Wish list: Vintage butterflies
I’m a sucker for butterflies at the best of times, but on a 1830s encyclopaedia page? Excitement overload. This beautiful print is called Alice Watching Butterflies and it’s €20 from www.jamartprints.com.
According to some of my industry insiders, colour forecasters are touting teal is as the trend of the year. Deeper and more sophisticated than its sibling turquoise, teal has a subdued richness, which works well in any room of the house. Try layering teal with indigo, denim or navy to create an oceanic feeling, cool and dynamic. So now, there you have it. Might be worth trying for spring.
Niamh O’Neill has featured in these pages before but it’s high time we welcomed her back. Resident art teacher at Colaiste Choilm, Ballincollig, this oil painting of Ballycotton Lighthouse is her most recent creation — a special commission for a special someone, my spies tell me. “During my time at college, a lot of my work would have looked at space, near and surrounding me, especially architectural space and structure,” explains O’Neill. “I would have been questioning the paradox of thoughts and experience in my paintings. Does an architectural structure enclose time forever more? Do memories of a place or environment alter our perception of it? I still ask the same questions in my work today, 15 years later! Does this image of the Ballycotton Lighthouse become subjective for the viewer? I suppose I try not to just paint an image that I like, it has to be important to me or trigger a memory of a happy experience in me. (And also in the person I am painting it for). I want it to stir up a memory in the viewer as well. Paintings allow one to become conscious of a world or a moment we cannot touch anymore, even more so than a photograph I think.” For more information on Niamh’s work, www.facebook.com/NiamhONeillartist.
When there’s a wind howling — and at time of typing, believe me, there is — nothing quite beats snuggling up by a roaring fire. This Cara insert stove is a nifty solution for small spaces, with the experts telling me it has impressively high output. There’s a special offer for our lovely readers for tomorrow only, €949 at MD O’ Shea & Sons. www.mdoshea.ie.
I love these wonderful wooden suitcases, vintage style with a painted, distressed finish and each lined with a different, colourful paper inside. Use your imagination and they could turn into a decent side table too. Starting from €35 from www.oliverbonas.com.
Check out this Newton Milk and sugar set — based on gravity, the mechanism keeps the sugar bowl still while you tip the jug. Newton is designed so that the sugar bowl can be easily removed for refilling the milk jug but stays securely in place during pouring. Hmm, I have a two-year-old who could put that one to the test.
€36 from Urru Culinary Store, Bandon. www.urru.ie
Don’t mind the wild weather, if you’re betrothed get yourselves out tomorrow to the Cork International Hotel, up next to the airport. If you still need persuading, feast your eyes on these exquisite cakes. There’s no calories in looking, you know. I’ve been lucky enough to taste one of their birthday cakes, a sublime experience, so I can only imagine what the wedding creations will be like. Two highly talented ladies, Christine and Susan, will be manning their stall tomorrow. Drop by to say hello or check out Enchanted Cakes on Facebook. The wedding fair is in association with Cork’s Red FM and there’ll be plenty other wedding-related stalls to help you plan your special day.
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