then to forward images to my email, etc., etc., etc. Going to explore another blog site. Hard being a one-woman show!

Eldorado at Sante Fe Fall Arts and Crafts Show 2014

EACA Postcard

Next Friday and Saturday! Handbags and Cowhide and Concho bracelets have been added to my collection! Custom lamps and shades, pillows, and trumeau with original iconography artwork too!

Dream Weaver

My first woven rug . . . using Pendleton wool selvages! I'm hooked! Looking forward to my next one! So appreciative of the inspiration from my friend Lleta, a compatriot weaver and designer.

Eldorado at Sante Fe Studio Artist's Tour 2014

Spring in Sante Fe

It's here! Today and tomorrow! Come celebrate and see all the beautiful pieces I've created in my atelier!

Bee Skep Collection
Royal Celadon

Adaptation of an 18th Century Trumeau



Trumeau, Still Life Fruits



Detail, Fishermen.
Colors used Pebble, Rain Grey,
Antique Gold. Burnt Umber



 

 

 

 

 

A trumeau is a mirror of sorts first created in the 17^th and 18^th centuries in Europe and more often first found built-in to the boiserie of French residences and chateaux.  As time passed, many of these decorative interior pieces were removed and adapted to interiors as muebles (actually a Spanish word!) and eventually reproduced during the multifaceted era of the 19^th century in America.

Fishermen Taking Out
Their Boat, Lithograph

The ones I have created are my personal adaptation of a trumeau of the neoclassical era of the 18^th and 19^th centuries.  The artwork contained  in this first set of images is a mid-20^th century direct lithography of an oil on canvas housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

 

Fishermen Taking Out Their Boat, by George Morland (London, 1763-1804), depicts a blustery day somewhere on an English coast, fishing nets strewn to the side with the day’s catch, and a canine companion anticipating their success.  The lithograph is mounted on board and coated with a solvent-based product that provides a measure of protection from moisture.

Still Life Fruits, Lithograph

The artwork contained in the next set of images is a mid-20^th century direct lithography of an oil on canvas housed at Museo del Prado, Madrid Spain. 

Still Life Fruits, by Luis Egidio Melendez, or Menendez (Spanish, Naples 1716-1780 Madrid), lusciously depicts cantaloupe and figs alongside wine and bread.  The lithograph is mounted on board and coated with a solvent-based product that provides a measure of protection from moisture.



Detail of Still Life Fruits Trumeau. 
Colors used are River Rock, Acorn,
Wedgwood Green, Antique Gold, Burnt Umber

The mirrors are recycled pieces that may contain slight imperfections; this  lends itself to the distressed nature of the trumeau’s history.  The wood moldings and bolection are a combination of mixed wood types, and the finish is distressed and painted using gesso and acrylics to mimic the painted boiserie of the time.  Master craftsman Dennis, Weaubleau, Missouri, collaborated with me on the development and creation of this design.



Trumeau, Fishermen Taking
Out Their Boat

Each trumeau measures 34"W x 49 1/2"H, relative to the Golden Mean!  I commissioned 11 pieces from Dennis, each one unique in color and artwork.  Suggested retail is $1,100.  If you are in the design industry, please contact me about special pricing.

Finding Water

My artist quest continues with Julia Cameron's book, Finding Water; it is every bit as delightful as The Artist's Way.  Am meeting every week with my finely gifted artist friends, Donna, Jean, Patricia, and Alena.  This creative cluster divines its way each week, and we affirm one another's paths.