Friday, July 18, 2008

Americana

An oasis has sprang from the dirt lot across the street from the Glendale Galleria. It appears that this is the formula for malls now days. Think the Paseo, the Grove, and Victoria Gardens. They are all basically exactly the same. And also most of these new open air malls are built right next to the old passe indoor malls. Excessive? Maybe.

This is the newest in the series. The Americana, Glendale.


I waited a while cuz I heard it was insane opening weekend. I personally don't really like big crowds, especially at a mall, even if its outside.

Bright colors galore in XXI. This one is really junior driven. I still like the Pasadena flagship store best. Although this has the best H&M I have been in. This one makes the others around town look cheap and tacky. At least that has been my perception thus far, but I actually bought some clothes in this one.
The beautiful Free People store. I could sit in here for hours. Lotus lamps and glittery floral canvas.
Cozy getaway/ dressing room.
A better look at the kite motif walls.
Gorgeous seaweed like willow tree hanging from the ceiling in Anthropology.

A lovely tiered curtain, pretty blues, aquas, and sages.
Crystal door nobs. Always eye candy.
The egg-ey window display. I really liked the way the plaids and ginghams lining the paper mache eggs.
This is the only outside shot I took. I think this is the only interesting thing outside. Everything else, from the little iron gates and lamp posts and foliage all looks the same as the other outdoor malls I mentioned above. Upon walking in I got a strong disneyland sense about it. Like everything is fake and perfectly placed. That I don't like. Its a false sense of security. But the atmosphere is elegant and fresh. The pond is the center (just like the Grove) has a huge golden man and water fountain shows, think Bellagio Las Vegas, set to Italian classical and opera.

Its too homogenized for my taste, but I will definitely have to visit the Free People store once again.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Cork Board Project

I have been wanting to do this project for so long.
I have this huge wood panel with tagging, graffiti, and paintings all over it. Found Art. I think it was used for a party originally and it had a few posters attached which have now been removed leaving 2 big blank spots. Those spots puzzled me for a while, trying to figure out the best thing to go there, that I would not mind looking at constantly. I was going to do a cork board and hang it on the wall somewhere but then decided it would be better attached to my wood panel.
I found a cheap plain cork board at Michael's for around 10 bucks. I tore the whole thing apart and started painting the frame with Black spray paint and choosing fabric for the board. That part was tough. I had too many options, florals and geos, brights, dots. Nothing was working and I finally settled on a neutral dot.
I put it back together and drilled it on to my wool panel (I also used a little hot glue for good measure).
Then I dreamt up a scrolly design and started sketching ideas.

Once I was satisfied that it would work and look cool, I started sketching onto the wood. I had to make my design fit in between the existing stuff and the frame.
Then I just got out the black acrylic and went at it. It didn't take long to get the paint up, the idea and the sketching took longer.
I think it looks fresh! And I enjoy looking at it and changing the stuff on the board. Oh, I got cute little colorful push pins from Target and pinned them on in little flower shapes.