Your Pet's Custom Portrait

We've featured the work of Lambertville, NJ artist Judy Henn before on Design2share, and this former antiques dealer appreciates visual details like no one we've seen. She has a special love for animals that we share, and she decided to focus on paintings of interiors and furnishings - a throwback to her days as a dealer - and pets. Judy has painted everything from horses and dogs to cats and birds, and she's been displayed in galleries and featured in the 2005 Kips Bay Decorator Show House. But we've persuaded Judy to offer her talents to paint Custom Pet Portraits. These are original, one-of-a-kind paintings and are not photo-enhanced images. Jay Johnson from D2S explains the Custom Pet Portrait offer and the 5 background choices in the following video.

Custom Pet Portrait by Judy Henn: 12 x 13.5 inches, acrylic on board, unframed. You'll also receive by email a high-resolution digital photo of the completed portrait which you can use to make custom mugs, T-shirts, bags, stamps, greeting cards, calendars, or any number of novelty and gift items. It's truly artwork with a million uses!

Price: Judy's artwork sells for thousands of dollars and is prized at auctions and websites like 1st Dibs, but we convinced Judy to offer every pet owner the opportunity to have a special portrait painted of their precious one. Contact Judy for pricing information.

Easy Steps to Commission Your Custom Pet Portrait:

1. For pricing and initial deposit information, call Judy at 609-915-6169.  
2. When you send in your information to Judy, please include a high-quality photograph of your pet with a favorite facial expression you would like Judy to capture in the portrait. If you would like to email a digital photo to Judy, send it to judy@robinsegg.com.
3. Please include any special instructions or requests + specify your background choice for the portrait (as shown in the above video): (a) roses, (b) pussy willows, (c) ferns, (d) classic - a black or brown solid background, or (e) poppies.
4. Judy requires a 6-week turnaround time from the day she receives your order with the nonrefundable deposit. Judy will email you a digital image of the painting prior to varnishing; this will allow you to approve your painting and Judy said "I will make any reasonable changes prior to varnishing."
5. When you approve your proof, send Judy the balance of the portrait fee, a check made out to "Judy Henn" for the balance of the project. Upon receipt of your payment, Judy will mail your finished portrait to you and email the high-resolution digital photo, along with her personal thank-you.

If you'd like to skip snail mail and speed things up, email Judy at judy@robinsegg.com and she can arrange payment by PayPal as well as faster shipping arrangements.

Call Judy: If you have any questions or would like to talk with Judy first, call her at 609-915-6169.

DESU Design 1-Line Spice Rack

Our publisher, Jay Johnson, shows off the new DESU Design 1-Line Spice Rack that he just set up in the kitchen of his Manhattan Upper West Side pre-war apartment. The heavy weight of the brushed stainless steel frame of the rack makes a substantial addition to kitchen decor while handsomely displaying spices in recycled glass cubes from Spain.

Jay demonstrates a few quick change decor tips for this spice rack, going from all-cooking to cooking-and-decoration in one easy step. Also watch the video for other applications for this handy storage rack.

Lettuce Earthenware

Our resident interior designer, Irwin Weiner ASID, chose Lettuce Earthenware from South Africa's Mustardseed & Moonshine as his favorite tabletop items for Spring. The neutral greens of the delicately sculpted and hand-painted pieces belie the sturdiness of these microwave- and dishwasher-safe pieces; translation: great for everyday use.

If your family is like ours, you're looking forward to Easter, Passover, and springtime gatherings of the family. We wanted to draw your attention to these handcrafted, hand-painted pieces look incredibly like curling lettuce leaves, carefully opened up. It's a unique textural experience for dining, and we think they're great for both dinners or brunch.

Hiring a Landscape Architect

Q. Why Should I Hire a Professional Landscape Architect?

Irwin & Nicola interview a top American landscape architect and get some great ideas and tips on when you should hire a landscape design professional. Walk through some actual outdoor design projects to see how great landscape design can enhance any home.

Update on April 16, 2010 by Design2Share

The American Society of Landscape Architects are people with a big mission: sustainable environments. This month, the ASLA celebrates National Landscape Architecture Month, and here is their description of this observation and the way it will impact you, your family, neighborhood, and community.

Look at your community. How did the parks, residential developments, college campuses, shopping centers, gardens, transportation facilities, and corporate and institutional campuses take shape? And how might they look in the future? Planning, designing, land-use management, and careful applications of sustainable design practices are the work of landscape architects, who, through the American Society of Landscape Architects, have been "Green Since 1899." Interested in the environment and art? Landscape architecture is a profession that blends creativity and science.  Interested in contributing to the greening of the planet? That goal lies at the core of all landscape architects do.

It's April, National Landscape Architecture Month, and members of the ASLA are even more visible in their communities across the country, working with their chapters to introduce students and the public to the profession. As a special centerpiece to this year's outreach, ASLA has launched Designing Our Future: Sustainable Landscapes, an interactive resource on the ASLA website developed with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. These web pages present clear and concise case studies that vividly illustrate what landscape architects do and how we all benefit from their work. Visit them, share your comments, and refer the site to anyone who wants to know, "What do landscape architects do?"

Update on April 16, 2010 by Design2Share

You want to get a jump on gardening and try to do everything possible to create a great outdoor home environment. Why not use all possible information sources, including feng shui? If you're not familiar with feng shui, here's a good link that will give you some quick background. The headline here is that it's an ancient art of placement that will, as outlined in New Zealander Richard Webster's nifty Feng Shui in the Garden book (Llewellyn Publications, 1999), help you set up secret gardens, find the perfect location for fragrant plants, pick a house with a good yard in a new neighborhood, and activate the "prosperity section" of your garden and attract more wealth into your household. Amen to the latter, brother!

We found this feng shui guide to be quite practical when it comes to everything from laying out a courtyard to even planting a simple window box filled with flowers. Here are a few tips:

1. Flower beds on each side of the path leading to your front door provide color, fragrance, and good energy. Pots of brightly colored flowers beside the front door increase these benefits and make any visitors feel more welcome.
2. These 5 flowers are traditionally the most beneficial to homeowners, according to feng shui principles: peony, chrysanthemum, white magnolias, orchids, and lotus.
3. Garages don't have great feng shui and the best possible position for any garage is to have one detached from your house. (Note, apartments above garages are also not well regarded!)
4. Your garden should appear to welcome people into your property. (Hey, that's also just good curb appeal philosophy!)
5. Square or oblong shaped houses are most ideal, but some houses have additions that jutt out or form odd angles. Use landscaping to symbolically finish off corners to recreate that desired square or oblong shape.
6. Plant trees, hedges, walls, or some other type of barrier if your neighbors' homes have "sharp" corners that point directly at your house. These sharp intrusions are considered big no-no's in feng shui practice, but planting natural or manmade barriers in your yard to block them is a "cure."