Purple potato soup

 Oh hello there, purple potato and cauliflower soup. What a nice way to welcome in September! 

Addie & Lilly

Here's something very exciting! I've been collaborating with David and Lance at Parker Kennedy Living to create eating a new artwork line called “ADDISON & LILLY.”

The artwork series is inspired by famed architect Addison Mizner and the colorful life of the legendary Lilly Pulitzer. Instagrammers—please join David and me tonight at 7pm eastern on the @PKLthecellar account to hear us chat about the new collaboration and the details of what inspired it. Hope to see you, but until then, make it a pink and green sort of a day!

Chowdah!

My husband. Dan, makes a damn good bowl of New England clam chowder,  he made a briny batch for our 4th of July dinner. The clams are paramount, of course, but the crispy salt pork cracklings are beyond. I also add chives, pink peppercorns, and blue borage blossoms. Fact; Dan stood in line for one hour and 45 minutes to buy the littleneck clams from our fave fishmonger. Gold star!

Golden sky

Painting on the pergola this afternoon with buttery colors. Evening sail. Oil on canvas. This is a very small canvas, it’s only 4 x 6. I’m hoping to get a lot of these done for the summer season. Looks beautiful in a big chunky frame, and it’s affordable art!  Available via Room Tonic Decor, Marblehead, MA.

Parisian café

Bonsoir! It’s Friday and getting close to happy hour, so here’s a Parisian café scene to get us all in the mood for a frosty libation. I do miss the sounds of a lively and convivial café. This one is at the corner of Rue de Seine and Rue de Buci in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Cheers!

Pain grillé with foie gras

Something yummy to start a special birthday dinner for Dan; buttered pain grillé with foie gras, champagne gelèe and pomegranate seeds.

La Belle et la Bête

We now interrupt our regularly scheduled springtime weather to bring you a bit of meteorological magic!! There’s nothing like a little snow in April to make our white garden look a little more, well, white. Love it!! I’m calling this photo ‘La Belle et la Bête.'

Blackberry panna cotta

This blackberry panna cotta with a crème de cassis infused blackberry coulis was our Easter dessert. La dolce vita.

Asparagus + hollandaise

Simplicité. I love anything lemony, especially hollandaise sauce. 🍋 Happy Easter, dear friends and fam—both near and far.

Lemony shrimp scampi

Oh hey there, shrimp scampi, it’s been a few years. Thanks for the comfort.

Moroccan lentil + carrot salad

We rocked the Casbah for today’s lunch with a salad of black beluga lentils, carrot ribbons, mint and cilantro, with a dressing made with Moroccan spices, orange juice and honey, along with a glass of mint tea. Light and refreshing.

Beet + goat cheese Napoleon

Oh—just a typical Wednesday night dinner at Chez Carnevale. 😂 Beet and herbed goat cheese Napoleon with honey orange syrup, toasted walnuts, orange zest, kale sprouts, all on a bed of frisée lettuce. I would have preferred adding micro greens instead of the kale sprouts, but it’s all that I had in the fridge, and no quick dashes to Whole Foods are allowed with Covid-19. Beets last for a really long time so I’ve stocked up both red and golden ones.

Room interiors #18

Well this was a bit of fun. When I agreed to paint this commission illo of Mario Buatta’s scrumptious yellow living room (soon after the Sotheby’s Buatta auction in January), I hadn’t quite considered that I’d be painting all that white trim, not to mention the 12 framed dog portraits.  But I love a challenge. I was definitely recalling my drafting & perspective instructions from my college days, 40 years ago, on this one. Glad that it’s done, and cheers to the Prince of Chintz! 

Room interiors #17

Why this scene was so fun for me to paint is because all those oil paintings are my creations, so this is a painting of my paintings.  There’s a vertical row of my marsh paintings on the left, and my large egret diptych are perched over the couch. Forty of my landscape oil paintings are for sale at Room Tonic Decor in Marblehead Massachusetts. Local friends, visit this beautiful shop—it’s filled with treasures.

Room interiors #16

Last week the interior design world eagerly anticipated the Mario Buatta auction at Sotheby’s, but all I wanted was a few hours to paint this buttery tableau that caught my eye amongst all the pre-action photos being shared on Instagram. Scrumptious!

Room interiors #15

Something bright and cheery to delight, on this snowy January day, with two of my favorite colors, pink and orange.

Room interiors #14

Such a pretty entryway. Couldn’t resist painting that fun apple green wall with gold chinoiserie stenciling.

Room Interiors #13

This room, designed by Parker Kennedy Living, is snappy, refreshing and scrumptious. Bamboo curtain fabric by Dorothy Draper Fabric & Wall, photo credit goes to Christina Wedge.

UK vote

Thinking of our UK friends today, and their important election.

Room Interiors #12

Surely King Louis XIV would have adored this magnificent gold sunburst, glowing proudly on a wall inside the Tangier home of Nicoló Castellini Baldissera. The Leo in me loves it too.

Nicoló’s Moroccan home, called Casa Tosca, is just one of several colorful homes and gardens featured in his new book, Inside Tangier. It’s a gorgeous book, and one that you’ll want this holiday season. Thank you for the painting inspiration, designer, and Guido Taroni, photographer.

Room Interiors #11

James Kivior is the amazing talent behind @thepretentioushome on IG, and the creator of this magnificent tableau. His NY apartment is the epitome of maximalist style, with symbiotic explosions of layers, textures and colors. ... eye candy galore. One wall of his home is filled with framed Hermès scarves. (Be still my heart.) I collect them to wear, but he collects them to frame on his walls. So much fun going on in this one room alone, which he calls his kitchen.

Room Interiors #10

I did some armchair travel today, to Morocco, for this watercolor.Warm sunshine bathes golden walls, and a perfectly placed pale pink chair, in this hallway in Tangier. The home, named Dar Chal, is filled with as much color and esprit as its Italian born owner and designer, Monica di Valmarana. She and her husband have put a lot of love into restoring this seaside home. Inside, there are many happy, colorful rooms, which I’ll be sure to make more watercolor sketches of. Love the designs on the ceiling, which were cast from the pretty Moravian star light, and I also love seeing what’s behind those magnificent Moorish doors.

Room Interiors #9

Here’s a handsome powder room. It resides in a gorgeous Jacobian home, named Lockslea, in Brookline, Massachusetts. The recently restored historic home has such historic provenance that it was featured in a “House Beautiful” article in 1917. Yes, you read that date correctly. Originally designed by renowned Chapman and Frazer Architects, Lockslea has been lovingly restored by Roma & York. @romaandyork

Photo credit, @robertson.photography; Design + Build by Roma and York; Paint color, Farrow and Ball, Hague blue (which I think I nailed in my watercolor, although it I found it very difficult to photograph); Lighting design by Lucia Lighting (Visual Comfort); Faucet by Newport Brass; Custom sink, First Class Marble and Granite.

Room Interiors #8

This is precisely the spot where I would like to sit in, with Dan, while enjoying a glass of aged Tawney port, some Stilton cheese, a ripe pear and toasted walnuts. A girl can dream, can’t she?

The inspiration for this watercolor sketch came from the pages of Veranda magazine. The cocktail lounge of this Hudson Valley home was designed by Lynne Stair of McMillen and architect Cynthia Filkoff, and the photo credit belongs to Annie Schlechter. Love the high gloss finished walls, painted in Avocado, by Benjamin Moore, and those copper velvet pillows on the chairs are scrumptious. The portraits on the wall a very to the manor born, don’t you agree? And although this is a rather stately and masculine room, it’s also very warm and welcoming.

Carson? More port, please.

Room Interiors #7

Sunshine and warmth on a chilly day!