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The
Faux Louvre series
began with a trip to Paris in the spring of 2003. A less accurate
start date would be sometime Before Christ, when an unknown Greek
sculptor carved the glorious Goddess of Victory statue which graces
the grand staircase at the Louvre Museum. My first drawing of Nike
inspired sketchbooks of pencil studies of striking images from Western
art. The Faux Louvre has grown to include over 70 watercolor &
gouache paintings, each in a colorful, hand painted frame that also
pays light hearted homage to art's long history.
I'm very grateful to a great many
… To every artist who achieved immortality through lifetimes
of hard work so long ago and inspire me today. To the patrons &
curators who kept these paintings alive and safe through the centuries,
so that we may glimpse a window through time into the human spirit.
To my mother who honored my six year old request that I might be
allowed to take an adult art class and thus begin my own lifetime
devoted to (among other things) the study of painting. And a thousand
thank yous to the teachers, patrons and collectors who have supported
my work.
And to every person who has told me
that owning my work makes them happy. You make it possible for me
to continue to travel, study and record so many ideas & images
that enrich our lives.
Because of this overwhelming support, 35 new originals in fabulous
frames have been added to the 2006 collection, inspired by masterpieces
from the Art Institute of Chicago, the New York Metropolitan Museum,
The Frick Collection and the new de Young Museum in San Francisco.
I look forward to seeing you again
this season. Please feel free to share your thoughts & ideas
by e mailing mernie@mernie.com
Have
a great history!
Articles:
How
to Experience a Great Museum
How to
Commission a Work of Art
How
to Experience a Great Museum
There are many ways to enjoy a day
in an art museum. The most satisfying way is to be entertained,
enlightened and whelmed in a good way. Art experts (academics, curators,
critics, collectors, restorers and other artists) have specific
goals and tend to focus on the analytical aspects of art appreciation.
Most everyone else has experiences that are more like listening
to a traditional High Mass, or opera without subtitles. Lovely,
but rather vague for those of us who don't speak Latin or Italian.
The language of art is universal and speaks to our emotions. The
trick is to learn about what we love by listening to our instincts.
Practicing a few techniques is easy and fun.
The most fulfilling museum trip is
the one where you better get to know yourself and your tastes, and
be able to translate that awareness to enrich your everyday life.
Here are some tips for an engaging few hours with great art ...
After getting a ticket & map,
find the museum gift shop. The postcard racks will display the most
important & popular pieces in their collection. Quickly chose
a selection that appeals to you from the permanent collections &
current exhibition. Next, sit down in a peaceful corner of the cafe
with some tea and a croissant and look them over. Play with them.
Arrange them as a collage of color patterns, or lay out a Tarot
spread. Imagine a story. Look at them upside down. Read the backs
if you must. Relax. There won't be a test. Check the museum map
and circle your areas of greatest interest. You now have some knowledge,
a plan and stable blood sugar. I like to begin with the Italian
Renaissance and go from there. Linger where you like. The air is
sparkling clean so breathe deep.
You might walk into a room of 18th
century romantic paintings and feel transported. Here is a fun exercise
to try. Scan all the paintings in the room in a minute. Choose two.
One that you think is the best (the critic), and one you would hang
in your bedroom if you could (the appreciator). They are seldom
the same. The one you'd like to own is the one you picked with your
instincts. Stand in front of that painting for a full five minutes
and try the practice of Zen-like detachment. Let yourself experience
everything about this artwork that attracts you: color, angles,
subject, movement, depth and emotion. Squint hard and it will become
abstracted into light & dark shapes. Get 6 inches away and look
at individual paint strokes. Contemplate it from further back. What
was the artist's intent... Flattery? Truth? Decoration? Propaganda?
Emotional impact? Exuberant joy in the act of painting itself? Observe
how light falls across the surface. Study the frame and notice the
color of the wall. Understand that if you ever see a modern painting
for sale in a gallery, a fine art festival, bistro or an artist's
studio that resonates similar feelings, it will be a painting you
would love to live with.
You'll get a small buzz of excitement
when you find the paintings & sculpture on the postcards you
picked out. Some of them will be on tour or in storage. Any docent
will be able to tell you where they are if you can't find them.
After a mindful journey through your wings of greatest interest,
pick up the pace and tour the galleries you checked on the map.
Absorbing everything is impossible.
Just casually note what few works capture your attention. Its interesting
to see how your taste is made evident in vastly different art styles
throughout time and how your own preferences and perceptions shift
with each visit. Finish your visit with a stroll through a section
you would normally bypass and find something unusual to love. I
once became enraptured for half an hour with the terrazzo decoration
of an Etruscan tomb. It was a high point of a perfect day in Paris.
Stretch your interests further each time and notice common threads
that make your own unique tastes apparent.
You are now a connoisseur. Anyone
who has spent some time in art in galleries and museums, taken an
art appreciation class, read some books, watched a little Sister
Wendy, talked with artists during an Open Studios tour and formed
some opinions has a basic art education. You have all the ability
it takes to recognize whether a piece of original art is worth acquiring
for your own home. Art appreciation courses are always helpful,
but the innate ability to judge good art and shoddy work is intact
within each of us. We have spent a lifetime being lured by images
and don't need experts to tell us what is fashionable. When we take
some time to really look at tasteful, sophisticated artwork, we
can begin to understand why it affects our emotions. My favorite
paintings inspire empathy and happiness. My favorite artists create
with verve, mastery and clear, glowing color.
Pictures by Tiepolo, Rubens, Toulouse-Lautrec
or Dufy turn me into a mouth breather. Their subjects and styles
are vastly different (legends, figures & urban-scapes), but
they share a joyful energy of creation that makes each perfect stroke
of color seem effortless. Their work inspires me to be less plodding
and ponderous… to stop taking everything so darned seriously
and lighten up. If I can channel more of that creative energy into
my own life, perhaps I can pass that inspiration on in my own art.
Original art gives off an energy of
it's own. You know with your best instincts what has worth and merit
the same way you know what kind of bedspread to buy, which flowers
to plant or what concept of God feels right to you. The quality
of a piece of art has little to do with price and everything to
do with how seriously an artist has studied their craft and whether
what they have created resonates a pleasant emotion in you. Enjoy
the practice of art appreciation where you live. There is wonderful,
unique work available from artists in your own community that is
well worth the effort to seek out, enjoy and acquire over time.
Develop an instinct for quality that
is personal to you and transcends mass merchandise. You don't have
to produce art in order to live creatively. Building your own art
collection is a wonderful way to express yourself. You need not
be influenced by anyone else's opinion (unless they happen to be
your spouse). I know hundreds of people who have become collectors
and without exception tell me that their lives are enriched in amazing
ways by having original work. By learning about great art and becoming
more clearly aware of what you really like, you can be more discerning
and confident in your own judgment and taste. Your home will become
a more comfortable & beautiful place to live, and an impressive
& unique place to visit. On an even more practical level, property
values are measurably increased in communities that support a thriving
& vital art community.
Mernie
Buchanan 2005
Be
a Medici
Without having to wear a codpiece
How
to Commission a Work of Art
Leonardo,
Rafael & Michelangelo
Really good painters
The
Medici family
Visionary patrons
Without the largess of the Medicis,
the High Renaissance wouldn't have so conveniently interrupted the
Dark Ages, and Florence would be just another quaint European village.
The Renaissance started with the rediscovery,
examination & inspiration of the sculpture, manuscripts, legends
& architecture of ancient Greece and Rome, bringing the world
into an enlightened age.
Perhaps you've recently become inspired
to incorporate a version of classic style in your own palace. You
can be a Medici for the new age and honor your inner patron. You
might be thinking about a mural, or perhaps some less elaborate
creative painting techniques to tie in colors and architectural
details. Its always possible to find an artist who does both fine
art paintings and decorative effects and is willing to work out
a concept for an entire room. James Whistler was a master at this.
Here are some tips on how to have fun with classic style and commission
your own lively new Renaissance. The basics to consider when looking
for an artist to work with starts with the obvious...
Begin by finding a painter whose work
you admire. Look for someone with a portfolio that shows a range
of styles for both residential & commercial projects, has great
references and a (C-33) contractors license for painting & decorating.
Prepare for your initial meeting by
having a file of images that appeal to you. They can be pages torn
from decorator magazines, pattern samples and photos of murals you've
seen and liked during your travels. Take a few months to collect
images for this file. Artists are visual and its much easier to
get a feeling for a client's taste with images rather than words.
A pile of pictures is a good starting point for design directions.
Decide which areas you'd like enhanced and have a price range in
mind. If your limit is, say, $4500 for treatments in a living room,
hallway & guest bathroom, communicate this during the concept
meeting.
A muralist will consider your ideas
be they vague (an Italian country villa motif), or specific (this
view from the terrace at the hotel in Maui), suggest practical ways
to carry them out and ask more questions. Its very give and give
at the beginning. In this first hour you will know whether to proceed
or keep shopping. There has to be a good rapport & connection
from the start. The process should be enjoyable and the finished
work should satisfy you for a long time to come. Be open and follow
your intuition If an connection doesn't happen, don't push it. There
are plenty of walls and other fine painters with original ideas.
The next step is a well conceived
design, a color rendering to scale and a comprehensive estimate.
Different decorative painters have different methods, but each should
consider your desires, colors, space, style, art, furnishings &
budget, and design accordingly. If all goes well, and communications
have been clear, there might be some fine tuning and adjustments,
but the concept itself will be exactly right for you and your home.
Combining
the Faux Louvre with decorative painting ideas
In Northern California (and in one
special house in Las Vegas) are rooms that delight owners and guests
alike with pleasing combinations of fine art, murals and painted
decorative finishes by Benicia artist Mernie Buchanan.
Gail Armand of Hercules customized
her master bathroom with a new interpretation of 'The Goddess of
Summer' as a lively mural. Donna & Troy Frost of Sonora transformed
their living area into a 'faux Grand Gallery' with an eclectic collection
of six original faux Louvre paintings. Elena Buchwitz of Vallejo
commissioned a portrait of her dog as the centerpiece to her collection.
Lisa Seeno-Hofmann inaugurated this creative new direction by commissioning
a series of site specific murals for her beautiful Lafayette home.
Mernie's clients and patrons are,
without exception, imaginative people living exceptional lives.
Cynthia directs community philanthropy for an international corporation.
Geraldine builds monumental stained glass windows. William imports
French antiques. Tony designs Las Vegas hotels and casinos.
Collectors of faux Louvre art include
designers & artists, nurses & doctors, engineers & builders,
educators, cast, crew & directors in theaters, an internationally
renowned rare bunny breeder and an agent for the FBI who investigates
organized crime. Mernie's patrons do interesting work, seek new
experience through travel and community involvement, tell good stories
and throw great parties. Their homes reflect their rich lives, engaging
personalities and good humor.
Modern spaces finished in the popular
'California/Tuscan' theme are especially suited to Mernie's decorative
painting and fine art. Here are some ideas to create contemporary
classic wall treatments in your own interiors... Consider 'framing'
a wall with baroque co-co corners painted in a light-handed, lively
style. Enhance a palette of earth shades with rich jewel tones.
Highlight archways with dimensional flourishes customized to compliment
your art and furnishings.
BIO
Mernie Buchanan graduated with a degree
in art from the University of Las Vegas in 1977, and went on to
design floors, carpets & decorative treatments for the Las Vegas
Hilton, Tropicana & Four Queens hotels. She has been painting
professionally out of her Benicia, California studio since 1987
and is represented by Epperson Gallery in Crockett CA and Moloka'i
Fine Arts Gallery in Kaunakakai, HI.
Mernie has over thirty years of experience
designing & estimating from both sides of the brain. She will
work with you to find an inspired compromise between extravagant
ideas and a practical budget. Call to arrange a free* one hour consultation.
Day, evening and weekend appointments are available.
(*for clients in the following Bay Area counties: Solano, Napa &
north Contra Costa. Other locations involve travel charges.)
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