We Love Color!

Yesterday Tony said, "I'm going to design a print." I said, "Cool!" A few hours later, and we had this:



It's now available in our shop right here. We hope you enjoy!

A Short History of a Fake Vermeer (and a Fake Uccello)

When I was still studying and teaching art history, Tony painted me an exact copy of a work I love at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum* here in Boston--A Young Lady of Fashion by Paolo Uccello from c 1460. He had recently taken a continuing education class on Renaissance art techniques and wanted to put his new skills to use. So, in secret, he spent hours in the museum studying and sketching the painting and then copying it at home using the style and the techniques of the 15th century (he even ground pigments and made his own paint!):



When he finished and gave it to me, I was bowled over by the present and I took it right to my undergrad art history students to examine for our Renaissance lessons! It remains one of my most treasured objects. If our house were on fire, I would secure the safety of all people and animals and then run back in for that painting.

Being a greedy art historian, I couldn't let well enough alone and began encouraging him to copy more paintings. He set to work on Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring and found it's a pretty tricky painting to copy. He spent about a month looking solely at the angle and turn of the nose (and let's face it, having a very picky art expert as a partner couldn't have helped him work any faster). Tony had it nearly finished, with only the earring missing, when he got burnt out and hung it up for about a year.



He pulled it down one day and added a green crystal earring instead of a pearl, tying that painting into the running themes of his other work, in which small animals are collecting and protecting crystals. I love that he made a Vermeer his own, and if you like it, too, you can get a digital print of the painting:



Tony also recently designed a "crystal" necklace to accompany his work (and yes, that is me in the Etsy listing wearing the necklace in my pajamas):



You can also order the necklace and a print featuring the crystals as a combo!



* Pssst! Warm up the winter with $5 off Isabella Stweart Gardner Museum admission throughout the month of February! Mention "Winter Escape" when purchasing tickets.

Adopt These Prints!

As part of our resolution to make time for things we enjoy doing beyond Chroma Lab, Tony has been concentrating more on his own fine art practice. If you missed the opportunity to get his prints at the Design Nearby show in December, you're in luck, 'cause Tony is now selling some etchings and drawings as digital prints in his Etsy shop!

I Love You So Much

Here There

Hooray

Coughing Fit

Alright Alright

Some of the screenprints that were on sale at the show are also available in his shop. :)

1st Thursday in Jamaica Plain!

Every first Thursday from this month until August, we'll be participating in Jamaica Plain's 1st Thursday event! (For those non-local folks, Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of Boston). The aptly named 1st Thursdays are a great way to get out and see what this friendly and creative community has to offer. All the businesses on Centre and South streets become galleries featuring community artists, so you can mingle and nibble refreshments as you take in the work. There are live bands and poetry readings, but our favorite event is an outdoor artisan fair featuring us, Chroma Lab, along with our fellow Boston Handmade friends!

Starting at 4pm, this 1st Thursday, June 4th, we'll be set up in front of Curtis Hall:


We'll be out there until 8pm, so you'll have plenty of time to shop and stroll down to JP Licks for an ice cream cone (and a Paw Tracks treat for your dog). Chroma Lab will have a few new pieces for sale to tickle your fancy, including these two below and more:

Table for a Rainy Day - for the color fearless

Blue Surprise Dresser - for the secret color lover

Setting up with us, as we mentioned, will be several members of the Boston Handmade team, including:

Elizabeth Brennick Designs - handmade clothes for kids and women

Kerry Hawkins Photography

Nancy Rosetta - handmade metal jewlery

Stonehouse Studio - handmade ploymer clay and metal jewlery

We would love to meet more of our neighbors, so stop by and say hello when you join us at 1st Thursdays!

Red Orange Yellow Pink

We have a new clock available! You wouldn't believe how good it looks against a blue wall.

New clocks

New clocks available!