A Tour of Alanna Cavanagh's Art Studio

Last weekend I had the distinct pleasure to tour my favourite illustration artist Alanna Cavanagh's art studio in downtown Toronto. A kid in a candy store would be an accurate way to describe how I behaved. To be able to meet your favourite artist in person and share hugs and laughs was the most fantastic experience. I started following Alanna in 2008 when I first spotted her iconic Big Orange Scissors print featured in the Wish magazine. Ever since then, I've been trying to find ways to incorporate her artworks into my design.

Picture below: Alanna's Eloise and SJP Sparkley Shoe prints on my basement hallway gallery wall.

Now let's take a peek at Alanna's stylish art studio, shall we? No surprise that she has wall-to-wall artworks, all of which appear so effortlessly cohesive. 

Her living room: I love the overall earthy tones with a touch of vibrant orange, so nonchalant, and so very chic! 

Picture below: her bar nook featuring her Big Pear print. I am really loving this modern industrial vibe. 

And her Big Boss Woman print. 

Of course I didn't leave empty-handed: this Bluebell Bouquet print is going all the way to our summer home! 

I even did a mockup on the intended wall.

For now it's looking pretty in our home foyer. I have to break the habit of buying it for cottage and ending up keep it for home :))

Alanna is the nicest and sweetest artist I know. If you are up for some design and art inspirations, great conversations and plenty of laughs, send Alanna an email and book a studio tour with her at alanna@alannacavanagh.com. 

New Kitchen Art and My Spring Garden

This stretch of gorgeous weather has done wonders to my mood. It ignites my creative spirit, and I am all geared up to tackle a list of small projects I've been putting off since winter. 

The first up is to add art and counter-worthy accessories to the kitchen. I can't think of a better way to complement this framed Alanna Cavanagh tea towel than to have a framed print by the same artist - thank you Alanna for this cheerful "Greek Jug" screen print. I lean the frame against the backsplash for a more relaxed and informal look. The whitewashed wood frame is from HomeSense.

So is this vintage-inspired tin cookie canister. I searched all the HS stores I've been to for a second one but to no avail. 

May is also the month when I start to spend more time outdoors in my jardin de fleurs. I am an avid gardener, and seeing plants blooming gives me a sense of accomplishment. This year most of my flowering shrubs start blooming a couple of weeks later due to the harsher winter we had. But they are worth the wait - they are blooming bigger and more vibrant flowers due to the abundant moisture in the soil. This white-rimmed "Sensation" French Lilac shrub gives fuller and more fragrant flowers since last week (May 23). 

This Tulip Angelique is a new addition this spring. I planted the bulbs last fall. They are among the last tulips to bloom, starting out in white. 

In a couple of weeks as they mature, they turn into a soft shade of pink. 

Then eventually into this hot pink peony-like flowers when they reach peak. 

It's so amazing to be able to capture these moments on camera. I've worked hard to slowly transform my garden into a low-maintenance yet highly productive one with non-stop flowers from April to September. My goal has always been to spend the least amount of time working while getting the best results. So tell me, do you like gardening? Any tips and tricks you can share to create a beautiful and low-maintenance garden? 

All You Need Is Art

The framed Eloise print by Alanna Cavanagh came back and I couldn't be happier. 

I was hoping to find a thinner frame for a cleaner minimalist look but 2 cm seems to be as narrow as it goes. I guess it's all relative to the size of the print. 

This simple and elegant screen print with a pop of colour is exactly what my bedroom needs. Love, love, love it there! 

Not sure if you remember but over a year ago I purchased this abstract art from Julia Di Sano, and one year later I finally got around to having it framed. I chose an extra wide gallery frame in white and I think it makes the vibrant colours in this oil painting stand out even more. 

I found a perfect spot for it in my ground floor powder room. 

The painting instantaneously livens up the powder room - see, all you need is art! 

*Custom framing by YM Art. 

Alanna Cavanagh's Eloise Print

I fell deeply in love with Alanna Cavanagh's Eloise illustration back in January 2014. The illustration was inspired by an Eloise Grey coat Alanna spotted in a fashion magazine. It's classic, elegant, clean, and simple, and it's so ME. I have always been a big fan of Alanna's artwork, so I emailed her and asked if she planned to turn the Eloise illustration into a silk screen print. She promptly replied and told me yes. A couple of months later she emailed me when the print was ready, sent me two print options to choose from (textured cream somerset paper and white BFK Rives paper), and within a day this gorgeous silk screen print arrived. I love love love it and it's totally worth the wait. 

Alanna Cavanagh's new Eloise silk screen print

Under a different lighting

I don't know if you've ever met Alanna or worked with her, but she is one of the most talented and friendly artists I've ever known. Her pleasant and down to earth personality makes me like her and her artworks so much more! 

The Eloise print is now at my favourite framing shop YM Art to be framed, so I will be posting more pictures when I have it back. If you like Eloise print as much as I do, go order them before they are sold out. 

If you remember two years ago I also had Alanna's limited edition tea towel framed for my kitchen. 

Two years later I still love it and it makes me so happy every time I walk by it. 

That's why we want need art in our life, right?

New Kitchen Art

Hope you all had a great weekend. It was yet another busy one for us: we went to a birthday party on Saturday, and Sunday when Anthony was busy saving lives, I spent the afternoon at a day spa. And just like that, the weekend was gone. I didn't even get around to the One of a Kind Show, but I am definitely going this coming weekend.

On Saturday I also picked up the re-framed Alanna Cavanagh tea towel (I crashed it the first time around). With the vibrant colors and fun style, the framed tea towel is so versatile that it can really go anywhere in the house. I decided to keep it in the kitchen as first it's a natural fit, and second, my kitchen could really lighten up a bit.

So here's the newly framed Alanna Cavanagh limited edition tea towel. I pretty much copied Tim @ Design Maze's idea.

It now finds a perfect spot in my kitchen. I love how perky and light-hearted it looks which balances out my dark kitchen cabinets.

Speaking of dark kitchen cabinets, realizing almost every designer's kitchen now is based on white cabinetry, I am really tempted to make some change as well. Years ago when we picked the kitchen cabinets, we were talked into a darker stain and how it made solid maple cabinetry look more luxurious. So the bad news is that we've spent tons of dough on these babies so to have them painted seems a bit of a waste. In addition to the cabinetry, I could also think of a lot of improvements I'd like to make in this kitchen, such as a couple of built-in wall ovens (get to bake at different temperatures at the same time), pots and pans drawer, a bigger island, etc. If this was your kitchen, would you have the cabinets painted in white?

Love for Alanna Cavanagh

I fell in love with Alanna Cavanagh's art years ago when her big orange scissors screen print first came out. For those that love Alanna's art as much as I do, you will be very pleased to know that Alanna's New and Limited Edition Christmas Tea Towel is now available at The Bay. This time around I wasn't going to take any chances so I ordered two pieces. The same daschund named Walter is still in it and I just love all the colors Alanna had picked for this tea towel: so happy, festive, light-hearted and vintagey at the same time. It's such a fabulous and affordable way to own a piece of Alanna's art!

Remember the story about how I played with The Bay's check-out system and ended up with two of these fabulous and supposedly-out-of-stock limited edition tea towels?

I really love what Tim @ Design Maze did with the towel so I took his idea so the good news is that it has been framed and I found a perfect spot in the kitchen for it. And now comes the bad news -- do you see the damaged corner in the picture? As I was unwrapping the frame (it was so heavy) I lost the grip so the frame took a free fall smashing right into the floor. Blame my small hands and impatience to wait for my husband to help!

I was heart-broken and had to take it right back to the art shop to get it re-framed. Luckily the glass wasn't broken otherwise it would've put a bigger hole in my pocket. Oh well, I guess I will just have to wait for a few more days to enjoy it. More pictures to follow.

In The Mail Today: Alanna Cavanagh

This still seems unreal to me, but I just pinched myself and, yep, this is real.

After reading Tim @ Design Maze's blog about the Limited Edition Alanna Cavanagh Linen Tea Towel, I desperately wanted one. I immediately went to the Bay's web site, and it's no surprise that the towel was "Temporarily Out of Stock".

I felt so bummed.

A few days later, I checked the site again, it's still out of stock. I even played with the checkout system but strangely enough, it let me! I added two pieces to the shopping bag, checked out and paid. I was expecting in a day or two I would receive an email saying it's on back order with an expected delivery date a few months or even a year out. But...two days later, this showed up in my mail!

Wowee!

The Limited Edition Alanna Cavanagh Linen Tea Towel by ULSTER WEAVERS from the Bay.

It's such an affordable way to own a piece of art from one of my favourite artists -- Alanna Cavanagh. I first spotted her Big Orange Scissors silk screen print from Wish magazine (anybody still remembers that magazine) back in 2008, and had since fell in love with all her works.

I might steal Tim's ingenious idea to have it framed like this...isn't it fabulous?

Photo Credit: Tim @ Design Maze.

I did order an extra piece, so perhaps a giveaway is in order in light of holiday spirits? Check back soon for updates.