An Abstract Art Series

 As we’ve said before nothing brings more interest to an eclectic interior than pairing modern abstract art with traditional antique and vintage pieces.

 Contemporary artist Nicholas Adamko has recently completed this exciting series of six beautiful abstract oil paintings to be offered individually online through Knickerbocker Antiques and Vintage.

 At once calming and chaotic the energy and movement of the art creates endless levels of depth and dimension to entertain the viewer.

 A generous use of paint creates depth and texture when applied in the artists trademark free-form grid pattern of bold north-south and east-west brushstrokes that brings order amidst chaos.

 The artist originally developed this signature style over a decade ago while still an art student at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, and has continued to explore the myriad effects it can achieve.

 Paintings in the series span the saturation spectrum from a rainbow kaleidoscope of deep bold hues to more muted shades of grey and white.

 The heavy use of off-white paint mixing through and over the other colors creates an overall neutral effect that allows these works to complement and enliven any interior.

 The paintings also offer a variety of textures with some flowing more smoothly from hue to hue while others are especially rough and course, an effect controlled by the drying time allowed between layers.

 The time consuming process may take three or even four layers with each subsequent layer nearly covering the one beneath until the desired texture is achieved.

 Each work is rendered in oil on a canvas measuring 16” by 20”, the perfect size to display alone or in groups for added drama as seen here.

 Be sure to visit Knickerbocker’s online art gallery to see larger sofa-sized works by the artist as well as some of his more impressionist style landscapes.

Photos by KS&D.

Porches, Piazzas, and Verandas

 It’s been a while since we last posted on the elements of Lambertville’s Victorian architecture, so with summer in full swing why not take a closer look at the part of the house where Victorians spent much of their summers. 

 We’ve looked at porches before from soaring verandas to elegant loggias, but no one experimented with this architectural feature with more gusto than the Victorians. 

 Perhaps it’s because each of the individual parts of the structure, columns, balustrades, brackets, corbels, and roofs, each allow for endless opportunities for decoration and ornamentation. 

 This was after all an era obsessed with adding as much carved wooden gingerbread trim as their houses could hold, and the porch provided the perfect place to hold it. 

 Even a small entrance porch was an opportunity for ornamentation.

 Take this neighboring pair of tiny twin porches, one in white the other full color, likely added onto the earlier townhouses at a later date.

 All of that intricate trim made for endless surfaces to paint and the color schemes around town run the gamut. 

 Painted all in white the gingerbread looks something more akin to a wedding cake frosting. 

 The architectural styles are as varied as the color schemes including everything from this angular Eastlake.

 To this eclectic Queen Anne featuring an unusual slate roofline.

 But not every porch was awash in lacy trim work as the classically elegant fluted columns here show.

 Here clustered trios of simple slender columns rest atop heavy rusticated stone supports illustrating the later influence of Craftsman ideals over ornate Victoriana.

 This example of simple columns on masonry bases is adorned with classical dentil moldings giving a hint of the Colonial Revival.

 The advent of air conditioning along with the rise of the backyard as the main outdoor family space would spell the end of the golden age of front porches, but what better place to sip an iced tea on a summer afternoon than the porch of this classic American Four Square decorated with flowers and wicker furniture and shaded from the sun by cheerful stripped awnings.

Photos by KS&D.