Shabby Chic Wall Paper Frame

I bought this shabby chic frame at the Hollywood Thrift store for $5.95 last month. I liked the size , the shape and I even liked the wall paper print of the frame. But the print had a water stain and my plan was to replace the wall paper to a mirror some day when I have the time to do it.

Yesterday, I spent all day fixing and painting the treasures(?) that I've been wanting to use for my living room make over. As I was going through my nick knack piles in attic, I found that plate rack standing right next to the frame which I completely forgot about.

Well, here they are now!!! After a couple of primer and a few coats of spray paint, they are proudly displayed on my living room wall.

Chicken Marsala

INGREDIENTS:
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
1 Tbsp. oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/3 cup dry Marsala wine
2/3 cup chicken broth
2/3 cup all-purpose flour for coating
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Mix together the flour, salt, pepper and oregano and add the flour mixture to a Ziploc bag, add chicken and shake!

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in oil over medium heat. Place chicken in the pan, and lightly brown. In same skillet saute mushrooms and onions in pan drippings; cook, stirring, until slightly tender.

I used my own home made chicken broth

Add Marsala wine,chicken broth and oregano. Cook over high heat until liquid is reduced by half.

SERVE chicken mixture over rice or (Pasta). Sprinkle with parsley.

Okay, Let's Eat!! :D

Romantic!

I bought that shabby chic mirror at Marshall for $19.99. I thought it would be just perfect in my dining room and I also had the idea of hanging plates around the mirror.

I also decided to display the tea pot & tea cups from the dish set that my mother bought me from Germany years ago in the plant stand shown above.

It looks romantic!!

I put my expression on the shelf!!!!

Country Kitchen in a High Rise Apartment

I found these kitchen make over pictures from a popular Korean web site. Land space in South Korea is very limited. Over 60% of the population live in high rise apartment complex and Koreans generally dislike living in a house. They  much prefer living in apartments, because of the convenience it affords. Most complexes are near shops, schools, entertainment, and provide building maintenance for tenants.

The owner of this kitchen is a house wife who made her modern kitchen into a warm and cozy country style  in her high rise apartment.

In her kitchen, from the kitchen cabinets, to all the furniture and decorating items were all made by her!

Although she lives in the other side of the world from us, I thought she shares the same passion and creativity in decorating as the  ladies at our blog spot and I wanted to share her make over photos with you. 

Mary Cassatt Gallery

La Toilette
c. 1891
Oil on canvas
39 1/2 x 26 in.
The Art Institute of Chicago

Young Mother

1900

Oil on canvas

92.4 x 73.7 cm

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 

Young Woman Trying on a Dress

1890-91

Drypoint and aquatint on cream laid paper

37.7 x 25.6 cm

The Art Institute of Chicago 

Lady at the Tea Table

1883

Oil on canvas

73.4 x 61 cm

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 

Summertime

c. 1894

Oil on canvas

100.7 x 81.3 cm

Terra Foundation for the Arts

Young Women Picking Fruit

1891/92

Oil on canvas

132 x 91.5 cm

Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh 

Mother and Child

c. 1900

Pastel on tan wove paper

71 x 58.5 cm

The Art Institute of Chicago 

Mother and Child

1889

Oil on canvas

90 x 64.5 cm

Wichita Art Museum, Kansas

Portrait of a Little Girl

1878

Oil on canvas

89.5 x 129.8 cm

National Gallery of Art, Washington

The Letter

1890-91

Drypoint and aquatint on cream laid paper

34.5 x 21.1 cm

The Art Institute of Chicago

Le the (Five O'Clock Tea) 

1880

Oil on canvas 

25 1/2 x 36 1/2 in (64.7 x 92.7 cm) 

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Lydia Seated at an Embroidery Frame

1880/81

Oil on canvas

65.5 x 92 cm

Flint Institute of Arts, Michigan 

Driving

1881

Oil on canvas

89.3 x 130.8 cm

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Lydia Crocheting in the Garden at Marly 

1880

Oil on canvas 

26 x 37 in (66 x 94 cm)

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Children on the Beach 

1884

Oil on canvas 

38 1/2 x 29 1/4 in (97.6 x 74.2 cm) 

National Gallery of Art, Washington

Child Picking a Fruit

1893

Oil on canvas

100 x 65 cm

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond 

The Bath

1890-91

Drypoint and aquatint on cream laid paper

36.8 x 26.3 cm

The Art Institute of Chicago

The Banjo Lesson

1893/94

Pastel over oiled pastel on tan wove paper

72.2 x 58.6 cm

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond 

Autumn

1880

Oil on canvas

93 x 65 cm

Musee du Petit Palais, Paris 

Young Girl at a Window

c. 1883

Oil on canvas

100.3 x 64.7 cm

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington 

The Boating Party

1893-94

Oil on canvas

90.2 x 117.5 cm (35 1/2 x 46 1/4 in.)

National Gallery of Art, Washington

Girl Arranging Her Hair

1886

Oil on canvas

29 5/8 x 24 5/8 in. (75.1 x 62.5 cm)

National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

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MARY CASSATT Biography

Mary Cassatt.
Reproduced by permission of 

Archive Photos, Inc.

remains known as the painter and poet of the nursery.

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Born: May 23, 1845

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Died: June 14, 1926

Mesnil-Beaufresne, France

American painter and artist

American painter Mary Cassatt is considered a member of the French impressionists, a nineteenth-century style that emphasized impressions of scenes or objects. Best known for her series of paintings of a mother and child, she also portrayed fashionable society.

Early life and career

Mary Stevenson Cassatt was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on May 23, 1845, the second of Robert and Katherine Johnson Cassatt's four children. As a child she lived for a time in France. The family then moved to Germany so that one son could pursue his studies in engineering, while another son could gain special medical attention. Upon returning to the United States in 1855, Mary studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1866, against her father's wishes, she began her travels in Italy, Spain, and Holland. She finally settled in Paris, France, where she shocked her parents by revealing her intentions to pursue a career as a painter.

In 1866 Cassatt began her studies in France, where she came to know other famed French painters, such as Charles Chaplin and Thomas Couture (1815–1879). After a pair of rejections, she exhibited at the Salon (French art galleries) and met the famed painter Edgar Degas (1834–1917), who later became her mentor (advisor).

Soaring career

Despite Cassatt's success at the Salon, her heart lay with the impressionists, and in 1877, at Degas's suggestion, she joined the group and exhibited with them in 1879. Her work sold well, particularly in Philadelphia, and she in turn bought paintings by the French impressionists. She also helped American friends, such as the Havemeyers, form their collections of impressionist paintings. Cassatt remained strongly American, as do many expatriates (those living abroad). She wrote the American painter J. Alden Weir (1852–1919) that "at some future time I shall see New York the artists' ground."

Cassatt's brother, Alexander, brought his family to Paris in 1880, the first of many trips. Although she never married, she was enchanted by her nieces and nephews and excelled in painting children, who dominate her subject matter. Although her early works were done in an impressionist style, she

Painting style

Cassatt stopped being an impressionist painter midway through her career. Her early works portray the delicacy, the effects, the play of light and shadow of the style, but she never seemed to use broken colors and her use of complementary colors was slight. Paintings like La Lo have impressionistic qualities and have the instant effect of being caught out of the corner of the eye. Her paintings of mothers and children, however, are figurative and three-dimensional. The drawing is classical and complete, and the color, far from being light and separated into its component parts, is flat and sometimes rather sharp, much like the Japanese prints that influenced her so much. These careful figure studies, completely finished, seem to exist entirely in the atmosphere of the nursery, with no sound except the little cries.

The paintings of Mary Cassatt, filled with light and joy, give a false impression of this strong-minded and somewhat difficult woman. She was at her best in her relations with other artists, for only in this environment did she consider herself among her intellectual equals. In later life she suffered from ill health and failing eyesight and was totally blind at her death. She died in her home at Mesnil-Beaufresne, France, on June 14, 1926.