Home » Blog » A Custom House Number Inspired by Totem Poles and Emily Carr

A Custom House Number Inspired by Totem Poles and Emily Carr

Blue Green House Number by Nutmeg Designs
  • Pin It
Custom Mosaic House Number 1670 in Teal and Rusty Red by Nutmeg Designs, 12×8″ on slate.

I am grateful for clients who ask for colors in such a vivd and detailed way, and then set me loose to translate this into glass mosaic. Stratoz’s Flickr friend Ghir commissioned a house number for a Christmas gift for her sister.  She described the house and her vision:

It is a bluish grey with darker charcoal grey roof, with dark teal and white trim. Inside, they’ve decorated with many items from Alaska trips, so the colors on the outside of their house remind me of weathered totem poles. I was thinking white numbers on a dark teal or teal and blue mixed field, maybe with contrasting details of dull red or yellow for the totem pole idea. . .

This made me think of one of my favorite artists, the Canadian Emily Carr(1871-1945), and some paintings from Emily Carr: An Introduction to her Life and Work by Anne Newlands.  Emily Carr made totem poles a central part of her art, and in 1912 visited over 15 coastal First Nations villages in Northern British Columbia, drawing and painting the carvings.  The watercolor that I remembered from Newlands’ book was House Post, Tsatsinuchomi, BC, with the weathered blue-green and bits of red.  Working on this house number commission was a delight, and several other clients have asked to have those colors in their signs.

Emily Carr, House Posts, Tsatsinuchomi, B.C., 1912 watercolour and graphite on paper 55.4 cm x 76.6 cm National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Purchased 1928 3542
  • Pin It
Emily Carr, House Posts, Tsatsinuchomi, B.C., 1912
watercolour and graphite on paper
55.4 cm x 76.6 cm
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Purchased 1928
3542

 

Order your House Number here at Nutmeg Designs Etsy Shop.

Emily Carr, Group of Seven and Canadian Art Love Pinterest Board

4 comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.