FAIR(Y)TALES and THANK YOU NOTES

with Ashlina in her NYC appartment

FAIR(Y)TALES
OK so what is new, or even better what is not new! After 2 weeks in the US I have been back in Amsterdam for just over a week and already packing for New York again. This weekend the NYIGF starts where I will be presenting my designs together with my US distributor Eva Roepers of Interdecorations. As you can imagine we are both very excited (and a bit nervous of course) as this is our debut! Organizing a fair from a distance is never easy. I spend a few days in New York during my last trip for some preparatory work. We decided to keep the booth display real simple. Ashlina (the Decorista and long time blogging friend) helped me to source a couple of vintage chairs. I bought  matching shelving units and adding my color popping designs should do the job! I will give a full report from New York.

THANK YOU NOTES
As a result of the wonderful feauture in RUE Magazine I had many shouts and tweets including: Casasugar, Bright Bazaar, Simplified Bee, Carribean Living, Of Beauty and Love, Twelve Chairs, Lifestyle Treats ... I apologize for those I have missed, google alerts is not always flawless and neither am I :). So thank you all for loving and supporting my work!

New press: Let's Rue!

 from Rue # 6 (photo by Henny van Belkom)

from Rue # 6 (photo by Henny van Belkom)

Came back this weekend from New York and am suffering from the worst jetlag in ages. I feel like I have been partying the whole weekend dancing on tables with a bottle in my hand...Despite this non alcoholic hangover I feel up beat and happy. The round trip Amsterdam-Los Angeles-San Francisco-New York-Amsterdam has been inspiring and successful. During my stay in New York the new Rue came out featuring a tour of my studio in Amsterdam. Thank you wonderful team of Rue, including Editor in Chief Crystal Gentillelo and Mackenzie Horan (who I both met in person at the blogger meet up in SF) and photographer Henny van Belkom for such a fabulous feature and exposure. The studio feature is spreading rapidly and has already been spotted amongst others on Casa Sugar and Simplified Bee.

One of my favourite features in issue 6 is "Singaporean Love Story" showcasing Agnes Verrier's stylish Singaporean appartment and the love story behind it (photographed by Scott Woodward and styled by Marie Maglaque).  Having lived and worked in Singapore for years I could more than relate to the feature and it made me a bit homesick as well :).

The San Francisco Files Part I - SF bloggers meet!

with lovely Mackenzie of Rue Magazine

with editor in chief of Rue Magazine Crystal Gentilello
and Caitlin Flemming of Sacramento Street

There is so much to share from my 6 days in San Francisco but I have hardly had the time to report. While flying out to New York I am writing this post which is not even about the many wonderful sites, the excellent food and fabulous shopping! No it is about my fortunate experience meeting a whole group of kindred spirits. Crystal Gentilello and Mackenzie Horan of Rue Magazine kindly invited me along to a SF bloggers meet up organized and hosted by Cristin of Simplified Bee and Malka of Closet Innovations. The event took place at the wonderful historic old warehouse building of the San Francisco Design Centre where the showroom of Closet Innovations is located. I was simply over the moon to meet with bloggers I have been connected to for quite a while like the elegantly tall Caitlin of Sacramento Street, stylish Kate of Centsational Girl and a beaming Erica Cook of Moth Design (who came all the way from Calgary)! I also made new blogging friends amongst others artistic interior designer Claudia Juestel of Adeeni Design Group, lovely photographer Krissy of Cottage Farm and up beat interior designer Courtney Lake of Courtney Out Loud. Meeting such a group of beautiful talented women (and man, sorry Courtney) was more than inspiring. We had a great evening sharing experiences and ideas and I can't thank everyone enough for making my SF trip extra special (and thank you Courtney for taking pictures!)

O yes and be on the look out for the upcoming issue of Rue magazine which includes a tour of my Studio!

all smiles with Courtney

classy ladies Kate and Cristin

with Krissy of Cottage Farm

with host Malka and some delicious Nappa wine

The LA Files Part II

I only spend a few days in LA catching up with old friends, visiting galleries, great food, just a bit of shopping (really), relaxing by the pool.
One of the galleries I visited is Claudia Deutsch' Artspace Warehouse on 7354 Beverly Blvd (between The Grove and La Brea Blvd). The gallery exhibits a great selection of original artwork with an affordable pricetag. With galleries also in Zurich and Cologne Artspace Warehouse offers an international selection. Lovely Monica Telega (in front of the gallery in the picture above) gave me an extensive tour of the gallery.

My favourite works of the current exhibition are by LA artists Lucinda Luvaas and Brad Reyes. Lucinda has this amazing experimental mixed media technique resulting in modern impressionistic pieces (below "Alley Kids"). As to Reyes' work I love the urban vibes and especially in the below diptych the amazing skies ("LA Skyline (dawn)" no 1 and no 2).

The LA files Part I

I flew to Los Angeles on Thursday and can't believe it is already Sunday. LA gives me so much energy. There is so much to do, to see. Staying at the Beverly Hilton is already a treat by itself. This hotel which opened in 1955 is amongst others famous for hosting the Golden Globe Awards. A dangerous place for my credit card since Rodeo Drive is just around the corner. One of the real perks is that it has the largest pool of Beverly Hills. There is nothing better then a cool dive and a perfect Mai Tai after a day in this bustling city. Mai Tai translates from Thahitian to mean "out of this world" and consists of rum, lime juice, orange curacao, orgeat syrup and a maraschino cherry. For the original recipe click here.

Photo (my own): Mai Tai still life with the Beverly Hilton pool in the background.

Blogsy continued

detail from my studio

Just a short post to test whether the app Blogsy is still my new best friend when it comes to blogging from my iPad. There is so much technology to keep up with. My kids keep amazing me how quick they absorbe. But about a year ago I bought a typewriter. It was the first time my daughter had to ask me how something works ;).

Mind boggling Blogsy - fab App for iPad!

How proud I was to have purchased my iPad 2 just a few weeks back. Thinking it to be a wise decision. So much lighter than a laptop, easy for my travels, a great tool to blog......Arrrrrghhhhhh. Not so easy as I had hoped. To be honoust I didn't do extensive research simply assuming mister Apple had 'it' all covered. I could not upload any pictures and let's face it.....a blogpost without visuals is like the Tate without its art. The guys in the Apple Store told me to wait for the Cloud. What cloud, I can't just sit around waiting for a cloud. Sorry Steve, this is simply asking too much from this not so patient girl. I have my iPad NOW meaning I want to blog NOW! I could not believe that some clever person had not already found a way around it. So I googled myself 'color blind' searching for a solution and voilà I found an App named Blogsy. Super technical as I am (not) I started to venture into this whole new scary area today promising myself to eat this particular ugly frog first before doing anything else.
And guess what.....with some very helpful tutorials on YouTube I have suprised myself and I am starting to believe I can actually blog from my Ipad including visuals. If this is the case Blogsy is going to be my new best vriend on my trip to the States next week. The only thing is that I will only know the outcome of this very first Blogsy try out once I have posted. Keeping my fingers crossed that it can be done (and if it works thank you Lance)!
note: in the picture I am sporting one of my new designs, the Painted Peacock scarve (100% silk, Made in Holland) to be launched at the New York International Gift Fair in August

Happy Independence Day!

 

American Flag interpretation (Mariska Meijers - ink on paper)

American art dealer Leo Castelli poses with Jasper Johns' American Flag

(photo via life.comlife.com)

   

Don't deny freedom to yourself,

don't let yourself caught by the expectations of others, 

permit yourself the freedom to chase your own dreams! 

(quote: my own :))

Creating Still Lifes

(still lifes @ home - photo's Mariska Meijers)

(snap shot living room - photo Mariska Meijers)

My home is my inspiration board. I have collected so many things over the years. Everything has a story. I just love moving furniture around, creating Still Lifes with books, art and objects. My interior evolves continuously and consequently my art and designs.
I can totally find myself in Eddie Ross' approach to decorating "I love a well-travelled, eclectic house with furniture and objects, layered one upon the other, that tell a story about who lives there, where they've been and what they love." (note: I found Ross' quote in Holly Becker's fabulous book Decorate)

Wonderful Wisdom: It is You!

Precious Slippers (oil on canvas - Mariska Meijers)

"YOU HAVE THE BRAINS IN YOUR HEAD AND FEET IN YOUR SHOES.

YOU CAN STEER YOURSELF IN ANY DIRECTION YOU CHOOSE.

YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN AND KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW.

AND YOU ARE THE ONE WHO WILL DECIDE WHERE  TO GO."

-DR. SEUSS-

There are days that I feel I am not moving forward. My brain is messy and I am just overwhelmed by the amount of work ahead of me. On such days I have to remind myself that I am the one in charge  and there is no use tinkering about. Dr. Suess' quote captures this in the most simple and wonderful way. Wishing you a lovely weekend ahead!

Meeting Holly Becker

 Holly signs for a happy Franca of Villa d"Esta

 Bloggers Unite!

 Karine Candice Kong with Kelly Hoppen's social

media representative Jadis Tillery of Dot Talent

With  Kate Baxter (Fabric of my Life) and 

Arianna Trapani (Ariana Interiors)

 All smiles with Holly

 

having fun with Franca

 

To become a fan of Meet The Blogger on facebook click here

On Saturday I attended a fabulous event: Meet The Blogger Amsterdam, organized by Lise of Urban Style Vibes and Holly Becker of Decor8. Over 120 bloggers attended the event. It was great to finally meet so many colleagues face to face, including Karine Candance Kong of Bodie and Fou, Danielle de Lange of The Style Files, Carole King of Dear Designer's blog and Franca de Jonge of Villa d'Esta.
Holly gave an inspirational talk about how she changed drastically changed her life and dropped a corporate career to pursue her dreams. A girl after my own heart! After her talk she did a signing session for her book "Decorate" a must have style bible for the home which she wrote together with the lovely Joanna Copestick. The book is filled with beautiful pictures, great decorating advice and wonderful quotes and insights from some of the world's best designers, including Jonathan Adler and Betsy Burnham.
Decorate is amongst others available through Amazon.

Painting away....

Believe it or not but YES I still find time to create "free" work. It is something I actually need, painting in total freedom. No time pressure, no instructions, no rules, just paint, following my instinct, boosting my creativity. I am showing you one of the paintings I am working on at the moment. It is not quite finished. I am still missing something, but I haven't quite figured it out yet. In order to find out what it is missing I have hung it on my wall in stead of leaving it on the easel. It is a great little trick that helps me to see my work from a different angle. What also helps is photographing the painting frequently while in progress. A photograph enables me to distance myself from my work and helps me to finally dare to take the decision that a works is finished (I can be my most brutal critic)!

Morning Coffee (a New York International Gift Fair sneak peek)!

 working on the original design

finished design

I am an addict. I have to admit that when I don't have my latte in the morning I don't function properly. I just love that moment when I switch on my Nespresso machine, foaming some milk and then accompanied with a slice of "peperkoek" (a typical Dutch breakfast cake) hit my desk, sipping coffee while doing my mail.
Especially for that moment I designed a small tray measuring 20x27cm. Just big enough for a nice cup (or two) and a treat. The tray is handmade out of birchwood in Scandinavia and eco-friendly. It will be making its debut at the New York International Gift Fair in August (13-18) as part of my new Abstract collection of trays and pillows. Soon available through various retailers worldwide or alternatively my webstore. (pssssst and mum you know the even better part of this functional little work of art.... no more stains on my antique desk! :)).

For wholesale enquiries kindly send and e-mail to info@mariskameijers.com.

Happy Father's Day!

with my dad (April 2011)

Love you dad! xox

Painting For Charity

 

 
I receive regular requests to donate artwork for charity auctions, but a few weeks back I got an unusual request from The Orange Babies Foundation .... if I could paint some ostrich eggs. I reluctantly said yes, not because I did not want to support the cause, but simply because I had no clue how to tackle the eggs. I have no experience when it comes to painting 3 dimensional objects. I love my canvases, and I love them big. My favourite medium is oils but because of the time pressure I needed to work with acrylics. The eggs were staring at me and I was staring back. Yesterday the foundation came to pick up the result: 3 ikat inspired eggs. Off they went to join the other art eggs by, amongst others, fashion illustrator Piet Paris, tattoo artist Hollywood Mark and painters Ans Markus and Menno Schenk that have participated in this project. The eggs will be sold during the Orange Babies Gala on June 25 and one of my favourites is Hollywood Mark's tattood egg!

* The Orange Babies Foundation was established to help HIV infected women and their babies in Africa. Orange Babies also supports children infected with the virus or otherwise directly affected.

Wonderful mention in ELLE Decor's Design Insiders' Weekly Finds!

 

Lily and Molly modelling an Ada and Darcy  sea blue dog bed 

(and in the corner a glimpse of my Painted Ikat pillow also available through Ada and Darcy)

ELLE Decor Design Insiders' Weekly Finds

Where would I be without great clients and fans! To quote Kellie Collis of stylish blog and webstore Ada and Darcy in ELLE Decor's Design Insiders' weekly finds:
“Being a lover of all things colorful, I adore artist Mariska Meijers' home. I have absolutely no talent with a paint brush, so it's wonderful to see Mariska work her magic around her house.”
As you may guess this quote made me silent, especially as I was having one of those days feeling totally insecure, juggling too many things at the same time, feeling that I am not getting anywhere, totally unhappy with my own work.....
So thank you Kellie for this warm encouragement, for your support both in words and in action!
Wishing everyone a lovely weekend. The sun is out here in Amsterdam, my bike is ready to roll to a nice outdoor restaurant along one of the canals. xxx