Just Hanging Around

Photography: Marcus Hay, Taken in store At Anthropology, Right: Street Art Portrait in Dumbo, Brooklyn 

Left: Page from Megan Morton's "Home Love" Right: Page from Geraldine James book "Creative Walls"

Photography: Marcus Hay, Portait "Chinese Girl/ The Green Lady" by Vladimir Tretchikoff

Left: Page from Geraldine James book "Creative Walls" Right: Unknown Artist

Photography: Marcus Hay, Portrait: Unknown Artist

Photography: Marcus Hay, Portrait: Unknown Artist

Various Unknown Portraits

Photography: Marcus Hay, Portrait: Unknown Artist

Photography: Marcus Hay, Portrait: Unknown Artist

Wikipedia says: “A portrait is a painting, photograph or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality and even the mood of the person”

Lately I seem to have been drawn to buying vintage oil portraits in particular, although some have also been pastel and even pencil line work. I really love to decorate with them, mostly I don’t even know the subject or even the artist, but there is something about a portrait that draws you in. As Geraldine James in her wonderful book “Creative Walls” say’s “The drama of a portrait wall cannot be denied. The mystery surrounding them gives added intrigue to the collection” I love the way a portrait can elevate an interior or how when someone walks into a room, often it’s the first thing they see and ask “who is that”

My favorites seem to be from the 50’s and 60’s when haughty women in particular seem to all have aura that resonates even from beyond the canvas. Most of these featured here are portraits that I own myself and are photographed in my apartment in New York. The most famous here as most of you would recognize is “The Chinese Girl/ Green Lady” by Vladimir Tretchikoff who was one of the most commercially successful artists of all time. The model for “Chinese Girl/ Green Lady” was the daughter of a restaurant owner Tretchikoff met in San Francisco. It has been featured in many sets of famous movies. Tretchikoff's work was immensely popular with the general public, but is often seen by art critics as the epitome of kitsch, I disagree and think it has earned the right to be regarded as a mid century classic.    

If looking, Portraits are quite easy to pick up in Flea Markets or Vintage Stores, Of course some are better than others but I think it’s good to pick an era when collecting and that way if displayed together they will have some sort of uniformity. As a Stylist, I love themes and nothing draws you in quicker in an interior scheme than another set of eyes on a wall, in my opinion, the more the better!  

Inspiring Family Members/ Kit Hay

As a Stylist you look back at your past often and wonder what it was that formulated your style, what were those influences that still come up, even if subconsciously? I have to say the interior schemes of my family still strike a chord and leave an impressionable imprint on my mind. My Nanna, Kit Hay was definitely a major influence, my childhood visits every Saturday to her unit/apartment in the Melbourne suburb of Mentone filled me with wonder, of course I adored her so these visits were very special to me, but her interior scheme, although quite unconventional screamed “Austin Powers meets an English Tea Party”.

My Nanna was no professional decorator that was certain but in her later years she seemed determined to fill her small apartment with the things she loved. Her apartment always smelt of makeup, hairspray, mints and “Charlie” perfume. She had developed a love of purple and her living room was a sea of bright purple, purple shaggy carpet, purple swiveling lounge chairs, matched with turquoise shot silk pillows and crocheted throws in multi color. It was these wild mix of colors that excited me as a child. The soundtrack of “Abba” played in the background, it was an old 70’s LP of the super group that Nanna gave to me and I still have it to this day.

The apartment had glass chandeliers and faux drew dropped roses, sometimes mixed with fresh ones from her small rose garden at the front of her window, we ate home cooked cakes off rose printed plates and sipped milky tea from an eclectic mix of similar teacups.

Kit never left the apartment with out some lipstick and a silk scarf tied around her neck, her motto was “you are only as young as you feel” As long as she could “doll herself up” she did, even if her lipstick could be a little askew, I loved her for it!

These images are more like a mood board of her place, sadly she died in the late 90’s, but for me she still lives in my decorating spirit.

Thanks to Martha Stewart, Purl Bee, Arne Jacobsen, Quiang-Huang and of course Abba for providing these “inspiration” images.