Improvised Life’s vast archive is liberally peppered with posts about guerilla actions: small-scale actions that deploy subversive messages in unexpected ways. A recent one in the middle of a busy New York City crosswalk gets our admiration for its daring, power and simplicity.
Read More“This is what thought looks like” begins Dennis Overbye’s article about Jessica Wynne’s remarkable photographs of mathematician’s blackboards, that reminded us of Steiner and Cy Twombly…
Read MoreDesigner Nikolas Bentel designed the ultimate chalks for sidewalk graffiti and chalk-board painted wall decoration. Each one is a little sculpture onto itself with which you can draw parallel lines, dots and circles.
Read MoreThis interior by designer and stylist Carlos Mota jumpstarted two great ideas for our space. We wondered: Is that a painting or a framed chalkboard, wiped out in the most purposely smudgy way, with nude drawn on it? We love the idea of a chalkboard framed to be a constantly changing artwork. And especially a nude smack in the…
Read MoreWhen friends renovated their NYC brownstone, they made wonderfully varied walls — high-gloss painted walls next to beautiful flat, chalky ones achieved by careful plastering — that made the rooms incredibly beautiful.
I copied their high-gloss walls in my Harlem space, but wondered how I could achieve the chalky effect of plaster myself. The answer recently presented itself in a great DIY by Justine Hand for Remodelista.
Read MoreEarly on in Improvised Life’s posting days, we published quite a few articles about the wonders of chalkboard paint. Then it began to seem a trend of the past. Not so, we realized on seeing this room by interior design firm, Ashe + Leandro. It is a swell material for transforming an adultish space, inviting all…
Read MoreAlthough we’ve been a big fan of chalkboard paint in the past, we were feeling it a bit overdone until we saw this chalkboard-painted armoire. What a clever way to cool out a big piece of furniture: cover it with a poem, quote or any other bit of writing: the perfect balance! via Vosges Paris…
Read MoreEvery year, we celebrate the theme of alternative, stres-reducing ways to experience the holidays. If you’ve got a chalkboard painted wall OR slab of wood, or a huge sheet of paper (we’re thinking our big roll of Kraft paper we keep on hand) you can draw a tree or ANYTHING in chalk or pastels. Here’s some inspiration.
Read MoreWe’re crazy about this smudged chalkboard wall – no words – that reminds us a bit of the chalky walls in Paolo Soleri’s Cosanti. And that got us thinking about how we might mix custom-colors of chalkboard paint (for writing or not) in colors that we LOVE, like an this odd green, or a rich…
Read MoreThis uplifting bit of graffiti brings out the guerilla in us. We don’t WE become anonymous graffiti artists and leave uplifting (and impermanent) messages around town? All it would take is carrying a piece of chalk (easy to carry)…
Read MoreFunny how this clever chalked welcome mat seems to to be more seriously-welcoming than most of the “real” welcome mats we’ve seen. As does this rather vehement chalk welcome:
Read MoreIn honor of the conclusion of our Artists’ Handmade Houses giveaway contest, here’s one final photo from the book: some lovely chalky walls at Paolo Soleri’s Cosanti . Six small sleeping areas, located along the east side of Cat Cast (so named because the earth pile on which the concrete was cast was mounded with a Caterpillar…
Read MoreWe love this imperfect round of chalkboard painted on a wall. It made us think “Oh yeah….why not paint chalkboard paint in odd or organic freeform shapes on the wall, instead of the usual rectangle? Or perhaps a long thing strip/stripe across a whole wall…. You can buy chalkboard paint here. via Style Files Related…
Read MoreWe found this good idea in Covet Garden, an appealing online shelter magazine that features spaces of real people (slightly ripping off The Selby‘s questionnaire). Here, Photographer Tracy Shumate’s converted factory space…”Necessity being the mother of invention, Tracy uses large MDF panel covered in chalkboard paint to hide her unsightly electrical panels.” Here’s another iteration…
Read MoreSometimes when I need a diversion from writing, I poke around location scout Andrea Raisfeld’s website of interesting spaces for rent for photography locations. You can browse by type (apartment, barn, log cabin…), or description (contemporary, Modernist, Swedish…), or even by a feature (bunk bed, river, treehouse), and so on. I always find unexpected ideas there, like…
Read MorePamela Hovland alerted me to these cool jars that have chalkboard labels so you can just scribble the contents (or the date) with chalk. You can by them at Rockett St. George for 12.50 euros and have them shipped from the U.K. OR you can rig your own. Paint labels directly on jars using chalkboard paint by hand…
Read MoreChalkboard paint is one of the best inventions to come down the line in some time, due in large part to it’s improvisation-inspiring nature. There seems to be no end in sight to the uses people are devising for it. A current favorite: this ’70’s Volkswagon painted with chalkboard paint that I stumbled on on Flickr.
Read MoreSeeing images of Brice Marden drawing and painting with sticks expanded our notion of what we might use to make our own mark, as a way of revealing what lays hidden in our mind and heart. What medium or implement or movement will unlock the hidden, wordless part of ourselves?
Read MoreWe’re inspired in so many ways by graffiti artist Banksy’s brilliant tutorial done to the words of Bob Ross, TV painting instructor and host of the iconic Joy of Painting show from 1983 to 1994. Along with revelatory technique is a philosophy for navigating life…
Read MoreWe’ve gathered a trove of ideas over the years…
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