Cincinnati & Its Love of Chili

Findlay Market recently hosted a Chili Cook-Off. For those of you with any familiarity to the Queen City know how passionate Cincinnatians are about their chilli, and know that any contest with this subject would have high stacks. Whether its secret ingredient is chocolate and cinnamon atop spaghetti noodles or Mom’s hearty ground beef in a tomato base, we pride ourselves on owning these unique combinations. Check-out their calendar for the upcoming Mardi Gras festivities or a good excuse to enjoy a lazy Sunday with live music, hot Belgium waffles, and authentic macaroons. Findlay Market Events Calendar
http://authenticwaffle.com/
This eclectic experience is multi-sensorial, and the perfect backdrop displaying the old-world charm of a German village in the heart of Cincinnati.
The scarf I'm wearing is Caribbean Escapade $118
(100% Silk in tangerine & coral, with hints of mango, amethyst and aqua)
Grey Hall Design
The Painted Memory


www.greyhalldesign.com
Www.thepaintedmemory.com

Going Behind the Scenes at Union Terminal

Walk the rotunda at Union Terminal. Plan now for your February 2011 adventure. Tours are scheduled on weekends throughout the month ~ reservations are highly recommended!

Its signature Art Deco Style is captured in my latest 100% silk scarf design in a luscious sorbet palette of pinks and oranges.
www.greyhalldesign.com



With such a feat of genius architecture in our backyards, take advantage of the one-month-a-year opportunity to go into the face of the clock on the Terminal’s façade and scale the rotunda! Along the tour learn interesting facts such that the Rotunda features the largest semi-dome in the western hemisphere, measuring 180 feet wide and 106 feet high. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Museum_Center_at_Union_Terminal


It’s every guy’s dream to dive inside the comics and fly alongside Superman. It’ll feel nearly that surreal... as though you’ve entered the Superheroes’ Hall of Justice headquarters (which was modeled after our very own Union Terminal) and been granted special access to its secret passageways!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_of_Justice_(comics)


Grey Hall Design
www.greyhalldesign.com
www.thepaintedmemory.com

Dreaming in full color - Riding Boot Sensation for Spring 2011

The World Equestrian Games in Lexington brought horse lovers from all over the country to the Bluegrass State. Not only were the equine in spectacular condition, but fashions everywhere flaunted steed style. Thus inspiring me to take a fresh look at the past stallion attire I had created because of a “Pucci Trist” in hopes of influencing their Spring Collection.

Can’t you just see it now, patent leather riding boots in bold colors with a Pucci punch as the strap or accent!? What a statement that would make strutting down Madison Avenue.









































Mare and mustang are no match!

Even if the boots I designed don’t yet exist, you can still sport your fashionable flair with an original silk scarf.

Equestrian Escapade - heroing the riding boot, velvet helmet, horse shoe and bit with a thoroughbred taking center stage. Bordered by an impressionistic fence in white, banded with soft tones of blue.

Each scarf is 100% charmeuse silk and measures 36”x36” square. The perfect accent to casually tie around your waist, wrapped around your head secured with a bow, over your shoulders or tossed into your purse to add spunk to a solid palette.



Starting at $118

(now available at www.greyhalldesign.com and Tulips on Erie, Hyde Park Square).






www.thepaintedmemory.com

Set Sail Toward Style - GREEK ISLES Silk Scarf

Having sailed through the Greek Isles following my stint in Luxembourg before London bound, a 30ft schooner was the mode of transportation with Miami University girlfriends. The picture perfect, pristine white buildings against a backdrop of deep turquoise forever impressed me. The classic combination of blues romanced by white is a combination that never gets tired - always breathing life into any room aesthetics, and tailored class to any ensemble.
Be whisked away by my newly designed silk scarves reminiscent of a sailing venture, island hopping from Santorini to Porto, Spetses and Hydra. Interwoven into the design is the iconic Greek Key, and Mykonos windmill against a skyscape of whitewashed domed buildings nesting on arid cliffs.

Each scarf is 100% charmeuse silk and measures 36”x36” square. The perfect accent to casually tie around your waist, wrapped around your head secured with a bow, over your shoulders or tossed into your purse to add spunk to a solid palette.

Available through The Painted Memory: grey@thepaintedmemory.com
($118 each)


The Painted Memory – Grey Hall Design
www.thepaintedmemory.com

It’s a Tie – Rugged & Refined Collide at the Style Finish Line

Cincinnati just got a little more hip. Artfully Disheveled http://www.artfullydisheveled.com/ introduces the Midwest to tailored class with an edge.

The new dress code of the Queen City gentleman – a pure silk necktie transforms the expected into a little bit of grit with the right touch of glamour. You can perfectly pair these ties with anything in your wardrobe no matter your destination - a football game at your alma mater or a client meeting at the office... establishing a “new traditional.” The Casual Friday is mundane and boring to the female eye. It tends to be over-done and underwhelming. Artfully Disheveled reawakens and reinvents the expected for a relevant, contemporary presence.

Read their story, and you’ll see the common thread of inspiration that stretches from the Renaissance era to the next generation of modern masculinity. http://www.artfullydisheveled.com/the-story/



On the heels of the resurgence of Mad Men classicism, you won’t want to miss their “Beg, Borrow & Steel” Collection. Join the movement and become the well-dressed rebel or tailored misfit.


The Painted Memory
www.thepaintedmemory.com

Business in the Big Apple

While visiting NYC's grid-like streets with skyscrapers piercing the air, there's a sense of organized chaos. Day dreaming for a moment, I closed my eyes to imagine a veil of "apple and leaf" themed pattern cloaking the buildings. This whimsical, fleeting thought inspired my interpretation of the New York City skyline in this illustration.

Actually, a very cool idea if Apple were to use holographics to cast their branded image onto various facades of Manhattan skyscrapers.
Can’t you just see it now, apples growing in the concrete jungle!

Snapping back to reality, I was immediately in a business mindset again. Shortly after meetings, always knowing how to combine business with fun, dinner in The Big Apple had to conclude with painting the town red. Putting my thumbprint on the city that doesn't sleep, while walking all the way from Soho to Rockefeller Center, we detoured at Times Square. The jolt from sights and sounds at this famous intersection electrifies your pulse better than a Red Bull.


And if the weather isn't so perfect next time I decide to venture on a 31-block walk, I'm crossing my fingers that the taxi hailed will luck out to be the Cash Cab!
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/cash-cab/

The Painted Memory
www.thepaintedmemory.com

A Second Life for Old Furniture

Furniture fills a room - but it's the right combination of pieces that make a tasteful statement communicating your style to guests. What might have once been an old, nondescript item in a forgotten corner can now have new life and reason to become the conversation piece no one misses. Whether it's recovering the seat of a corner chair with a contemporary fabric mixing fresh newness with classic traditionalism, scouring antique flee markets for a shabby chic combination of elements, or hand-painting a themed composition or scene on the primary surface, my passion is reviving treasures of a bygone era for current living. It's amazing how a tired piece is transformed with a few brush strokes.


A favorite finished product of mine is the coffee table where I sanded the silhouetted sketch, painted my family's house heroed in the center, and after a few coats of varnish, applied gold leaf to the edging of the table as a special touch.

Subtleties were thoughtfully incorporated as a nod to my heritage. With ancestors having traveled from Ploos van Amstel to Cincinnati, it was pivotal to bridge this connection by including a tulip as the hierarchical focus. My childhood Glendale home was built and designed by the family over 100 years ago. Having discovered old, black & white photographs capturing its construction was all the inspiration I needed to fuel my decision, and begin painting.


Additional pieces I've painted include Springer Spaniels, vegetables and ferns. All begin with a thumbnail sketch washed in loose color before the real project begins!


Next personal project on the list, painting a destination scene on my headboard.

The Painted Memory
www.thepaintedmemory.com