Casa Branca x Nine Fair

Backgammon Boards

Backgammon Board #1

I designed and hand painted this board with Palm Beach in mind.

Signature Palm Trees and foliage in shades of white that are so reminiscent of a bygone era and of this new revitalized Palm Beach today mixed with the opposing players Vimini, Italian for “wicker” pattern that is Alessandra Branca’s beautiful and wildly popular wallpaper and fabric available through Casa Branca.

Can you even fathom this board in a room that is enveloped with this pattern? How outrageously cool, over the top, and chic would that be? Quintessential Palm Beach old school palm trees swaying in the breeze against super chic vimini.

Backgammon Board #2

Ah, my beloved malachite. I’ve been obsessed with and painting you for over twenty years. How could I not include you?

I first learned to paint malachite in a very backwards way as is so often the case. I was obsessed with the idea of painting malachite on the bottom of a glass however, the only way you’d be able to see it would be for me to paint it backwards. Hence, I taught myself to paint a faux malachite in a a reverse glass painting technique twenty years ago as a gift to my husband. I have had many iterations and applications over the years.

This particular iteration is a more stylized approach. I wasn’t going for an immediate response of malachite but a more amorphous, languid feeling greatly influenced by Juniper Springs in the Ocala national forest that I saw once and couldn’t get out of my mind. A picture of the springs is on the last slide. I wanted to see if I could cross that line of making an actual stone look soft and languid like the pools of Ocala Springs. The irony being we all know that water shapes rock. Always the romantic I wanted to marry the two, stone and water to evoke a feeling that perhaps you couldn’t pinpoint. The unlikely yet hopefully undetectable connection of a stone feeling like a pool of water that you could wave your hand through. As I’ve said many times before regarding my art: there’s always a story.

Backgammon Board #3

You know the term “being in the zone”, yes? Athletes know it well. I remember it from my swimming days. That coveted and elusive moment when the discomfort, exhaustion, and mechanics of the movement simply wash away. The usual dialogue we all have running through our heads is quieted and our movements are fluid. It’s often attributed to athletes but I would imagine a baker would feel it through the simple act of kneading dough, a dancer or musician would feel it lost in the music, as would those who meditate or practice yoga. When I paint I’m in the zone. 

I think that’s why I paint solitarily. Images, stories, memories, and dreams run through my mind. When I start with a project like this one very often I don’t even have a plan. I just get in the zone and it flows out through my paintbrush. 

This board started with a tumble of mushrooms stacked upon each other in a willy-nilly pattern. A complete foil from the structure and confines of the strict pattern. The opponents pattern being giant moss covered conical topiaries. The moss covered branches grew on their own wild yet refined like a trellis pattern that had been planted decades ago and had been left to grow outside of its confines. 

A “secret garden” if you will. One of my all time favorite child hood books. A very English garden that had topiaries and structure but now the topiaries are covered in moss and mushrooms have sprouted everywhere and the trellis has only a hint of its structure left. All the more beautiful for its wildness and abandon. I used to play imaginary games with my children all the time. I could imagine sitting down to teach my child or grandchild to play backgammon and asking if they could spot Alice in Wonderland or a little fairy in the garden. There’s always a story.