Laura Day :: Rooms :: Guest House

MAKING ROOMS FOR LIVING

Guest House

Outdoors

Meet Walton Ford

There is something amazing about an Audubon painting that is so timeless and beautiful that it makes you appreciate the beauty of the real thing even more. It makes you pause. Audubon's reproductions of the real thing were so gracefully done that his work has stood the test of time like not many others.

Until that world was turned upside down and round and round by none other than "nature boy" himself, Walton Ford. Walton's work is like Audubon turned on its head. It's all that and a bag of chips! In fact, he is so much all that, that to purchase an original work, one has to be on a wait list (and that is if one can even afford the wait list). In answer to that, he has now started producing prints, which are gorgeous and more accessible! I am completely taken with not only his work but also the man himself.

Read more: Nature Boy from NYMag.com

For those of us who can't get one<br />
of Walton Ford's paintings, Taschen publishes a range of books, from<br />
ultra-collectable to affordable:<br />
The art edition of <span><em>Walton Ford: Pancha Tantra</em></span> (pictured) comes<br />
with a signed intaglio print (which is already worth more than the price of the print and the book): <a href="http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/art/all/01067/facts.walton_ford_pancha_tantra_art_edition_intaglio_print.htm" style="color: rgb(177, 149, 58); font-size: 14px;" target="_blank">$7000Â </a><br />
Or, you can get that <span>same over-sized book, without the signed print or leather binding:</span> <a href="http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/art/all/01061/facts.walton_ford_pancha_tantra.htm" style="color: rgb(177, 149, 58); font-size: 14px;" target="_blank">$1800</a>, limited to 1600 copies. A <span>smaller-sized hardcover version</span> is the most affordable option at <a href="http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/art/all/05024/facts.walton_ford_pancha_tantra.htm" style="color: rgb(177, 149, 58); font-size: 14px;" target="_blank">$69.99</a><br />
â��worth every penny.<br />
<br />
ENTER TO WIN A COPY:<span style="color: rgb(255, 215, 0);"><a href="http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/community/ecards/121.ecard_walton_ford_2.htm" style="color: rgb(177, 149, 58);" target="_blank"> Send an ecard</a> </span>with his work from the Taschen site to info@lauradayliving.com by March 30th!


Meet Walton Ford [+] Share This
High to Low For those of us who can't get one of Walton Ford's paintings, Taschen publishes a range of books, from ultra-collectable to affordable: The art edition of Walton Ford: Pancha Tantra (pictured) comes with a signed intaglio print (which is already worth more than the price of the print and the book): $7000 Or, you can get that same over-sized book, without the signed print or leather binding: $1800, limited to 1600 copies. A smaller-sized hardcover version is the most affordable option at $69.99 —worth every penny. ENTER TO WIN A COPY: Send an ecard with his work from the Taschen site to info@lauradayliving.com by March 30th!

"The passenger pigeons were the most numerous birds that ever lived in the history of the planet. Itâ��s almost disturbing how numerous- billions upon billions of birds. It was a fecundity that was almost disgusting. I started thinking about a blame-the-victim kind of attitude you could take to that...to make it seem like they had it coming, that there was this disgusting empire of birds and that it was corrupt like Rome...that it was bound to fall. So I invest the passenger pigeons with every kind of sin that I can imagine. And the bough, this gigantic branch, is falling under their tremendous weight. Meanwhile they go about their bickering and their lusts and foibles and all the disgusting things that they are doing."<br />
- Walton Ford<br />


Meet Walton Ford [+] Share This
Falling Bough "The passenger pigeons were the most numerous birds that ever lived in the history of the planet. It’s almost disturbing how numerous- billions upon billions of birds. It was a fecundity that was almost disgusting. I started thinking about a blame-the-victim kind of attitude you could take to that...to make it seem like they had it coming, that there was this disgusting empire of birds and that it was corrupt like Rome...that it was bound to fall. So I invest the passenger pigeons with every kind of sin that I can imagine. And the bough, this gigantic branch, is falling under their tremendous weight. Meanwhile they go about their bickering and their lusts and foibles and all the disgusting things that they are doing." - Walton Ford PHOTO : Paul Kasmin Gallery

"It was very important to me to make them look like Audubons, to make them look like they were a hundred years old...like he painted them, but that they escaped out of him."<br />
- Walton Ford


Meet Walton Ford [+] Share This
Ornithomancy No. 3 "It was very important to me to make them look like Audubons, to make them look like they were a hundred years old...like he painted them, but that they escaped out of him." - Walton Ford PHOTO : Paul Kasmin Gallery

"I am doing the kind of research that legitimate natural history artists do, but I do it in a very lazy way compared to them. I donâ��t want to ever pretend that Iâ��m like one of those guys. There is another level to this sort of natural history-art thing that actually doesnâ��t interest me, but I do a kind of imitation of it."<br />
- Walton Ford<br />


Meet Walton Ford [+] Share This
Bula Matari "I am doing the kind of research that legitimate natural history artists do, but I do it in a very lazy way compared to them. I don’t want to ever pretend that I’m like one of those guys. There is another level to this sort of natural history-art thing that actually doesn’t interest me, but I do a kind of imitation of it." - Walton Ford PHOTO : Paul Kasmin Gallery


A Self-Portrait [+] Share This
Filmed at his studio in The Berkshires, Walton Ford tours his work in progress and talks about where he finds his inspiration. (SO GOOD!!)


Art: 21 \| Walton Ford [+] Share This
This clip shows Walton Ford painting a monkey banquet, inspired by the journals of 21st Century explorer Sir Richard Burton... and the 40 monkeys he kept. From the PBS series Art:21.

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

Be.a.guest of Christian Lacroix's

If you're not the hostess with the mostess, perhaps you'd prefer to hit the wide open road and travel off to a far far away land. It's nice to be a guest yourself every now and again (and again, and again!). We would suggest to stay at the Hotel Le Bellechasse designed by French fashion designer Christian Lacroix. Apparently, Lacroix was given free reign to design this luxury hotel, which has resulted in the 34 rooms of this new boutique hotel being a brilliant mix of motif and pattern with layered images of insects, astrological symbols, Jules Verne scenes, checkers, toile de Jouy, and SO much more. The hotel also uses the perfect mix of moody hues with vibrant pops of color to keep its guests on their toes. Check out the mouth-watering images below. Talk about inspiration, this place takes your wildest dreams and amplifies them by a million! If you book a trip, make sure to book an extra ticket for me!