The coolest part about being a professional art installer is that every once in awhile I get to see an original piece by an artist whom I've admired for a long time.

​Like these two drawings which we (very carefully) hung onto wallpaper a few weeks back.

They are studies by the famous post-Impressionist painter Toulouse Lautrec. How exciting!

Most people are familiar with Lautrec through his famous posters for the Moulin Rouge and other nightclubs in Paris, like the two posters below which are often reproduced.

They're still astonishingly modern even 130-odd years later. Try to imagine how daring these must have been to Victorian eyes.

You can see the influence of the newly-imported Japanese woodblock prints which were popular at the time. Notice the flattened layouts and emphasis on line or shape instead of three-dimensional form. (The art of Japan made a big splash with the Impressionists and post-Impressionists; Vincent Van Gogh was also a big fan, and even made copies of his favorite pieces.)

But his circus paintings are where Lautrec really shines for me. He makes heavy use of the long arc of the circus ring, which gives a graceful feeling to the series.

And that's why it was so fun to see Lautrec's drawings in real life. It's fascinating to see how the artist's techniques carry over from the initial sketches to the final composition.

​Here's another one from the same job, which we installed in the homeowner's dressing room where she could see it every morning. Look how the round ring gives a "path" for the horse to follow in both pictures. This one is a little sketchier and cruder than the others, and the forms are less developed, but it has a great sense of lightness and fun.

Living with good art every day is a rewarding experience. It's not like music, which demands  your attention and is over too soon. Instead, it's a slow experience that unfolds over time and lends the little grace notes to your day.

But you don't have to invest in original art to make your home exciting to live in. We install all kinds of pieces, whether they're from famous post-Impressionism artists or your kids' pre-Kindergarten class.

​Because if you love it, it's beautiful.

When we moved to the Marshall area twenty years ago, we fell in love with the little town on the river. It was pretty quiet back then. We used to joke that tumbleweeds would blow up and down the road, and the little coffee shop wasn't much bigger than a telephone booth.

​But it was our town, and it was home.

It was wonderful to watch it grow over the years. And being able to drive to downtown Asheville, or the River Arts District, and walk around and see all the beautiful art... well, that was just the cherry on top.

That's why I've been heartbroken by the footage coming from Marshall and the RAD, and other towns up and down the river. Many homes and studios were swept away by a mighty flood that crested at 27 feet above the usual river level. Even the river itself is somewhat polluted now - we watched huge propane tanks floating past our bridge, spouting plumes of gas from cracks in the tank.

And Marshall was just about wiped off the map. This was the highest recorded flood in history.

​I've seen people comparing this disaster to Hurricane Katrina, and other hurricanes in Florida, and saying it's worse here in Asheville. I don't know about that... at some point you really can't make comparisons. However I have to say that it looks like a lot to rebuild, and a long row to hoe.

But we love it here, and we are staying.

Our local emergency responders, as well as dozens of people with no particular title but with great big hearts, have been working hard to restore something like a normal life. We're grateful to say that we have power and internet already, and gas and grocery stores are already functioning, albeit with long lines. We're back in the office and taking appointments.

So if you'd like to support your local tradespeople (that's us!) please don't hesitate to call or email us. We're eager to get back to work, and happy to help with whatever you need.

I must say that most of our picture hooks leave very small and subtle holes; they're designed to make it easy to change your mind. But sometimes you just can't put holes in the wall.

Take this fireplace, for example. The chimneybreast was finished in dark modern tile with very narrow grout lines. If the grout had been wider, we might have been able to work with it, but with such narrow lines, the only option would be to drill through the tile. And of course, even with our greatest precautions, there's always the risk of cracking a tile.

So our client asked us to hang her art from the ceiling instead.

The trick with hanging art from the ceiling is that it can be difficult to make both supporting wires exactly even. But happily with a bit of research, we sourced a special steel picture-hanging wire with adjustable slides on one end.

​I really like this wire. It's woven, so it's very strong, but it's still fairly subtle and gives a clean look to the installation.

Even though the cable is adjustable, it's actually still kind of tricky to work with a big metal print like this. You need at least two people to lift it into place and adjust it safely. And in fact, you would probably end up taking it down and putting it up again a few times until it was perfectly aligned. It can be a little fiddly to get it just right.

Plus you have to use the right hardware to go into the ceiling... in this case, special steel toggles with screw-in hooks. It gets even trickier if you have a tall ceiling, because you'll need a ladder and a scaffold board.

But that's why we're here to help. And the end result is very nice.

We liked these cables so much that we decided to add them to our regular kit, and keep them on hand whenever possible.

​However, if you know you'd like to hang art from the ceiling, please let us know beforehand. That way we can consult with you on the best hanging system to use, and make sure the ceiling will support the weight of the piece.