Josh Kilmer-Purcell's Blog, page 34
October 15, 2015
The Boston Pops
The Lenox Hotel in Boston is one of the Historic Hotels of America and has been named one of the best big city hotels in the world by Travel + Leisure Magazine, which is why we were so thrilled earlier this year when the Lenox Hotel started using our Fresh Air collection in all of its rooms.
Then they started placing our goat milk caramels on bedtime pillows in every room each night.
And now we’ve opened our newest pop-up store right in the grand lobby!
Take a look around!
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October 13, 2015
Five Beautiful Things
Life Inside a Marble
As a young boy, I collected marbles. I still have a glass box by my bed containing a few dozen of my favourite examples from my childhood. When the morning light comes through the window and hits the box, it creates a beautiful shimmer as the light refracts through the spheres of glass.
A 16 year-old photographer from New Jersey, named Caleb, perfectly captures the magic of a marble. Using a Canon DSLR with a tube extension on his lens, Caleb is able to get extreme close-ups of his subjects, revealing surrealistic scenes of the world presented through these glass orbs. Since the marble scenes are upside down when viewed with the naked eye, Caleb uses Photoshop to flip the image seen through the marble 180 degrees so that it is right side up to the viewer. I love these magical little microcosms captured inside the glass. Below are five examples of Caleb’s photographs.
October 11, 2015
Head and Shoulders
As a small business, we were thrilled when we had the distinction of having our very own hed-cut in the Wall Street Journal. These stipple drawings, pioneered by Journal artists 30 years ago have become a trademark of the paper.
The drawings are designed to emulate the look of wood block cuts from old-style newspapers, and engravings on certificates and currency. The phonetic spelling of “hed” may be based on newspapers’ use of the term hed for “headline.
We were curious about the artist given the task of making us look “like money”.
Meet Bonnie Morrill and see some of her other amazing artwork here (www.BGMillustrations.com)
What made you get started doing the hedcuts? Was it a style that you practiced and then sought the job or was it a style that you learned once the job became available?
I began drawing hedcuts for the Journal the year I graduated from art school. I majored in illustration with a primary focus on portraits; my style has always been realism and I am able to capture the likeness of my subjects quite easily. So, when the job became available I knew it would be a perfect fit! I brought in my portfolio for the interview and
when I landed the job I began training with the lead artist that summer. I spent the next three months working in New York City practicing the style. Once I got that down, and was confident enough that I could draw a portrait under the very tight deadlines, I began drawing hedcuts on a daily basis. It’s been 12 years now!
How long did it take you to do the portrait of us?
It took me about 3-4 hours to do the portrait of you both.
Do you generally capture the person on the first go or does it
take several drafts?
Generally speaking, I can get the likeness of someone in my first attempt, with a few tweaks at the end. However, I have gotten some feedback saying I made the person look too thin, too heavy, or too young. I am notorious for making people look a bit younger; I think my artistic license goes a little over board when it comes to crow’s feet (haha). Usually, however, the reason people have a problem with the drawing is because of the photograph we drew from. If that is the case, we will be sent a new, happier or “thinner” looking photo and redraw the portrait.
Who was the most difficult portrait you’ve done?
Oh gosh… hmmmm. I have probably drawn over 4,000 portraits so it’s hard to think of just one in particular. My very first hedcut that was printed in the Journal was hard, just because it was my first. I definitely had a mild panic attack that day; I glanced at the clock probably a million times. I have the newspaper with my first ever printed drawing hanging in my studio all these years and I still had to look at it to remember his name. Roger Wendlick, a construction worker from Portland, Oregon. So the most difficult? Either him or Big Ben. I’ve drawn Big Ben twice… that’s a lot of windows! Trying to draw something that intricate in such a tight deadline is definitely
stressful. We have to generalize a lot sometimes.
How many hedcut artists are there at the WSJ and how do you
get a particular “assignment”?
Currently, there are five artists that draw full-time. Only eight artists have ever been properly trained to draw this iconic style; as of today, I am, and most likely will be, the last artist to be trained. We all work from home now, but there is someone in the New York office that collects and organizes all of the drawings that have a deadline that day, or those done for future use, and assigns them accordingly.
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October 10, 2015
Stitch in Time
Five times a year we re-set the flagship Beekman 1802 Mercantile on Main Street in Sharon Springs, NY. The theme for Autumn 2015 is “Stitch in Time”
Take a look around:
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If you can’t make it to Sharon Springs, NY, this season, you can shop the online Mercantile by clicking here
October 7, 2015
Five Beautiful Things
Nothing is Ever Black & White
Australian artist Jane Long thinks outside the box. When presented with a series of photographs taken more than 100 years ago by Romanian photographer Costica Acsinte, she was struck by the somewhat forlorn expressions and rigid poses of the subjects in the photographs. (The images were taken decades before it was fashionable to smile in photographs.) Using digital technology, Long began to re-imagine the settings and circumstances of the photographs, infusing them not only with vibrant colour but also with fantastical details that transform them into something completely surreal. Her series of work, which she considers to be a collaboration with the original photographer, is called Dancing With Costica. I love the imagination behind the artist’s concept! Below are five works from the series. To see more of her work, click here.
October 3, 2015
Beekman 1802 Almanac
When Brent was a child, his mom purchased a set of children’s books one of which was called Make and Do from the Childcraft Library. The Childcraft series was originally created in the 1930s by W. F. Quarrie & Company, also publishers of the World Book encyclopedia. The series’ title was Childcraft – The How and Why Library. Brent spent hours reading and doing the various projects and crafts illustrated, many of which served as inspiration for other projects of his own devices. Those early years of making and doing can clearly be seen in everything we make or do on our farm in Sharon Springs, NY.
As Beekman 1802 has grown, we’ve been called a name or two: “the next Martha Stewarts” or “Oprah wannabees” even ‘the Kardashians of the farm set”. As flattering as that is, we always remember something we once heard Martha say: I am a teacher and Oprah is a preacher. Thank goodness for the sake of comparison we are neither.
We like to think of ourselves as constant learners, and we like to bring everyone along with us in the learning process. If you follow us on any of our social media platforms (@Beekman1802Boys) you are guaranteed to be inspired at least once a day to make something, to do something or to learn something. You’ll look at the world around you with the same sense of wonderment and awe that you did as a child, and that’s what learning is all about it.
Like Oprah and like Martha, we now have our own magazine, the Beekman 1802 Almanac. It’s a modern twist on the Old Farmer’s Almanac, a resource that people used to plan out their day to day lives.
Our guiding principle is that each page will help you learn to cultivate a better life for yourself and those around you.
Take a peek at the slide show below for some of the regular features we have planned.
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September 30, 2015
Five Beautiful Things
Changing Leaves
As Lorenzo Duran-Silva watched a lonely caterpillar chew a design out of a leaf, he became convinced that he had found his artistic calling. The former construction worker, who lives in Spain, had spent a few years painting with oil on canvas but it was his fascination with nature and the precision of architectural design that led him to create magnificent art using leaves as his canvas.
Lorenzo begins by collecting leaves that are suitable for leaf cutting (usually broad leaves) and then he begins to sketch ideas for his cutting design. The process of cutting is a painstaking one that requires an enormous amount of patience and skill. Lorenzo developed his own method, one that he guards quite closely. Below are five examples of his beautiful, intricate leaf art. If you’d like to learn more about his process and see more of his designs, click here
September 27, 2015
Harvest Season
Photographic negative. Per image envelope: Farm harvest. Image is of a man holding up a pumpkin. He is surrounded by piles of pumpkins and gourds or squash. In the distance and to the right are baskets of more produce. in the background is a house.
Last year, we were named to the Board of Trustees of the Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, NY. The mission of the museum is to cultivate an understanding of the rural heritage that has shaped our land, communities and American culture.
One of our favorite collections of the museum is the vast photo archive.
Plowline: Images of Rural New York is a collecting initiative. The Farmers’ Museum, with the generous support of the Gipson Family, is actively assembling original photography that documents changes in agricultural practice, rural life and farming families in New York State from the 19th century through the present.
Each week on Beekman 1802 we’ll highlight a photo from the collection that not only depicts where WE come from but where we ALL come from.
To learn more about the museum or plan a visit on your next trip to Sharon Springs, click here
September 20, 2015
How Good Dreams Are Made
Enfleurage consists of placing flower petals on a layer of glass spread with a thin layer of lipids which gently transfers the essence of the blossom. It’s a pain-staking process that was often at the devoted finger tips of the convent.
A glimpse at the labor-intensive process explains why some of the finest French lilac perfumes can cost as much as $1,000 an ounce. Historically, lilac has been used for skin toning, shrinking pores, relieving puffiness and swelling around the eyes.
Cherry Valley Lilac Farm is located just 10 miles from Beekman 1802. They propagate over 150 varieties of heirloom lilacs, some of which are hundreds of years old.
This year we’ve worked with them to produce the only lilac eye cream made in America.
Here’s how it is done:
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Check out the Lilac Dream Cream in the Beekman 1802 Mercantile by clicking here
September 16, 2015
Five Beautiful Things
Five: Guest Bedrooms
My favourite room at the Beekman is the small guest bedroom at the back of the house that overlooks the pond and the back fields. It has a small metal hospital bed with a beautiful antique duvet and a barrister bookcase built by Brent’s grandfather filled with antique linens. It is a quiet, restful room – spare and simple – designed for dreaming.
Guest bedrooms should impart the sense of a blank canvas, I feel. In a strange room, comfort and space are more soothing than a clutter of unfamiliar things. They shouldn’t be stark and cold, however. Nods to the home’s personality and charm are welcome, since you don’t want to feel like you’re staying at the Holiday Inn, but a carefully edited room will allow your guest’s own sensibilities to flourish. Aside from clean bed linens and a clean set of towels (the bare minimum for an overnight guest) consider outfitting the room with the following:
-A carafe with water on the nightstand
-A small vase with fresh flowers
-Some stationery, a pencil and a pen
-A selection of books and magazines the guest may be interested in
-Slippers
-A housecoat
-An extra blanket
Below are five guest bedrooms that I would love to stay in!
Throughout the months of August and September, stay tuned to this column as we go room by room through the house with design inspiration. Be sure to pre order the new book Beekman 1802 Style by Brent and Josh, out September 15th! Order autographed copies here! 
For thousands of new ideas, get your autographed copy of Beekman 1802 Style: the attraction of opposites by click here
