inspiration >> from the philadelphia art museum

matt and i hopped in the car tuesday for a semi-belated valentines fun day and headed east to philadelphia!! it's been 2 years or so since i've been to the art museum (well over 3 for him!), so it was a long over-due trip considering we've frequented NYC museums more than philadelphia.
it was a wonderful trip filled to the brim with inspiration overload.

of course we brought our cameras along & snapped away.
& of course one of my favorites were the dutch tiles.
they are just so fun & simple, i can't help but love them.





i suppose i really enjoy ceramics and delicate paintings? because these asian dishes are so charming!




this shot came from one of matt's favorite sections- the armory!
the detail work on all the armor, swords and yes, even this gun was just so unreal.


there was also a small exhibit showcasing embroidery- my favorite piece (which photo didn't turn out due to lack of lighting) was a stitch sampler that dated back to the 1600s! the stitches created intricate lines, shapes, flowers, designs and looked like a well thought out pattern, it was oh so lovely & inspiring!

Day of artsy awesomeness in Phila!

This past weekend I finally got to Art Star in Philadelphia! It was such a wonderful space filled with amazing talent. One of the first tables I saw was filled with tons of note pads, and cards by Susie Ghahremani! I absolutely adore her whimsical style- so I had to buy this pack of postcards (I got 2 of each print so I plan to send some out and keep the others for myself to possibly frame). Unfortunately there were not print's of Jen Corace's work but I did get to enjoy her gallery set up in the back of the shop.

After that fun venture we headed to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We could have spent an entire day looking at everything in there but we squeezed in as much as we could in the 2.5 hours we were there. My favorite works I saw was the Seurat painting which was amazing to see in person. All those little dots of color make your eyes want to go numb if you stare at it long enough but it was a beautiful piece. My other favorites

 were these delicate dutch tiles that were hung in a staircase hallway that we saw while heading up to the next level of the museum. I loved the simplicity and design of them (especially the birds!!)

and yes, my friend Manda and I were super tourist-y and had to stand in line for the Rocky statue!